Tech It To The Top

Time to replace your aging DSLR? Upgrading from a compact to something more capable? Check these options before you go any further.

- Steve White

NOT SO LONG AGO, IF YOU WERE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR photography, you had little choice but to use a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera, a development of the original analogue SLR.

DSLRs offer huge versatility. Their multiple modes extend from fully manual to completely automatic, with settings in-between dedicated to particular situations. Switching lens extends – or narrows – your view as required. For a true creative they have been the essential tool.

In recent years, camera brands have convinced millions of hobbyists to upgrade to ever higher-spec’ed DSLRs. But carrying all these bells and whistles around is tiresome – robust bodies and multiple lenses are heavy and bulky. Happily, a flurry of innovations have seen challengers emerge to DSLRs dominance.

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Radical improvements in the quality and resolution of electronic viewfinders have pushed mirrorless cameras up onto the shoulder of DSLRs. Ditching the mirror that DSLRs use in order to show you what your camera is ‘seeing’, they allow for a more compact, lighter body that still offers all the creative flexibility you could want.

Dave Stamboulis, a widely published travel writer and photographer, has been using a Nikon DSLR for the last few years but sees a mirrorless system as a possible replacement in time.

“I went with Nikon when I started using full-frame cameras, bought all the pro lenses to go with it, and that makes it kind of pricey to jump to

Canon or something else suddenly.” “However, as I do so much trekking and hardcore outdoor stuff these days, carrying around my weighty D810 and its lenses is pretty tough. I think when all my current gear starts wearing out, I will most likely move on to a mirrorless setup. Some sort of Sony a7 would have to be at the top of my wish list.”