Is there a future for DSLR?

[Jakov Minić]

The Tokyo olympics will be covered exclusively with smartphones

Børge, you made my day

[richardHaw]

giorgetto giugaro is greatly responsible for that ergonomics 
i am a great fan of his works on japanese cars and the delorean 

mirrorless to me is a great tool fro certain jobs, but not the all around solution that fanboys make them out to be. it's like comparing a VW to a jeep. both will take you from A to B it just depends on how you want to get there.

[richardHaw]

i feel that this will be a long and passionate discussion 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Maybe, maybe not. There is no "winner" or "right vs wrong". Just alternate approaches towards a common goal. It really bears keeping that fact in mind.

[stenrasmussen]

Tis with cameras as with food, clothes, jewlery, genetics, complexion, weather, jobs, hobbies, planets, rocks, fluids, cups, guitars, string gauges, boats, ropes, religions, languages, cars, people, etc. No right and no wrong.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

You forgot wives and girl friends, Sten ....

[Frank Fremerey]

After one year of heavily using the X100T I feel drawn back to the Nikongear. Why?

1) Ergonomics.
2) Reliability.
3) Autofocus.

She is a nice fun camera, but I hate loosing shots to anything but my own fault.

My D3 (F4/FM-2/F100) always does what she is supposed to do
My D600 (D70/D7000) does is most of the time, because I know all the workarounds by now

The Fuji sometimes does things randomly, no explanation why: 10 shots good, suddenly 3 shots bad for no good reason.

With the Nikongear I can most of the time track back a bad shot to my fault.


Plus: I can use optics made in 50 years to give my shots a completely different look and feel and sometimes even create a new shooting experience.


So back to the starting point:

The Nikon DSLR-System is versatile and does everything I want it to do ergonomically and reliably.

I have yet to see a DSLM to do the job in a comparable manner. If the Leica SL is a hint, we will see great improvements in the Electronic finders and Fuji has done a great job to create an ergonomically sound experience, Olympus has done a great job to create impressive In Body Image Stabilisation plus fast and reliable Autofocus.

Maybe another two generations and depending on what you shoot, the DSLR will be obsolete for many amatuers and even professionals.


PS: As a digiback for my Sinar the Sony Full Frame Mirrorless Bodies seem to be a very good choice, because I can win nearly two centimeters moving the sensor nearer to the back standart for versatile movements.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

"As a digiback for my Sinar the Sony Full Frame Mirrorless Bodies seem to be a very good choice, because I can win nearly two centimeters moving the sensor nearer to the back standart for versatile movements."

How do you cope with all the colour artefacts generated in that manner? Or are the lenses really long focal lengths the 24x36 format considered? I tried with my Sony on the Arca-Swiss F-line camera and results were in general horrible.

[stenrasmussen]

You forgot wives and girl friends, Sten ....

Nah...then I would have to venture into the field of intimacy and that's dangerous territory 

[tommiejeep]

There are also some persisting rumours that Sony will bring out a professional A9 model soon, if they do so that will speed up things a little bit, literally

It is almost a necessity for Sony ,  can't wait to see the size/weight  .  Then I'll listen to the howls from the Sony fans that keep harping on the issue of small is beautiful.  Not sure about the a9xx bit.  I hope they come up with a faster way to move the focus point, would love to have a non-CPU menu instead of the Play Memories App.  and a few other user friendly simplifications 

[richardHaw]

It is almost a necessity for Sony ,  can't wait to see the size/weight  .  Then I'll listen to the howls from the Sony fans that keep harping on the issue of small is beautiful.  Not sure about the a9xx bit.

i actually like the Sony cameras. they just need to fix the ergonomics and menus 

[tommiejeep]

The mirrorless crowd will do themselves a service by understanding camera ergonomics isn't something you design randomly or by following some fashionable trends. The better designs evolve by natural selection over time.  The human interface has its quirks that the designers really need to pay more attention to. Extensive menu systems simply are not the answer. Straight-forward, functional designs with ample space for fingers and other human extremities are what we should ask for, but oh so rarely get. A viewfinder that "understands" the human eye needs adaptation to the ambient light conditions in order not to be "blind" when you remove your eye from the finder (an area in which current EVFs fail badly; they should ramp up brightness only on demand and likewise slowly decrease in intensity so your dark and night vision isn't impaired. Of course an OVF does this by default as it interacts with the eye in the natural way).

.

For the ergonomics I still love my D3S, Gripped D300/s and D700.  I do not shoot Vids with the DSLRs (a total of 4  ) .  I was upset, and still am, when the AF selector moved to the bottom front of the camera , cumbersome using long lenses  .  My newer cameras are good, just not the same feel in my hands.  When I am shooting the D3S ,70-200 2.8 or 300 2.8 I know that if I miss a shot it was me, nothing to do with the camera combo.  I cannot say the same for the EM1 and a7II.  The focus accuracy of those two is outstanding and the EM1 is very fast but split second acquisition in the EVF is not. Of course for casual walkabout , some events, the Df and the other two will be my choices unless the light is very bad. Then the Df is the obvious choice. Note: I've not used the Sony a7s/sII or the a7RII .  JA can remark on shooting events with is low light camera 
Edit: Richard, I agree but early days with the a7II, not sure about my Monson shooting.  I shot the brand new D750 in the edge of a cyclone with no ill affects

[Fons Baerken]

is there future for dslr?
yes

[ArendV]

Right now if I have to pick one camera for different types of shooting, it will be my Nikon DSLR with mirror.
But it is clear to me that ultimately camera's with a mirror will disappear or become a niche segment.

EVF cannot fully simulate the experience with an OVF yet. Some say with the OVF "you see what you get". But actually in some ways the EVF is better at that. If I have the wrong settings by mistake (happens more than I want to) I notice this quicker in the EVF of my Sony than in the OVF of my Nikon.

[Harald]

Yes.
I used a D700 and tried Fuji (X E1 and T10) and Olympus (Omd EM 10): Neither IQ nor Handling/Speed nor AF was an the same level. And we are talking about a camera from 2009 or let me say: Prehistoric in a technical way. Sony does some nice cameras, but they are much too expensive and also too slow. Let me say: You can make fantastic photos with every modern camera, expecially if you do net need low iso capability.
Now i am happy with a "new" DF and the only successor would be a D900 or dF3....
If you want to "beat" a DSLR do it like Apple: Combine all known experience in one product and name it iCamera. Forget all the stuff about ergonimics and redesign a camera from the beginning. Fuji, Sony and Olympus try to copy a DSLR. This is the wrong way. I see the same problem in electrified cars: You have so much "chance" to redesign a car and what is it now? A "normal" car just with another engine.

Harald