Sunday, September 8, 2013

DSLRs Smaller, Lighter and Sometimes Less Expensive Than Mirrorless




Not to Scale


The pictures above represent another example of the traditional DSLR outcompeting a mirrorless camera manufacturer. The new mirrorless Sony A3000, with its DSLR-styling and DSLR-sized sensor, is actually larger and heavier than the 'world's smallest DSLR', the Canon SL-1.

Even with the weight and bulk of the SL-1's reflex mirror and mechanism, Canon engineers have done a terrific job of packaging this camera.

And so, despite what ought to be the mirrorless camera's natural size advantage, Sony cannot claim that the A3000 mirrorless is 'smaller than a DSLR'.

That said, at least the A3000 is competitively priced and doesn't stray too far from DSLR design norms.

Sadly, Nikon's mirrorless cameras have not been competitively priced and do stray pretty far from DSLR design norms.  I have railed about this before, but it bears repeating:  the strange looking Nikon 1 V2 is a great camera, but it is not worth $100 more than the D5200, which is the superior camera in just about every way, except size.

Bottom line?  As Canon gradually address the DSLR's weaknesses (e.g., size and bulk with the SL-1 and video autofocus performance with the 70D), the case for mirrorless becomes weaker and weaker.

If mirrorless manufacturers can't (or won't) produce cameras that compete on features, sensor size, camera size, image quality, and price - then the reports of the DSLR's 'imminent demise' that we've heard for the past few years may have indeed been premature.

If this helps with your decision to buy one of the cameras referenced here, please click on one of the links above or display ads below.  It won't cost you anything extra and will help to keep posts like this coming.


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