A message of thanks to Sony from a Nikon shooter for the mirrorless camera revolution
Aug 24, 2018
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Share:
No matter what brand of camera you shoot or which company you support, Nikon’s Z6 & Z7 announcements yesterday is basically Nikon admitting “Yes, ok, the mirrorless revolution is here”. It signals a great turning point in photography.
Yes, mirrorless has been around for a while, but with Nikon and Canon, really the only two “old guard” camera companies left, and with both either having announced or getting ready to announce mirrorless cameras, it kind of makes it official – in a relationship status “Facebook official” sort of way.
Although other companies such as Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus and even Sigma have been making mirrorless cameras for a few years now, it’s really Sony who’s led the charge. First by swapping out the mirror for a semi-transparent piece of glass, then by removing it completely, and finally by giving the majority of photographers what they actually need in a camera.
The video above from photographer Ed Gregory highlights the series of events pretty well. Ed describes the journey of Sony’s mirrorless cameras in a pretty unbiased way, simply stating the facts and his opinion on them.
Ed primarily shoots Nikon, so he’s not just some Sony fanboy crapping on the competition. In fact, this video is quite the opposite. He’s actually thanking Sony for forcing the competition to finally wake up and start giving customers what they want instead of just what the manufacturers want to shovel down our throats.
He likens Sony’s mirrorless journey to that which Apple took upon the return of Steve Jobs. They switched gears and started to tackle the wider market. Listening to consumers, giving them what they wanted, and giving them things they didn’t even know they wanted. It allowed them to challenge Microsoft, and smartphones would likely be nowhere near the level they’re at today if not for Apple.
Sony has kind of done the same thing for mirrorless.
No matter who started things, or which company’s camera beats this other camera on this or that feature, ultimately it’s a great thing for us, the consumers. Let the manufacturers battle it out to try and outdo each other. Let the fanboys have their moment for a few months each time a new camera is announced – although, do feel free to block them if they get super annoying.
So, don’t hate on Nikon for only putting a single XQD card slot in the Z6 and Z7 cameras. Sony went two whole generations with only a single SD card slot, and it didn’t do them any harm. And don’t hate on Sony for not offering 10Bit 4:2:2 video, either.
Whatever you shoot, just get out there and keep shooting. Don’t tell us how much better your gear is than the other guys. Make photographs and show us.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Join the Discussion
DIYP Comment Policy
Be nice, be on-topic, no personal information or flames.
10 responses to “A message of thanks to Sony from a Nikon shooter for the mirrorless camera revolution”
aren’t we over with all this mirrorless talk?
Mirrorless is the foreseeable future for photography.
I don’t care about the foreseeable future as much as I care about the art and techniques. Just yesterday there were 5 articles in this website about that new Nikon mirrorless and whatever coming along with it. The day before was the same (even though as I heard Canon is to issue or made already 2 mirrorless cameras but I didn’t see so much talk about it like in Nikon case). Next thing I might see a discussion about every damn single photoreceptor on the surface of the sensor of the new Nikon mirrorless camera. Just when we are over with this, we are back to Sony mirrorless cameras.
Man, use whatever camera you have just show me art, philosophy, technique. I don’t deny technology has a say in this, but discussion groups and articles are overwhelming with this topic that makes it like photography is all about what camera you have to buy next or what camera you have to drop to waste.
You are preaching to the converted but equipment makers need new products to bring in revenue for their marketing spending, to keep people talking, buying and clicking which in turn generate the money that keep websites like this up and running.
“topic that makes it like photography is all about what camera you have to buy next or what camera you have to drop to waste”
Some people are still buying their first camera. They want to spend their money wisely, not waste it on something that isn’t going to give them what they need.
As far as Canon mirrorless, we’ve covered what we’ve seen about that, too. When more new information comes out about them, we’ll also cover that.
There are plenty of topics out there on the Internet that I have no interest in, too. I simply choose to not read articles about them, and I certainly don’t engage in discussion on them. :)
“Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus and even Sigma have been making mirrorless cameras for a few years now, it’s really Sony who’s led the charge.”
Another classic comment from John Aldred.
You disagree? Sure, Panasonic are definitely top when it comes to video, but it is Sony who seems to have made the biggest impact and come the furthest with mirrorless for photography.
Apple got big through selling junk and telling people it was gold. They had an amazing marketing/branding platform.
Sony made amazing cameras which sold themselves.
You know you’ve been putting up good propaganda when people start genera more of it all by themselves ;)
Apple has fantastic marketing for overpriced, sub-par to par products. I will say how ever their eco system is really good AND really bad. just depends on your needs and wants.