DSLRs Will Never Die

Photographers have been signaling DSLRs demise for years now, and in some ways they're right. Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and Sigma stopped making DSLRs years ago. Canon and Nikon in the last two years have said they will continue supporting current models, but are shifting development to new mirrorless cameras. But I think DSLRs will never fully go away. Using an optical viewfinder is a unique enough experience to stand the test of time.

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#photography #dslr

[matthewovenden]

They’ll have to pry my 5D Classic from my cold dead hands

[sdhute]

I came into photography in the mirrorless age. I’ve enjoyed my DSLR experience better. Working in IT I’m screen bound all week and it’s nice to have a optical viewfinder.

[bd]

I'm old, really old. My first use of a decent camera was in 1968. I stared with a 6x6 camera and later 35mm SLR. When I finally got serious I went to a 6x6 SLR. That was a simply wonderful period of professional photography. I went through several early Sony cameras in the early digital era. I eventually got a DSLR in 2008. I simply loved that camera, I was back shooting the way I always had but with really nice digital results. I eventually quadrupled my pixels to 24.2, and I only did that because I thought it would make a big difference. It was nicer but not as much as I thought it might be. I will still use my mirrorless pocket cameras but the DSLRs will be around in my collection for whatever time I have left. You are right about the batteries that are not OEM, they work just fine. Good video.

[bardofhighrenown]

DSLR's are never going away. Even if everyone stopped production, there have been so many made we could never burn through them fast enough before DSLRs became cool again and then companies started to make them again.

The same way that some people choose to listen to music on vinyl or ride a motorcycle, DSLR's offer a different user experience. Personally I love going back to my DSLR and finding it a refreshingly stripped down and straight forward shooting experience.

[litesaberyi]

I bought a Nikon D3s last year for 400 bucks. FOUR. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. It had 7500 shutter auctions. That's the car equivalent of buying a very well maintained 10 year old porsche 911 with 10k miles for like 7k. The deals on DSLRs is amazing. Just amazing. And bec people think it's the old crazy shit means people in the know will be able to but flagship models and lenses for basically pennies on the dollar

[filmic]

The optical viewfinder is an intimate experience for me. Even cinematographers peer down the barrel of their 100K$ viewfinder.

[petemulhearn]

I started in electronics in the mid 1960s. This was a time when the transistor was moving from novelty to mainstream. There were similar arguments about the transistor vs the thermionic valve, which at the time was the predominant device in electronic systems, particularly those requiring higher power. The joke going around in the military environment in which I worked was that transistors were just a passing phase and we'd soon get back to valves. I think the same joke could be applied here.

[AlanGurling]

While I can understand where you're coming from, my main issue with DSLRs are the front/back focus issues (non-existent on mirrorless).

[SatongiFilms]

1:02 No. No. No. What you see is not what you "get" with a DSLR. You only get to see the scene as it is IRL, not what the picture is going to look like. In case of digital photography - DR is much lower than what our eyes see, and any adjustment to the exposure is only shown by metering system.. which is something I completely forgot about ever since using mirrorless, it practically eliminates trial and error associated with exposure adjustments. I have seen so many people "chimping" with DSLR's because the picture mioght come out completely different than what you've seen through the viewfinder, and then some - some even prefer using "live view" mode on their screens to shoot pictures, especially if the shooting angles are extreme...

[mooncheese]

DSLRs are great to purchase second hand. I have the D3 and DF and both still work incredibly well, and still take great images. I personally love that Pentax is committed to the future of the DSLR.

[bountyjedi]

My reason for going with a full-frame mirrorless over DSLR is that I started out shooting on film, and I wanted a digital body for my film camera glass. The shorter flange distance, making for easier adaptrage, and the focusing assistance features for my manual focus lenses help a lot here.

Even putting aside the flange distance issues, unfortunately most DSLRs do not have a split prism and/or microprism focusing assist features in their ground glass, as the DSLRs were built for autofocus. I'd love trying out a DSLR with some optical manual focus assist features though. It would make it feel more like my film SLRs.
Although, as much as I loathe to admit it, the digital viewfinder of the mirrorless wins for focusing in low light compared to my film SLRs...

[Meg_A_Byte]

I would totally use SLR if it wasn't so big. I grew up on Pentax, then I took a long pause from photography, but last year I wanted to get back to it and bought a used mirrorless and it completely transformed the way I shoot and behave. I take the camera everywhere because it's much smaller and lighter, therefore I enjoy shooting with it more.

[BriManeely]

Loving your thoughts on "old" tech. It's funny to me how frequently people obsessively buy the newest gear, but I think Ben Horne said it best when he mentioned he never has to worry about upgrading and updating his 8x10 view camera. The tech is perfect. He just gets new film and keeps the hardware in good working order, and that's enough. Personally, I think this is a wise sentiment to live by

[Postbus]

A huge pro for DSLR is that you don‘t have any „lag“ when you look through the viewfinder instead pf live view

[borderlands]

I like DSLRs and still have one. However it's incorrect to say WYSIWYG with reflex cameras, in fact only the top professional models showed 100% of the image. DSLRs are also dependent on the brightness of the lens, especially when manually focusing. That said, in good light an optical viewfinder provides good feedback and is pleasure to use.

[Manny_News_Blogs_Tutorials]

My two rule in this issue: For portability, convenience and ease of use (minus the size and weight) - go with mirrorless. If you want to learn and experience professional photography the way our ma and grandpa did in their time (plus the size/ weight and all those exposure metering test shots and guess work) - go with DSLR. Needless to say, I always see mirrorless cam technology as a cross breed between professional DSLR and point-and-shoot smart phones combined.

[thissidetowardscreen]

I hope DSLRs never go! I been using them since I bought my Pentax K10d. Now I have a Pentax KP and love it. Hardly ever use the electronic shutter. Thanks for sharing! Always great content!

[Solarsystem]

Not going to lie, I use my phone more and more... I designated my Pentax as my "Noir" camera and only use it in monochrome. Surprisingly... I used it more in that way.

[Reason-fgik]

Lol, I love reading these comments. Mostly because I'm old and I've been reading the same comments for many years applied to photographic technology. I'm still using medium format film camera with a WLVF (waste level view finder). Furthet, I'm also still committing photography with 35mm film camera. I enjoy using them and the pace of life they represent. I remember when they said the medium format was dead at the hands of the 35mm and the 35mm was dead at the hands of the DSLR. Does technology, once developed, ever really die?

[pioneerz]

There is so much to experience through the viewfinder.
I have a broken Zenit 3M with the helios 44. It's no good to take pictures with, the shutter is all gummed up. But sometimes i just take it with me and walk around and just look through the viewfinder. It just lets me zone out and look at things trough a different perspective.