Choosing A Mirrorless Camera

Derek Smith • 18 February 2022
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

by Derek Smith • 29 October 2026
The planned event for the evening was to have been a showing of the N&EMPF Exhibition prints, but unfortunately the link for the prints was not available. Instead Harry, and I had both prepared a talk on our respective camera systems. Many regular readers of my musings will know that I had lost my photographic “mojo” earlier on in the year, I was reassessing my photographic style, and camera equipment to recover my enthusiasm, so it was that I sold all of my OM Systems cameras, and lenses, and unknown to most in the club bought a Canon EOS R7 APS-C camera, and 4 lenses as a complete kit. Learning a new camera system has made me reconnect with photography, and begin enjoying my hobby again. In the first half of the meeting last night I talked about my journey, my camera system, and showed some of the images taken with my new outfit. After the break Harry showed some of his excellent, and inspiring macro fungi images, taken with his Canon EOS R6, and a Sigma macro lens. It was an interesting evening, and hopefully everyone enjoyed the evening, and learned something about Canon mirrorless cameras.
by Graham Harrison • 25 October 2026
Good Morning All The Autumn colours at Sedbergh was one of my entries which sum up the time of year. Last week at the club we held our monthly print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open". There was a very good entry with 27 prints in each subject, well done to Derek Smith for a first in the Mono and Robin Begley for a first in the Open, all the results are on our website. This week, Wednesday 28th October, all being well, I am informed that the N&EMPF Exhibition print show was a bit behind schedule, it will hopefully be finished by now but if not, Derek will let us know, and we will do mini lectures instead. Derek, and Harry have prepared mini lectures on their favourite camera systems, if a couple of other members could prepare a mini lecture on the same theme that would be most helpful. The LPA POTY deadline date is nearly upon us; they are panels of three prints as we discussed last Wednesday. If you want to enter either attend the club PDI competition on 1 st November at Nettleton village hall or bring your prints in on Wednesday and hand them to a member who is going and will take them for you. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith • 22 October 2026
Our Society held a print competition last night, the set subject category was "Mono", whereby the prints were black and white, or single tone images. The "Open" category prints consisted of any subject of the authors choice, and the judge for the evening was Grahame Dunkin. It was an exciting competition, with 27 prints in each category, the standard was incredibly high, giving Grahame a difficult time of determining the points for each print and choosing the top three prints in each category. Grahame judges very well, he giving a relaxed, and helpful critique of each image. The website Competition page has been updated with the results of the competition. Our next meeting will be held on the 28th October, and should be a showing of the N&EMPF Exhibition prints, however if the Exhibition prints are not available, I would ask members to think about giving a talk on their "Favourite Camera Systems" just showing what they shoot with, and providing a few sample images.
by Graham Harrison • 18 October 2026
Today was the LPA Battle finals day at Nettleham, it was the last one in its present form, and six clubs including Louth made the final. The judge was Alan Young from Rolls Royce camera club, Derby. Alan was quite straight to the point and as he said there were so many good prints in the competition, he wouldn't be marking low and would have quite a task giving scores to the best ones. Alan was quick to see anything he didn't think was right with the prints and was looking for more than just a record photograph. Louth had a very good start with our first three prints being held back, it then didn't go so well but we did have six hold backs altogether which were Sleeping-David Whitehouse 18 points, Morning sun Whitby-Dave Turner 18 points, Hairy shield bug-Graham Harrison 17 points, Evening light Chapel St Leonards -Tony Gaskins 17 points, Cosmos-Harry Kerman 17 points and Evening Light Whitby Harbour -Tony Gaskins 18 points. 1 st place - Axholme - 256 2 nd place - Cleethorpes - 255 3 rd place - Scunthorpe - 248 4 th place - Grantham - 246 5 th place - Louth - 244 6 th place - Lincoln - 242
by Graham Harrison • 18 October 2026
Good Morning, All, Last week at the club Steve West gave a presentation on the history of Louth's cinema's, Steve started at the beginning in 1896 with the original Louth Photographic Society being involved with showing films in what was thought to be Westgate Fields. Steve went through all the other locations ending up with just the one cinema now on Cannon Street. There is a report on our blog page. This week, Wednesday 21st October, we will hold a monthly print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open" judged by the LPA president Grahame Dunkin. There are just over 50 prints to be judged so should be a very good night. Today (Sunday 18th) is the LPA Print Battle final at Nettleham, the judging starts at 1pm. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith • 15 October 2026
Last night, Steve West gave a fascinating illustrated presentation on the long history of cinema, and stage plays in Louth. In the late 1890s some films were shown at various locations, in 1910 a “tent” cinema was showing films on Westgate Fields. During 1913 a site was purchased of 2 retail units, on Eastgate, the retail units were demolished, and the Palace cinema / theatre was constructed on the site ready for opening in 1914. During the interwar years many plays were staged at the Palace, and Steve has collected many of the original programs from this era. The current Playhouse was constructed in Canon Street in 1921 in the “art deco” style, some poor quality housing was demolished to make way for this new cinema. The Playhouse, and the Palace both continued in operation until 1960 when the Palace was sold, and the building was converted into a Fine Fare supermarket. During the 1970s when Bingo became popular, part of the Playhouse was used as a Bingo hall, with the reception area restyled to suit the new usage. The Playhouse was converted into a multi-screen cinema when purchased by the Parkway Cinema group in the mid 1990s. Louth is extremely fortunate to have retained a viable cinema in the town, many thanks to Steve West for a very polished presentation.
by Graham Harrison • 11 October 2026
Good Morning All Sand racing starts again this week at Mablethorpe, this Sunday is practice day, times are on their website. Last week at the club we held a local competition, with the categories of: "Straight out of the camera" and "Open", there was a very good entry in each subject with Tony Gaskins having the task of judging the unedited ones and Robin Begley judging the Open. There is a full report on our website but well done to Harry for first place in the Straight out of the camera and Keith Rossington for first place in the Open. This week, Wednesday 14th, Steve West will be our speaker, talking and showing PDI's on the subject of the Louth cinema. The following week will be a print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open", you need to bring your prints in this week and send an email to Dave Turner with your titles. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith • 8 October 2026
At our meeting last night we held a PDI (printed digital image) competition, with the categories of "Local Unedited", and "Open". As this was a members competition one of our members judged the competition, Tony Gaskins was our first judge for the "Local Unedited" category, these were .jpg images taken straight from the camera, without any editing, apart from the resizing for projection. Presenting an image such as this in a competition is quite a difficult task, the photographer has to ensure that the correct exposure is chosen, the composition, and subject matter has to be precise, everything done in camera. Normally for competition entries, a degree of post processing would be involved, simple edits like toning down highlights, or even removing extraneous objects from a scene, emphasising a moody sky, all not allowed. Tony Gaskins did an excellent job with his judging, providing clear and concise critique of the images presented, he "held back" 8 images for further consideration, awarding higher points, and finally choosing the top three placements. After the break it was Robin Begley's turn to judge the "Open" category, as these were post process edited images the standard was higher than the unedited images, but surprisingly not markedly so. Robin is potentially hoping to become a N&EMPF approved judge, and he had a different style, able to suggest edits that could have improved an image, again his critique was clear and concise communicating well with members. Robin chose 8 images for further consideration, awarding higher points, and finally selecting the top three placements. It was a fabulous, and interesting competition with excellent images, many thanks to both our judges, it's not an easy job, probably nearly as bad as being a referee in a football match!! Many thanks to both our judges, well done.
by Graham Harrison • 4 October 2026
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by Derek Smith • 3 October 2026
Roger Hance Memorial Lecture 16th October