Do mirrorless match up to DSLR in terms on picture quality?

MichaelHo

MichaelHo

MichaelHo

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Hi guys,

Have been an avid hobbyist for a few years now but over the past 2 years I haven't had much time with photography and haven't kept up with the technology.

I now have a young family and want to get a camera where I can take good quality photos of my children and the family, mainly random snap shots capturing moments. My interest are also landscape and portraits so would like to be able to use the camera for these when I get a chance to also.

Been toying with the idea of getting a 5Diii and 24-70 lens which will ensure picture quality however I have recently been reading about mirrorless cameras which seem to developing quite well these days.

My question is will a mirrorless camera take as good of a photo as a pro consumer grade DSLR camera like the 5Diii? I can see that the lens options are not so great with mirrorless, ideally I'd like something like F2.8 to get nice blur.

Do you guys think I would be able to get away with mirrorless?
 
With the Canon mirrorless, you can use EF/EF-S lenses, so that's not a limitation. The sensor is similar to that in the DSLR lineup so that's not going to hold you back either.

A decent quality photo will be one that's exposed correctly and has the desired focus, and as far as I can see it's the AF that's holding back mirrorless cameras slightly, at least with Canon and its lack of phase detection. This will change with their dual pixel AF sensors and as tech advances- mirrorless cameras WILL catch up in technical and performance terms, it's inevitable.

Problem is, as sensors get bigger, the glass needed to get your desired f2.8 DOF also gets bigger/heavier. That's physics, and the lack of a mirror makes no difference. Personally if I have to use big optics, I want a camera with a nice big grip to wield it.
 
MichaelHo said:
Hi guys,

Have been an avid hobbyist for a few years now but over the past 2 years I haven't had much time with photography and haven't kept up with the technology.

I now have a young family and want to get a camera where I can take good quality photos of my children and the family, mainly random snap shots capturing moments. My interest are also landscape and portraits so would like to be able to use the camera for these when I get a chance to also.

Been toying with the idea of getting a 5Diii and 24-70 lens which will ensure picture quality however I have recently been reading about mirrorless cameras which seem to developing quite well these days.

My question is will a mirrorless camera take as good of a photo as a pro consumer grade DSLR camera like the 5Diii? I can see that the lens options are not so great with mirrorless, ideally I'd like something like F2.8 to get nice blur.

Do you guys think I would be able to get away with mirrorless?
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I wouldn't consider Canon for mirrorless imo. It's just way behind the competition and it's not clear Canon will even continue with mirrorless due to lack of market success. Sure you can use EF lenses, but you can on other mirrorless systems with an adaptor and you can use focus peeking to help you focus.

The 24-70 is a good general purpose lens, but not that interesting for portraits. Prime lenses are where it's at for portraiture in my opinion.

There are allot of advantages with Olympus, but if you are after shallow depth of fields, then something like a Fuji XE-1 with 35mm 1.4 is a good solution. Plus its a camera system that looks cool that you can take anywhere without looking like a douche with a massive camera that everyone is afraid of.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=xf%2035mm%201.4%20portrait
 
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MichaelHo said:
Hi guys,

Have been an avid hobbyist for a few years now but over the past 2 years I haven't had much time with photography and haven't kept up with the technology.

I now have a young family and want to get a camera where I can take good quality photos of my children and the family, mainly random snap shots capturing moments. My interest are also landscape and portraits so would like to be able to use the camera for these when I get a chance to also.

Been toying with the idea of getting a 5Diii and 24-70 lens which will ensure picture quality however I have recently been reading about mirrorless cameras which seem to developing quite well these days.

My question is will a mirrorless camera take as good of a photo as a pro consumer grade DSLR camera like the 5Diii? I can see that the lens options are not so great with mirrorless, ideally I'd like something like F2.8 to get nice blur.

Do you guys think I would be able to get away with mirrorless?
Click to expand...

The questions is, why do yo want a mirrorless camera? The main advantage is that they are smaller and lighter, so they are better for casually shooting, or when you want to go really light and have a pocket camera, or when you won't to be discrete such as street photography in the 3rd world.they don't really offer any advantages beyond that their size.


The new micro four thirds cameras have sensors that are better than the newest canon APS-C sensors such as in the canon 70D. However, the latest Nikon, Sony and Pentax APS-C sensors are a step up in terms of image quality.

However, No mirrorless camera has the outright IQ of the canon 5Dmk3 which has a large 35mm sensor. The newest Sony NEx cameras won't be be miles behind though. And I partly depends what I age aspects you re interested in. In terms of dynamic range the NEX mirrorless are at least equal to the canon 5dmk3 because canon have very poor ADC technology inducing noisy shadows. However, in terms of light gathering the large canon 5d sensor clearly has an advantage over any crop sensor right now by about 1 stop.
 
D.P. said:
The new micro four thirds cameras have sensors that are better than the newest canon APS-C sensors such as in the canon 70D. However, the latest Nikon, Sony and Pentax APS-C sensors are a step up in terms of image quality.
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5 AXIS IBIS more than makes up for that difference in terms of ISO imo.
 
D.P. said:
Except when the subject is moving...
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I shoot my 85 at 1/250 just to deal with camera shake, I have to concentrate to reliably shoot slower (hands are not as steady when under pressure). If I had 5 axis IBIS I could easily get away with 1/80 for weddings, maybe 1/30 for people standing talking etc.

