A mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) is a digital camera with an interchangeable lens and uses an image sensor to provide an image to a rear display and/or an electronic viewfinder (EVF). It is called mirrorless since it does not have a mirror in the optical path.
Compared to single-lens reflex cameras (SLR), mirrorless cameras are usually simpler, smaller and lighter because they do not have an optical viewfinder, which is composed of a mirror housing, a movable mirror, or a viewing prism with reticle. As light metering is done on the image sensor, and autofocus sensed within the sensor plane, mirrorless cameras also don't need a secondary autofocus mirror, nor a separate light metering sensor.
Mirrorless cameras had four challenges that kept them from competing with top-of-the-line DSLRs. The initial challenge was to provide an EVF with the resolution, clarity and response of direct optical viewing that DSLRs used. The second challenge was that the contrast detect autofocus (CDAF), initially used in mirrorless cameras, took twice as long to acquire focus compared to that of phase detect autofocus (PDAF) used by DSLRS. The latest generation of mirrorless cameras, however, have PDAF pixels built into the image sensor, offering fully competitive and accurate autofocus that are many times faster during continuous shooting with continuous autofocus than DSLRs. The third and fourth challenges concern battery life and heat dissipation, as the EVF or display as well as sensor are constantly switched on while composing images, consuming power and generating heat. As of 2017, mirrorless cameras will typically switch off when they get too hot as a cautionary measure to protect the electronics, and may then not allow the user to switch the camera on again for some time, while cooling down.
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Market
Because of advances made in digital image sensor technology and electronic viewfinders, electronics are replacing most of the mechanics that were once necessary in film SLRs for framing an image through either an optical rangefinder or an optical viewfinder based on the single lens reflex mirror concept. It is likely that this evolution will continue offering even smaller and more capable mirrorless cameras in the future.
One of the pioneers in the field has been Sony Corporation who supplies a large number of other camera manufacturers with image sensors. Sony also sells cameras of their own, especially to show off advancements in their sensor and processing technology. Sony often releases improved designs at a rapid rate while simultaneously limiting designs to prevent competition in the image sensor industry.
Both Canon and Nikon, the two biggest camera manufacturers, have been struggling financially as consumers shifted to buying simpler and less expensive cameras and some even abandoning buying cameras in favor of mobile phones.
Other early players in the mirrorless system camera market are shown in the Systems Comparison below.
While mobile phones with cameras have taken over the lion's share of the point and shoot and compact camera market, more advanced mirrorless cameras with a non-interchangeable prime lens are still being marketed. However, even more useful and common are today mirrorless cameras with a non-interchangeable zoom lens, while the big category is likely to become mirrorless system cameras with interchangeable lenses. An interesting trend that has been noticed by industry experts is that while casual users may prefer a pocket size camera, sometimes with a collapsible or pancake lens, professional users demand a more substantial camera grip with good balance and comfortable ergonomics plus a battery for all day use, which has led to manufacturers making new, professional mirrorless system cameras slightly larger than their compact siblings.
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History
In 2013, mirrorless system cameras constituted about five percent of total camera shipments. In 2015, they accounted for 26 percent of system camera sales outside of the Americas, and 16 percent within the United States.
2004-2008. The first mirrorless camera commercially marketed was the Epson R-D1 (released in 2004), followed by the Leica M8 (released September 2006, which wasn't actually a mirrorless camera but a rangefinder camera, with a system of focussing that dated back to the 1930s and the release of the Leica III, which was itself a development of the 1932 Leica II) . The Micro Four Thirds system, whose first camera was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, was released in Japan in October 2008.
2009-2010. The Ricoh GXR (November 2009) had a radically different design. The mirrorless camera featured interchangeable lens units - a sealed unit of a lens and sensor, instead of a normal interchangeable lens. This design was comparable to but distinct from MILCs, and received mixed reviews, primarily due to cost; As of 2017, the design has not been copied.
Following the introduction of the Micro Four Thirds, several other cameras were released by Panasonic and Olympus, with the Olympus PEN E-P1 (announced June 2009) being the first mirrorless camera in a compact size (pocketable with a small lens). The Samsung NX10 (announced January 2010) was the first camera in this class not using the Micro Four Thirds system, instead utilizing a new, proprietary lens mount (Samsung NX-mount). The Sony Alpha NEX-3 and NEX-5 (announced May 14, 2010, and released in July 2010) saw Sony enter the market with a new, proprietary lens mount (the Sony E-mount), though the camera included LA-EA1 and LA-EA2 adapters for the legacy Minolta A-mount.
