If you spend a lot of time on YouTube or tech websites you could easily get the idea that the only cameras capable of proper quality video are mirrorless cameras, especially as they are constantly being put forward as the best option for vloggers.
This is quite annoying. Mirrorless cameras are not the best choice for everyone. Mirrorless cameras actually have a lot of faults and limitations. Here are some of them:
- Size and weight: Try holding a mirrorless camera at arm’s length to film yourself and see how long you can hold it up. Oh, and you will need a lens wide enough for the crop introduced by active (digital) stabilization if you’re not using a gimbal
- Stabilization: The bigger the camera sensor, the harder it is to stabilize. Even the best full frame mirrorless cameras cannot approach the stability of a regular smartphone or action camera
- POV shooting: Point-Of-View action shots are much more difficult with a mirrorless camera. Their size makes them difficult to get into confined spaces, and their weight and inertia makes them far too unwieldy for parachute jumps, trail cycling, skateboarding and more
- Fragility: Some mirrorless cameras have moisture and dust-sealing but there’s no way you can dip them in the sea or expect them to work again if they fall off your handlebars or your car mount
- Cost: You can get a GoPro, a 360 camera and a flagship smartphone, all for a combined cost no greater than a very average mirrorless camera
- Autofocus: The larger sensors in mirrorless cameras mean shallower depth of field and more emphasis on focus accuracy – always a hot topic amongst mirrorless users and a source of considerable expense in mirrorless camera development. Smaller sensors don’t have these headaches
- Rolling shutter: Big sensors have slower readout speeds than smaller ones, so it takes longer to ‘scan’ each frame and you’re more likely to get slanted verticals or a ‘jello’ effect if you pan the camera quickly
Mirrorless cameras are only ‘better’ if you load the argument in favor of what they can do well and ignore the things they can’t.
It’s true that mirrorless cameras will product better video quality than any camera phone, action camera or 360 camera. If you film the same footage with a mirrorless camera, action camera and a phone, the mirrorless footage will always look better. Of course it will. But a mirrorless camera cannot film subjects, scenarios and situations that these other cameras are designed for.
Mirrorless cameras are only ‘better’ if you load the argument in favor of what they can do well and ignore the things they can’t.