Comparison of DSLR and mirrorless camera; Which one should we buy?

The debate between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras has come to a head recently. With recent advancements, mirrorless cameras look better, more special, and more powerful than ever.

When you're looking to buy a new camera, especially if you're on a budget and looking for professional, high-end cameras, making a decision It can be difficult to decide between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera; Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you know the difference between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera and make an informed choice. Therefore, in this article, we will examine the difference between a DSLR camera and a mirrorless camera.

Introducing mirrorless cameras and DSLR

For many years, DSLR cameras were the best choice for professional or even semi-professional and beginner photographers. The sensors of these cameras were designed to be similar to traditional 35mm film cameras. The first difference between a DSLR camera and a mirrorless camera is their size and dimensions. DSLR cameras are larger in size because they have a mirror inside. On the other hand, mirrorless cameras can be considered much more compact.

The first DSLR camera was invented in 1999. The structure of these cameras allows you to see exactly what is in front of you through the optical viewfinder of this camera. DSLR actually stands for "Digital Single Lens Reflex". The mirrors used in this reflex camera reflect the light from the front of the camera up to the optical viewfinder, and this process allows the photographer to frame his photo.

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In these cameras, when the shutter button is pressed is given, the mirror moves out of the way so that the light hits the imaging sensor and your photo is captured. But the working mechanism of mirrorless cameras is different.

With the advancement of technology and the increase in the processing power of parts, it has become possible for camera sensors to perform more computing tasks than ever before. In a mirrorless camera, the imaging sensor receives all the information, performs the roles and processes of autofocus and metering, and immediately sends the information to a digital screen.

In fact, these differences are so great that A very popular big company like Sony has decided to stop the production line of DSLR cameras and focus more on mirrorless cameras.

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  Technical Differences Between DSLR and mirrorless Cameras

  Mirrorless cameras are very different from their bigger cousins, DSLR cameras. These differences include different aspects of appearance and functionality. In the following, we will review some of the most important differences.

  Dimensions and Size

  One of the most significant differences between a DSLR camera and a mirrorless camera is related to their appearance. As mentioned earlier, mirrorless cameras are smaller and may even be half the size of DSLR cameras. By eliminating the mirrored aperture and optical viewfinder, designers and manufacturers have been able to make much thinner and smaller cameras. This has made mirrorless cameras a great option for street photographers or travel and tourism photographers. The small size and light weight make them highly portable, and these two categories of photographers are always in favor of cameras with such features.

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  Viewfinder

  Most DSLR cameras have an optical viewfinder or OVF. Optical viewfinder is the traditional method of framing a photo. This allows a photographer to look through the viewfinder and see exactly what is in front of them. Some prefer this traditional camera framing preview method for this reason. It is also possible through live show. Live View is available on many DSLRs and basically all mirrorless cameras. This image is actually a preview of the image and landscape placed in front of the camera. On DSLR cameras, live preview is achieved by flipping the mirror up and basically does the same thing as mirrorless cameras.

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  While mirrorless cameras use an electric viewfinder or EVF. Compared to the OVF, the EVF is a small digital screen similar to the OVF, but with a preview Digitally displays the image. one of the possible disadvantages of EVFs is that they may lag or shake depending on the conditions. Of course, this can be different depending on the camera model. Because the digital viewfinder relies on the image sensor, low light can slow down the shutter speed and increase the ISO. In other words, insufficient ambient light can increase the noise in your photo or make your image blurry.

  When mirrorless cameras first hit the market, the electric viewfinder was a big disadvantage. was considered But with the advancement of technology, newer EVFs have become much more advanced and can provide users with the same quality as the optical viewfinder, or even better.

  The main advantage of the electric viewfinder is a live and accurate preview. watch the In other words, all the camera settings are applied in the same viewfinder, you don't need to look at the image on the monitor to check these things. On the other hand, the optical viewfinder does not have this ability and you only see the raw and real image. These can include the histogram, focus, and even the camera settings menu. Another advantage is that the electronic viewfinder does not turn off and does not blink. In DSLR cameras, every time a photo is taken, the mirror is moved and the viewfinder is momentarily disabled. This problem does not occur with mirrorless camera systems, because the sensor is constantly recording everything.

