Decision

There are many camera brands to choose from and different formats to choose from. A interchangeable camera lens is my goal for 2016. I debating whether to chose a full DSLR (Nikon) or compact mirrorless. Size of the camera is not the factor in the decision. The major factors are image quality, potential of the camera for some growth i.e D 5300. I mainly shoot outdoors landscapes, nature, and birds.

If you had to choose between a DSLR and mirrorless why would you choose a DSLR instead of a mirrorless?

I am not a mirrorless expert by any stretch of the imagination, but DSLRs still have WAY more lenses to choose from, and I think that in itself makes them better for birds and other wildlife.

I recently watched a video by Tony Northrup, he said that one issue with the Sony mirrorless was the start up time. He said he definitely missed some shots due to this factor. So, for wildlife and birds it might be something to think about.

D5300 a very wise choice......

Another thing is, I believe that shots per battery charge is much lower with mirrorless... You can always buy extra batteries. Just another thing to consider.

photobasset said:

There are many camera brands to choose from and different formats to choose from. A interchangeable camera lens is my goal for 2016. I debating whether to chose a full DSLR (Nikon) or compact mirrorless. Size of the camera is not the factor in the decision. The major factors are image quality, potential of the camera for some growth i.e D 5300. I mainly shoot outdoors landscapes, nature, and birds.

If you had to choose between a DSLR and mirrorless why would you choose a DSLR instead of a mirrorless?

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That's pretty much the full gamut of focal lengths. If weight is not an object than I would go with the DSLR route. I never used the mirrorless cameras but if you're going to shoot birds, the DSLR s have better tracking and focus capabilities and better ISO performance than the mirrorless cams. (from what I hear and read)

Blacktop said:

but if you're going to shoot birds, the DSLR s have better tracking and focus capabilities and better ISO performance than the mirrorless cams. (from what I hear and read)

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Sony A6000 has 11 frames per second and 179 Focus Points the Nikon D5 a £5,200 camera still only has 153 points ...

An A6000 can go up to 25,600 again just as comparable as a DSLR

Chris@sabor said:

Another thing is, I believe that shots per battery charge is much lower with mirrorless... You can always buy extra batteries. Just another thing to consider.

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Probably about 400 shots to a battery, Sony add (in some cameras) 2 batteries in the box so it can be negated just like a lot of us use a battery grip

Chris@sabor said:

I recently watched a video by Tony Northrup, he said that one issue with the Sony mirrorless was the start up time.

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Hmm 1-2 seconds start up time, if he was really going to get shots the camera would be ready especially with wildlife

P.S im really not a fan of him

Woodyg3 said:

I am not a mirrorless expert by any stretch of the imagination, but DSLRs still have WAY more lenses to choose from, and I think that in itself makes them better for birds and other wildlife.

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The Sony has a VERY good adaptor in the LA-EA3 from Sony to Canon Lenses so you have every single Canon lens available to you. It doesn't work the other way (Sony to Nikon) yet as Nikon uses a mechanical focus and that is harder to reverse engineer over Canon's electrical focus


Other points of interest:


Weight- I feel it when I have been lugging my D600 gripped with a 70-200 2.8 on it after a while.

Focus Peeking - Who doesnt want to be able to zoom into their image and make sure it is TACK sharp before you take the photo.

EVF - Why is DSLR's so backwards in still wanting to put prisms into the cameras where you can add an electronic viewfinder and see what changes you are making in the camera instead of having to look at the back of the camera. You get the exposure how you want it in the camera and shoot and shoot and shoot no need to worry if the lighting has changed as you will see it in the finder.

ALL Flashes work, be it Yongnuo, Nikon, Sony or Canon, on a Sony it just works

BUT the biggest one is price ... A6000 Body is £389, a D7200 is £569 ...

Just to finish I still LOVE my DSLR and my D600 but looking at what is in the Mirrorless ... the advantages are far outweighing the negatives at the moment for me ....

Sony A6000 has 11 frames per second and 179 Focus Points the Nikon D5 a £5,200 camera still only has 153 points ...

An A6000 can go up to 25,600 again just as comparable as a DSLR

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Quality over quantity. 11 frames /second is nice for some I guess, but we really only need 1 focus point. As a matter of fact you can take away all of my focus points except the one in the middle, and I wouldn't know it unless you told me. :encouragement:

We still haven't covered lenses yet. A choice of hundreds of different lenses aginst a few is a no brainer for me. However I'm only making a suggestion and would not want to push the OP in any one direction.

There are compromises with all systems. I switched from DSLR for smaller size/weight and silent shutter. The mirror slap on my D610 would spook the songbirds in my backyard, and I didn't like the big heavy gear on hikes. The Advantages of DSLR Fx was IQ/ISO/DoF. I've heard Sony is nice, but the lenses are not smaller. The Nikon 1 series sold me on mirrorless which is why I ended up with Olympus; best of both worlds for me. The D5300 is an excellent camera and more forgiving than smaller formats. It's never an easy choice, do lots of research! Mirrorless does eat more battery, but EVF is worth it!

Blacktop said:

Quality over quantity. 11 frames /second is nice for some I guess, but we really only need 1 focus point. As a matter of fact you can take away all of my focus points except the one in the middle, and I wouldn't know it unless you told me. :encouragement:

We still haven't covered lenses yet. A choice of hundreds of different lenses aginst a few is a no brainer for me. However I'm only making a suggestion and would not want to push the OP in any one direction.

