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History of Digital: DSLR

 

Before the DSLR and even before film SLRs were retrofitted with digital components - Digital sensors started out in "compact" & "mirrorless" form. These cameras were initially consumer toys; playful with deign, but crippled by emerging technology. Tiny, low resolution sensors. Low capacity, slothful memory. Sluggish and simple processing. Lethargic and unreliable auto focus. Washed out, pixelated screens. Poorly laid out and simple menus systems. All this made for a rather unpleasant user experience. Certainly nothing that would inspire professionals.

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DSC07025s.jpg

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First purpose build DSLR - Nikon D1 (1999)

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Mechanical

Combining the SLRs ​shutter, mirror and prism with a digital sensors was the perfect answer to making 90's technology bearable for professionals. Getting larger image sensors was extremely costly, so manufacturers stuck with APS-C for a while. Using familiar controls and more importantly not needing to change lens systems was a huge bonus for existing users, but the real success was the way the mechanism masked the rough digital technologies early limitations. It added a sense of elegance that digital would not possess on its own for a decade... or maybe two.

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This trend started very naturally by simply bolting digital components on to existing film SLRs. Beginning with Kodak's DCS 100 in 1991, which used a Nikon F3 (without permission from Nikon). Purpose built DSLRs started with the Nikon D1 in late 1999 and for the next decade their image quality improved massively. Their popularity soared as we saw noticeable increases in image quality, body and lens design. Full frame sensors emerged quite early, with the Canon 1Ds in 2002, but ramped up in popularity with the smaller and cheaper 5D in 2005. Nikon brought impressive noise performance with their D3 in 2007 and a year later the D3X doubled the resolution to 24 megapixels. Since then DSLRs have been extremely slow to evolve... That was 15 years ago now!

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History of Digital: MIRRORLESS

 

The Panasonic DMC-G1 was the first interchangeable lens digital camera to remove the mirror and prism of DSLRs in 2008. Mirrorless cameras brought smaller and lighter bodies, quieter operation, less mechanical movement, better video focusing and more room for things like sensor stabilization. Although the early implementations of their auto focus systems and electronic viewfinders (EVF) were a little rough, they improved very quickly and the best now totally eclipse DSLRs in that area (speed, accuracy, subject recognition and AF points).

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Mirrorless lenses were initially smaller due to being built for smaller sensors (micro 4/3 and APS-C), this had little to do with the technology iteself. Although Mirrorless' shorter flange distances do allow for some small improvements, engineers are still very much restricted by pesky laws of phyisics. Any benefits from Mirrorless designs got eaten up by a push for extreme image quality, which requires more corrective elements that increase size and weight.

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Electronic ViewFinder (EVF)

EVFs have allowed cameras to keep all the functionality from DSLRs while being smaller. Although they drain power quickly and many suffer from lag, resolution and dynamic range restrictions, they also bring a host of additional features. Many of these things don't show up on a specification sheet, but can make a tangible benefit to your photography:

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  • Silent Shooting - Some cameras can use electronic shutter to make no noise at all

  • Live Exposure - Full manual exposures without guessing. What you see is what you get

  • No Chimping - Reviewing images is now unnecessary since they can be seen in real-time

  • AF Sensors - More focus points over a larger area. Higher focus accuracy, faster tracking

  • Eye-AF - Having visual feedback of locking focus on your subject's eyes

  • Augmented Info - Viewfinder can display: histogram, levels, focus peaking, clipping etc.

  • True Focus DoF - Permanent DoF preview that shows the correct exposure

  • No DoF Limit - Ability to see any f-stop accurately (DSLRs usually limited to f/2.5)

  • 100% Viewfinder - Large 100% viewfinders are no longer exclusive to the most expensive cameras

  • Crop Lenses - APS-C lenses fill the viewfinder (don't look cropped)

  • Focus Magnification - Quickly zoom in to the focus area (makes manual lenses fast and accurate)

  • No Light Leaking - Viewfinder doesn't need to be covered during long exposures

  • AF Consistency - DSLRs use a different AF system for live-view (rear LCD) which is slow

  • Bright Light - It is no longer difficult to see, or dangerous to look into the sun

  • Image Review - Use the EVF to see images when sunny conditions wsh out the rear LCD

  • Viewfinder Colour - White balance adjusted colours in viewfinder

  • Filtered View - Strong ND, IR or UV can show a normal exposure in the viewfinder

  • In-Body Image Stabilization - Most DSLRs don't have IBIS, but if they did you wouldn't see the effects

  • No Lens Calibration - With focal plane AF calibration for front/back focusing is no longer an issue

  • Adapt DSLR Lenses - Short flange distance means you can adapt older lenses, sometimes with AF

  • Video - Can shoot video while using the viewfinder

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History of Digital: "SHUTTER"LESS

 

Mirrorless cameras removing the need for a physical shutter would prove a little more tricky. Most mirrorless cameras today have an option to use an electronic shutter, but they tend to have rolling shutter and banding problems. Fixing those issues enables a lot of speed improvements and additional features, so is the holy grail of digital photography. It took the advent of stacked sensors to make this possible. First demonstrated with Sony's A9 in 2017 and pretty much perfected in the Sony A9III in 2024 (with the world's first full frme global shutter), this technology has improved all the best aspects that mirrorless has enabled: 

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  • Silent Shooting - No rolling shutter issues when shooting silently

  • Sheer Speed - Considerably faster burst, shutter and focusing speeds

  • Quality Video - Better motion and image quality

  • Reduced Wear - Minimized mechanical movement

  • Uninterrupted View - True zero-blackout, not just leaving the last image displayed

  • Subject Recognition - Auto-focusing for eyes (human & animal), cars, planes etc.

