Friday, August 1, 2025

You are wrong

If you're one of those who believe DSLRs are better than mirrorless cameras, you might be making a mistake.


 

 If you're buying today, and especially if you're shooting:

  •     Sports
  •     Wildlife
  •     Events
  •     Video
  •     Low-light environments


Then a mirrorless camera of the same professional tier will usually outperform a DSLR. The technology has matured — Canon R3, Nikon Z9, Sony A1, etc., are at least equal to, and often better than, their DSLR counterparts (like the 1D X Mark III or D6).

But if you're:

  •     Deep into a DSLR lens ecosystem
  •     Prefer OVF shooting
  •     Working in situations where battery life and toughness matter more than speed


Then a DSLR is still a strong, reliable tool.

 Mirrorless is the future — and the present — especially for high-level work. DSLRs were fantastic and still hold up in many scenarios, but the flexibility, AF performance, and video capabilities of mirrorless now tip the scale clearly in their favor.

Note for myself: I wonder how many hits this article will get just because of the tittle. ;-) 

Stop shooting at 100 ISO!

There was a time, not long ago, when shooting at the lowest possible ISO—100—was a priority for me. Today, I don’t care.

20250727-R6I-080057-3

Can you guess the ISO used in the photo above? 25,600! Yet it looks like it was taken at ISO 800 or lower. Thanks to the performance of cameras like my Canon R6 Mark I and the power of post-processing software such as DxO PureRaw (my favorite), Topaz Photo AI, and Lightroom Classic, it’s now possible to achieve remarkably low noise levels—easily cleaned up with these tools. 

Results like the photo above made me change my default approach—from manually selecting the ISO to simply using Auto ISO.

You are wrong