#Mirrorless

 

What is a Mirrorless Camera? (6 Things You Should Know)

By Andrea Minoia 

 

What is a Mirrorless Camera?

So what is a mirrorless camera? As the name suggests, mirrorless cameras have no mirror. This is unlike digital single reflex cameras, better known as DSLRs.

The mirror has been used since the 1950s. So why change it? There are at least three good reasons to remove the mirror:

1. No longer a delicate and complicated mechanism
2. Reduces camera shake
3. It makes for a more compact and light camera body

An electronic viewfinder (EVF) replaces the mirror system. This is a small, high-resolution LCD screen.

The image below shows an old Olympus OM-1 35 mm film camera and a modern Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II.

A mirror in the Olympus OM-1 SLR camera (left). No mirror in the modern Olympus 

OM-D EM-5 Mark II mirrorless camera, and the sensor is visible (right).

6 Things You Should Know About Mirrorless Cameras

A small disclaimer… I am a long-time mirrorless camera photographer and enthusiast. But if you are going down the mirrorless camera road, you should know that it’s not all roses.

6. Mirrorless Cameras Are Smaller and Lighter Than a DSLR: The Size Myth

The mirror (with all the other related parts) is not there anymore. This makes the camera body smaller and lighter than DSLR bodies. This is particularly good for pro-graded gear.

• The Myth: A mirrorless camera is a perfect camera to bring everywhere. They are small and light. If you value portability, you should buy one of these cameras over classic DSLR ones.
• The Truth: This is historically accurate. The first mirrorless cameras were Panasonic and Olympus cameras. They had no electronic viewfinder (or it was optional). They also sported a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor. This is half the size of full frame sensors.

But what about today’s mirrorless cameras?

One of the first Olympus mirrorless cameras. The Olympus EPL-2 with MFT sensor and 

no EVF.

A Comparison of Old and New Olympus Mirrorless Cameras

Olympus is still working with the MFT format. What about competitors like Fujifilm, Sony, Pentax, Nikon, and Canon? They’re using APS-C and full frame sensors instead.

But the size of a full frame sensor should not change the size of the camera body significantly. Right? True, but these cameras are ILC cameras. This stands for “interchangeable-lens cameras.”

The size of a lens determines the amount of sensor that is illuminated. This means it affects the size of the image the lens projects on the sensor.

Very compact and lightweight interchangeable lenses can illuminate MFT sensors. But for full frame sensors? They need lenses as big as those used by DSLR full frame cameras.

The Olympus EPL-2 with the 14-42 mm lens (28-84 mm equivalent focal length on full frame, 

or EFL) is a classic kit lens. The SD card is there to show the scale of size.

And there’s another drawback. The camera body is nice and small. But this means that the camera-lens system is unbalanced on the lens side.
This is tiring and annoying when photographing handheld with big lenses.

If you need an adapter, things get even worst. The heavy lens is pushed further in front of the camera body. This will make an already unbalanced system worse.

A top-view comparison of a 28 mm wide-angle lens on the OM-D EM-5 Mark II with the 

necessary adaptor (left) and on the old OM-1 (right). The lens sticks further out with the 

adaptor, moving the weight far from the camera body.

This also reduces the portability of a full frame mirrorless system. What you gain is only on the size and weight of the camera body.

But to make things more ergonomic, the bodies are often not made as small as they could be. Dedicated accessories even exist to make the body larger and easier to hold.

Below is a comparison between the Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II and the EPL-2. You can see them with and without the accessory power grip for the OM-D.

Comparison between the EPL-2 (small) and the OM-D EM-5 Mark II (large) with and 

without a power grip.

Removable battery grips are an interesting solution. It lets the camera stay small when paired with small, lightweight lenses. And ergonomics are improved when using heavy and long lenses.

As you see, the argument about size and weight is not particularly good. That’s especially true if you care about portability.

If this is your case, try a high-end bridge camera like the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV from the Sony RX10 family. Add a fast superzoom lens if needed. It can be a better solution.

