Digital SLR

thelawnet

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Those cameras are four-thirds cameras. They are not DSLRs, but are the next best thing. They do not have viewfinders, and some do have flashes. Not that you need viewfinder, as there is a screen that shows you what you will be shooting.

Four-thirds is a DSLR format. These are Micro Four-Thirds, a mirrorless format. Several current M4/3 cameras do in fact have viewfinders:

Panasonic G2, G3, GH2

In addition the Panasonic GF2, GX1 and Olympus E-PL1, E-PL2, E-PL3, E-PM1, E-P2, E-P3 all support add-on viewfinders.

The G2, G3, GH2, GF2, GF3, GX1 and E-P3 have built-in flash.

The Panasonic G3's viewfinder is a major boon for hand-hold camera use. It does make it larger than the GF3/GX1 or Olympus E-P3/E-PL3/E-PM1 however.

wizzywig27

Thanks again guys, all great help.

I am liking the Mirrorless ones (due to size), but worry I might lose some of the features of the DSLR's (such as flash, viewfinder etc) as well as image quality. Also the shot I mentioned previously, I am unsure if the mirrorless ones will enable me to produce this kind of shot.

I noticed the ISO on the Sony one goes up to 25600 or am I reading this wrong?

thelawnet

wizzywig27 wrote: »

Thanks again guys, all great help.

I am liking the Mirrorless ones (due to size), but worry I might lose some of the features of the DSLR's (such as flash, viewfinder etc) as well as image quality. Also the shot I mentioned previously, I am unsure if the mirrorless ones will enable me to produce this kind of shot.

I noticed the ISO on the Sony one goes up to 25600 or am I reading this wrong?

As mentioned you can get flash + viewfinder on a mirrorless camera. The Sony ones (nex series) have the same size sensor + better image quality than many DSLRs. However the larger sensor means larger lenses, for which there is a much better selection in any case for the Olympus/Panasonic mirrorless cameras.

You probably don't need ridiculously high ISOs.

Fifer

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Those cameras are four-thirds cameras. They are not DSLRs, but are the next best thing.

Just to avoid confusion, four-thirds cameras are DSLRs, micro four-thirds cameras are not - they are Mirrorless Interchangable Lens Cameras (MILC) or Compact System Cameras (depending on your preferred nomenclature).

And to further avoid confusion, only the Panasonic (of the three listed in the OP) is a micro-four thirds camera. The two Sonys are not, they use APS-C sensors rather than four thirds.

andygb

Here is a good explanation of the systems. One important thing to note, is how small the sensor is on a 4/3 or micro 4/3 compared to an APSC camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system

It is worthwhile noting, that high ISO speeds on a small sensor bring a compromise in image quality, which will be very noticeable in A4 prints or larger, and extremely obvious when images are viewed on a large monitor or television screen.

wizzywig27

andygb wrote: »

Here is a good explanation of the systems. One important thing to note, is how small the sensor is on a 4/3 or micro 4/3 compared to an APSC camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system

It is worthwhile noting, that high ISO speeds on a small sensor bring a compromise in image quality, which will be very noticeable in A4 prints or larger, and extremely obvious when images are viewed on a large monitor or television screen.

So the Sony, as I mentioned in my OP has an APS-C sensor as per this link http://www.mirrorless-dslr-guide.com/sony-mirrorless-dslr.html) but is lacking a flash and viewfinder.

the viewfinder is not so much of an issue, the flash well be, and at about £100 it may be worth forking out a little bit more on a DSLR.

Fifer

andygb wrote: »

Here is a good explanation of the systems. One important thing to note, is how small the sensor is on a 4/3 or micro 4/3 compared to an APSC camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system

It is worthwhile noting, that high ISO speeds on a small sensor bring a compromise in image quality, which will be very noticeable in A4 prints or larger, and extremely obvious when images are viewed on a large monitor or television screen.

That's a fair point Andy, although the latest generation of sensors used in MILC cameras deploy silicon with on-board noise reduction and (according to reviews on the better digital photography sites) achieve results on a par with good DSLRs.

That said, APS-C sensors are used on Sony and Samsung MILC cameras. Interestingly, Nikon's entry into the MILC market uses a sensor whih is significantly smaller than both APS-C and four-thirds.

ukcarper

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Those cameras are four-thirds cameras. They are not DSLRs, but are the next best thing. They do not have viewfinders, and some do have flashes. Not that you need viewfinder, as there is a screen that shows you what you will be shooting.

The main thing is that they are fully manual, and you can change the lenses, so you can adapt and experiment just as you can with full DSLRs.


I sold my DSLR and the full range of lenses a year ago and bought a Olympus Micro 4/3 camera, several lenses and haven't looked back. You get 99% of the full range of functions as on the DSLR without the weight, as the sensor is smaller, the body is smaller and the lenses are smaller.

And now many of the people in my camera club are also getting 4/3 cameras. It's a lovely system to use and I'm more than happy - I've also got images being published since swapping so there is a story in there somewhere.

How are the viewfinders in bright conditions I have a Lumix travel zoom and sometimes I have to give up and use dslr as it is impossible to frame shot correctly.

thelawnet

Fifer wrote: »

That said, APS-C sensors are used on Sony and Samsung MILC cameras. Interestingly, Nikon's entry into the MILC market uses a sensor whih is significantly smaller than both APS-C and four-thirds.

That's probably because they and Canon own the DSLR market so it doesn't really make sense to eat into their own sales by producing a product that competes with a DSLR in terms of quality/sensor size. The small-sensor MILCs are quite silly really, you might as well just get a pocketable point+shoot.

wizzywig27

Thanks again guys for all your help, can anyone suggest a cheap site to buy accessories??