There are so many heated arguments over which brand of camera is best but is there really much of a difference anymore? Did you get a new mirrorless camera for Christmas but think the grass may be greener elsewhere?
Today the decision should be more focused on what you want from it, than if one brand is better than Brand X, Y or Z.
Lenses are now truly remarkable
The lenses coming out now are simply incredible. It sometimes feels like there is some voodoo magic going on inside them. The sharpness has never been better. Vignetting is disappearing and chromatic aberration is slowly becoming a thing of the past.
In recent times, the different makers of lenses don’t really matter either. The lenses coming out now are all absolutely stunning and so, so sharp. Even the zoom lenses are now producing prime quality, or as near as. The die-hards will disagree but look at the comparisons, watch the reviews and read up on the specs.
All lenses coming out now are beasts. Even the off-brand manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron are producing incredible lenses. I took some test shots at a Christmas market and a professional photographer remarked that the quality should be expected because of the lenses I use. The only thing was… I was using the £150 all-plastic Samyang 35mm F2.8, a lens so cheap and so tiny, it isn’t even as tall as the camera it was mounted on…
You’ll notice the style of a lens can differ (like the way the lens renders the bokeh) but the actual sharpness of each lens is now so close, in many cases, you’d have to pixel peep to see it.
I’m looking more toward the mirrorless lenses across all brands and I have to say, I am seriously impressed by them all.
So what does matter now?
It’s much more about what you want to do and trying to match that to what the cameras can now do.
When it comes to eye-tracking, all the main camera brands have nailed it. There is very little difference between all the brands now. If you’ve always shot Canon, stay with Canon.
The camera brand should now be based on lens selections
If you’re on a budget, Sony allows third-party lenses like Sigma and Tamron. Canon no longer allows it. This means if you stick with Canon, you’ll need the money to afford their own lenses. Back in the day, Sigma and Tamron’s quality and rendering weren’t that good. Now, it’s ‘almost’ as good as the brand lens. Even the tracking and bokeh are really pleasing. If you’re on a budget consider Sony or even Nikon over Canon.
If you just want a generic camera to carry around, literally anything, including your phone will do.
It’s only when you want to specialise that it’s worth taking a little more time.
Starting Astrophotography or anything low light and I’d tend to try and stay full-frame because of their better low-light capabilities.
Four years ago, I moved from Nikon to Sony for wedding photography because the eye-tracking is incredible and the tracking, in general, is outstanding. I happily shoot at 12,500 ISO on Sony, whereas I tried never going above 3,200 on my Nikon D500.
If you’re reading this after getting a new mirrorless camera for Christmas, don’t worry, you got a great one, no matter what make it is!