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Hehe from what I have seen (Ive been researching my next step for a while !!) the quality of the 179 is great

Lenses wise, as I said there are mounts so you can put any Canon lens on with Autofocus working and very quick so lenses are a moot point.

Again I am only wanting to make a suggestion but with so many incorrect facts in the thread I had to make a post

K

Daz said:

Hehe from what I have seen (Ive been researching my next step for a while !!) the quality of the 179 is great

Lenses wise, as I said there are mounts so you can put any Canon lens on with Autofocus working and very quick so lenses are a moot point.

Again I am only wanting to make a suggestion but with so many incorrect facts in the thread I had to make a post

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As far as lenses go, I agree you can use an adapter however I have read that the results can be inconsistent and may not focus as well.

"So many incorrect facts"?

Chris@sabor said:

K

As far as lenses go, I agree you can use an adapter however I have read that the results can be inconsistent and may not focus as well.

"So many incorrect facts"?

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Ive watched around 100 videos on Youtube of mounting adaptors and the pros and cons and the Sony ones (and even the metabones newer ones) are REALLY good

Well incorrect facts like DSLR can get more FPS, its got better ISO etc ...

Daz said:

Ive watched around 100 videos on Youtube of mounting adaptors and the pros and cons and the Sony ones (and even the metabones newer ones) are REALLY good

Well incorrect facts like DSLR can get more FPS, its got better ISO etc ...

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Just to be clear, are you saying that Canon lenses work 100% as well as Sony lenses on the Sony mirrorless cameras?

Chris@sabor said:

Just to be clear, are you saying that Canon lenses work 100% as well as Sony lenses on the Sony mirrorless cameras?

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Yes they work 100%

Will they work 100% as well, well all the videos I have watched (with the popular lenses) work as well, they focus quickly and the pictures are in focus, are they 1.1 as fast as on a Canon camera, I got no idea I dont shoot Canon but everyone is saying that they lock focus just as quick ...

Daz said:

Yes they work 100%

Will they work 100% as well, well all the videos I have watched (with the popular lenses) work as well, they focus quickly and the pictures are in focus, are they 1.1 as fast as on a Canon camera, I got no idea I dont shoot Canon but everyone is saying that they lock focus just as quick ...

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Did a quick search and one of the first reviews I came upon says this;

[h=3]Focus Speed[/h]Sony a7, a7R, a7S, a7II and other existing Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras offer AF-S autofocus speed that’s acceptable at best – but never fast – with the Canon EF Smart Adapters tested in this review. AF speed is well suited for landscapes, architecture and portraits – but when it comes for fast moving action, fuggedaboutit!

http://briansmith.com/canon-ef-to-sony-e-mount-smart-adapter-compatibility-guide/

Again, I'm not a mirrorless expert, but everything I've read indicates that there isn't a mirrorless camera that can focus track as accurately for moving subjects as DSLRs. This is especially true for subjects moving directly toward or away from the camera. This is pretty important for bird photography, which is one of the OPs interests.

I haven't used a mirrorless with an EVF I've been really satisfied with, and using live view just doesn't cut it for me in the bright outdoors.

I know there are plenty of great mirrorless cameras out there, and there are advantages for many people, but DSLRs still have the advantage for the bulk of my photography.

I have a Nikon 1 V2 and the D7200,even though i like mirrorless it doesn't seem ready yet to take the crown from DSLRs,try finding utube vids on birds in flight on a om em5,you will not find much,mirrorless is great but not for all things yet,DSLRs can cover everything including what mirrorless struggles with.
Yes you can set a mirrorless on a high frame rate with a high focus speed and get BIF but its not the way i like to do it,i like to watch my subjects in between shots,just spent a bit of time researching exchanging my V2 for the OM but decided its not there yet.

I cannot speak to mirrorless cameras. I had always liked photography but never had time for it. When I finally decided to step in I looked at the established names and picked Nikon. I have only been doing this a year but I am not disappointed. I am as guilty as the next guy... we spend so much time analyzing the best choice... I call it analysis paralysis. I picked Nikon because of my perception of its sound foundation. It could have been Canon, but in the end I like Nikon for all the reasons these guys mention above. Lens choices being number one.

Like so many decisions you'll get a lot of "it depends" suggestions and it does depend on so many factors.

My take - DSLR is 'old school' and has a lot going for it. I'm old, I like old school, I shoot with a DSLR. IMHO the Mirrorless Camera is 'new age' not in a bad funky way, but a newer approach to imaging.

I had some old Nikon lenses and one of the reason I choose Nikon so many years ago was "the Nikon lens promise" that was pitched to me by a camera salesman telling me Nikon promises that the lenses you buy today will always work on your future Nikon DSLR camera. And they do. I've bought several old, err vintage lenses and built up a workable collection. There are some limitations of course and the D5300 like my D5100 will only auto-focus on "AFS" lenses with a built in motor, most really old lenses did not have a built in motor, they work, they are just manual focus lenses. BTW I still use my D5100 because it of the weight and to take it places like a fair where it may get a bit of rough treatment. And I'd cry less if my D5100 was damaged or stolen than my D610.

If you can stretch the budget look at the D7100/7200 camera, it has a built in motor opening up a whole world of less expensive lenses - may cost you less in the long run and is a whole lot more camera.

Having said that, the D5300 is a great starter. You have been warned about the NAS haven't you? NAS = Nikon Acquisition Syndrome. It afflicts some of us; some more than others. You buy one camera and a couple of lenses and think you are done. For many of us, you have just begun. And camera bags, only get one. Once you get a second they breed and soon you have a dozen.

Whatever you do, have fun.