Hi guys, I shoot mostly college events (both indoors and outdoors) and occasionally portrait photography (i don't shoot videos). I'm not a professional photographer, however, I've been accustomed to using a DSLR for some years already. Since mirrorless is now taking over, I need some real-world advice from any event/portrait photographers here who has experience using mirrorless cameras for their shooting, whether should I change to mirrorless as well.

I've done some research in the net and know that the mirrorless is superior in many ways, but I cant find anything on the user experiences on the handling and ergonomics of the mirrorless when it is paired with a hotshoe flash and heavier zoom lens. My current good old Nikon D700 may be a heavy brick, but due to its heavy body and large grip, it still balances well with heavy lenses thus reducing wrist fatigue especially when I shoot for long hours. Not sure if that will still be true if I change to a mirrorless camera since it is much lighter and the grip is significantly smaller?

Below are my main concerns about changing to a mirrorless camera:

1) Will these new mirrorless cameras (when paired with a hotshoe flash and heavy lenses) become imbalance and causes wrist fatigue when being used for extended hours?
2) Does it feel stable everytime you press the shutter with all those heavy accessories on it?
3) Does the battery life of the mirrorless camera becomes an issue?


[U]My current camera gears:[/U]
Nikon D700
Tamron G2 (24-70mm) F2.8
Nikon 85mm F1.8
Nikon SB800 Flash (gonna upgrade to Godox V1 soon)
Think Tank Steroid Speedbelt + SpiderPro Holster


Thanks in advanced for any advice from the sifu's here

I’m just a hobbyist, and I don’t use any fancy hot shoe flashes or other grips and tools

However, about 3 years ago I made the jump from my old D7000 to a Fuji XPro-1 (which I got used for a good bargain)

0 regrets. Completely no regrets for me

Battery life is just as great as it was on the D7000

The lenses are more affordable and to me optically superior (compared price-per-price to Nikon alternatives)

And its so light and easy to bring around, doesn’t draw attention in public since it’s silent and discreet

At most people thing you’re just another tourist

What did I lose?
Durability. I’m pretty sure nothing will happen if I drop my old D7000, but one drop and the XPro-1 is most likely a goner

My 2cents and experience sharing anyway

This post has been edited by axsatr: Oct 29 2019, 01:43 PM

If ur budget allow, go for z6 since u alrdy got few nikon lenses..

If you can get away with it go mft. But big boi stuff good for marketing and will probably get you big boi fees.

I agree. Mirrorless seems to be an awesome choice for travelling. It's lightweight and high image quality makes it a no brainer for convenience and to hang on the neck whole day for street photography. I have played with a Fuji X-T20 and i would say the image is great even when it's taken with a kit lens.



Yup, if I were to switch to mirrorless, i am forced to go for nikon (coz cant afford to change system and am too used to nikon interface). But I will wait a while longer until I'm sure Nikon has iron out any known issues and that my current third party lenses could autofocus correctly on the FTZ adapter.

hahaha...nono... i ain't getting any big boi fees even if i have big boi stuff. I'm not a pro photographer. I'm on a fix monthly paycheck. Taking photos during events is just one of the many stuff I am obligated to do for my employer

To answer your question, I am using E-M5 Mark II.

1. No, if I use it together with hand grip. I don't have any heavy lens as I prefer to keep my kit light, but I have paired it with a hotshoe flash multiple times when shooting indoor events for 2-4 hours. I find it comfortable for most parts. But without the grip, it is not comfortable.

2. Yup, stable. The whole kit weigha less than 1kg (camera + grip + lens + flashwith 2 AA batteries), so not much problem in stability.

3. Slightly. If you are used to having 1 battery lasting you 2,000 shots, you need to realise that you will not get it here. To solve this, I have 2 batteries. Having a spare battery is a must. Depending on your event, you may need more. I shoot with the LCD screen for most part, and I check my pictures half of the time. I am able to get somewhere between 200 to 350 pictures per battery, without using multi shots. If I use bracketing or continuous shooting, am able to get much more.

Battery life is one of the drawback of mirrorless, but I think it is a small tradeoff compared to being able to see my pictures before I shoot. With histogram, I am able to nail exposure without much trouble.

