Mirrorless cameras, any users?

My personal camera fleet was looking pretty shabby, so I decided to get something new. I have a an old Olympus Superzoom (12X zoom and 3.2 megapixels!) that actually took good pictures because it had a good lens and took uncompressed TIF images. It was just very slow, noisy, and had trouble with fast-moving subjects and dark rooms. So, the places that I want to shoot most often.

My other option was an Olympus Tough. I loved the waterproof and freeze-proof properties for snorkeling and skiing and whatnot and used it a lot. Sadly, it ran away one night, and was replaced with a newer model from one of those downtown camera stores. Apparently, a $500 for $100 is too good to be true, and it never worked right.

So I ended up using my iPhone for most stuff. Decent picture quality, especially because 99% of my shots go to Facebook or online anyway. I also use a Nikon D5000 at work and can borrow it if I want. So for anything important, I had that and was spoiled on picture quality. That was not a permanent solution however, so I started shopping.

I ended up with a Nikon J1. After just a weekend of playing with it, I am pretty happy. I can see how it is not for everyone, but for an advanced amateur it is pretty good. I still have full manual control, it is crazy fast to focus and can take up to 60fps and I don't have to deal with a lot of useless features that are covered better by Photoshop anyway. The 110mm lens is not enough of a zoom for my daughter's lacrosse games, but I am hoping for longer lenses to be released soon.

I use a Lumix GF3 and shoot mostly with an old Minolta 50mm 1.7 lens on a cheap adaptor. Absolutely love the camera. Its light and small and takes better pictures than I can shoot. Using the old Minolta has me using manual aperture and focus and that really changes the experience, for the better I think.

I use an Olympus EPL-1 for work. It is a great little pro-sumer camera. Pretty much a point-and-shoot with interchangeable lenses. I use it for both photo and video work.

I don't have time to mess around with settings. I just shoot and go. Probably my favorite picture I've taken with the little camera:

I've taken thousands of shots with it. My throwaway ratio is almost nil now. I have to cover entire car shows in just a few hours. Pretty much I stop walking just long enough to focus and shoot, then move to the next car. Almost every shot is dead nuts on.

http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/Gallery%3A+2012+Spring+Turkey+Run+_+Oddities-165957.xhtml

If you dig into the menus you can really control a lot, but I mostly use the built-in settings. As a bonus it is pretty small, so I can pack it easy in my carry-on without needs a separate camera bag (even toting a spare long lens).

I prefer dSLRs myself. I feel that there is a lot more stuff you can do with them, and a LOT of lenses available.

But the mirrorless thing has always intrigued me. How do they work exactly?

Sky_Render wrote: I prefer dSLRs myself. I feel that there is a lot more stuff you can do with them, and a LOT of lenses available.

You can do a LOT more with a dSLR, but most people don't. Lens availability is a plus, but there are adapter for anything for the right price.

Sky_Render wrote: But the mirrorless thing has always intrigued me. How do they work exactly?

Mirrorless cameras, how the %(#*% do they work? Sorry, couldn't help it.

You frame your shots with the back display. No holding the camera to your eye. I like that I can frame a shot that normally I would never get because I wouldn't be able to get my eye behind the viewfinder. Works great.

Except in the sun, then it can suck ass. Well, its probably not so bad if you're not trying to focus manually, but at 9:00 am on a summer day with the sun over your shoulder the screen gets mighty washed out.

Yeah, I won't buy a camera without an optical viewfinder. Partially because the sun washes out the screen all too easily, and partially because there's no substitute for an optical viewfinder for moving targets. Some mirrorless systems offer an add-on OVF, some don't. All depends what you want to shoot, and how.