The OM-D EM-5 Mark II with a power grip vs the Sony RX10 bridge camera.

5. Mirrorless Cameras Are WYSIWYG Cameras

Mirrorless cameras have a much stronger advantage over DSLRs. They are“what you see is what you get” cameras. And this will make you improve faster as a photographer.

How? They always use the electronic viewfinder (or Live View) to show you what the mirrorless digital camera sees. Plus, you see the effects of changing camera settings (shutter speed, aperture, ISO). And you see these in real-time.

The video below shows the effects of changing the shutter speed in real-time.

The settings are applied in real-time to the scene and displayed on the LCD or EVF.

This will help you understand the exposure triangle, aperture, shutter speed, etc. It will also make it easier to work in manual mode, particularly for photography beginners.

Another benefit? It will help you to manual focus in the dark. This is especially true if you are trying astrophotography, nighttime, or interior photography.

Overexpose the image to brighten the scene enough that it will be easy to focus. Then return to the proper settings for taking the photo.

4. Mirrorless Cameras Don’t Suffer From Light Leakage During Long Exposures In Daylight

If you have an optical viewfinder, light can enter your camera from it. In the photo below, the image you see on the mirror comes from what the viewfinder sees.

Light from the optical viewfinder of my OM-1 forms this image on the mirror.

Light leakage from the viewfinder is not usually a problem. But if you’re doing long exposures, you should cover it. Your eye will not block it. Light can creep into the body, ruining your image.

If you look at the strap that came with your camera, you will find a small black piece of soft rubber. That is what your camera maker wants you to use to close the viewfinder during long exposures.

The strap cover for the optical viewfinder of a Canon DSLR.

Since mirrorless cameras have no optical viewfinder, you don’t have to do this. And you can’t do anything even under harsh midday sun (and I do infrared photography with a mirrorless…).

3. Battery Life is Poor With a Mirrorless Camera: The False Power Problem

Mirrorless cameras drain their batteries faster than DSLRs. Even if the rear LCD is OFF, it uses energy to power the electronic viewfinder.

On average, the battery life for entry-level mirrorless cameras is about 300 shots. The high-end Sony a7 III camera reaches an astonishing 700 shots.

Entry-level DSLRs also allow you to take around 400 shots with a charged battery. You can take up to 1000 shots with the pro models like the Canon 80D.

People seem to make a big deal out of that. To me, this is a false problem.

How many of us shoot more than 300 images without the possibility of replacing the battery with a spare one? Do we need to shoot 900 photos with a single battery?

Also, as I said, power grips are available for many high-end mirrorless cameras. These allow you to use two batteries at the same time.

I do astrophotography with my Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II. I am out there at night, in the cold or humid weather.

Even when taking 200-plus images of the starry sky, I never run out of battery. Even without using the power grip.

2. Mirrorless Cameras Have Fewer Accessories Than DSLRs

That may be true, at least for MFT mirrorless cameras. Third-party lenses are scarcer than in the DSLR world. There are only some from Sigma (three lenses), Tamron (one lens), and Samyang/Rokinon (less than three lenses).

Lens adaptors are usually available to adapt lenses with a different lens mount. You can pair mirrorless cameras from Canon and Nikon with existing DSLR lenses.

There may also be fewer flash and remote shutter products than those available for DSLRs. Once again, though, this is something of a false problem.

Makers of camera accessories follow the market. And the mirrorless market is growing by the minute. They have started building dedicated accessories and lenses.

1. “Pros Don’t Use Mirrorless Cameras”: The Quality Myth

What’s the most common argument against mirrorless cameras? “Professional photographers are only using DSLRs.”

That’s not true. Many world-renowned photographers have switched to mirrorless.

One of the first to do so was travel photographer Trey Ratcliff. Other notable photographers include Andy Mumford and Phil Norton.

Image quality is about the lens and sensor (and electronics) combination. The mirror has no role in that. If you want to give the mirror a role, it’s the bad guy slapping around and blurring your long exposures.

There are many pro-graded lenses for mirrorless cameras. So image quality is not an issue.