If you are looking for a camera that is for your work and for personal travel, E-M5 Mark II is a good camera where you can scale up the size when needed with a grip and a battery pack whenever you need to.

I own both of them. My answer:

1. No, it will not. They r lighter than dslr. But in term of ergonomic, i prefer dslr. Most dslr feels comfortable in hand n only some of mirrorless has that advantage.

2. High end mirrorless cameras r stable. Don't worry.

3. For now, they r improving to get the same level as dslr batteries.

But, here's my personal experience:

I owned Canon 5D Mark II and Sony A7RII. But i prefer using my almost 12 years old camera for in any professional photo job. Yes, it has old sensor, less MP size, n can't beat sony's low light & IQ. But i feel more confident by it's durability n make my sony as a backup. Good or bad photos, it depends on the man behind the camera. Printing quality? 16'x24' photo size still excellent for 21MP camera.

Same here.. used to own A7rii but endup becoming my backup camera despite lighter in weight

1) Depends on which model! I own an A7III, and even though it's supposed to be lighter than a D750/5DmkIII (both of which I've owned in the past), the fact that I can't wrap my pinky around the grip means I still get wrist fatigue at events. A battery grip or L-bracket should fix this though. Personally don't think balance is a huge problem (used the A7iii with a flash too). I hear Nikon and Canon's mirrorless systems have much better ergonomics (but are heavier, so they end up being only slightly lighter than a DSLR)

2) One big benefit of the mirrorless system the the "silent shutter" (Basically using an electronic instead of mechanical shutter); apart from completely silent shooting, you don't experience any physical feedback at all, so it's arguably far more stable than a DSLR with the mirror slap. Do note that not all cameras have this function, and not all cameras do this function well (e.g. banding issues).

3) Again it depends on brand- before the A7III series, virtually all mirorless systems had battery problems- but Sony's new batteries are pretty good, I think it has 80% of the battery life of the DSLR.


If you're changing just because of weight, I honestly don't think the weight savings of the pro mirrorless (full frame) systems are that big of a difference maker. It might mean you get to use smaller bags, but ergonomically I don't think it's that big of a difference (e.g. Canon's 28-70 f2 lens for their mirrorless system weighs like 1.4kg!). But again, it REALLY depends on which specific body + lens combo you're looking for. (the A7III + Tamron 28-75 f2.8 will be significantly lighter than the Nikon D700 + 24-70 f2.8)



But there are other big benefits to the mirrorless system that you might want to consider apart from weight alone:
-AF is more accurate in *most* cases. Most mirrorless systems use hybrid AF technologies which incorporate some contrast detect elements for accuracy, which means more accurate and sharp images. I remember *slightly* missing a lot of pictures with an 85mm 1.4 with my D750 at a wedding and was so frustrated...

But if you're not routinely shooting at those big apertures, it might not be a problem!

-Unique lenses: Canon and Nikon and betting on their new mirrorless system's sensor design to allow them to design newer, more "ambitious" lenses. E.g. Canon's 28-70 F2 and Nikon's 50mm f0.95. Tamron was able to make a 28-75 f2.8 that is nearly the size and weight of a kit lens for the Sony FE mount and they're planning to make a 70-200 (75-180mm) that is equally lightweight for the mount too. I'm not sure if these innovations are still happening in the DSLR space!

I have the same dilemma 6 months back as I mostly shoot on wedding actual day and having the same though of if mirrorless is more superior than DSLR.
Focusing is one key element on wedding actual day specially toward fast moving subject and every gram save really means something when you need to cover the whole event for the entire day.

Now thinks back, I'm really glad that I have move to mirrorless and simply loves it due to the much more accurate focusing with eye focus. No longer need to compose much on focus point or being worry if the focus point will hit the target or not. This is what i think and I now really trust how the focus works on the mirrorless.
And also, with EVF involved, the next big advantage is the exposure, white balance and etc which you can easily see through the EVF before the shot to be taken. This greatly reduce the post-processing works later specially with fast moving event, u are able to adjust it correctly and faster.

To me, i have no regret so far after switching over to mirrorless and just hope that those lens for mirrorless can be a lot lighter. Sony user will understand the pain of GM lens and Canon will be too for the new L lens. Damn heavy .......

DSLR for event.

I went mft for smaller and lighter lens and body.
But need to prepare more batteries.