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First professional mirrorless camera - Sony A9 (2017)

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Rolling Shutter

For static subjects this is not an issue, but panning with moving subjects can distort objects that can ruin an image. Thus, with the electronic shutter, "rolling shutter" (or "scan speed") can be a very important metric. Although it's something that is gradually getting better over time, many cameras are still too slow to reliably shoot fast moving subjects. Here are some sensor scan speeds from a few popular cameras that I could find around the internet (for stills photography, NOT video). Colour coded to help illustrate severity.

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Camera  |  Speed  |  ms 

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  • PhaseOne IQ4

  • Hasselblad X1D

  • Fuji GFX 50/s

  • Fuji GFX 100/s (14bit)

  • Sony A7R IV / V

  • Sony A7R II

  • Canon EOS R

  • Sony A7 III

  • Nikon Z7 / II

  • Nikon Z6 / II

  • Sony A6400

  • Sony A7S

  • Fuji X-T2

  • Sigma FP

  • Panasonic GH5

  • Sony A6300

  • Canon EOS R6

  • Fuji X-T3

  • Canon EOS R5

  • Olympus EM1III

  • Fuji X-T4

  • Panasonic GH6

  • Sony A7S III

  • Sony A9 /A9II

  • Fuji X-H2s

  • Canon R3

  • Sony A1

  • Nikon Z9 / Z8

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  • Global Shutter

  • Sony A9III

1

1/3

1/4

1/6

1/10

1/12

1/13

1/15

1/16

1/22

1/25

1/42

1/48

1/48

1/50

1/50

1/50

1/60

1/60

1/60

1/75

1/78

1/115

1/160

1/160

1/180

1/240

1/250

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ꝏ

ꝏ

1000

300

250

159

100

83

75

64

63

44

38

24

21

21

20

20

20

17

17

17

13

12

8.7

6

6

5.6

4.2

4

​

0

0

- Don't

​

​

​

- Terrible

​

​

- Poor

​

​

​

- Meh

​

​

​

​

​

- OK

​

​

- Good

​

​

- Great

​

​

- Stellar

​

​

​

- Perfect

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DSLRs Left In The Dust

The Sony A9 took the big camera manufacturers by surprise. Canon & Nikon took four years to develop their own stacked sensor professional mirrorless cameras, with the R3 and Z9 (respectively). These models are so much more advanced than DSLRs that this pretty much killed professional DSLR's in a single generation. To illustrate how much of a leap this was let's compare the main features from Nikon's latest flagship DSLR (D6 - 2020) to Sony's first flagship mirrorless camera (A9 - 2017), three years earlier:

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D6vsA9.png

             Feature        | Nikon D6 | Sony A9 | Sony A1

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  • Price (USD)

  • Weight (g)

  • Resolution (mp)

  • Burst (max fps)

  • Buffer (# of RAW)

  • Shutter Lag* (ms)

  • Shutter Speed (max)

  • Startup Time (sec)

  • ViewFinder Blackout

  • AF Points

  • AF Coverage (%)

  • Eye AF

  • Battery Life

  • Silent Penalty**

  • DxO score: DR

  • DxO score: ISO

  • Lens Calibration***

  • IBIS (Stops)

  • Vertical Grip

  • LCD Screen

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6,999

1450

20

14

133

39

1/8,000

0.4

Yes

105

26

Partial

3600

Yes

12.3

2434

Yes

No (0)

Yes

Fixed

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3,499

673

24

20

241

20

1/32,000

0.6

No

994

93

Yes

650

No

13.3

3517

No

Yes (5)

Optional

Tilt

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6,499

737

50

30

238

20?

1/32,000

0.6

No

1184

92

Yes

540

No

14.8

4505

No

Yes (5)

Optional

Tilt

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NOTES: Better / Worse / Similar

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* Shutter Lag: A prefocus shutter lag time to state how responsive the camera is in its natural mode.

** Silent Penalty: Whether the camera slows down or loses functionality during silent shooting.

*** Lens Calibration: Whether lenses suffer from front/back focus issues, requiring calibration.

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What I find most interesting about the DSLR dynamic in 2023 is that despite cameras like the Sony A9 being vastly superior to the best professional DSLRs in almost every single way, those same DSLRs still command a considerably higher price on the second hand market. This is also considering that mirrorless cameras could have a much bigger lifespan due to not needing a physical shutter. I am sure this will change soon, but as of right now A Nikon D6 is about twice as exppensive on Ebay than a Sony A9.

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The Birth Of The Hyper Camera

The Sony A9 and Canon R3 stick to the principles of lower resolution and high speed, established by DSLRs like the Canon 1Dx. There was always a compromise that had to be made. That was until the Sony A1 (and later that year with the Nikon Z9). Enabled by Sony's stacked sensor technology these cameras were capable of high resolution and high speed, with black-out free shooting, significantly faster auto focus, AI subject recognition, full frame 8k and high speed 4k video. 

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​First professional high-res mirrorless - Sony A1 (2021)

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The End

Like film cameras in the early 2000's, DSLRs will still function, be enjoyable to use and available on the second hand market for some time to come. However, it's increasingly clear that their commercial viability will soon be over. Mirrorless cameras simply offer more features in a smaller and more reliable package. Sure, some people will be disappointed that they can't go out and buy a brand new DSLR for a while, but eventually they will realise that they gained a lot more in the transition than they lost.

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