(Newswire.net — December 17, 2021) —
Being able to look through the optical viewfinder directly at your subject offers a sense of connection that many photographers love about shooting with the DSLR. But the appeal of mirrorless cameras has been growing for some time. And the art of handling these cameras is also evolving.
Mirrorless cameras have shaken up the industry in recent years, with their high-end offerings. Sony mirrorless cameras like the Sony Alpha and Fuji mirrorless cameras like the Fujifilm GFX are especially worth mentioning. This technology is not new by any means (cue the Epson R-D1 and phone cameras), but interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras are.
These days, mirrorless cameras have come far. The lack of an optical viewfinder and the lightness (of many, not all) mirrorless models make them more comfortable and handy.
But there’s more to mirrorless cameras than simply fewer moving parts, and ways to make the most of your experience with them.
Make Sure You’re Never Out Of Juice
Mirrorless cameras tend to run out of batteries faster than DSLR cameras. Your typical Canon EOS has a good, strong battery life of around 850 shots. In contrast, Canon mirrorless cameras tend to run out of juice quicker. Canon EOS M and Canon EOS R cameras take a lot of juice. The EOS M series lasts roughly 230 shots before needing a change.
This is because using a mirrorless camera is like having Live View on constantly. The art of never being frustrated with your mirrorless camera is therefore to always have extra batteries on you.
Other cameras like the Nikon Z line do a bit better than the Canon mirrorless cameras. The MB-N10 battery pack is a relatively recent release for the Nikon mirrorless cameras Z series, capable of 570 to 610 stills with the Z7 and Z6.
You could also power your Sony mirrorless camera, Olympus OMD, or any other camera off a USB power supply. It may be better to carry extra batteries and USB power than to shoot at reduced display brightness or refresh rates. But that’s just our opinion.
Enjoy Silent Shooting
Better sensors are making silent shooting more common in mirrorless cameras. Many entry-level DSLRs don’t have this feature. But being able to shoot silently, without intruding on the scene, can be of great importance to you.
The silent shooting mode could lead to a lower burst speed. But since you don’t really need silent shooting for sports or action, it’s all good. Silent shooting is great for street photography, fitting right in with the compact discreteness of many of the smaller body mirrorless cameras.
If you’re wondering about the most compact mirrorless cameras, check out the Canon EOS M50 II, a few Fujifilm mirrorless cameras from the Fujifilm GFX and X series, and some Panasonic mirrorless cameras like the Panasonic Lumix GX80.
The Art Of Video In Mirrorless Cameras
Most photographers who are new converts to mirrorless are looking for something different from the Canon DSLR cameras. They’re looking for something lighter, something that’s more video-oriented. Mirrorless cameras are great for hybrid shooting, in a way that DSLR cameras are not. In fact, video shooting or hybrid just didn’t take off in DSLR cameras.
On the other hand, Sony mirrorless cameras such as the APS-C cameras are monsters of 4K video in compact form. And that’s just a start. Panasonic and Fuji also offer excellent compact devices that can help you capture the action on video. Just make sure to carry plenty of battery backup with you if you’re shooting video.
If you’ve not tried out 4K video with your camera, you’re not making the most of its capabilities. The feature that helps the most with video is something called focus peaking. You’ll find this on most modern mirrorless Sony, Fuji, and Panasonic offerings. Focus peaking helps to highlight the parts of an image that are in focus. This helps with manual focusing. It’s useful for still photos as well.
Another feature that’s great for high-quality video is zebra patterning. You should look in the menu of your mirrorless cameras for this feature. Having zebra patterning selected helps to highlight the areas of your image that are most highly exposed. You can adjust the feature to be more sensitive. Overexposed areas will show at 100% while ideal skin tone reads at around 70 to 80%.
You can use flat footage or log footage modes in your Olympus mirrorless cameras or Sony cameras for a graded, cinematic look. On Panasonic cameras, look for the Cine-V and Cine-D support. You could update the firmware to get vlog features as well if you wanted. If you use these features the right way, you can get a lot out of your compact mirrorless camera, more than you ever imagined.
How To Use Mirrorless Cameras In Low Light
There was a time mirrorless cameras didn’t do so well in low light. These days, cameras like the Nikon Z6 II, the Sony a7S III, and the Canon EOS R6 offer high-ISO performance and other excellent low-light capabilities. But even if you don’t have the best low-light-friendly mirrorless camera, you can make the most of what you have.
A few things you can do are to use a manual exposure mode and a fixed daylight white balance. You could carry out some excellent night sky photography with these tips. If the skies are dark, start out with ISO 1600, at 8 to 10 seconds with the aperture wide open. Fix and modify from there based on the exact conditions. Make sure that image stabilisation is off. But if you want to own the best mirrorless camera for low-light photography, check out the Sony a7 III.
Use Native Lenses Meant For Your Mirrorless Cameras
There are plenty of adapters around nowadays, to allow you to use your Canon EOS lenses with your Canon EOS M camera and even Nikon mounts. But if you want to get the best out of your camera, it’s better to use lenses that are built for it. Native lenses are designed in a way that fits with the autofocus system of your camera.
While mirrorless cameras started out with poor autofocus systems, there have been rapid improvements in that area. Newer Panasonic and Sony mirrorless camera models now have some of the fastest autofocus techs these days.
To make the most of this, you could technically avoid buying a range of (exorbitant) Sony lenses. You could go with budget brands like Rokinon and the trusty Sigma, who make great lenses. You don’t necessarily need to give third-party lens-makers a wide berth. But using a native lens will make it easier to autofocus.
Sony mirrorless cameras have features such as Eye-AF that make autofocus easier. With Panasonic mirrorless cameras, you’ll need to watch out for some flawed options, like the GH5s and GH5.
If you’re looking for something higher-end, you could consider Leica. Leica rangefinders have never had autofocus. But the latest Leica mirrorless cameras, like the Leica SL, have reasonably fast autofocus and phase detection technology.
Final Thoughts
Whether you like it or not, mirrorless cameras may become the photographer’s choice of the future. With the pace at which mirrorless technology is improving, it’s easy to envision them surpassing DSLR tech behind. And prices aren’t as prohibitive as they used to be. You can check out some high-end as well as budget mirrorless cameras to find something that suits you.