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Is the end of the DSLR here?

Hi,

I rented a Nikon Z6 last summer and found the EVF lag was too great for motorsports shooting. So, I am sticking with the DSLR for now. I have so many lenses for Nikon, going back to 1970, that any other brand makes no sense. And, with the fact that many of the many lenses are AF and AFD and the Nikon Z to F adapter doesn't support them also means I get to wait longer for a mirrorless.

On top of that I just recently got a Pentax 645D, which is my current foray into medium format (we'll table discussion of my earlier forays into medium format). That is an SLR. of course, it is older but the used prices on Pentax 645 gear are shockingly low. My upgrade path would be to a P645Z and then a Fujifilm GFX 100. But, the 100 prices will take years to come down to my level.

And the GFX 100 is most likely to be my first mirrorless.

Stan
 
I like my dslr and still use it. On the other hand I hate how all cameras do video now. I never use video I just want to take pictures, one of the reasons I keep e shooting film.
 
While my iPhone 11 does a heck of a job, I still won’t abandon my 80D. I can do so much more with lighting and lenses as well as macro shots with my bellows that I doubt a phone based camera will ever do. But I did shoot this shot on the iPhone and for the situation I could not have done better with my 80D. It comes down to the best camera is the one you have with you. Well for some reason B&B won’t let me post a photo. I’ll try posting another message with just the photo.
 
the photo is not a good photo, I was testing the panorama feature and it would have taken a lot more work on the 80D.

D7BDE13A-3D13-49D6-B48B-66B6BB82DFC5.jpeg
 
As a many decade Canon user, I am not sure that I could spend 4 grand ( and then several grand for lenses of the quality to justify the camera) for this.
At that price point, you are in the middle Leica range, as well as the upper Fuji's and perhaps even the new Hasselblad that is due out soon.

While the upper end Canon lenses are pretty good, they in no way can compete with Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlander etc. I am talking fine photography here. (When it comes to fast sports shots, Canon owns that arena).

On my own Canon, I have several "L" lenses, but my Zeiss lens blows them all away. Yes, Zeiss does make lenses with other brand mounts.
 
Hi,

I suppose I ought to have mentioned that Pentax has publicly announced that they will be sticking with the DSLR. And, I don't see Nikon or Canon ever dropping the design regardless of how their mirrorless offerings sell.

Stan
 
As technology progresses, there's no reason that mirrorless cameras couldn't completely replace SLRs. IMO, the tipping point is going to be a breakthrough in viewing quality through the EVF, there needs to be more resolution, higher frame rate and improvements in both color accuracy and gamut (including dynamic range).

I'd also like to see more settings/modes that allow the user to minimise manipulation of the viewfinder image, as well as a universal option to default the view to one displaying the current shooting aperture (or full aperture, plus a dedicated DOF preview toggle).

Then there is the fact that mechanical shutters in mirrorless designs need to cycle twice as many times as a camera that doesn't rely on live view. But as electronic shutter implementation gets better that should be resolved as well.
 
I have never entered into the DSLR area as the cameras are way too bulky for my taste. I still shoot film and use my Leica M cameras. The lenses, in the range from 21 to 90 mm, are in sizes I prefer and the entire system fits in a small camera bag. Unfortunately is the latest digital M way too expensive.
Which digital system do you suggest as a complement to the M system?
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
I'm interested in how many buyers will have a computer capable of dealing with 8k video files

I know this is an old quote but I just ran across it. Maybe I can add some perspective or not...

Earlier this year I dropped $3500 on a new 27” iMac with Final Cut Pro X. Only the standard 8gb ram, figuring I will upgrade on my own later.

Supposedly the base model iMac will do 8k but I’m assuming it will take quite a while. I ran across this website that tested it and found that a 50 second timeline in Final Cut Pro X took nearly 3 minutes to render. With 32gb ram.

My videos are typically around 5 minutes at 1080p. Just cause for what I do, it looks fine on YouTube. It takes me roughly 2-3 minutes to render. Possibly less. My GoPro does 4k so maybe I’ll do a 4k test just to see how much longer it takes. I’ve never done a 4k video because I compress it and render at 1080p to have smaller files sizes and slower upload times to YouTube. So I just started shooting in 1080p too.
 
I know this is an old quote but I just ran across it. Maybe I can add some perspective or not...

Earlier this year I dropped $3500 on a new 27” iMac with Final Cut Pro X. Only the standard 8gb ram, figuring I will upgrade on my own later.

Supposedly the base model iMac will do 8k but I’m assuming it will take quite a while. I ran across this website that tested it and found that a 50 second timeline in Final Cut Pro X took nearly 3 minutes to render. With 32gb ram.