For stationary subjects, apparently the latest 5 axis IBIS can be handheld for 1 second. This means it's competing with FF, and beating FF if you are not using stabilised lenses.
 
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ShakenNstirred said:
its about time we went mirror less really
once the EVF get better im sure they all will retire the mirror
maybe in the next 5 years this will happen
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We're already there imo.

The 2.4m dot EVF on my A77 makes the OVF on my D7000 feel like it's out of the stoneage.

I love being able to view the real time exposure output, actual depth of field in real time, spirit level, live histogram and change any settings all without removing my eye from the camera.
 
EvF will someday replace OVF but a lot of what you list apply to optical viewfinders anyway, e.g. Want to see the actual DoF then just press the DoF preview button! Change aperture, expsoure, ISO and EC- you see all of that and more through an optical finder. Many also have horizon/spirit level.

As for viewing actual expsoure, you don't really get that with an EVF because it doesn't have the same DR as the RAW files so it is hard to really understand the expsoure. However, having real time histogram s would be an advantage.




No the real advantage to going mirrorless is less mechanical complexity, no blackout, not mirror slap, faster shutter and a but lighter. One can make smaller shallower bodies as well but there are strong ergonomic reasons why the current DSLR size is desired.
 
An Exception said:
I shoot my 85 at 1/250 just to deal with camera shake, I have to concentrate to reliably shoot slower (hands are not as steady when under pressure). If I had 5 axis IBIS I could easily get away with 1/80 for weddings, maybe 1/30 for people standing talking etc.

For stationary subjects, apparently the latest 5 axis IBIS can be handheld for 1 second. This means it's competing with FF, and beating FF if you are not using stabilised lenses.
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AFAIK the 5-axis IBIS is around 3.5-4 stops, the same as any current Nikon and canon lens,but performance degrades linearly with focal length.

For sure it is great to have IS on all lenses but it has its weaknesses and still doesn't resolve situations where there is subject movement.

When shooting static scenes it is still better to use a tripod if acuity is really important.
 
Apparently Olympus is claiming 5 stops with the E-M1. From different reviews so far, I'm seeing people saying 0.5-1 second exposures are easy to get sharp.
This guy even shot a 2 second exposure, although did lose some acuity.

From what I can tell, unless you are shooting longer than 0.5 seconds, tripods are not needed, which is better than the VR in my 24-85 which actually performs as good as the VR in the latest 70-200 F4 VR (according to Nikon).
http://nikonrumors.com/2013/07/01/nikon-publishes-lens-vr-performance-results-according-to-the-new-cipa-standard.aspx/
 
An Exception said:
Apparently Olympus is claiming 5 stops with the E-M1. From different reviews so far, I'm seeing people saying 0.5-1 second exposures are easy to get sharp.
This guy even shot a 2 second exposure, although did lose some acuity.

From what I can tell, unless you are shooting longer than 0.5 seconds, tripods are not needed, which is better than the VR in my 24-85 which actually performs as good as the VR in the latest 70-200 F4 VR (according to Nikon).
http://nikonrumors.com/2013/07/01/nikon-publishes-lens-vr-performance-results-according-to-the-new-cipa-standard.aspx/
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Olympus may claim 5 stops but I don't think that is actually based on real world result, the same applies for all IS system ( in fact I am sure Nikon chain 5 stops for VR2 on some lenses). I would be interested in seeing the CIPA results.

http://photo.net/olympus-camera-forum/00bN0A
Plenty of people have tested the OMd and found about 2-3 stops. I don't know if the em1 has improved over that.

I expect the stories of people getting hand hold shots at 1seocnd are using wide angle lenses, the same is true for the Nikon 16-35 on FF, some people claim 1 second exposures hand hold.
 
Thanks for the responses guys, the practicality of a mirror less camera alongside its improved PQ makes it really tempting. More specifically the Olympus EM1 with the 12-40 F2.8 looks perfect for what I am looking for.

Am going to wait to see what the full frame NEX is like (also pricing, I think that one might come out ridiculously expensive which makes the 5Diii a much better choice).
 
I've had a 5D2 for a few years now and keep being tempted to change it. Mirrorless cameras are one of those options but they just look way too expensive to make it worthwhile.

Separate from the topic, I've looked enviously at the 5D3 and latest Nikons, but just can't see the value for the limited number of photos that I take. I've learned to work around the shortcomings of the 5D2.

I originally started looking at mirrorless solutions a couple of years ago, after a trip abroad when I was utterly sick of lugging around the 5D2 and a few lenses. These days I just pick a lens knowing where I'm going, and then try to be more creative with it rather than constant swapping!
 
I agree 100% with you on the price.

As one example, a few months ago I was looking at the Panasonic range and as I mostly shoot landscapes I generally shoot in the 14-24mm range so the Panasonic 7-14mm was a lens that particularly interested me....until I saw the price.

I'm not sure what Panasonic were smoking when they priced it but I could happily buy a D7000 and Sigma 10-20mm with plenty of change left for what is being asked for that lens alone, I didn't really look beyond that so I don't know if there are any alternatives for less.
 
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