DSLR vs. mirrorless

I'm currently Canon DSLR but have dabbled a little with a mirrorless Canon a couple years ago. Lately I've been considering mirrorless again and maybe even a brand change. I think I just want more portability than my Current DSLR and full-size lenses can offer. What are all your thoughts?

Quote from Solomi

What brand and why?

My initial draw was towards the Olympus models - specifically the PEN F. Frankly I think I just like the retro "rangefinder" like more than anything, but it has some really nice specs. The biggest con for me though is that is has no weatherproofing and I've grown accustomed to having that peace of mind with my 6D and 7D before that. Some of the pros are that is has a sweet OLED electronic viewfinder - compared to the majority of them that have no viewfinder at all. The Canon versions do have one that can be clipped onto the hot shoe but I think it ends up sort of a monstrosity of sorts. And the Olympus models also have very small but fast lenses available which are rated pretty well - that helps keep the whole camera bag lighter in the long run.

I'm also intrigued by some of the Sony offerings. My very first digicam was a Sony and used the crappy memory sticks. The memory that sticks out the most about it was that all the photos had a much cooler hue to them and sometimes even leaned towards a blue color. That was years ago of course but it made me dump it and Erica convinced me to try out a Canon - never looked back.

But here I am in a bind as I look at the mirrorless offerings. I don't know how I feel about the latest round of Canon models and wish they would put more R&D into making them competitive.

Quote from deadfeat

Canon makes great prosumer point and shoots

At the risk of being snooty, but I can't put the term "prosumer" and "point and shoot" in the same sentence. Yes, there are point and shoots with great features and put out plenty of great files, but they are nowhere near any level of pro.

Quote from deadfeat

what is most important is a fast camera that does not suffer from shutter lag.

This started out as important to me when I was first getting serious with photography. The Canon 7D is terrific example of that. But through the years I've realized that shutter lag isn't high on my list as I am more of a landscape shooter. I take way more time than needed for each shot and rarely am rushed. And sports photography? Never done and never want to.

Quote from deadfeat

Also a good low f-stop at a decent ISO. Also price it out with a decent prime lens, and a good 18mm to get the wide shots.

I'm completely on board with this. My 6D regularly gives me useable files up to ISO of 6400. That helps drop the need for image stabilization on all the lens as you can just crank up the ISO to keep the shutter speed a little faster. Also, my favorite lens is my 50/1.4 and I'm guilty of overusing bokeh in a majority of my pictures. But it's what I like so keep doing it. 18mm used to be decent for wide shots, but nowadays you need something even wider than 15mm on a full frame sensor in order to really pull in the landscape. And then when you add in the factor of a smaller sensor on most of the mirrorless bodies then you are doing the math to figure out the new mm that is needed for wide angles. It makes even an 11mm lens only average wide on a crop sensor. The only way you can get by with something above that is by flipping your camera on it's side and than horizontally stacking a few pictures to be stitched later. But yes, fast and wide are two lens attributes I really can appreciate.

I pulled the trigger and bought an Olympus mirrorless. I was pretty adamant that I didn't want to spend excess money on my wasteful hobby, so I sold one of my Canon lenses to fund this new direction. So here I am now with a new camera body, 3 new lenses, two spare batteries, and a UV filter all from selling just one of my Canon lenses. I have been using the new camera a little off and on for the last couple weeks and am overall very impressed and satisfied with both the features and image quality. And when you physically compare the two cameras, the new one is exactly half of the size/weight of the old one even with equivalent lenses mounted up. Another added bonus is that the Olympus mirrorless cameras have In Body Image Stabilization. That means that IS is a product of the body and not the lens....so no matter what lens you mate up you have image stabilization. On Canon only the lens has the capability - and ironically none of my current Canon lenses even have image stabilization.

Oh and Steve you'd be happy to know that the mirrorless still shoots at 8 frames per second - not a slouch by any means. It is pretty low in the lineup of Olympus cameras too so there is room to grow in features and capabilities down the road.

Sold:
Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 II

Bought
Olympus PEN E-PL7 (new)
12-40 f/2.8 Pro (used)
14-42 f/3.5-5.6 pancake zoom (used)
25 f/1.8 prime (used)