What is the difference between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera?

Mirrorless cameras are smaller, lighter, faster and better for video. They also have unique features like electronic viewfinders, silent shooting, and focus peaking, and they're good value for money. DSLRs have larger lens options, better ergonomics and durability, longer battery life, no shutter lag, and optical viewfinders with some advantages.

A mirrorless camera is also called a mirrorless camera. The emergence of mirrorless cameras has made the camera lighter and more suitable. There is no reflector or pentaprism inside the fuselage, and the view can only be viewed through CMOS. The image is processed by the camera and displayed on the electronic viewfinder (EVF) or on the screen. In fact, one can understand this by comparing it with a smartphone camera.

With the advancement of modern technology, the development of science and technology. I believe that the next era is definitely the era of mirrorless cameras. Because of the lack of this mirror, the body thickness of mirrorless cameras can now be thinner and lighter.

2. quality and size

From the above structural comparison, it can actually be seen that the mirrorless camera is lighter than the SLR camera, and the size is much smaller than that of the SLR camera. This is because there is no optical system in the mirrorless body, and there is no auto exposure sensor and independent AF sensor, and most of the mirrorless bodies can be stuffed into pockets.

3. Autofocus

There are two types of camera autofocus techniques: contrast detection and phase detection.

Contrast detection focusing requires the camera to perform multiple focusing detections to find the point with the largest contrast in the picture to determine the focus position, so the focusing speed is relatively slow (especially in low light conditions), and it depends on the camera's computing performance. The advantage is that Focus is accurate.

Phase detection focusing requires an independent optical path and a linear sensor to detect the position differences of multiple beams of light on the sensor, and then calculate the focus position based on this. One calculation can accurately focus, with fast focusing speed and excellent continuous focusing performance.

Today's mid-to-high-end single-lens reflex and mirrorless cameras will integrate phase sensors on CMOS. The phase sensors integrated on CMOS can be used when taking pictures and recording videos, and can be used in conjunction with contrast detection technology to improve focusing performance.

SLR cameras are relatively weak, and the mirror plate must be raised during the photo taking process, and then the shutter can be opened for exposure.

4. Viewfinder

The preview image is presented through the viewfinder when shooting. The mirrorless camera uses the electronic viewfinder to shoot, and the SLR camera can also use the electronic viewfinder, but mainly uses the optical viewfinder to shoot.

The optical viewfinder is that the human eye observes the viewing range through a set of optical mechanisms on the camera to compose the picture. The optical viewfinder does not change the image, there is no lag and deviation, and you can observe a clear and sharp real field of view in low-light environments or when shooting fast-moving subjects.

Electronic viewfinder, the image displayed in the viewfinder comes directly from the image sensor, and the mirrorless camera uses the electronic viewfinder to shoot. Some mirrorless cameras are equipped with an electronic viewfinder (EVF), a small high-resolution screen mounted in the eyepiece that mimics a DSLR's optical viewfinder. The advantage of electronic framing is that you can preview the effect of the film in real time. What you see is what you get. When you adjust the shutter speed or aperture, what you see on the EVF will change accordingly.

By comparison, it can be seen that the SLR camera is better. SLR cameras include the advantages of optical viewfinders and electronic viewfinders, and are more competent when shooting in low light or challenging conditions.

5. Anti-shake performance

Image stabilization consists of two parts: lens image stabilization and body image stabilization.

Lens stabilization, which can provide shake compensation for optical framing of SLR cameras. It has a good anti-shake effect in the tilt and pan axes. Simply put, the telephoto lens needs more lens anti-shake.

Body image stabilization, which can provide shake compensation for all lenses, and can provide shake compensation for the rotation axis. In terms of fuselage image stabilization technology, everyone is coming from behind. At present, all brands with fuselage image stabilization have done a good job.

Hand shake and shutter shake can cause blurry photos and shaky videos, especially when shooting with telephoto lenses or long exposures. SLRs and mirrorless cameras use the same image stabilization system: the sensor senses camera shake, and as long as the body moves slightly, a servo motor drives the lens or image sensor back and forth.

On the whole, mirrorless cameras with five-axis anti-shake function have obvious advantages for high-end mirrorless cameras. For entry-level cameras, mirrorless and SLR are basically the same level of anti-shake function.

6. Image quality

At present, both SLR cameras and mirrorless cameras use CMOS sensors, while the mainstream sensor specification in the past was CCD. It can be seen that mirrorless cameras and SLR cameras share the same imaging principle. The difference is only in the framing structure. The difference in framing methods does not affect the quality of the image, let alone whether the camera is "professional".

In the past, the image sensor of mirrorless cameras may be generally small and the image quality is low, but now it is 2020, and the new mirrorless cameras produced by Sony and Canon are at least the mainstream APS-C format. The camera is on par.

SLR or mirrorless is not the standard for judging the quality of the camera, both cameras can take beautiful photos.

7. Battery life

Battery life may be a part that is very easy to be overlooked in the process of using the camera. In general, when you buy a camera, you may pay attention to other parameters. However, a camera with poor battery life may have to replace a battery in dozens of minutes.

SLRs can take pictures without a screen or electronic viewfinder, and the number of pictures that can be taken on a single charge is far ahead. When taking pictures with a mirrorless camera, you need to view the scene in real time on the LCD screen or the electronic viewfinder. Both of these methods consume a lot of power. Therefore, under the same conditions, the battery life of the mirrorless camera is far behind that of the DSLR.

8. Comparison summary

From the above introduction, we can see that the fundamental difference between a SLR camera and a mirrorless camera is the difference in the framing structure, which cannot be judged whether the camera is "professional", and the difference in framing methods will not affect the quality of the picture. Bad, so how do we choose? Here are the differences between the two, you can refer to make a choice:

SLR camera features:

Viewfinder: both optical and electronic viewfinder functions

Many lenses: the accumulation of lens groups takes a long time, and the selection is rich

Long battery life: Optical framing does not consume power when taking pictures

Low price: The price of the body and lens close to the performance is generally lower than that of the mirrorless camera

Mirrorless camera features:

More portable: Micro single has no optical viewfinder component, and the volume and weight are smaller

Fast continuous shooting: no need to lift the reflector, the continuous shooting speed is faster

Suitable for shooting video: low-end models also support phase focus when shooting video

Good image stabilization: high-end mirrorless cameras such as Olympus and Sony support five-axis image stabilization

Good development: mirrorless cameras are the trend of future camera development, and SLR updates have slowed down

If you are struggling between mirrorless and DSLR, my suggestion is to buy mirrorless, because it can be smaller and lighter with the same performance.