Nowadays, the Mirrorless camera system has become a trend in the camera world. It provides the same image quality as a DSLR but has a smaller size and lighter weight. So why do you still have to bother to get yourself a DSLR? Let’s have a look together.
1. Professional Look and Feel
Sony Full Frame DSLR – A99 Image taken from: http://www.sony.com.sg/product/slt-a99v
Regardless of you are carrying either APS-C or Full-Frame DSLR, you will give people an impression: “Wow! This guy is a professional photographer”. Why do you want to give people such a feeling? It is because you are running a photography business or paid to shoot some events.
Mirrorless cameras have become more and more popular in the current market. Many camera manufacturers like Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Leica, and others had put in effort into research and developed some excellent Mirrorless cameras. So let’s see how a Mirrorless camera fits you the best.
1. Large Image Sensor in Smaller Camera Size
In general, a Mirrorless camera is equipped with a Micro 4/3, APS-C, or Full-Frame image sensor. These sensors are much larger than the typical image sensor (1/2.3″) provided in the P&S. You may read my 5 Factors Affected By Image Sensor Size to get more details regarding the image sensor size.
Mirrorless vs DSLR (Image retrieved from Sony Official Website: http://www.sony.com.sg/product/nex-6l)
Although the DSLR camera is also equipped with either APS-C or Full-Frame image sensor, the Mirrorless camera is much smaller in the camera body design. The Mirrorless camera does not have a mirror reflection board that reflects the light to the optical viewfinder. Therefore, the Mirrorless camera body can be much thinner than the DSLR camera body, resulting in a lighter camera.
When the smartphone camera becomes more powerful, and the mirrorless and DSLR becomes cheaper, why do you still bother to get a Point-And-Shoot (P&S) camera? Well, let’s go through this post today together.
1. Convenience and Easy to Use
Point and Shoot (P&S) Camera
P&S is lightweight, small, and compact. It is easy to fit into your pocket and carry around. It only provides an auto mode to you, no fine focus-adjustment, no aperture adjustment, what you need to do is really “point” the camera to your subject and “shoot” it, then it will give you the best result as it could.
Do you ever hear about “full-frame”, “APS-C”, “Micro 4/3”, “1-inch”, “1/2.3 inch” when you are choosing the camera? Does the salesperson tell you, “This DSLR provides better image quality than the P&S because it has a larger image sensor”? Or “This camera has a crop factor of 2, so blah blah blah…”? What does the image sensor size mean?
Before we discuss the topic today, let’s have some idea about the different sizes of those image sensors.
Image Sensor Size Comparison
The comparison chart is scaled with the actual size of an image sensor. It shows the name/size of each image sensor followed by the crop factor in the bracket. To give a clearer comparison chart, I omit some “not-so-standard” sensor sizes (e.g., Canon has a slightly different APS-C format with a crop factor of 1.6).
Photography starts by getting yourself a camera and taking the shots. Regardless you are using a phone camera, point-and-shoot, mirrorless, or DSLR, a camera that is always with you is the best camera. Nowadays, the camera has become more and more common and cheaper in the market. If you are new to the camera market, buying a camera is always a headache problem.
Leica, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and many other brands are now in the market. Each of them has its good and bad. That’s the reason that people always confuse – which camera brand is better? Which camera performs better? So, will you get the answer from this post? No, I’m not going to tell you which camera is the best or which brand is the most preferable, but I will give you some guides to assist you in listing out your criteria yourself.
1. Budget
Photography isn’t cheap entertainment. It isn’t something like, oh, it is just buying a camera, and that’s it. No, when you are serious in photography, you may want more than just a camera.
You will think you need an extra battery, a faster memory card, and maybe a tripod? If you bought a point and shoot initially, you may start looking for an APS-C or even a full-frame camera when you become a more advanced photographer. Once you get a better camera, you will look further for a better lens, and it will be the beginning to cost you an arm and a leg (or even more than that).
So never spend your entire budget on a camera. Keeping some spare money is always a wise action. Check the prices of the extra battery, external charger, memory card, tripod, camera bag, and so on, then deduct those costs from your budget. The leftover will be your “actual budget” for your camera.
2. Purpose
What is your purpose in buying a new camera? First camera? Replacement? Backup?
Travel Light
If you want a camera to shoot during your traveling or journey, a lightweight camera like point-and-shoot or mirrorless may be your choice. Because you have to enjoy your travel, a light camera allows you to carry a whole day without much effort or tiredness.
Enthusiast
If you are an enthusiast, choose a micro four-third or APS-C camera with interchangeable-lens capability. You have the joy of exploring different lenses, especially the prime lens (you may love it or hate it), and having more user controls in the aperture, shutter speed, exposure, and DOF (Depth of View), etc.
