Mirrorless Cameras are Not All Sunshine and Roses! The Downside of Mirrorless Cameras

Forest, Cape Sebastian, Oregon; Click to enlarge
Olympus E-M5, Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 @ 33mm, 1/20th @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Mirrorless cameras and camera systems have many wonderful attributes, among them smaller size, less weight, more accurate focus, etc.  But there are some aspects of mirrorless cameras that are not positives.  What are they?  Read on.

Smaller seems always better.  After all, it is less weight and bulk.  But, less weight and bulk also means less mass and potentially harder to hold steady. A heavier camera allows you to use the weight of the camera itself as a steadying factor. Additionally, smaller means, for many people, harder to hold in their large hands. Smaller can be less comfortable and you can end up with a less secure grip.  Smaller can work against you if you have large hands and long fingers. Smaller can be better, but smaller can also be a hindrance.

Contrast detect autofocus focuses directly off the sensor, thus being more accurate than phase detect autofocus.  That is good.  However, by the nature of how contrast detect autofocus works, it is slower than phase detect autofocus.  Phase detect autofocus can determine which way and how far a lens mechanism needs to be moved to achieve proper focus, while contrast detect has to move past exact focus then return to achieve exact autofocus.  Therefore, mirrorless cameras don't focus as fast as digital SLRs, but the time difference is getting shorter with each generation of contrast detect cameras.  CD focus is still slower but there is hope for the future as I predict most digital SLRs will convert over to electronic viewfinders in the next 10 years.  The focus will have to equal or surpass PD focus before that can successfully happen.

Slower focus with contrast detect focusing mechanisms also means that mirrorless cameras may not serve you well when photographing sports, children playing, moving vehicles or other moving subjects.  The manufacturers are starting to add phase detect sensors in the image sensor to help speed up the focus.  It has helped, but it is not there yet.  More accurate but slower focus can be a deal breaker for some types of photography.

Electronic viewfinders (EVF) are great because you actually preview and see, live, the image you will be making before you press the shutter.  However, the downsides are most EVFs are still low resolution, small, low contrast, show poor color and lose shadow and highlight detail compared to an optical viewfinder.  They also can produce lag.  Lag is when you move the camera or the subject moves it takes a fraction of a second for the viewfinder to "update" your view. That said, a couple of manufacturers are now making excellent EVFs that are almost as good as optical viewfinders.  EVFs will continue to improve in the future.  Again, I predict that within 10 years, almost all cameras that have viewfinders will have EVFs and not optical viewfinders.

The battery life on mirrorless cameras, but definition, is not currently as good as with digital SLRs.  Since you looking through the EVF forces the camera to have the EVF and sometimes simultaneously, the LCD, continuously illuminated, that takes a lot of battery power.  Where a digital SLR may get 700, 1000 or more images per charge, a mirrorless camera may only get half as much, about 350 or less, in some cases.

The shutter in mirrorless cameras have to make an extra step when taking a photograph.  Why?  The shutter curtain on a mirrorless has to be open to expose the sensor so you can see the image.  When you press the shutter, the shutter closes, then opens again, the exposure is made, then the shutter closes again.  On a digital SLR, the shutter is closed until you press the shutter.  Closed, press the shutter, open, then closed again.  Manufacturers are starting to include electronic shutters in mirrorless cameras that eliminate this issue and, as another bonus, are completely silent.

Since mirrorless cameras are a relatively new phenomenon, there are not as many broad based accessories for mirrorless as there is for digital SLRs, either with the camera manufacturers or with independent manufacturers.  You may be limited in aftermarket flash units and other common accessories that those with digital SLRs have enjoyed for years.

Finally, many mirrorless cameras are just, if not more, expensive as DSLRs!  So don't think you are going to save money by moving to mirrorless.

Mirrorless cameras have many advantages over larger digital SLRs, but, as I have pointed out, there are also disadvantages.  You will have to weigh each against the other.  But, I bet there are some other disadvantages.  Leave a comment and let us all know what other ones you can think of.

Thanks for looking.

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


All content on this blog is © 2014 Dennis A. Mook.  All Rights Reserved.  Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution.  Permission may be granted for commercial use.  Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.