Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-21)

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A

recentarticlebyImaging

Resource(www.imaging-

resource.com/news/

2019/05/14/ricoh-interview-

sub-frame-medium-format-dslr-coming-

mirrorless-will-return)quotedRicoh

executivesassayingtheybelievedthat,

in thenextfewyears,photographers

wouldswitchfrommirrorlessbackto

DSLRcameras.I’mnotsurehowto break

it to them,butI hopeforthesakeof

Pentaxtheyaren’tbankingonit.

Theinadequaciesof earlymirrorless

camerashavenowbeenpushedcasually

aside.In factI struggletothinkof a single

wayin whicha DSLRcamerahasthe

edgeoveritsmirrorlesscounterpart.

‘But,buttheautofocus!’Welcometo

2019,whereon-sensorphasedetection

enablesyoutohavecontinuousautofocus

trackingwithpointsfromthecornerto

cornerof theframe.Eye-AFalsoenables

photographerstoshootwithan85mm

f/1.4lensandnotworryaboutgetting

theeyein focuseverytime.Nomore

eyelashesornosespinsharpwithslightly

softeyes.Withouttheconstraintsof a

flappysilveredbitof glassshiftingupand

down,camerasaresuddenlyfreetoshoot

at 30framespersecond.

Imagesarepreviewedlivein the

viewfinder,andmagnificationis usedto

checkthefinestof detailsbeforethe

shutteris pressed– there’snoneedany

moretochecktheshotontherearscreen

afteryou’vetakenit. ‘ButI canshootlive

viewonmyDSLRanddothosethings!’

True,butyouarebuyinganSLRsystem

andthenmakinga deliberatechoicenot

touseit! ‘I likea largercamera!’Letme

introduceyoutothePanasonicS1or

S1R,ora littlethingcalleda grip.‘Ahhh,

buttheopticalviewfinder!’Whataboutit?

Thesearen’ttheb&w,low-resolution

viewfindersfrommid-nineties

camcorders.Issueswithlatencyhave

goneandresolutionsareinsaneforthe

sizeof thedisplay.

Therearetworeasonsphotographers

maypreferanopticalfinder– a medical

condition or simply that they prefer it.

I understandthatit is expensivetoswap

anentireDSLRcameraandlensline-up

toa mirrorlessequivalent,andformany

thatis a stickingpoint.However,I’dargue

thatmanyphotographersaresimplystuck

in theirwaysanddon’twanttochange,

justasmanysworetheywouldalways

shootfilm.Somearguethatusinga DSLR

is abouttheprocess,andwhilethatholds

trueforlarge-format,wet-plateorfilm

photography,it justdoesn’tringtruein

thesamewayforshootingwitha DSLR.

Ofcourseit is theimagethatultimately

mattersandnotalwayshowyougot

there,butI thinkthatRicohPentaxis in

fora shock.If theytrulybelievethatthe

DSLRmarketwillswitchtogrowthin the

nextcoupleof years,thePentaxbrandis

sadlysettogothesamewayasKodak.

Anyway,I’vepontificatedenough.It’s

timetowipetheinkfromthequilland

stokeupthefiretoboil some water for my

morningcoffee.

RichardSibleywasformerlyDeputyEditorof

AmateurPhotographer. Henowwritesaboutcameras

andphotographyaswellasrunsthePhotoGearNews

YouTubechannel.Find him on Instagram at

@richsibley.

WillphotographersbeswitchingbacktoDSLR

systemsfrommirrorlessinthenextfew years,

or is this Ricoh’s wishful thinking?

‘Itistheimagethat

ultimatelymatters

andnotalwayshow

you got there’

View point

Richard Sibley

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