Technology News South Africa

New camera technology offers weight advantages

Mirrorless Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera technology offers professional photographers the advantage of carrying around a camera the size of a compact camera without compromising the image quality, operational speed and operational control of a DSLR.

DionWired was one of the first to stock the technology and plans on expanding its current range, due to the popularity amongst consumers and the exceptional growth of the technology overseas.

Technology explained

A mirrorless digital camera (also referred to as CSC - compact system camera) is a mixture of a regular digital compact camera and a DSLR camera. This technology takes the large sensor and interchangeable lenses that help DSLR produce such good images and combine them with the technologies that underpin compact cameras, more specifically the extraction of the mirrors and optical viewfinder. This allows for a professional camera that is no longer as heavy and bulky but still has speedy performance, fast autofocus, manual controls and the ability to change lenses.

Most mirrorless digital camera brands have video, captured in High Definition (HD), designed to be played back on high definition TVs. Every DSLR includes a HDMI port allowing the camera to connect directly to a HDTV. A lot more focus is placed on its video technology.

With Mirrorless digital cameras, some will have electronic viewfinders and some have no viewfinders. The user is provided with a LCD screen at the back of the camera to work with, if a viewfinder is not included.

Most Mirrorless DSLR camera systems use a new lens mount, which is incompatible with existing lenses, unless an adaptor is used. The cameras have their own lenses available. Due to the lack of a mirror system, Mirrorless digital cameras equipped with a DSLR-like sensor, can place lenses considerably closer to it (flange back distance) when compared to DSLR. This results in high-quality lenses that can be made smaller and lighter (wide-angle lenses in particular). Current lens selection, however, is still growing and is therefore relatively limited and expensive, compared to the very well developed DSLR lens market.

GM, Andrew Jackson from DionWired said, "Currently we have a select range of Mirrorless DSLR camera in stores, but customers can look forward to a more comprehensive Mirrorless range consisting of brands such as Olympus, Canon, Samsung and Sony, as ranges begin to arrive in South Africa over the next few weeks."

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