{"id":993,"date":"2016-02-26T01:28:28","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T01:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/?p=993"},"modified":"2016-02-26T01:35:34","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T01:35:34","slug":"dslr-mirrorless-evil-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/dslr-mirrorless-evil-cameras\/","title":{"rendered":"Demystifying Cameras … DSLR, Mirrorless, EVIL, etc"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Three<\/a>
Three common camera designs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s clear the air. Is the DSLR dead? And what exactly is a DSLR anyway?<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, most people assumed that DSLR meant \u201creally good camera\u201d. (Some folks still believe this.) Over the past three years, numerous commentators have pronounced that mirrorless cameras have killed the DSLR. Both these sentiments are a mix of truth and falsehood.<\/p>\n

First of all, DSLR\u00a0means Digital + SLR. It is the digital successor to SLR film cameras. If we all agree that we\u2019re talking about digital cameras, then the \u201cD\u201d is superfluous.<\/p>\n

SLR (DSLR)\u00a0= single lens + reflex mirror.<\/h2>\n

These cameras have two distinguishing characteristics. \u201cSL\u201d means single lens. \u201cR\u201d means reflex mirror. An SLR allows the photographer to optically see through the exact same lens that the camera uses to capture images; it does this using a mirror to redirect the light. In general, the mirror must be moved out of the light path when capturing an image; that’s why it is called reflex<\/em>.\u00a0(There are some exceptions; E.g. Canon EOS RT, circa.1990.)<\/p>\n

System camera = camera with interchangeable components.<\/h2>\n

The most common system feature is choice of interchangeable lenses. Second most common system feature is a \u201chot shoe\u201d for external strobes and other accessories. While interchangeable lenses<\/em> implies “system”, the reverse is not entirely true; some camera systems do not include interchangeable lenses. Some camera systems offer lens accessories to make the built-in lens more telephoto or more wide-angle; for example: Olympus C5060 (2003), Fuji X100 (2015).<\/p>\n

Compact system camera.<\/h2>\n

A system camera that is smaller than a typical DSLR. As mirrorless cameras are commonly half the size of a typical DSLR, mirrorless + system camera<\/em> is often referred to as a Compact System Camera<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Mirrorless camera.<\/h2>\n

Mirrorless cameras eliminate the mirror found in SLR designs. There are two practical implications: the camera\u00a0is smaller than comparable SLR and it lacks an optical viewfinder.<\/p>\n

The term mirrorless camera<\/em> generally implies a digital camera; however, I must point out that many older film-based cameras do not have a reflex mirror. View camera, twin lens, and rangefinder are all examples of mirrorless camera designs.<\/p>\n

Eye-level viewfinder.<\/h2>\n

To see through the camera, you place the camera near your eye. There are three types of eye-level viewfinder. (1) Optical viewfinder, typical of a DSLR \/ SLR; (2) rangefinder (or possibly a twin-lens camera) which employs a second lens, separate from the lens used by the camera to capture the image; (3) electronic viewfinder which displays the image using a tiny digital display within the viewfinder. The first two are “optical” and require no electrical power, while an electronic viewfinder relies upon electronics.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, a large display panel can\u00a0substitute for\u00a0an eye-level viewfinder. For example, a camera phone does not include an eye-level finder. But if you\u2019ve ever struggled to use such a camera in bright sunlight, you may appreciate that an eye-level viewfinder can have advantages.\u00a0 Additionally, optical viewfinders do not eat your battery as digital\u00a0display panels do.<\/p>\n

EVIL = electronic viewfinder +\u00a0interchangeable lenses.<\/h2>\n

Electronic viewfinder implies mirrorless. Typically, the combination of\u00a0EV+IL implies a\u00a0mirrorless camera system<\/em>, which in turn implies compact system camera<\/em>. However, as mentioned previously, a system camera may not have interchangable lenses.\u00a0The term EVIL is more specific.<\/p>\n

TTL = Through The Lens<\/h2>\n

This refers to an electronic exposure meter built in to the camera.\u00a0A TTL meter measures the light coming through the lens used to capture the image.\u00a0 TTL is common for many different types of cameras, including SLR and mirrorless.<\/p>\n

Let me give you\u00a0one specific example where TTL is important.\u00a0 If you place a dark polarizing filter on the lens, the light entering the lens is diminished.\u00a0 TTL metering is immediately and precisely aware of this.\u00a0 If the meter is not measuring the light through the lens, then you have to manually adjust the camera controls to compensate.<\/p>\n

Is the SLR “dead” ?<\/h1>\n

No, not yet.<\/p>\n

As we said earlier, some people have equated SLR with \u201creally good camera\u201d. In that respect, the venerable SLR no longer stands alone.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the technical meaning of the SLR acronym, mirrorless designs eliminate mechanical moving parts inside the camera. That is a compelling feature. And mirrorless designs tend to be much smaller, which is also compelling in many circumstances.\u00a0 However, the concept of an optical viewfinder + single lens … is still amazing, stunning, cool, and practical.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I choose and use\u00a0both SLR camera systems and mirrorless camera systems.\u00a0\u00a0They\u00a0each have\u00a0strengths and weaknesses.\u00a0 Did you know that “compact” isn’t always a good thing?\u00a0 But that is a subject for another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s clear the air. Is the DSLR dead? And what exactly is a DSLR anyway? Ten years ago, most people assumed that DSLR meant \u201creally good camera\u201d. (Some folks still believe this.) Over the past three years, numerous commentators have pronounced that mirrorless cameras have killed the DSLR. Both these sentiments are a mix of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4],"tags":[43,143],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camera","category-equipment","tag-dslr","tag-mirrorless"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":995,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions\/995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}