There are two very practical reasons why most pros are still using DSLR cameras:

1. They have spent a little fortune on photography equipment. So switching is expensive.
2. People tend to associate small cameras with amateurs. And big, bulky DSLRs with large lenses are equated with professionals. The thinking is that if you are a wedding photographer with a small Olympus PEN-F, you will not attract many customers. And those you will get will give you weird looks.

We hope we’ve answered the question, “What is a mirrorless camera?’

If you are in the market for a new camera and you are interested in going mirrorless, here is what you should know:

1. Mirrorless cameras are not always the small and light package people say. The most compact ones are MFT mirrorless cameras. Their smaller sensor can be illuminated with small, compact lenses.
2. A mirrorless camera can make you become a better photographer. You will be able to see the effect of your settings in real-time.
3. Yes, a mirrorless camera has shorter battery life than a DSLR. But do you really need continuous shooting of more than 300 photos without changing the battery?
4. There is a larger number of camera accessories and third-party lenses for DSLRs than for mirrorless cameras. But the situation is changing as mirrorless camera bodies gain more and more market share;
5. Image quality is on par with that of DSLR cameras. Many pro photographers (particularly those in travel photography and landscape photography) have completely switched to mirrorless camera systems.

For more great information, check out our great guide to the different types of digital cameras.  Or,  Click Here

 

 

 # Photo, World

Photography for Beginners (The Ultimate Guide)

 

By Joshua Dunlop 

Cameras are complicated, but photography for beginners doesn’t have to be. When I first started shooting, I was frustrated with my first DSLR. I couldn’t capture what I saw through my viewfinder. It took a ton of trial and error to improve my photography.

When I managed to work it all out, I started taking some pretty spectacular images. This photography for beginners guide will share with you everything that I’ve learned from my mistakes.

 

Photography for Beginners—How Do Cameras Work?

As beginner photographers, we tend to be visual learners. And it’s my job to make beginning photography as easy as possible for you.

So I thought to myself, “What better way to help beginner photographers learn how to use their cameras than by creating an infographic?” And that’s exactly what I did.

I collaborated with an illustrator friend of mine, and together we made these images. The following are something that will make understanding exposure, and how cameras work, a whole lot easier!

Exposure

For those beginning photography, exposure is key to capturing a great image.

Learning how exposure works will help you to take control of your camera and take better photos. Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are the elements that combine to create an exposure.

As you’ll soon learn, these elements have an effect on more than the exposure. They also cause alterations in depth of field, motion blur, and digital noise.

Once you understand how each one works, you can start diving into manual mode. This is where you take control back from your camera.

The exposure triangle is a great way to remember the three settings. When combined, they control the amount of light captured from any given scene.

This will help you to understand that changing one setting will need a change in the others. That is if you are photographing the same scene with the same exact lighting conditions.

 

Aperture

Exposure happens in three steps. We will start with the aperture. This is the hole inside the lens, through which the light passes.

It’s similar to the pupil of your eye. The wider the aperture, the more light is allowed in and vice versa. Simple? Not quite.

As the aperture widens, the f-number gets lower and more light is allowed into the camera. This is great for low light. But be aware that it’s going to make the depth of field very shallow. This is not ideal when taking landscapes photos.

This is a short summary, but I go into full detail about that in this post. The aperture is the preferred setting to set first, as it directly influences how much of your scene is in focus. But, if you are looking to create motion blur, then it is second to the shutter speed.

Exposure will be much easier if you can memorize the f-stop scale.

The scale is as follows: f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22.

Shutter Speed

Once the light has passed through the aperture of the lens, it reaches the shutter. Now you need to decide how much of that light you’re going to allow into the camera.

Ordinarily, you only want a very small fraction of a second (for example 1/250 s) to prevent motion blur. However, different shutter speeds complement different situations.

Shutter speed can be anything from really fast (1/4000) for sports photography to really slow (30 seconds) for night photography. It all depends on what you’re shooting and how much light you have available to you.

Knowing how your shutter speed works is a key element in the basics of photography.

