When you are getting into photography or hell when you are a professional ready to purchase another camera body but the options are endless what do you choose DSLR or mirrorless? Do you go mirrorless because so many camera makers are walking away from DSLR? Do you go with a brand that seems like they are going to stick to DSLR?
These are excellent questions, I know because I had the same questions for months when I wanted to pick up a new body to have in my rotation. I really, really wanted to get a mirrorless because it is the wave of the future and my brand is phasing out DSLR but have months of research it came down to battery life and my needs.
So what is a DSLR?
DSLR is a digital single lens reflex camera or essentially a camera that uses a mirror to reflect light through the viewfinder. When you take a photo the mirror move out of the way allowing the light to hit the image sensor which produces the image and sends it to the optical viewfinder.
So what is a Mirrorless camera?
A mirrorless camera lacks the mirror from the DSLR essentially the light always being sent to the image sensor, meaning this kind of camera relies on electrical viewfinder instead of optical.
Because of this mirrorless cameras can be made smaller and lighter than their counter part. However also because of this the viewfinder eats up battery life on a mirrorless camera over its counterpart in the DSLR.
And there you have it that is the greatest difference in these cameras. Each has their draw backs DSLR the mirror is incredibly sensitive and easy to damage is cleaned wrong. The mirrorless suffers from lag, short battery life, and other electronical problems. Their size and level of bulkiness and weight is another different variable,
Neither is better than the other and it truly comes down to needs and preferences. As an action photographer batter life is king for me and a camera that’s view finder eats battery life reducing it to number of shots or an hour or so of shooting doesn’t work for me when I can spend 10-15 hours shooting an event. Now if I was a portrait photographer mirrorless being smaller and lighter holds a lot of appeal.
I can’t say one is better than the other, I personally am a DSLR girl, yes one day I would love a mirrorless but it is my hope the DSLR never full disappears if only for selfish reasons— aka battery life!
