delivery than for the items themselves.
Also, they did not have Australian power
cords, though they do offer a European
power adaptor.
Toby has since suggested http://www.
betterbatt.com.au and tells me they
offered free shipping with his order of two
batteries, and also supplied a charger as
apparently the Olympus charger does not
charge these batteries. This could be a
good option.
Looking for a
lighter camera
Q
I recently returned from a five-
week overseas trip. I lugged a
DSLR, Canon flash, filters and
all the other bits that go with a normal
kit. This included a 100-400mm lens,
18-135mm, and an 11-16mm: all-up 6.
kg in a pack: oh my back! I have now
come to the conclusion that swapping
lenses all the time is overrated. I was
researching mirrorless cameras being
smaller and I believe, lighter. However I
am confused regarding Four Thirds and
mirrorless as to what’s the difference,
and what lens types can be used. I have
decided to leave the 100-400mm on
the EOS 60D permanently and look for
something smaller. I’d like a camera
that takes good photos, will allow filters
and a flash to be fitted, will take photos
in RAW, and may allow me to use the
100-400mm, and essentially provide all
the functions of a DSLR without the
weight. Does this exist, or am I asking
too much and should I just suck it up
and stay with the DSLR?
- Malcolm Way, via e-mail.
A
This is always a difficult
question to answer! It’s tough
to make any suggestions or
recommendations without knowing
what your budget is and, as you probably
know, it can become very expensive
to purchase an entirely new system to
replace what you’re currently using.
That said, there are some benefits to
the different systems over what you use
currently. First, some basics.
‘Mirrorless’ is a category of camera which
is different from the DSLR (Digital Single
Lens Ref lex) camera you are currently
using. Mirrorless cameras are sometimes
called Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens
Cameras, Interchangeable Lens Cameras,
or Compact System Cameras. They work
differently to DSLRs which have a ‘Ref lex’
mirror positioned at a 45° angle to allow
light focused by the lens to be directed
towards the Pentaprism when viewing and
composing through the optical viewfinder.
On a DSLR, the mirror f lips up and out of
the way the moment the shutter release is
pressed, to allow light to pass through the
lens onto the digital imaging sensor. Then,
after the exposure is made, the mirror f lips
back down to its normal position.
Mirrorless cameras are referred to as
mirrorless because, unlike DSLRs, they
don’t use a mirror to bounce light from
the lens up into a pentaprism viewfinder.
Rather, light passes straight through
the lens to the sensor. Removing the
mirror box and pentaprism takes away
the option of an optical viewfinder, but
does allows for the design of smaller
and lighter cameras and lenses. In many
mirrorless cameras, the optical viewfinder
is replaced with an electronic viewfinder
(EVF) which delivers a live video feed of
the scene.
A distinct advantage of mirrorless
cameras is not only are they lighter, they
are also designed with a rear lens element
that’s positioned very close to the imaging
sensor. That means designers can not
only produce smaller lenses, lenses from
other formats can be used with a simple,
inexpensive adaptor.
‘Micro Four Thirds’ refers to a
particular mirrorless camera and lens
standard used by Olympus and Panasonic.
The Four Thirds name comes from the
aspect ratio of the image, 4:3.
Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds
cameras use a sensor that measures 17.
x 13mm with a ‘crop factor’ of 2x. With
a 2x crop factor the focal length of a lens
appears to double when moved from a
full-frame camera, to a ‘2x crop factor’
camera. Cameras with full-frame sensors
(36 x 24mm) have a crop factor of 1x,
while your Canon EOS 60D has a sensor
size of 22.3 x 14.9 mm, and a crop factor
of 1.6x.
That means a 50mm lens which gives
a ‘normal’ angle of view on a full framecamera becomes a short-telephoto 80mm
lens on your 60D and a 100mm telephoto
on a Micro Four Thirds camera.
This makes it seem as if the lens has a
longer focal length, i.e. akin to ‘zooming-
in’. In reality, the focal length of the lens is
a physical parameter, and is not changed
by the camera on which it is mounted.
Generally, all these modern cameras
are able to accept f lash units. If you’re
not willing to buy an entire new set of
filters, you can likely attach them to
the new, dedicated Micro Four Thirds
lenses by means of inexpensive, simple
mechanical adapter rings. Also, these
mirrorless cameras can usually take
images in RAW format. Depending
on the specific camera model you
are considering it should be able to
manage all of the existing functions of
your current DSLR and probably a few
additional ones as well.
Again, depending on the exact model
and the specific lens, image quality can
be on a par, or perhaps even exceed,
what you are currently used to. Finally,
remember that there will be a learning
curve associated with swapping over to
a different system. If you do change, you
may be best served by choosing one of the
models from the Canon range as many of
the functions will be similar. ❂AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 13
OPPOSITE PAGE
A ready supply of
spare batteries is a
good way to avoid
being at the right
place at the right
time with a ‘dead’
camera.BELOW
Lugging a heavy
camera and lenses
can detract from
the enjoyment of
travelling.Do you have a question?
Photography got you stumped? If you have any queries at all relating to photography
or digital imaging please email our correspondent Prashphutita Greco at
[email protected]. Please include your question, along with your
name, suburb, state and phone number. Prashphutita will try to get back to you with
an answer within a couple of weeks.AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY MARCH 2016
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