ISO

Once the light has passed through the aperture and been filtered by the shutter speed, it reaches the sensor. This is where we decide how to set the ISO.

As you turn the ISO number up, you increase the brightness. But, at the same time, the image quality decreases. There will be more digital noise or “grain.”

So you have to decide upon your priorities in terms of exposure versus the grain.

For example, I would reduce the image quality if it meant that I could prevent motion blur in my photo. There’s no possible way to fix that in post-production (yet, at least).

Exposure Summary

Once you’ve understood aperture, shutter speed and ISO, you need to learn how each of these elements of exposure work together.

For all those basics of photography, exposure is the most important.

If you don’t have this down, composition and framing become a moot point in beginner photography.

In this post, you will learn about the “stop” based system for measuring exposure. And you’ll also learn how to prioritize the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO for the best photo.

Understanding Your Camera

Metering Modes

Digital photography for beginners can be confusing. Exposure isn’t as simple as learning about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. You also have to learn about how your camera looks at light.

Metering modes are there to tell your camera how you want it to look at a scene.

The picture below was taken on spot metering mode. If you were to take the same photo using the evaluative mode, you would end up with a completely different exposure.

This is also covered in my free video training. If you’re looking for an article that explains digital metering modes (including Canon) here it is.

Understanding this basic photography point might be the key to understanding why your photos are coming out underexposed or overexposed.

Histograms

The histogram shows you a mathematical review of exposure after the photo has been taken. It tells you how evenly exposed a photo is. New photographers often find it frightening to understand. But it is easy, and I tell you how.

LCD screens aren’t very good at showing you this information through their display of the image. This is because they are affected by the ambient lighting conditions you’re in and the brightness of the screen itself.

That’s why the histogram is such a powerful tool to utilize in beginning photography correctly.

Shooting Modes

Full-Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed Priority, or Manual Mode. How do you work out which one you should be using?

There’s also a lot of misconceptions about which mode to use under which conditions.

When you understand what each mode does, the one that will be suitable for your situation becomes a lot clearer. This is also covered in my free video training.

Depth of Field

When you’re shooting in low light, you have to widen your aperture to allow enough light into the lens. But this has a major side effect. A shallow depth of field.

You can use this in a creative way. But it’s not the only possibility. There are many situations, such as landscapes, where you’ll want to use a narrower aperture. You want to use a narrow aperture so that the whole scene remains in focus.

This tutorial walks you through everything you need to know about choosing the right aperture (and the depth of field) for the right situation.

When it comes to covering all of the basics of photography, depth of field is very important.

White Balance

White balance is something I wish I’d learned more about much sooner than I did. I look back on some photos now and wonder what I was thinking.

The white balance changes the color cast of the entire photo. It is responsible for the overall warmth. It can determine whether your photo appears blue or orange, cold or warm.

Auto white balance doesn’t often do a good job. Especially with tungsten light. The sooner you learn about this basic photography principle, the more accurate your photos will look.

This is also covered in my free video training.

Focal Length

Have you ever wondered what the “mm” on your lens means? Or why people use longer focal lengths for portraits?

It’s all discussed in this post. The focal length affects more than the “zoom.” It also influences the perspective.

I cover which focal length you would want to use in different situations. As well as their possible side effects.

 

Crop Factor

A lot of you may not realize but, unless you spend about $2000 on your camera, you’re shooting on a crop sensor.

This means that your sensor is much smaller than professional SLR cameras. It is cropping your image. The crop factor has a range of effects on your photos.

It creates a narrower viewing angle and will influence your lens purchases in the future. For those beginner photographers, research what lenses will help your field of photography first.

Polarizing Filters

Polarizing filters only allow light into the lens from a certain direction. This results in the removal of glare and reflections from non-metallic objects.

Water and glass are the most affected, as well as haze from the sky. Cutting out these reflections and anomalies will make for more naturally saturated colors.

This looks fantastic and it cannot be replicated in post-production. That’s why it’s so important to understand.

