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Archive 2013 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?

  
 
PhotoMaximum
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


You can be sure that Canon and Nikon will be watching this carefully. The "if you can't beat them then join them" motto always applies...


May 24, 2013 at 07:56 PM
sebboh
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


PhotoMaximum wrote:
I am sort of wrestling with this. I love the idea of a compact kit in certain situations. But I am a 6' 4" tall guy with big hands. I sort of like heavy cameras and the triangle based stability that holding a SLR to one's eye offers. I never have connected with holding a camera at arms length while staring at the back of a small LCD screen: the zen like feeling of breathing while pressing the shutter near one's face is missing somehow...


i hate the arms length grip too, but the waist level finder replication with a flip up lcd (sony and some olympus cameras) is pretty awesome (preferible to an eye level finder in many cases) and something i can't get from any current dslrs. there are plenty of compact mirrorless cameras that over evfs too (and fuji offers a ovf).



May 24, 2013 at 08:15 PM
zylan
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


that is why i was asking....if i go with a mirrorless camera(sony, canon, etc.) i want to use the lenses with it and not the lenses that i have for my canon 40D...i want the small body and lenses...if i had to buy an adapter and use my current lenses, then i might as well stick with my 40D....size/weight matters especially on long vacation trips where i have to walk quite a bit.


May 24, 2013 at 08:50 PM
swldstn
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


Ok, lens adapters are OK but IMO EOS lenses, with no manual f-stop control are pretty useless on a lens mount adapter. I have the Fuji System and can easily use my old Pentax-M lenses with or any lens that allows manual aperture adjustment are good candidates. These lenses are fairly small (28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4).

Now size is a different matter. The major reason for my mirrorless was to have a smaller kit for travel. Using large lenses, build for my full-frame DSLR, IMO are poor candidates. The Fuji XF lens offer excellent performance for their truly smaller size (than their EOS equivalents) and lens selection is key. An EOS-M only has 1 small lenses (22mm) that doesn't require an adapter. Putting an EOS L on those defeats the purpose.

You can put lenses designed for SLRs on it with adapters but any SLR lens ends up being big with the adapter to mount it. Now using lenses designed for a Range Finder are my way of thinking. Designed to sit close to the focal plane make them better candidates. They are not cheap though. If you want a high quality Mirrorless don't expect to get buy cheaply. Its as much as a high end APS-C DSLR like the 60D, 7D, or D7X00



May 24, 2013 at 09:15 PM
ytwong
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


A reason I would against getting a cheap adapter is that they not as well made and sometimes they are coarse and can scratch the lens mount or body mount.

I love the idea of a compact kit in certain situations. But I am a 6' 4" tall guy with big hands. I sort of like heavy cameras and the triangle based stab..."
I think it depends on what kind of shooting. If you are shooting an event, holding and shooting the camera extensivly during a period and then after that you pack your gear and leave... then DSLR is certainly better.

But if you and put your camera in your bag and carry with you all the time... you spend a lot more time carrying it and actually shooting with it.. a mirrorless might be a relief..

NEX-6, OMD EM-5 has built in EVF and you can still have the triangle based stability. Maybe you might find the flipping LCD is useful for you composition at times.

zylan: for me, there is no point to buy a EOS-M and adapter and use your existing DSLR lens... a low end DSLR is not THAT much bigger and heavier than a mirrorless and they works better with DSLR lens than any mirrorless. IMHO, among SLR lens, it only make sense to use small primes on mirrorless.

The "hump" on the OMD is really a reason I didn't buy it...
NEX6/7 has EVF and it is much smaller
http://camerasize.com/compare/#375,331



May 24, 2013 at 10:06 PM
PhotoMaximum
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


Wow, that camera size site is so cool...

Of course the sensor size has an impact as well...



May 24, 2013 at 10:25 PM
Dudewithoutape
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


Found something bad with my cheap Canon FD adapters - The pin is not long enough to trigger the stop down mechanism (to change aperture) on some of my FD lenses.


May 24, 2013 at 10:28 PM
zylan
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


ytwong wrote:
A reason I would against getting a cheap adapter is that they not as well made and sometimes they are coarse and can scratch the lens mount or body mount.

I think it depends on what kind of shooting. If you are shooting an event, holding and shooting the camera extensivly during a period and then after that you pack your gear and leave... then DSLR is certainly better.

But if you and put your camera in your bag and carry with you all the time... you spend a lot more time carrying it and actually shooting with it.. a
...Show more

yes, i am likely to buy the NEX-6...have been researching over the past week...Thanks.



