Thoughts on Mirrorless Cameras

I shot this photo on Friday with a Sony A7 mirrorless camera.  I had the camera in my possession for about 45 minutes total so this is in no way a complete review.  I was not a fan of the camera.  I kind of felt like this butterfly with the chewed up wing, it could fly but it was not very pretty.  I could take photos but it was not very smooth.

The menu system was not very clear or easy to get around in. I have been fluent for 16 years in Nikon menus and that is a huge bias.  The lens I  used was the 18-140 and it was capable.  I was not a fan of electronic zooming but I am sure I could get used to it.   The lens was not great at closeup work which I am sure there are better lenses for that.  The camera seems to be strongly aimed at videographers and that is exactly who we bought the camera for. The thing I loved is how the monitor showed you the exposure as you changed settings.  I feel like you would eventually stop using a meter as you learned to trust what you saw in the viewfinder.  That to me is a major draw of these cameras.  The fact that the cameras are small and light is a great advantage in my opinion.  The viewfinder always looked somewhat unsharp to me as I got ready to take the photo but the playback of the image in the viewfinder showed sharp images.  I constantly struggled with turning the exposure compensation button instead of the shutter speed button.  I am sure with practice I would overcome that issue.  I am sure with practice and maybe reading the instruction book I could become friends with the camera.  I really do believe you have to become friends with your camera to get the most out of them. 

I do own a Fuji X-100s which is a mirrorless camera.  I love it and have used it for about 5 years.  The S model is the second generation of the camera and it currently is in a fourth generation as an X-100F.  Fuji has a new H-1 professional body that looks wonderful and I would dearly love to have one to use at the office but I am waiting. 

I am waiting to see what Nikon is going to release this year.  All of the rumor sites are saying there is going to be a professional Nikon mirrorless camera this year.  I so dearly want it to use the same lens mount and be able to use the majority of my lenses.  Please, Nikon, make this camera amazing and I so would love to be able to use my Nikon flashes as well. 

Finally, my hat is off to people who write equipment reviews as this was way more difficult than I thought it would be even for such a limited review.