How to Take Sharp Images Like a Pro

Photography beginners, I will walk you through the 10 step process of taking sharp photos like a professional.

It covers everything from choosing the right aperture and shutter speed to shooting in RAW.

It’s pretty easy to make only a few small mistakes which will result in less sharp images. That’s why we cover all ten in order of importance.

The Nifty Fifty

What can I say about the nifty fifty? What’s not to love?

For those of you who are beginner photographers, when I talk about the nifty fifty, I’m referring to the 50mm f/1.8 (or faster) prime lens. This can be picked up very cheap for most DSLRs.

It’s a great introduction to buying better quality lenses. And an excellent way of getting to grips with aperture.

The article linked is a review and guide. I wrote it because I recommend this lens as the first upgrade for every beginner photographer to make.

It’s easy to use and, for the price, will yield some excellent results.

Composition

It’s important to understand exposure. But, if you can’t get to grips with basic composition, you’ll struggle to take really good photos.

I’m not saying that you have to follow every compositional rule. But it helps to learn these rules so they can help guide you in taking better photos.

Rule of Thirds

This is often the first compositional rule that any beginner photographer comes across. And that’s for an excellent reason—it’s simple and it works.

The basic premise is that you divide your camera’s frame into thirds. By planting key objects on these lines, the composition of the image works better.

This is a tool that always works. But it is easy to overuse it. If you’ve not learned much about photography yet, it’s a great way of improving your photos.

It will help to make them more exciting.

Visual Weight

Visual weight differs in size or weight as we know it. It’s all about what we’re drawn to when we look at a photo.

When you understand visual weight, you’ll start to understand how people look at photos. And how you can position certain elements in a frame to direct the viewer’s attention to where you want them to look.

It’s not so much a tool or a rule, but an understanding.

Triangles

Shapes are essential in photography. Triangles are in almost everything we see in one way or another. It’s only a case of distinguishing and knowing what to do with them.

Triangles make great compositional tools. They’re easy to make and manipulate and are quite common. These are a great way to use the simplest and most basic photography compositions.

They are also perfect for combining different compositional techniques. These include lines and paths to create a more interesting part of a photograph.

You can even use them to make a photo feel more stable or unstable.

Eye-Lines

If you take photos of people, you’re taking photos with eye lines. It’s important to understand the effect that eye lines have on how we view a photo.

Eye-lines are the direction your subject’s eyes are pointed in. The negative space in front of the subject’s face is known as “lead room.”

These have the ability to focus our attention on a particular part of the photo. They also produce tension and other photographic elements.

Although they’re not physical lines, they can be used as such to produce different elements. These will help make triangles and vertical lines.

Balance

Balance in a photo affects how we feel when we look at it. An unbalanced photo can make us feel uneasy. A balanced photo will make us feel more relaxed.

It doesn’t matter whether you choose to make the photo balanced or unbalanced. But you should understand why you’ve chosen one or the other.

Both affect your photos in different ways.

Again, it’s one of those situations where the more you know, the easier it will be to produce the desired effect.

So that’s a brief introduction to digital photography for beginners.

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Beginner’s Guide to Still Life Photography – Free Quick Guide

Download Your Free Guide Now →

I think you are going to really love the free eBook Quick Guide this week.

Why do I think that? Well, several reasons:

• It is written by our newest author here at Photzy, Stacey Hill. She has a real knack for the written word that I think you’ll appreciate.
• The topic being covered today requires very little in the way of equipment.
• This genre of photography isn’t as covered as others, such as landscapes or street photography. Working in this genre can get you noticed faster!
• While creating works of art, you will also be learning key photographic concepts such as story, mood, props, background, and layout.

Are you ready?

The eBook Quick Guide for this week is titled “The Beginner’s Guide to Still Life Photography”.

You’re going to learn key concepts such as…

• How to create a mood with props
• How to create a background that highlights the subject
• Where to find props
• How to layout your still life image in a pleasing composition that also tells a story
• The importance of the camera point-of-view
• And much more

Photo Credit: Stacey Hill

Download Your Free Guide Now → 

 

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