Choosing A Mirrorless Camera
Derek Smith • 18 February 2022
Going Underground
Photo By: Derek Smith - Olympus E-PL7
Puffin
Photo By: Derek Smith - Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii
Flamborough Head Stack
Photo By: Derek Smith - Fuji X-T3
Fuji - Twin Lens Kit
Photo by: Derek Smith
There are so many excellent mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras on the market at the moment, choosing the right camera for your needs can be quite daunting. These are my thoughts, and personal opinion on choosing a mirrorless camera.
The first choice would possibly be on sensor size; there are four to consider, medium format, full frame, APS-C (Nikon DX), and micro four thirds. Medium format sensors as used in Hasselblad, and Fuji GFX cameras are probably too “high end”, and specialised for the average photographer. Most photographers will opt for a full frame camera, or an APS-C camera. The advantage of a full frame sensor is improved dynamic range, and low light capability, the disadvantages of a full frame camera, are the larger size, weight of the lenses, and higher costs of buying those lenses. Personally for my needs an APS-C camera hits the “sweet spot” on weight, physical size and price of the camera, and lenses. Micro four thirds, is the smallest sensor used in the Olympus / Panasonic partnership cameras, I have used micro four thirds cameras since I bought my first Olympus E-PL1 in 2010, and never found the image quality lacking in any respect. Some of my best photography of late has been taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii which has been a sterling performer in all weathers, and never let me down, and the amazing Olympus E-PL7 using the 17mm f/1.8 pancake prime (34mm full frame).
Possibly the next choice would be brand loyalty, if you’ve used brand “X” for a number of years, then you might consider buying a mirrorless camera from that brand if upgrading. I believe however that rather than focus on a particular brand of camera, your choice might be better served by the camera features needed, and the choice of lenses, and the price of those lenses.
Sony produce some excellent cameras, the auto focus, and subject tracking on those cameras is first rate, however for me the APS-C A6000 range of cameras are ergonomically flawed, fine if shooting in semi automatic mode, set the ISO, and white balance to auto, the mode dial to Aperture Priority, and use the single control wheel to adjust the aperture. Choosing to shoot in Manual Mode is a different proposition entirely. Set the ISO from the menu, aperture from the control wheel on the top of the camera, and the shutter speed is adjusted by the tiny thumb wheel on the back of the camera, and it’s not possible to adjust the settings while holding the camera up to the eye!! I upgraded to the Sony A7 ii, a far better camera in my opinion, but the lens mount is too close to the handgrip, I had to squeeze my fingers in between the lens barrel on some lenses, and the handgrip, and personally I’ve never been able to see much difference between a full frame camera, and an APS-C image.
It was the ergonomics that prompted my return to the Olympus fold, even the base camera Olympus OM-D E-M10 iv has twin control dials on top of the camera, and can be bought new, as a kit, from under £800. Olympus, and Panasonic have over 100 lenses to choose from, with the micro four thirds mirrorless cameras having been in existence since Panasonic produced the G1 in 2008, followed by the Olympus E-PL1 in 2009.
My choice of camera system was based on my change of needs. My workflow had markedly changed, I now predominantly shoot in RAW, and edit the images, but I also liked to shoot in JPEG to share on social media, and a single SD card meant that I had to separate out the RAW images, and the JPEG images when loading onto the computer, which slowed my workflow down. I therefore needed to have two SD card slots, I also wanted to have a joystick to control the focus point, and the camera must be weatherproof. My immediate upgrade path would have been to the Olympus OM-D E-M1 iii, but I felt like a change.
Canon make some excellent cameras, I looked at the M mount APS-C cameras, but currently a poor range of lenses, no weatherproofing, and no dual card slots, the Canon RP is a great camera but no dual card slots.
Nikon next, I like the Z50, but again with only two lenses for the APS-C (Nikon DX), I seriously considered the Nikon Z5, dual SD card slots, weatherproofing, and IBIS, however it was the lens choice, and cost of lenses, that determined my rejection of this choice.
Sony wasn’t even a consideration, due to the ergonomics, but the lens choice, and image quality are outstanding, apart from the dust spots on the sensor which is a common problem on Sony cameras.
Panasonic S5, I nearly bought this, my finger hovered over the “buy now” button, especially over the Christmas period when the camera body, and 20-60mm lens were on offer at £1300!!
Eventually it was the Fuji APS-C range of cameras that I was drawn to, with a choice of over 40 native lenses, the weatherproofing, dual UHS ii SD card slots, a joystick and the analogue dials on top of the camera of the X-T3 that won me over. I needed a high quality prime lens for my portraiture, and this has been filled by the excellent 35mm f/2 lens (50mm full frame equivalent). The 16-80mm f/4 constant aperture lens (24-120mm full frame) is ideal for travel, and landscape, and I have the excellent 70-300mm variable aperture lens (105-450mm full frame) for the wildlife. As a wide angle lens I have the Samyang 12mm AF f/2 prime lens (18mm full frame). The camera is reasonably small, and light, (heavier though than the Olympus), and makes a complete set with the camera body, the 16-80mm lens, and the 70-300mm lens all fitted into a small Manfrotto camera bag.
As to costs, the X-T3 body was £899 new, the 35mm lens, and the 16-80mm lens were bought second hand, and I had to buy the 70-300mm lens new at £729, as it was only introduced late last year, so the price, size, and weight of the lenses suit my needs.
