Comments on: Mirrorless SLR pluses and minuses

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:25:05 +0000

Surely the biggest minus points for a mirrorless DSLRs are the lack of a real viewfinder (digital viewfinders and LCD screens are not the same), and the fact that when you change lenses there is no mirror blocking the sensor so the sensor gets covered in dust far more easily.

10% said no minus points. Jokers!

By: RMilner

RMilner — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:59:40 +0000

The 4/3rds system is Panasonic and Olympus.

I have a Pen mirrorless SLR. It isn’t really an SLR, since the image is displayed on a screen on the back. You have to get an accessory viewfinder in order to switch off the screen and use a more conventional SLR style of viewfinding technique. The disadvantages of this are that the accessory viewfinder is an extra piece of stuff on the camera, and it occupies the flash shoe which you might want for a flash gun.

It’s a nice camera though it suffers from the same problems of most digital cameras that you have to wade through a lot of menus and buttons to do anything not totally automatic.

There are three lenses available. Olympus do a fixed focal length, so do Panasonic, and there is a zoom. You can use any 4/3 system lens on it, but only the Micro lenses interface 100% and allow the on-board software to do full corrections of the image in camera. You could still do corrections in Photoshop.

I still prefer my manual film cameras for a lot of shooting as they are quicker and easier to use. I only uses prime lenses on them.

The ultimate camera for me would be a Leica M9, combining digital recording technology with resolutely old-school lenses and manual control. Unfortunately they cost as much as a small car.

By: DerekNobuyuki Wallace

DerekNobuyuki Wallace — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:58:57 +0000

Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds refer to the products from one set of companies (Panasonic and someone else… Sony?).
The other makers have followed them but have to use their own marketing names.

So, I think it’s good if Japan calls it mirrorless DSLR or something along those lines.
The English world will be forced to follow soon enough in my opinion.

I’m surprised that 40% thought that selection of lenses would be a problem since I thought they are supposed to use the same lenses as DSLR.
Panasonic’s GH1 and GF1 can use some standard sony lense mounts.

Finally, I was surprised that AF motor noise was not listed as a complaint.
My understanding is that the modern set of products are all competing to have full time continuous auto focus so you can shoot for effective HD Video from the camera
and trying to minimize the AF motor noise was the biggest issue.