SOUNDIMAGEPLUS: Is this now the time for Mirrorless?

I've always thought that the 'mirrorless takeover' and the 'death of the DSLR' were premature. Now I'm not so sure. With Fuji, Panasonic and Olympus already 100% and Sony almost the same (They still have their a-mount DSLR version - Just!!) and with Nikon and Canon now joining in maybe now this IS the time. Mirrorless is however an imprecise term. Rangefinders like the M10 are mirrorless, so are smartphones and large format film cameras. It's taken to mean cameras that function like DSLR's with with electronic viewfinders and view screens and not Single Lens Reflex cameras. Not an ideal description, but it will have to do since nobody is going to come up with a better definition now.

It seems also that 'full-frame' (another imprecise definition!!) mirrorless is flavour of the month and APS-C sensor cameras could be seemingly being phased out by many manufacturers (Except for Fuji) or if not that then certainly more and more marginalised. Where this leaves the long term future for m4/3, who knows, though I believe it's going to be around for many years to come. And so of course will be the DSLR option. Professionals, in the main, aren't going to jumping ship anytime soon, at least not until mirrorless gets a lot more 'robust.'

But for the photo enthusiast market FFMC seems to be becoming the preferred option and certainly the one that creates the most 'chatter.' Now while this whole market is certainly diminishing and may well end up at 35mm film camera levels, the manufacturers are altering their sights and slowly but surely going high end / upmarket. The larger 35mm sized sensor is perceived as offering greater quality with the ability to use selective focus more. And that is pretty much the case. While smaller sensors have made great strides in terms of IQ and do indeed offer benefits of scale, the perception is certainly that 35mm / 'full-frame' is better. And I would suggest regarded as more 'photographic' in a way that smartphones with their small sensors will never be, despite their extraordinary improvements.

It just feels to me that the impetus towards mirrorless is gathering speed and that camera and lens manufacturers see this as the way to hang on to sales in said declining market. And from my position, i.e. a consumer who keeps his eye on developments, it certainly fits in with what I see and what my preferences are. There is always going to be a large number of people for whom 'serious' photography is an end in itself. These people see owning and using a camera as more than simply recording their lives and the lives of their family and friends, they see it as a tool for creative expression. To look at the world and record fragments of it for it's own sake. And yes, dare I say it, create something that can be seen as piece of art.

I suspect that more and more people are coming to realise that the best tool for that is a 'full frame' / 35mm sized sensor 'mirrorless' camera. Is this enough to 'save' the photographic industry from severe cutbacks and marginalisation? Who knows, but I'm sure that's what these companies think. And that is probably of benefit to us as photographers. In the next few years I see a series of upgrades and improvements that will see the 'mirrorless' option embed itself as the preferred option for those serious photographers. As was the DSLR until recently. It may well now be on it's way to becoming the standard.

I said a few years ago in a (rare!!) interview that I gave that the mirrorless option would start to become dominant when the two best known camera manufacturers, Nikon and Canon, got involved and would use their position as market leaders to promote it. That has now happened and if the rumoured Leica / Panasonic / Sigma collaboration becomes a reality, again concentrating on FFMC's then that will give said mirrorless option an even greater boost. Now whatever happens I think that we are in for an exciting few years as things develop and it seems the pace of this 'revolution' (albeit in reality a small one) is hotting up. If nothing else it all means photographic internet 'chatter' could be in for even more hysteria. Not a pretty sight (or sound) but at least people are talking about photographic gear in an enthusiastic manner again, instead of merely rehashing old arguments (in favour of new ones of course!!). But that, surely, is not a bad thing.