When it comes to digital photography, many of you wants the best image possible out of their cameras, wether it is a DSLR or a Mirrorless camera. Both can do the job very well, and both of them has their own pros and cons. In this special article, we will compare the difference between the two and we will divide it based on how they perform on the given categories below.
FUNCTION :
- DSLR (Digital Single-lens Reflex) : as the name suggests, DSLR's use some kind of reflex to portray an image to the viewfinder. It uses mirror to reflect the image from the lens to the image sensor.
- Mirrorless : as the name also suggests, Mirrorless camera's doesn't use the method that DSLR's use. Images from the lens directly goes to the image sensor without any use of mirrors. Plus, Mirrorless cameras doesn't have OVF (Optical Viewfinder) but some has a special kind of viewfinder called EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) that uses a small piece of LED screen as the viewfinder. Mirrorless camera's that lacks this features would only rely to their display to render the image to the user.
So for the first category,
1. SIZE
DSLR cameras are obviously larger than mirrorless and it's because of the OVF taking a large space at the top part of it, the mirrors inside makes it a lot thicker so putting larger types of lenses can make it a bit heavy.
Mirrorless, in the other hand are so compact. Some are as large as an ordinary digital cameras. It's also thin, thanks to mirror free internals. Putting it inside a camera bag is a breeze and it gives more space for other things in the camera bag.
WINNER : Mirrorless
2. AUTOFOCUS (Still-images)
DSLRs uses a special kind of focusing system called "phase detection" wherein the mirrors inside reflects the light to dedicate focus sensors quickly thus measuring the convergence of two beams of light.
Due to lack of mirrors inside, Mirrorless can't use "phase detection" to focus on an object and therefore uses a different focusinh system called "contrast detection". It moves the lens back and forth to find the position of the image with the highest contrast coinciding with autofocus. Also, it works slower in low-light.
Contrast detection is slower than phase detection.
WINNER : DSLR
3. AUTOFOCUS (Video)
DSLRs cannot use their mirrors while recording a video, therefore it cannot use phase detection and it only relies on contrast detection method while recording a video. This results in blurry effect on some videos taken using DSLR cameras and it is because it hunts the right focus of a certain object.
Meanwhile, Mirrorless can use phase detection in video recording and due to on-chip image sensor on higher end mirrorless cameras, it can even record 4K UHD videos - DSLRs cannot record at this resolution.
WINNER : Mirrorless
4. SHUTTER SPEED
DSLRs can shoot 5 FPS while Mirrorless can shoot up to 11 FPS and it's because of the lack of mirrors flapping inside therefore taking image after image is faster than a DSLR. Some DSLRs can shoot faster but is expensive. Mirroless can also use mechanical shutter and electronic shutter to take burst photos quickly.
WINNER : Mirrorless
5. PREVIEWING AN IMAGE
DSLRs use optical viewfinder to preview the actual image you are about to take while a mirrorless relies on the display to preview it, some higher end mirrorless uses electronic viewfinder to mimic what the optical viewfinder sees.
Shooting in good light makes the image on the EVF looks close to the final image but in low-light or fast moving objects, EVF will have to make a compromise to still a real-time preview of the image.
WINNER : DSLR
6. IMAGE AND VIDEO PLAYBACK
Both can preview images and videos using the LCD display or can project it in a larger external display through HDMi out.
WINNER : Both
7. BATTERY LIFE
DSLR has an advantage at this category for they can take an image without relying on a display or an electronic viewfinder which both consumes a lot of power. Both are using removable batteries so you can carry an extra one in case.
WINNER : DSLR
8. ACCESSORIES AND LENSES
DSLR cameras has wide variety of lenses available - from cheaper ones to more expensive ones. It's almost limitless.
While mirrorless, being a new format takes small number of lenses available for usage but is slowly growing.
WINNER : DSLR
FINAL SAY
Both of them can really make the job done, it only depends on how you choose which is better of the two, and I hope this article can help you in choosing between the two.
In my own opinion, if you're a professional photographer, you should choose DSLR. But if you love to take videos, the choose Mirrorless.
That's it folks, COC (Clash of Cameras)
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