2011. In June 2011, Pentax announced the 'Q' mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and the 'Q-mount' lens system. The original Q series featured a smaller 1/2.3 inch 12.4 megapixel CMOS sensor. The Q7, introduced in 2013, has a slightly larger 1/1.7 inch CMOS sensor with the same megapixel count.
In September 2011, Nikon announced their Nikon 1 system which consists of the Nikon 1 J1 and Nikon 1 V1 cameras and lenses. The V1 features an electronic viewfinder. The series includes high-speed mirrorless cameras which, according to Nikon, featured the world's fastest autofocus and the world's fastest continuous shooting speed (60 fps) among all cameras with interchangeable lenses including DSLRs.
2012. The Fujifilm X-Pro1, announced in January 2012, was the first non-rangefinder mirrorless with a built-in optical viewfinder. Its hybrid viewfinder overlaid electronic information, including shifting frame-lines, to compensate for the parallax effect. Its 2016 successor, the X-Pro2, features an updated version of this viewfinder.
Beyond just consumer interest, mirrorless lens systems has created significant interest from camera manufacturers as a possible alternative to high-end camera manufacturing. Mirrorless cameras has fewer moving parts than DSLRs, and are more electronic, which is an advantage to electronic manufacturers (such as Panasonic, Samsung and Sony), while reducing the advantage that existing camera manufacturers have in precision mechanical engineering. Sony's entry level full frame mirrorless ?7 II camera has a 24 Megapixel 5 axis stabilised sensor but is more compact and lower in cost than any full frame sensor DSLR.
Canon was the last of the major manufacturer of DSLRs to announce their own mirrorless camera, announcing the Canon EOS M in 2012 with APS-C sensor and 18 mm registration distance similar to the one used by NEX.
In a longer-term Olympus decided that mirrorless may replace DSLRs entirely in some categories with Olympus America's DSLR product manager speculating that by 2012, Olympus DSLRs (the Olympus E system) may be mirrorless, though still using the Four Thirds System (not Micro Four Thirds).
Panasonic UK's Lumix G product manager John Mitchell, speaking to the Press at the 2011 "Focus on Imaging" show in Birmingham, reported that Panasonic "G" camera market share was almost doubling each year, and that the UK Panasonic "G" captured over 11% of all interchangeable camera sales in the UK in 2010, and that the UK "CSC" sales made up 23% of the interchangeable lens market in the UK, and 40% in Japan.
As of May 2010, the cost of interchangeable-lens camera is comparable to and somewhat higher than entry-level DSLRs, with costs between US$550 and $800, and significantly higher than the cost of high-end compact cameras.
Sony announced their 2011 sales statistics in September 2012, which showed that mirrorless lenses had 50% of the interchangeable lens market in Japan, 18% in Europe, and 23% worldwide. Since then, Nikon has entered the mirrorless market, amongst other new entries.
2013. Due to the downward trend of the world camera market, mirrorless camera sales suffered, but not as drastically and was compensated with increase by about 12 percent in the Japanese mirrorless camera market. However, mirrorless cameras have taken longer to catch on in Europe and North America. According to Japanese photo industry sources, mirrorless made up only 11.2% of interchangeable-lens cameras shipped to Europe in the first nine months of 2013, and 10.5% of those shipped to the U.S. in the same period. Also, an industry researcher determined that Mirrorless camera sales in the U.S. fell by about 20% in the three weeks leading up to December 14, 2013--which included the key Black Friday shopping week; in the same period, DSLR sales went up 1%.
2015. 2015 sales statistics showed that overall camera sales have fallen to one third of those of 2010, due to compact cameras being substituted by camera-capable mobile phones. Within camera sales, ILCs have seen their market share increasing, with ILCs being 30% of overall camera sales, of which DSLRs were 77% and mirrorless cameras were 23%. In the Americas in 2015, DSLR annual sales fell by 16% per annum, while mirrorless sales over the same 12-month period have increased by 17%.. In Japan, mirrorless cameras outsold DSLRs during some parts of the year. In 2015, mirrorless-cameras accounted for 26 percent of interchangeable-lens camera sales outside the Americas, although a lesser share of 26 percent was in the U.S.
2016. In late 2016, Olympus announced their OM-D E-M1 Mark II camera, a successor to the earlier and successful Mark I. The Mark II model retains a micro 4/3 image sensor of 17.3x13 mm and features a 20.4 megapixel resolution lens, representing a new generation of mirrorless cameras competitive with and in many respects superior to DSLR cameras.
Systems comparison
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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