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> I am not sure why Nikon and Canon didn't invest more into mirrorless technology sooner, and I'm no photography expert, but I think they were just too entrench

> I am not sure why Nikon and Canon didn't invest more into mirrorless technology sooner, and I'm no photography expert, but I think they were just too entrenched in the DSLR technologies they pioneered. You nailed it on the head for the most part. Nikon had a mirrorless camera in the J1 series, which had some very nifty features but was just an absurdly expensive system for what you got (especially since it is basically a dead end, proprietary platform.) Canon did a bit better with their first MILCs, but they weren't amazing. At the time they were introduced Canon suffered from a lack of on-sensor Phase Detection AF, and Contrast detection systems weren't as fast as they are now. I mean, a big issue is glass; While there are exceptions to this, you can't just re-use an existing lens design on a mirrorless without making the thing longer than it needs to be (Which looks off on a Mirrorless.) Which means that Nikon/Canon can't just release the 18-55 EFAF Mark 10 lens. Designing proper lenses takes time and money. I mean, the first few years I had an E-mount, the pickings were slim for lenses, while the a6000 was a good start it wasn't till the A7II and A7RII with their ability to do usable PDAF with adapted lenses that the platform felt safe to pick up.

mongol 7y ago
But is that really the plan, to build an entirely new assortment of lenses, to avoid making the bidy wider than needed? It seems like the benefit with mirrorless would mostly be other things than size...?
- AuryGlenz 7y ago
  There’s an added benefit - shorter flange distance/ larger mount diameter. Nikon especially went with a large mount. A larger mount = potential for faster glass. But also think about it from a marketing perspective - even now most people buying cameras aren’t professionals. A big bulky camera right next to a svelte one in a store will look dated. That said Sony went too far with it, in my opinion. A nice grip is important for professionals.
  - joncrane 7y ago
    I've been trying to keep up with all the new photography concepts in this thread, but "Faster Glass" is throwing me off? How can glass lenses be "faster?" Allow you to shoot with a faster shutterspeed?
    - shawnz 7y ago
      I think that's correct (because it lets more light reach the sensor due to the bigger aperture, so less exposure is necessary)
    - KineticLensman 7y ago
      Faster is taken to mean that a lens has a larger maximum aperture, meaning more light gets in, so you can use a faster shutter speed, and hence get less motion blurring. Non-intuitively, because depth of field gets smaller as the aperture increases, faster lenses can also offer better separation of the subject from foreground / background features

mongol 7y ago

But is that really the plan, to build an entirely new assortment of lenses, to avoid making the bidy wider than needed? It seems like the benefit with mirrorless would mostly be other things than size...?

AuryGlenz 7y ago
There’s an added benefit - shorter flange distance/ larger mount diameter. Nikon especially went with a large mount. A larger mount = potential for faster glass. But also think about it from a marketing perspective - even now most people buying cameras aren’t professionals. A big bulky camera right next to a svelte one in a store will look dated. That said Sony went too far with it, in my opinion. A nice grip is important for professionals.
- joncrane 7y ago
  I've been trying to keep up with all the new photography concepts in this thread, but "Faster Glass" is throwing me off? How can glass lenses be "faster?" Allow you to shoot with a faster shutterspeed?
  - shawnz 7y ago
    I think that's correct (because it lets more light reach the sensor due to the bigger aperture, so less exposure is necessary)
  - KineticLensman 7y ago
    Faster is taken to mean that a lens has a larger maximum aperture, meaning more light gets in, so you can use a faster shutter speed, and hence get less motion blurring. Non-intuitively, because depth of field gets smaller as the aperture increases, faster lenses can also offer better separation of the subject from foreground / background features