[HN Gopher] Canon Confirms We've Seen Its Last Flagship DSLR
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       Canon Confirms We've Seen Its Last Flagship DSLR
        
       Author : conductor
       Score  : 49 points
       Date   : 2021-12-29 17:23 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (petapixel.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (petapixel.com)
        
       | cultofmetatron wrote:
       | The writing has been on the wall for awhile.
       | 
       | I picked up a nikon z5 after a long haiatus from using dslrs.
       | (for the last 5 years, I made due with just a google pixel)
       | 
       | #1 thing you notice is the camera is much more compact. Video
       | feed from the viewfinder is close to flawless. (on rare
       | occasions, it lags)
       | 
       | #2 exposure is wysiwyg. I can get an instant preview of the
       | exposure of the image. Its like going from film to dslr in terms
       | of feedback
       | 
       | #3 autofocusing is SOOO MUCH BETTER. I can ove around a autofocus
       | pin anywhere on the screen. its just a green square on a video
       | overlay. I can also take advantage of eye tracking in real time.
       | this is a game changer when shooting difficult subjects. Its not
       | perfect but I can easily see it being flawless in a few more
       | generations.
       | 
       | #4 this one is specific to nikon but mirrorless gave them the
       | opportunity to rethink the lens mount and lens ecosystem. The
       | lenses sit much closer to the sensor so wide angle lenses can be
       | made MUCH lighter. It also means larger theoretical aperture
       | sizes. Nikon has a new manual focus lens that stops down to
       | f0.95!
       | 
       | Additionally, a lot of the things that were downsides of
       | mirrorless have been mitigated as technology has caught up.
       | Battery usage for instance has been an issue with mirrorless
       | systems as they are always on to power the viewfinder. DSLRs by
       | comparison sip power since they only draw a lot of power while
       | taking the photo. I can easily get a full day out of one battery
       | and they are easy to swap so I always walk around with 2-3
       | backups. Never needed to use them. When I flick it on its pretty
       | close to instant. I wont say its as good as a dslr but Im not
       | using their flagship either. I hear their new z9 is insanely
       | fast.
       | 
       | All in all, I'm very happy with switching to mirrorless
        
       | squarefoot wrote:
       | Any recommendations for a model better than my little old Nikon
       | S9100? I'm neither a photography expert nor a hobbyist but never
       | liked using phones for photos, and the above old camera most of
       | times does pretty much all I want in the Automatic position, so I
       | certainly don't need a DSLR or anything professional, but the
       | Magic Lantern software capabilities intrigue me, so I'd consider
       | buying one, or a mirrorless one, possibly used. I'd happily trade
       | megapixels with faster shutter and less noisy sensor,
       | particularly in low light conditions. Any suggestions? Thanks!
        
         | Saris wrote:
         | A modern mirrorless from Panasonic/Sony/Olympus likely does
         | basically everything that magic lantern does. They're so far
         | ahead of DSLR bodies at this point.
         | 
         | Sony full frame mirrorless is generally the go to if you want a
         | large sensor with good low light capability, but they are
         | pricey.
         | 
         | Oly/panasonic both have a bunch of 4/3 sensor options, and
         | lenses are interchangeable, although optical image
         | stabilization doesn't work as well when mixing lens and body
         | brands.
        
       | ekianjo wrote:
       | it's a shame but the market has clearly shifted there, and
       | mirrorless bodies bring technical advantages too.
        
       | dwohnitmok wrote:
       | The convenience of mirrorless with no reduction in image quality
       | really made this change basically inevitable.
       | 
       | But there is something rather sad for me about this eventually
       | spelling the end of the EF lens line. There was something really
       | magical about being able to use any EF lens on pretty any Canon
       | SLR camera body, even going back to 1987 for either the lens or
       | the camera, with at most a reduction in the automatic feature
       | set. You could get an old hand-me-down and mix-and-match with the
       | newest equipment and keep using it. (There was also the dark side
       | of this, where Canon intentionally kept the electronic connection
       | proprietary to make it more difficult for third-party lens makers
       | to compete)
       | 
       | You can still use lens adapters, but nothing quite beats the
       | psychological satisfaction of picking up a 30-year-old lens and
       | sticking it on a brand-new dSLR with no modifications required at
       | all, or taking a modern lens and sticking it on an old-school
       | film SLR.
        
       | throwawaysea wrote:
       | For the uninitiated, does this have an implication in terms of
       | quality of photo or video? Do DSLRs have some insurmountable
       | advantages compared to mirrorless cameras?
        
