{"id":5108,"date":"2014-06-13T19:39:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-14T02:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=5108"},"modified":"2014-06-15T19:05:03","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T02:05:03","slug":"leaving-a-dslr-for-a-mirrorless-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/leaving-a-dslr-for-a-mirrorless-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving a DSLR for a Mirrorless Camera"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"comparisonI started in photography with a Minolta X700 in 1978. The day finally came when set aside my trusty camera for the sexiness of digital with the Nikon 950. I didn’t actually get rid of my Minolta because I loved it so much. Time marched on and I went through a series of point and shoots but I got back to my SLR (Single Lens Reflex) roots with the Nikon D40. I was seduced by Bart and Kirschen getting the Nikon D5100 eventually and with Dorothy standing behind me urging me to upgrade so she could buy my D40, it was an easy choice. Knowing that your camera is going to a loving home makes the decision easy. I think we develop emotional attachments to our cameras because it was through the camera’s eyes that we’ve witnessed the events in our lives, so they’re a part of that experience. Or maybe I’m just weird that way.<\/p>\n

I had Chris Marquardt from tipsfromthetopfloor.com<\/a> on the show about a year ago to talk photography with me<\/a> and I grilled him about these new fangled mirrorless cameras. He talked me out of thinking about them, mostly because they were slow to focus at the time.
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But then David Allen (@wizardgold<\/a>) came on my show while we were in New Zealand and he spoke of the wonders of mirrorless cameras like the Sony NEX-6. He didn’t just push the idea, he continuously shows these amazing photos he takes on Google Plus. Then Pat Dengler (yourmacdoctor.com<\/a>) came over and let me play with her NEX-7 in my own little hands. I was seduced by how small it was and I knew how great the photos were from her and David. However, the Sony menu system seemed confusing to me. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, like a button in the wrong place or strange terminology, but it just didn’t feel intuitive.<\/p>\n

I had the bug and it was time to start doing some research. My favorite site for comparing cameras is called DP Review, at dpreview.com<\/a>. You can read full reviews that are really detailed and do side-by-side comparisons of different cameras to help narrow down the options. One problem though is all the different terminologies here that in some cases mean the same thing. For example, micro four-thirds cameras, also called four-thirds, are mirrorless, but all mirrorless cameras are not four-thirds. This makes searching for cameras difficult. I think I tweeted that I was on the hunt, and Steven Goetz (aka @goatman<\/a>) volunteered to help me spend my money.<\/p>\n

One of Steven’s best pieces of advice was to make sure that the camera I was considering had a lot of lens options. It never would have occurred to me that because these cameras have different mounts, some don’t have as many options as others. He also told me that the Sony NEX6 while a great camera did have menus that confused some people, so they redesigned the menus for the Sony A6000. Being a Nikon girl, I took a look at the Nikon 1 series. I went to a local store where the guy showed me the Nikon 1 V2, and I really liked how it felt and the menus seemed intuitive. However, he said I shouldn’t buy the V2, because the V3 was coming out any minute now. That created a new problem – when would it be out so I could touch it and play with it? I checked everywhere and they had it for pre-order, with a delivery date of April something, but it was already May and it wasn’t out yet.<\/p>\n

At this point I wrote to Antonio Rosario from switchingtomanual.com<\/a> who’s been on the podcast before. I figured he’d give me some good advice, and I knew he was a Nikon boy so I hoped he’d tell me the Nikon V3 was worth the wait. I was right that he gave me good advice, but he did not encourage me to go with Nikon. He doesn’t feel Nikon is putting their best efforts into their small cameras and that for the price he’d be nervous that they’d continue with this line. He gave me great explanations about whether to care about certain features:<\/p>\n