Going for Business
If you run a business, it is recommended to use a full-frame camera, either a mirrorless or DSLR. Let’s imagine, if you go to a photography shop to take a portrait or hire an event photographer (wedding, sport, etc.), then what do you feel when you see the photographer use a point-and-shoot or handphone to do the job? Yea, you got the feel, right? A black square-ish big camera always gives people a “wow”, this photographer is a professional!
Backup
When you are going to buy a backup camera, I guess that you are likely shooting some severe events that you couldn’t afford for any loss of a moment. At this stage, get yourself the same model camera, or at least the same brand camera that utilizes the same lens mount. By then, you will save tons of money by sharing the lenses and boosting your efficiency during the shooting, as both your primary and backup cameras are using identical/similar settings.
So please be clear with yourself otherwise you might regret that why you get something doesn’t fit your purpose.
3. RAW Capable
RAW format is a handy and recommended image format. Almost all the mirrorless and DSLR are RAW-capable. However, if you intend to buy a PAS (point and shoot), it is better to choose the RAW-capable one. You may not understand the advantages of using RAW yet, but a RAW-capable camera is always a good-to-go. You will appreciate that you bought a RAW-capable camera when you need it or just realized how powerful it is.
As compared above, the sky is overexposed. I adjust the highlight and exposure settings in post-processing. The JPEG photo overexposed area is dead-white, while the RAW photo overexposed area still preserves the color and sky details.
4. After-Sale Services
How convenient are you able to reach the service center? How long the service maintenance take? You definitely won’t want to ship your camera/travel for a few hours to send your camera for service and wait for a month or two to get it back (if you purchased from another country). So check with your local retailer about the warranty and service, like how long does the maintenance take or is there any service charge. Knowing more about the after-sale services before buying the camera will keep your money safe in your wallet.
5. User Review
You can get a lot of user reviews from Amazon, BHPhoto, and other websites. These user reviews are very helpful to assist you in understanding more about the camera in a broader manner which you might never know before you own the camera. Besides, reviews from some personal or professional camera sites provide good technical analysis data and more accurate/real-life sample shots or even compare your “wishlist” camera. Read those reviews to narrow down the choices, keep in mind those reviews about your “final choice”, and then try it out at the retail shop.
Bottom Line
Want to know more about which kind of camera suit you the best? A point-and-shoot? a mirrorless? Or a DSLR? Then stay tuned, and you may find it out from my coming posts: 5 Reasons to Own a point-and-shoot, 5 Reasons to Own a Mirrorless, and 5 Reasons to Own a DSLR. Hopefully, the points mentioned above will help you in buying a camera that fits your needs.
After visiting the SEA Aquarium and having an extensive collection of shootings (over 500+), I have some thoughts about shooting in the aquarium to share with you guys.
1. Bring an Extra Battery or Two
If you never or rarely visit the aquarium, it is very easy to over-shoot. You may have multiples shots for each scene to ensure that you have at least one or few good shots for that scene. I almost used up two fully charged batteries throughout the tour. Each of them lasts for around 300 shots.
2. Use a Lens with Wide-Angle Focal Length and Large Aperture
Focal length between 24 and 50 mm (in 35 mm equivalence) is recommended because they have a wider angle of view and allow you to shoot closer to your subject. A larger aperture allows more light so that you do not need to bump up too much ISO. Be careful here, large apertures like F2, F1.8, and any smaller F values, will have a tiny part of the subject in focus. I used the Sony SEL24F18Z and kept my aperture between F2.8 and F5.6 to get enough DoF while having a large enough aperture to maintain a lower ISO.
This is my first post for the photography tips series. Although I’m not a professional wedding photographer, the tips below are what I learned and sorted from various online resources and applied during the wedding banquet. In addition, by sharing my experience with all of you here, I hope you will share yours with me to help each other improve.
1. Be Ready and Well Prepared
Check your camera condition, ensure all the settings like exposure, white balance, ISO, flash mode, or any other settings are set up correctly. Ensure the battery is fully charged and the memory card is formatted.
2. Have Extra Backup Equipment
Having multiple batteries and memory cards is a plus. I highly recommend you to bring an extra camera as backup (yea I know the it costs more $$). Ensure you are familiar with it and the settings are identical/similar to your primary gear. A zoom lens is good enough and convenient. But if you prefer to use a prime lens on your primary camera, attach another lens with different focal lengths on the backup camera as you do not have extra time to change your lens carefully.
3. Shoot in RAW
It is another highly recommended tip. It is critical and easy to overexpose the bride’s white dress or underexpose the groom’s dark suit. You will need the capability of RAW to get them right.
