DSLR future

I'm an amateur photographer. Lately I've been observing the advances in digital camera design and features. Much like a transition in the automotive industry the camera industry is also going through a sea change.

In a very rough sense there are two types of digital cameras. 1) The Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) and 2) Mirror-less. The truth is the vast majority of cameras in the world are mirror-less. They have come in the form of pocket cameras and sell phones among others. But most Professional photographers consider DSLR type cameras to be superior. Until recently.

While high end interchangeable lens cameras have been around for years it was really Sony that has pushed the field forward causing bigger manufacturers Canon and Nikon to step into the Frey.

Sony first came out with the A55 "mirror less" camera in October of 2010. That camera did have a translucent mirror but it stayed in place and didn't flip up and down during photo shooting. A few models down the line and the translucent mirror was gone. Sone stopped making DSLR cameras. The early models certainly weren't up to DSLR standards but they did have some interesting features.

Sony's early mirror-less cameras showed that the technology did exist to eliminate the mirror, to focus using the camera sensor, to have very fast burst mode, and it brought Electronic View Finders (EVF) into play. At first the EVF was widely rejected and despised as people wanted to see an optical image through the lens. But over the next few years the advantages, and quality, of the EVF began to turn heads. Today an increasing segment of the photographic community sees the EVF as superior.

Sony really began to attract photographers from Canon and Nikon with the introduction of better and better models. Sony shocked the world by introducing the A9, a high end camera that clearly can compete with the best DSLRs on the market. The Sony A7 model III at $2,000 shook up the camera market by offering quality and features of high end DSLRs for about 1/2 the price. While most photographers stuck with their Canon or Nikon equipment a significant number of pros switched to Sony. Canon and Nikon had to do something to stop the bleeding.

By September of 2018 both Canon and Nikon introduced high end mirror-less cameras. Most people feel both manufacturers short-changed those designs so as not to hurt sales of their top of the line DSLRs. They were both smart in that their customers can use large numbers of their Canon or Nikon lenses on the new cameras. Canon and Nikon's new mirror-less cameras necessarily have prices close to the Sony A7III. This, no doubt, will eat into Canon and Nikon profits. The high end camera market has been shrinking for the past few years. This puts pressure on all manufacturers.

I believe as Canon and Nikon customers sort out the advantages of mirror-less, and push Canon and Nikon to add more features the mirror-less market will slowly nudge out DSLR market share. In some number of years DSLRs will shrink to be a small portion of the pie. The advantages of mirror-less are simply too good to ignore.

To additionally upset the mix Panasonic has announced their entry into the full frame mirror-less market. Panasonic has a reputation of offering some strong contenders in the micro 4/3 market with best in class in body stabilization and exceptional 4K video capability. Panasonic has some work to do to catch up with fast accurate focus though. But one thing is Panasonic doesn't have to protect a full frame DSLR market like Canon and Nikon.

It's going to be very interesting to see the shifts in the full frame interchangeable lens camera market over the next few years.