May 24, 2013 at 10:56 PM
philip_pj
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


It's best not to push the notion of DSLR lenses being large by necessity. It's not true and remember you are cropping the image circle heavily by using them now on X or E mount.

The biggest downsides to the new cameras so far is crop format, robbing the better more characterful FF lenses of their full impact; then there is the legacy lens or two you cannot do without. A Leica M6/ XE-1 (these are close to the same dimensions) size FF mirrorless with a light body will solve both problems, provided your favourite DLSR lenses are not too big.

I think small MF lenses are very good prospects - as the new lenses are often AF with non-linear 'fly blind' MF actuation, so the designed in dumbing down of many such lenses leads to AF dependency as the better overall option.

For FF MF lens users, an FF mirrorless will basically be a straight body swap from a FF DSLR, losing bulk and maybe 400 grams in the process. Then there are all the great M class lenses that are tiny and light as the existing crop MILC lenses, they will go straight on and be 'themselves' at long last instead of having a small 66% rectangle cut out of their images. Leica 21mm and 24mm, for example. Mid 2014, they say.



May 25, 2013 at 03:00 AM
philber
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


sebboh wrote:
i hate the arms length grip too, but the waist level finder replication with a flip up lcd (sony and some olympus cameras) is pretty awesome (preferible to an eye level finder in many cases) and something i can't get from any current dslrs. there are plenty of compact mirrorless cameras that over evfs too (and fuji offers a ovf).


I second what sebboh writes. I shifted from DSLR shooting to mixed Canon/NEX, and now NEX only. Shooting a NEX is a different experience, because it leads one to use a different tool differently. I shoot 85% at waist level, looking down into the tilted up LCD, and use magnification 100% of the time to achieve proper focus even with f:1.4 lenses. My keeper rate from a focus POV is maybe 80%, Vs 40% with a 5DII with Zeiss prime.
As to adapters for your lenses, you have 3 kinds. The passive kind, which is a purely mechanical device. Except that the quality of E-Bay cheapos is quite variable. Some good, some bad; I had one where I couldn't focus beyond 5m...
Then you have "smart" adaptors, optically passive but with electronics that will let you keep AF and IS on your DSLR lenses with a NEX.
Then you can buy a SpeedBooster which does add an optical component, so it is not loss-free, but brings your FF DSLR lenses back to their native focal length, and gains you one stop of speed as well.
The last two categories are not cheap, and I would recommend sticking with proven, quality vendors, such as Metabones.



May 25, 2013 at 04:49 AM
ISO1600
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


I have run the full gamut. DSLR, mft, and now nex6 with speed booster. The size of the nex, the wonderful finder and LCD, and the look I can get with the adapter (I think it is similar to D700)... I am very happy, and wish I had done this long ago.


May 27, 2013 at 08:07 PM
douglasf13
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


PhotoMaximum wrote:
I am sort of wrestling with this. I love the idea of a compact kit in certain situations. But I am a 6' 4" tall guy with big hands. I sort of like heavy cameras and the triangle based stability that holding a SLR to one's eye offers. I never have connected with holding a camera at arms length while staring at the back of a small LCD screen: the zen like feeling of breathing while pressing the shutter near one's face is missing somehow...


In preparation for the RX1 that I just ordered, I've been shooting a little bit with my NEX-5 without using the tilt of the LCD screen (although I will be getting an EVF with the RX1.) With a fixed LCD camera, at least with my vision, I don't need to hold the camera out in front of me much at all. I cradle the camera in my left hand under the lens, tuck my elbows in at my sides, and place the camera about chin level only about 7" from my face, so that I'm slightly looking down at it. This gives me a stable base, and it isn't nearly arm's length. Of course, a tilt up screen is even better, and lets you hold the camera even lower, but a fixed LCD is still usable and stable for me, and I'm about 6'2", 180lbs.



May 27, 2013 at 08:22 PM
alwang
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · Downsides to adding a mirrorless body?


Dudewithoutape wrote:
Found something bad with my cheap Canon FD adapters - The pin is not long enough to trigger the stop down mechanism (to change aperture) on some of my FD lenses.


I had the opposite problem with my cheap Sony Alpha adapter: the pin for triggering the aperture was too long for certain lenses which had their own aperture rings. I found that I could screw the pin a couple of rotations to lower it or raise it. Might be the same for your FD adapter.



May 27, 2013 at 08:35 PM
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