My videos are typically around 5 minutes at 1080p. Just cause for what I do, it looks fine on YouTube. It takes me roughly 2-3 minutes to render. Possibly less. My GoPro does 4k so maybe I’ll do a 4k test just to see how much longer it takes. I’ve never done a 4k video because I compress it and render at 1080p to have smaller files sizes and slower upload times to YouTube. So I just started shooting in 1080p too.

You can eGPU FCP now I think as well?
 
how many of you are running 4K monitors, let alone 8K?

4K monitors are pretty inexpensive .. the LG ones anyway. The real issue is driving the monitor once you get beyond 4K (at least the last time I checked) because of USB-c's bandwidth. To be honest the real issue w/ Macs is I don't believe they have 10 bit color in the OS (perhaps this finally got fixed?)
 
I have never entered into the DSLR area as the cameras are way too bulky for my taste. I still shoot film and use my Leica M cameras. The lenses, in the range from 21 to 90 mm, are in sizes I prefer and the entire system fits in a small camera bag. Unfortunately is the latest digital M way too expensive.
Which digital system do you suggest as a complement to the M system?
I’m also a Leica M user. I like the Fuji X system. I use an X-E2 which is about 6 years old at this point. It’s very Leica-like in its form factor. It does use a crop sensor so if that bothers you and you want to use your existing glass maybe the Sony full frame mirrorless cameras would be a good choice.
 
As technology progresses, there's no reason that mirrorless cameras couldn't completely replace SLRs. IMO, the tipping point is going to be a breakthrough in viewing quality through the EVF, there needs to be more resolution, higher frame rate and improvements in both color accuracy and gamut (including dynamic range).

I'd also like to see more settings/modes that allow the user to minimise manipulation of the viewfinder image, as well as a universal option to default the view to one displaying the current shooting aperture (or full aperture, plus a dedicated DOF preview toggle).

Then there is the fact that mechanical shutters in mirrorless designs need to cycle twice as many times as a camera that doesn't rely on live view. But as electronic shutter implementation gets better that should be resolved as well.
A couple of years ago I bought a Canon 80D for a trip to Alaska. At the time I looked at and considered mirrorless cameras. But, I decided that if I wasn’t going to go with an APS-C sensor, it would be a full size sensor, not a smaller sensor.
 
I have an older generation Canon EOS T3. It does the job, and as I am really still a lightweight, I prefer to keep teaching myself to take better shots rather than lean on the camera. In fact, truth be told, It's probably been a year since I shot with the DSLR. I've been using my mobile phone camera. It's not great, but I'm out with it a lot, and I get shots I like and can tweak right on the camera. I feel like a blasphemer, wanting to defenestrate myself for this, but really, I'm trying to teach myself to be a better photographer right out of the gate. I like the art aspect of photography and don't really care about specs and electronics. I'm lazy, too, so the simpler the better. Shoot on my phone, tweak on my phone, post to social media on my phone. All that said, if I had spare cash, I would love to try mirrorless.
 
I have an older generation Canon EOS T3. It does the job, and as I am really still a lightweight, I prefer to keep teaching myself to take better shots rather than lean on the camera. In fact, truth be told, It's probably been a year since I shot with the DSLR. I've been using my mobile phone camera. It's not great, but I'm out with it a lot, and I get shots I like and can tweak right on the camera. I feel like a blasphemer, wanting to defenestrate myself for this, but really, I'm trying to teach myself to be a better photographer right out of the gate. I like the art aspect of photography and don't really care about specs and electronics. I'm lazy, too, so the simpler the better. Shoot on my phone, tweak on my phone, post to social media on my phone. All that said, if I had spare cash, I would love to try mirrorless.

For many photographers a phone, "bridge" camera or a weatherproof point-n-shoot are better choices than any interchangeable lens camera. If you don't want to make large prints, don't care about controlling the image focus with depth of field, don't need extreme wide angle or telephoto lenses to capture your chosen subject, or just leave the camera in "auto" or "program" modes all the time, then a simpler, cheaper, more portable option is probably superior for your use.

Just like the fact that most "serious", or even many professional photographers have no need for medium and large format cameras or lenses/cameras that offer shift, rise and tilt.


On the phone camera subject, I would argue that the statement "the picture is only as good as the photographer" is much more accurate than "the photographer is only as good as their camera". Years ago a person I followed on Flickr deleted all their images made with interchangeable lens cameras and re-started their photostream with only images made on their i-Phone, at first I was disappointed/sad/disgusted, but they kept producing excellent images, despite the limitations imposed by the phone camera. In the end I had to applaud their skill and facility at adapting to a new tool with such great success.
 
Changed from olympus e3 to em1 long time ago... and learned the advantages.... a more than reasonable wysiwyg live view makes life so much easier.
And yes for me the 16mp smaller sensor of m43 is enough. And the more compact lenses make travel easier.
 
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