It’s time I came out of the closet, so to speak. I am a big fan of mirrorless.. Let’s start at the beginning though.
For the longest time, when I thought about photography and other photographers, I thought of big DSLRs, huge lenses and massive flashes. Not quite sure why, but these are the images I always saw in my mind..
No matter what I did or how much I tried, I couldn’t see anything else. If you wanted to be a professional photographer, you had to have a big boy from one of the two giants in the field, namely Canon or Nikon. After getting a job at Nýherji here in Iceland I was able to browse and handle a whole lot of Canon DSLRs because Nýherji is the main distributor of Canon in Iceland. Before long I bought a Canon EOS 1100D to start with and fell head over heals with it and started growing my collection of lenses, cameras and all the (tons of) extras I could use with my cameras and lenses.
But I soon read an article online which was about all the nice things that mirrorless had to offer, the weight or lack of it among other things. I liked the idea of a smaller camera which could do the same if not better things for a much smaller price. I had done my fair share of weddings, studio shots, confirmations and a lot of personal photography at this point so I started reading more about these mirrorless systems that were new on the market.
Sony had designed and built the SLT system in among others, the a77 and a99 cameras, but that was just a translucent mirror. It wasn’t pure mirrorless. Many voices online were saying that this was just a fad, a bubble that would burst any day now. But here and there, there were other voices, much fewer in numbers but you could find them if you sought them out. What were they saying ?
“They are here to stay”
Soon after the Sony a6000 came out I knew that there was surely something there that was worth the money and steep learning curve coming from the Canon DSLR side of life. And finally this year, I made the jump. I am now purely a Sony shooter. I bought the a6000 and an extra 50mm f/1.8 lens, but I had an older Sony NEX-F3 before that which I still use as my secondary camera.
I can honestly say that the learning curve isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the weight is significantly less and I don’t lug around a big backpack anymore, I have a small messenger bag which I can fit all my stuff in + my laptop. I am no longer afraid to stand in the street with a camera to my eye while photographing the city life. I am now more willing to have my camera in hand while traveling by the public transportation system. I am now finally able to do the things I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I think it’ll make me a better photographer to boot.
What am I trying to say with this article ? For me, I like the smaller bodies and lenses. I love the small footprint I have now and I think this mirrorless fad ain’t just a bubble about to burst..