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  Autofocus

  On most DSLR cameras, the mirror not only directs light into the viewfinder Reflects, but also reflects light towards a dedicated autofocus sensor. However, in the system of mirrorless cameras, the imaging sensor takes over this role and the mirror no longer needs to reflect the light.

  The first examples of mirrorless cameras were not very efficient in terms of autofocus and The same old technology of DSLR cameras gave better results. But today everything has changed. Many mirrorless cameras today use hybrid autofocus systems that have hundreds of detection points and contrast detection stages. Therefore, their efficiency and performance are not only no longer weaker than DSLR cameras, but even better.

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  Video

  Currently, mirrorless cameras have no better video capabilities than DSLRs, mainly due to the advanced autofocus systems used in them. When shooting video using DSLR cameras, the camera's viewfinder is no longer useful, as the mirror must be moved out of the way and you can view the image through the monitor. As we said, when you press the shutter button to take a picture, the mirror is moved out of the way so that the light reaches the camera's sensors and the image is recorded. Therefore, to record video, the mirror must be out of the way of the sensors in the same way. This causes the viewfinder to not work in movie mode. But that's not all, for the same reasons, DSLRs generally have poor autofocus in live view, including when shooting video.

  Another important difference is that you can use the electronic viewfinder. Record video on mirrorless cameras. This feature can be a great advantage in low light or fast moving situations.

  

  Image Quality

  The difference between a DSLR camera and a mirrorless camera in terms of image quality is not that great. Both models of these cameras have very high quality photography capabilities. However, image quality depends more on the type of sensor and camera model, and the fact that they are without or with mirrors does not affect the quality of images. In other words, an advanced and capable DSLR camera can have much higher image quality than a mid-range mirrorless camera. The mirror does not need to be out of the way of the camera to take a picture. Therefore, the shooting speed of these cameras can be higher. Of course, to measure the shooting speed and shutter speed, we must pay attention to the camera model. Some advanced models of DSLR cameras have a very high shutter speed and maybe even their shooting power is more than the basic and simple models of mirrorless cameras.

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  Battery Life

  The battery life of DSLR cameras is longer than that of mirrorless cameras. Of course, the reason for this is not related to the quality of the battery. The working mechanism of mirrorless cameras is such that it should always display the image digitally on the viewfinder or screen. Therefore, they will consume more power and battery had Meanwhile, the viewfinder images of DSLR cameras are optical and reflect the image of the camera mirror, and there is no need to consume energy and digitally broadcast the image.

  Lens selection and variety

  Use Side and different lenses are absolutely essential for professional photographers. They use different lenses in different conditions. Lenses are their work tools, and access to a variety of lenses is not only necessary, but essential for them. We can consider the variety of lenses as one of the main reasons for the difference between a DSLR camera and a mirrorless camera. The variety of available lenses for DSLR cameras is much higher and the reason can be because of the much longer history of these cameras. Considering that mirrorless cameras are relatively new, there is not enough variety of lenses available in the market yet.

  

  Summary

  As their name suggests, mirrorless cameras do not use mirrors in their construction, Which makes them lighter and smaller in size. In such a situation, the imaging sensor must take on more tasks. These tasks include performing automatic focus, measuring the distance to the subject and presenting a digital image to the camera's display and its digital viewfinder.

  The advances made in the processor and sensors of mirrorless cameras have made these cameras in some cases fields, such as autofocus or photography quality, have better capabilities than DSLR cameras.

  All these things have led some to believe that this new generation of cameras, i.e. mirrorless cameras, have advantages They have more than DSLR cameras. In response to these people, it can be said that old DSLR cameras perform better than the new generation of cameras in some areas. Among these, we can mention more battery maintenance and more access to accessories and lenses.

  This article was originally written by Ismail Delkhmosh and updated by Sadra Sharifi.

Source: Makeuseof