Figure 1Figure 2A PEEK INTO
THE GUTS
LIGHT[1] In this DSLR, you
can see the mirror that
bounces the view com-
ing through the lens
up to the viewfinder.
When you press the
shutter button, the mir-
ror flips up and out of
the way so the sensor
can grab the image.
[2] Here, in the 7,
there’s no mirror. The
image is clear to pass to
the sensor, which then
sends it to the LCD and
electronic viewfinder.the same. The cameras were still large because they
needed space for the mirror to f lip.
Mirrorless cameras, naturally, eliminated that.
Without that component, light constantly reaches
the image sensor. And instead of an optical view-
finder, they have an electronic one that displays
real-time video of what the sensor sees. Remov-
ing the mirror meant that cameras could be much
thinner and eliminated a delicate moving part and
potential point of failure.
They weren’t perfect, though, and in fact cre-
ated their own problem with the smaller body:
They couldn’t accommodate the full-frame sensors
used by SLRs, which are a critical piece in creating
high-quality photos. About the size of 35mm film,
the larger sensors can capture more light than the
smaller versions used in early mirrorless cameras
and, significantly, are compatible with standard
35mm lenses without the need for cropping. Ergo,
full-frame sensors allow for the beautiful, shallow
depth-of-field photos you can get from film cameras,
and models with them have serious advantages in
low-light photography and videography.
There had been plenty of full-frame DSLR
cameras. But Sony developed the 7 as the first full-
frame camera to offer the quality of a DSLR with
the sleek size of a mirrorless. That alone attracted
attention from serious photographers. But there
was more to like. The camera’s electronic view-
finder accurately displayed the depth of field in real
time—what you saw on the screen was exactly what
you’d capture when you took the photo. This boosted
a photographer’s ability to focus the lens and com-
pose an image.
The 7 and higher-resolution 7R also had a
maximum ISO of 25,600, an incredibly high value
that improved their performance in low light. They
were capable of shooting five R AW frames per sec-
ond, had a fast autofocus system, and shot video at
1080p. The next year, Sony released the 7S (S for
Sensitivity), a 12-megapixel shooter with even bet-
ter low-light performance. The relatively affordable
price ($1,700 for the 7) further fed their popular-
ity and sped up their adoption.
Sony’s feat, as impressive as it was, was essen-
tially an achievement of integration more than
invention. “I was firmly convinced that full-frame
mirrorless was the way to go,” Kenji Tanaka,
senior general manager of Sony’s Camera System
Business Division, says. “Sony already had many
in-house core devices required to make full-frame
mirrorless cameras.”
It would be another five years before heavy-
weights Canon and Nikon developed their own
full-frame mirrorless cameras. By that time, Sony
had overtaken them as the number one seller of
full-frame cameras in the U.S. and Japan. In 2020,
the Associated Press announced that its several
hundred photographers would be moving to Sony’s
cameras, prompted by their desire for the compact-
ness, reliability, and silent shooting of mirrorless.
“The market would have gone mirrorless even-
tually, but Sony’s early entry into the segment,
and the rapid iteration of the 7 series thereaf-
ter, really forced the issue and put a lot of pressure
on the more traditional DSLR competition,” says
Barnaby Britton, senior editor for Digital Photog-
raphy Review. “The original 7 and 7R weren’t
terribly polished or ‘complete’ cameras in and of
themselves, but they were the writing on the wall.”
The line has gotten better since. Sony’s current
generation includes the 7S III, which can shoot
10-bit 4K video up to 120 frames per second, and
the 9 II, which can fire off R AW photos at a blister-
ing 20 shots per second. They all feature accurate
eye-tracking autofocus, too, making them ideal
for fast-paced situations. And you don’t have to be
a pro photographer to reap the benefits of that kind
of capability.LCDLCDSENSORLIGHT
SENSORVIEWFINDERMIRRORPENTAPRISMEVFMarch/April 2021 79