The learning curve moving to the Fuji system has been fairly steep, some of the settings are inter dependent, as an example if I want to use the face / eye auto focus, then that overrides the choice of focus point, but once you know these things then it becomes easy, I’ll have the face / eye auto focus on for portrait sessions, and switch it off when shooting in other genres, and I have a function button assigned for this.
Louth Photographic Society
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly PDI competition judged by Martyn Wrigg, the standard of entries was very high and well done to Tony Gaskins for a first in the Architectural Detail and Derek Smith for his first place in the Open. All the results are on our website under competitions. This week, Wednesday 18th March we will be holding a Committee meeting, just committee members for this one. The following week Chris Birchmore is the speaker for the night. Harry is now accepting entries for the PDI local competition, with the categories of "Local Nature" and "Open". We judge this competition in house so if you would like to judge one of the subjects please let me know. Regards Graham
The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.
A PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition was held last night with the categories of "Architectural Detail", and "Open". Martyn Wrigg was our judge for the evening, and he competently judged the submitted images, although he diid surprise with some of his choices of placing, but that's a judges perogative. Martyn complemented members on the quality of the images presented, which had made some of his decisions difficult. First placed was "It's a Fixer Upper" in the Architectural Detail section, and "Dervish Musician" in the Open section. Congratulations to Robin Begley, who as one of our newest members submitted some impressive images, achieving a 3rd place in "Architectural Details", and 2nd in the "Open" category. All the results are now posted to our website Competition page.
Good Morning All Last week at the club member Steve Chapman gave us an insight into his life and especially his time at Ilam Park in Derbyshire photographing for the National Trust. Steve showed us many photographs he had taken of the people involved with the trust and the Peak District. The second half was dedicated to Steve's own work, some superb aircraft photography as well as many other subjects. There is a report on the evening on our blog page. This week, Wednesday 11th March we are holding a PDI competition, with the categories of "Architectural Detail " and "Open" to be judged by Martyn Wrigg of Barton. The following week is a committee meeting for the committee members only on that evening. For newer members we have two committee meetings a year. Regards Graham
Last night Steve Chapman presented a selection of images from his archives. Steve had previously been a volunteer photographer for the National Trust, and he showed many photos from the Ilam Park Estate, Dovedale, it was interesting to see some of the "behind the scenes" photos. The Jacobite reenactment battle scenes were amazing, the uniforms showed great attention to detail, and there were some real characters among the reenactors. After the break Steve showed some of his general photography, he has a great photographic eye, as some of his photos showed with different colours, shapes, and leading lines. Steve has taken many photos of agricultural machinery, and risked life and limb to create some close up aircraft photos. For atmosphere, just look at these horseriders at the top of the hill on a cool early morning. For heartstopping imagery look at these children on the side of a building, the children are photos on the side of the building, however, Steve wasted no time in capturing this stunning image. Many thanks to Steve for a fascinating evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club I gave you a PDI (Projected Digital Image) presentation showing photographs I had taken on my travels last year, following up with some past and present photographs of Binbrook. I hope you all enjoyed the evening and maybe saw parts of England you hadn't seen before. This week, Wednesday 4th March, our member Steve Chapman will be showing us photographs he has taken. This is Steve's first time showing the club his work so will be a very good night. Harry is now accepting your PDI's for the next competition, with the categories of "Architectural Detail" and "Open". The closing date is Friday 6th March. Regards Graham
The N&EMPF Exhibition will be on display in Cleethorpes from 3rd March.
It was "President's Night" with Graham Harrison showing some of his images from short breaks, and holidays around the UK. Graham rented a holiday cottage in Newbiggin, Northumberland, and showed many of his photos from that area, including a visit to Lindisfarne, where the castle on the rocky outcrop made for an impressive photo. In Suffolk, Graham visited Pakefield, and photographed the colourful beach huts at the top of the shingle beach, he also showed several photos from the Lake District. One of my favourite photos from last night was St. Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, with the groins in juxtaposition. Thank you Graham for a very interesting evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club Harry and Chris gave us an insight into how our exhibition preparation is going, we have a lot of historical photos to go on show and there may be room for some more up to date ones but Harry and Chris will see how much room we have left when they start putting it all together at the museum. I also took the time to find out what you wanted in the new program, filling in the competition subjects and outings. This week, Wednesday 25th February, it is the Presidents night, so that's my night and I will be showing you what I got up to in 2025. The rainbow at Brough castle gives you idea of one area I visited. Harry is now accepting entries for the next PDI competition, with the categories of "Architectural Detail" and "Open". The new program is nearly done and to give you a chance to get ready for the first two competitions in May and June the subjects are May, PDI comp - Landscapes with water and Open and June, Print competition, Trees and Open. Regards Graham
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our Print Of The Year (POTY) competition, it's one of our highlights of the year and judged by Grahame Dunkin, it proved to be an excellent night with some very good prints on show. The results are on our website under competitions but the highlights were Dave Turner being placed first in the Pictorial, landscape and best Mono print in show; Robin Begley, First in the Record section, Keith Rossington first place in Portrait, Harry Kerman first in the photo/journalism (including Street) and myself taking first place in the Nature as well as overall Print of the Year. My photograph of a Hairy Shield bug was taken at Chambers wood on a camera club outing. This week, Wednesday 19th February, we are sorting out Prints for our 70th anniversary exhibition at Louth Museum. Please bring along any local prints you may have and maybe a few further afield for selection. Please also bring along any prints you may have that you think will be ok for the LPA Foster challenge and LPA Battles. They need to be mounted on a 500mm x 400mm mount and a maximum print size of A3. Don't forget to take a photograph of water if you are doing this years project, no real excuses at the moment. Regards Graham
