For those of you following mirrorless

[DanK]

In terms of performance; there are advantages and disadvantages to both styles of camera. If these features of one camera type makes a difference to you as a photographer, then I would suggest that this should be part of your evaluation as you proceed in making your purchase decisions.

+ 1. Good advice. Mirrorless and DSLR FF cameras have more in common than they have differences, but if the differences are relevant to you, then it makes sense to pick whichever has the advantage. For many people, it won't make any difference most of the time.

I remember when most SLR cameras were the size of the various Nikon F models, then Olympus came out with their OM1 and OM2 cameras, introducing a smaller form factor for DSLR photography,

I remember it as well. Those two form factors still exist side by side, decades later. At the time, I thought the smaller format was nifty, but not reason enough to switch, and to this day, I still use a larger format camera. Now that I am getting older, the size is more relevant, but even so, I still am not close to ditching my wonderful 5D III.

[John 2]

"Old chestnuts roasting on an open fire...." One thing that might also have some relevance is that choose whichever manufacturer you favour, I don't think the march of mirrorless will be halted. That being the case , the more time that passes, the lower the trade in value of SLRs will be. It happened with Film Vs Digital and the same will potentially happen in this context. I also recall the debates over whether digital was really photography or whether only film could claim that mantle.

[Hanginon]

I think "mirrorless" came along at just the right time for the manufacture's. P&S cameras were already dead, and the quality of cell phone cameras is now eroding the intro DSLR market. You know how many Nikon 3xxx and Canon "Rebel" two-lens starter kits are collecting dust in closets right now? The Sams Club by me doesn't even sell them any more.

[Manfred M]

I think "mirrorless" came along at just the right time for the manufacture's. P&S cameras were already dead, and the quality of cell phone cameras is now eroding the intro DSLR market. You know how many Nikon 3xxx and Canon "Rebel" two-lens starter kits are collecting dust in closets right now? The Sams Club by me doesn't even sell them any more.

You make an interesting observation, but when one looks at the price point of the recent Sony, Canon and Nikon releases, their audience is essentially the same one as higher end DSLRs. The single memory slot tells me that they are not targeting the "pro" shooters, so they are looking at the high-end amateurs. In my view, this is a fairly limited market niche. Drop the camera costs down to the ~$US 1000 mark and the size of the market expands.

[rpcrowe]

The advantage of the Sony A7iii, A7Riii and A9 dual card slots over the dual card slots of my Canon 7D2 is that the dual slots of the 7D2 can only be used as a backup. In other words, what you write to card one is also written to card two. Nice since it protects you against losing and images due to memory card failure.

However, in keeping with Canon's overwhelming fear that if they provide lower end camera's with some of the features of the higher end 5D Mark IV, Canon has watered down the capabilities of the dual card slots in the 7D2. You cannot record say; RAW on one card and JPEG on the other and you cannot record stills on one card and video on the other, You can record different media on the dual cards of the 5D4 and the 7R series cameras listed above.

While this could be handy, even the duplicate writing on the dual cards would be an advantage. I haven't ever had a CF card fail after I first inspected and tested it (I did have two Kingston CF cards fail at first testing). However, I have had the SD slot fail on my 6D2. That would have been a PITA but, not a job ending problem if I were shooting professionally because I would have had backup gear.

Rumors have it that the new Sony crop sensor camera, which is expected sometime in the near future, will have dual card slots but, that is only a rumor.

I cannot understand why both Canon and Nikon neglected to equip their full frame mirrorless offerings with dual slots.

[Stagecoach]

The advantage of the Sony A7iii, A7Riii and A9 dual card slots over the dual card slots of my Canon 7D2 is that the dual slots of the 7D2 can only be used as a backup. In other words, what you write to card one is also written to card two. Nice since it protects you against losing and images due to memory card failure.

That comment surprised me Richard so I did a quick search and found this https://www.dummies.com/photography/...s-7d-mark-ii/;

""Auto switch card: Similar to the Standard method, but the camera automatically switches to the other card when the card you specify for recording and playback with the Record/Play command becomes full.""

[rpcrowe]

I really feel like a "dummy" on this one. However, I have never had the occasion to use the 7D2 with two cards, In fact, until I bought the A6500, I never even owned an SD card. I always shot with a single CF card....

[Digital]

Richard, this is totally off subject. What does OTOH mean?


Bruce

[DanK]

On The Other Hand?

[rpcrowe]

John wrote, "That being the case , the more time that passes, the lower the trade in value of SLRs will be. It happened with Film Vs Digital and the same will potentially happen in this context."

The reduction in value also happened when Canon switched from manual focus (FD and other mounts) to the auto focus EF lenses.

For a while, you could hardly give away a Canon manual focus lens since they were darn well impossible to effectively use on an EOS auto focus camera. In fact it was easier to adapt a manual focus Minolta or Nikon lens to a Canon EOS camera than to adapt the older Canon manual focus lenses.

However, since the advent of mirrorless cameras like the Sony line which can mount and effectively focus Canon FD mount lenses, these lenses have experienced an upsurge in value. Some of these lenses are quite nice. But, just like "the little girl who had a little curl" when these lenses were good, they were very-very good but, when they were bad, they were horrid

[rpcrowe]

Other FADs which I am sure will be rejected by photographers are auto focus and built in exposure meters