         | rwmj wrote:
         | Another question from someone who knows nothing: What are
         | professional photographers using, like the sports photographers
         | who hang around at the edge of soccer pitches with those
         | enormous telephoto lenses? Are there still "pro DSLRs" or are
         | they using mirrorless or something else?
        
           | regulation_d wrote:
           | Only within the last year have Sony, Nikon, and Canon
           | released their flagship mirrorless cameras (the Alpha 1, Z9,
           | and R3 respectively, though the R3 might be semi-flagship if
           | R1 becomes a thing). From what I gather, before this
           | generation of "stacked" sensors there would have been too
           | much warbling from the rolling shutter to be truly useful for
           | things like sports photography.
           | 
           | So most sports stuff is probably still shot with DSLRs, but
           | that will likely change in the coming years, as (a)
           | mirrorless cameras can ostensibly shoot more quickly (b)
           | photographers replacing their gear won't have much of a
           | choice.
        
         | zinekeller wrote:
         | DSLRs were introduced at a time where portable displays were,
         | in charitable terms, not par to broadcast or photography
         | standards. However, the advances brought by smartphones and the
         | consumers' desire for realistic color-accurate small displays
         | means that small displays now can actually simulate everything*
         | that was previously handled physically. Some might grumble with
         | this and might have reservations like how the transition from
         | film to digital photography left some people stick to film, but
         | considering that most of the time the pictures taken are being
         | looked at the exact same screens as smartphones have, it's not
         | surprising that more and more photographers have traded weight
         | reductions rather than dealing with a physical viewfinder.
         | 
         | > For the uninitiated, does this have an implication in terms
         | of quality of photo or video?
         | 
         | The quality of the photo or video doesn't depend on whether it
         | has mirrors or not (since that the mirror is solely used for
         | viewfinder) but on the sensor, lens and the internal algorithms
         | (if not taking raw shots for further processing). So
         | practically none.
         | 
         | > Do DSLRs have some insurmountable advantages compared to
         | mirrorless cameras?
         | 
         | A bit lighter (no more mirrors) and a bit more reliable (the
         | mirror system is a physical component that can shatter when the
         | camera is dropped), although if someone is using a relatively
         | heavier lens then there's nearly no difference on that front.
         | 
         | Some might hate the fact that the viewfinder is now a screen
         | though.
         | 
         | * Technically it isn't, but does that have a real practicable
         | difference? Some may get annoyed, sure, but most will just
         | ignore small differences.
        
           | guenthert wrote:
           | > For the uninitiated, does this have an implication in terms
           | of quality of photo or video?
           | 
           | Not sure about the current generation, I guess the problems
           | have been surmounted, but originally, if you wanted to forgo
           | the mirror you had to use the main sensor as viewfinder,
           | powering it on continuously, thereby heating it, which caused
           | higher noise.
        
         | elliottkember wrote:
         | I think the original reason was that viewfinders were not very
         | good, so you wanted to be able to look directly through the
         | lens with a mirror.
        
           | andi999 wrote:
           | Brightness was also a problem.
        
       | imagetic wrote:
       | This is hardly news. We've all known this was coming, it just
       | hadn't been formerly announced.
       | 
       | I still don't find much functional advantage in Mirrorless, but
       | technical improvements have made it really solid technology at
       | this point. Video, low light autofocus and tracking has taken
       | massive leaps forward. The sensor / image quality is relatively
       | the same.
       | 
       | Nikon removed the shutter from the Z9 (Disclaimer, I got mine
       | last week). That's a huge leap nobody has been willing to take
       | just yet.
       | 
       | The biggest limitations at this point are codec/raw patent
       | roadblocks for video and compression.
       | 
       | It's a fun time for imaging technology. I completed my transition
       | to mirrorless last week. Sad to see the old legendary hardware
       | fade away, but the optics on modern glass are FAR superior to
       | older F and EF mount lenses. It's just painful to move systems.
        
       | peanut_worm wrote:
       | Do supertelephoto lenses exist for mirrorless cameras?
        
         | Manuel_D wrote:
         | Yes. Although big prime telephoto lenses (think 400 f2.8 and
         | 600 f4) have yet to be released for the RF mount. I think a
         | couple do for Sony. Adapting DSLR lenses to mirrorless cameras
         | works well at least for EF -> RF adapters.
        
         | Schiendelman wrote:
         | Yes, several. If you ask a more specific question I'm happy to
         | help!
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-29 23:02 UTC)