Has anybody gone back to their DSLR?

[Dave Canon]

A single battery normally lasts for my shoots but they may not normally be longer than 5 hours. I do take two spares and the only time I do run out and have to change is when I am using live view. I use live view for inside cathedrals and for macro work. It is also worth being aware that the GPS can be a drain. I do have GPS on but not when the camera power is off.

Dave

 

[ancient_mariner]

Wow really there is something wrong there I can do all day and usually have about 20% left.

Our shooting styles must be very different. When I first switched to Sony I used the evf pretty much all the time and used to have to switch batteries just before the speeches.

Now I don’t use the evf as much I can easily go all day without changing a battery.

I have noticed that the battery life depletes faster when using flash. I assume the connection between the camera and the flash must use a fair bit of power. I guess if you use flash a lot and the evf for everything that you might need to swap out batteries a lot more. I only use flash for the dancing usually.

Are you not using genuine batteries?

You seem to get exceptional battery life - I get typically about half the life of my old D610 at around 600-700 shots vs 1200 to 1400+. Using genuine Sony batteries.

For the original questioner - the A7 series would suit your needs for very long battery life because you can attach an external power pack with the camera still in use. 10,000mAh packs are about £20 and would give a couple of days constant on time. I'm not aware of other cameras being able to 'live' on external power that way.

 

[f/2.8]

I’m shooting genuine batteries and I use EVF just as much. Unless when I’m shooting very low down or high up.

What I meant was that I now rarely use the evf. I find that I use lcd most of the time now and only use the evf when in bright sunlight.

 

[Raymond Lin]

What I meant was that I now rarely use the evf. I find that I use lcd most of the time now and only use the evf when in bright sunlight.

What’s what I read it to be and I know LCD uses less battery.

I still use EVF most of the time.

 

[Jelster]

Battery life.....

It's no big deal for me, I have 2 bodies, usually use one of them with a grip and I have 4 spare batteries in my bag. The answer lies in not waiting for your battery to fail, but changing it before hand when you have the opportunity. I just can't see this ever being a problem, not even at a wedding or shooting wildlife (I've done both on my X-T2's). It's actually about battery management, not battery life.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

The move from Dslr to Mirrorless is fully underway and unstoppable.
What we are all talking about is the "froth" at the interchange caused by this move.
There is no clear winner as to which has the most "Best" features... but the movement is only one way ...
And that is toward mirrorless.

When we individually decide to change to mirrorless is far less clear cut, and depends on a number of factors. both technical and financial.
On the technical side, the decision to move over, will depend mostly on the combination of features that "we" consider "Vital" to our needs.
On the Financial side, we have a more complex balance between, Available cash, which might include the resale value of our existing kit, but also take into account the rate of fall in that value, as more people move over to mirrorless. And the high cost of such a move.

It is inevitable that at some point manufacturers will make the decision for us. That will happen when it is no longer profitable for them to sustain DSLR manufacture. they have already passed the stage where further research and development of the DSLR is reconcilable with possible future sales.

The "froth" I mentioned at the start, represents the people who test the water and find their change, for one reason or another, was premature, or people who get it wrong and+ find the system that they have bought into is not for them. Brand loyalty seems to have failed to have fully bridged the gap between the two systems. not to mention the people who have bought into and out of the same system or camera more than once.

Decision making seems to have become stretched to breaking point, with users often blaming their indecisiveness, and vacillation, on the equipment, rather than their own decision making processes. It is clearly as easy to move over too soon, as it is to wait too long. The very rapid introduction of more and more advanced and more capable models does not help in this.

Since the advent of Digital cameras, I myself have bought three early compacts , (two Canon G series and one Minolta) one Canon Dslr, Three Fuji X compacts, and two interchangeable lens Fuji X mirrorless cameras ... I still have them all...they were, and are, all very capable cameras.

To hedge my bets I still have A full Olympus OM1n film kit in fully working order. But that is now ancient history.

 

[f/2.8]

What’s what I read it to be and I know LCD uses less battery.

I still use EVF most of the time.

That is probably why your battery life is so poor.

I didn't switch to using the lcd because of battery life though I just find it handier in a lot of situations.

 

[Raymond Lin]

That is probably why your battery life is so poor.

I didn't switch to using the lcd because of battery life though I just find it handier in a lot of situations.

I don’t mind, carrying another battery or 2 isn’t a problem. I don’t really want to change the way I shoot to get another few hours.

 

[GyRob]

I went to ML to get the silent shutter so as not to scare birds ,i find i can often get far more shots than i could with my 1dxmkII owing to shutter noise, i use a EM-1X but do take an extra battery just in case but normally i don't use one .
I have the camera shut down after 60 seconds then just press any button to bring it back to life its very fast to start up I will get the A7rIv or a9 soon as I fancy the 200/600 so no going back to dslr for me.
Rob.

 

[ancient_mariner]

On the technical side, the decision to move over, will depend mostly on the combination of features that "we" consider "Vital" to our needs.

Vital is interesting, but of my 10 most viewed photos on Flickr, 8 were taken with my A7III and I've only owned the system since March.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Vital is interesting, but of my 10 most viewed photos on Flickr, 8 were taken with my A7III and I've only owned the system since March.

It would be hard to credit the technical aspects of the camera with that, with any certainty.
It could be more a question of it revitalising you in some other way.
Or it could be that it hinders you rather less in its actual use than a DSLR
A camera is always a filter between your imagination and the subject. Some become more transparent than others.

 

[ancient_mariner]

It would be hard to credit the technical aspects of the camera with that, with any certainty.
It could be more a question of it revitalising you in some other way.
Or it could be that it hinders you rather less in its actual use than a DSLR
A camera is always a filter between your imagination and the subject. Some become more transparent than others.

The A7 is actually a bit of a PITA compared to the D610 EXCEPT it has a flip-out rear screen that makes it easy to take photos at levels other than 5 1/2 feet off the ground, the lenses that go with it are a bit 'better' especially wide open & the files tolerate processing with fewer artifacts. It's a much worse piece of ergonomics and design, but it does allow more creative work.

 

[ian-83]

I have considered going back to a dSLR, I have a Panasonic Lumix camera and i do love all the benefits it has over a dSLR but maybe it's me but I do find the size of it to be too small for my liking. I have looked at possibly going over to a Fuji X-T2. But then looking at used Canon and Nikon stuff I could easily swap to one of those and have some money left over. There does seem to be some good bargains out there now.