Why I Switched From DSLR To A Mirrorless Camera || My Sony A6000 Review

Finally! My Sony A6000 review post is here! A lot of people have requested for this post and I’ve finally managed to put my thoughts together for y’all so I really hope someone finds it helpful. But before I get into it, just a quick back story.

P.S: If you’re not really into cameras or not currently looking to get a new one, the initial techy bit may bore you a bit. Feel free to scroll to the actual review at the end!

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My journey with cameras started when my Uncle gifted me his old Canon ( The Rebel XS) and since then, It’s been pure love all the way. You know, it’s funny because I never saw myself picking an interest in photography but here I am now.

I’ve had my good Ol Canon Rebel XS for the better part of my blogging life, which is four years and some, and it has served me well but I figured an upgrade was in order as I needed to be able to take better pictures and most importantly videos (The Rebel XS doesn’t shoot videos).

Related : Celebrating 4 years of blogging x 4 things I wish I knew when I started blogging.

I was going to just upgrade to a bigger Canon (I’ve never really liked Nikon) but with the help of my blogger boo “Modavracha” and after much research, I finally decided to ditch Canon and other DSLRs and just go for a mirrorless camera instead. You’ve probably been hearing “mirrorless camera” a lot lately, there has been a great deal of conversation around them and some even refer to them as “the future of photography.

In this post, I’ll be sharing my Sony A6000 review, talking about why I switched from Canon to Sony and try to explain to the best of my ability what a mirrorless camera is.

Wondering what the fuss over the mirrorless camera is about ? This will help you figure it out! Click To Tweet

What Is A DSLR vs Mirrorless Camera?

In simple terms, a DSLR camera (Digital single-lens reflex camera) like the name suggests is a camera that uses a single lens reflex system. What this means is that it operates in a system that uses just a single lens which light travels through to get to a mirror that alternates to send the image to either the viewfinder (the part you look through when you’re taking a picture) or the image sensor depending on whether you click the snap button or you’re just viewing an image.

Now, the whole single lens thing isn’t actually what differentiates a DSLR from a mirrorless camera. A mirrorless camera, on the other hand, doesn’t have that mirror as part of its own optical system. This “no mirror” system is what makes it possible to have a smaller build and design. Mirrorless cameras keep the big sensors and interchangeable lenses of DSLR cameras but ditch the mirror to produce a lighter camera.

Too much English? Just check out this simple diagram here

Another implication of this mirror/no mirror thing asides from the size difference is that a mirrorless camera comes with an electronic viewfinder as opposed to the optical viewfinder of DSLRs. Because mirrorless cameras use electronic viewfinders, you can see in real time the effect that adjusting the settings will have on your pictures before you even take the picture as opposed to the dslr.

DSLR vs Mirrorless Cameras. What's The Difference? Which To Get? Check out this quick guide! Click To Tweet

Why I Switched To A Mirrorless Camera.

The size! Honestly, size was the main reason I even started to consider getting a mirrorless camera instead of an upgraded Canon. Imagine getting a more compact camera that will give you similar quality of pictures that the Canon would and that has some extra pluses too. I was definitely SOLD!

Related: How to take good blog pictures with your phone.

I was tired of lugging my heavy ass canon around and wanted something smaller but effective so that I wouldn’t have to worry about my camera not fitting into my smaller sized bags and won’t have to deal so much with people trying to tax me when I bring out my camera on the streets of Lagos. Meh

Looking for awesome image quality without hauling a heavy DSLR? Give this compact camera a try! Click To Tweet

My Sony A6000 Review

The most popular mirrorless camera brands are Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, and FujiFillm. I decided to go for a Sony because I hadn’t heard much about the other brands prior to my research on mirrorless cameras. Most of the people I knew that had a mirrorless camera had one from Sony, and from the little research I did I realized that the really good cameras from the other brands were way out of my budget.

My choice was between the Sony A5100, A6000 and A6300 but I immediately cut out the A6300 from my list because again, way above my budget. I decided to go for the SonyA6000 which I got from bhphotovideo  and chose the graphite colour because I was bored of black and the white would stain too easily.

I also opted out of getting the kit lens and got a 50mm lens instead. If I had to do it all over again, I’ll definitely get the kit lens as well. My cousin was coming to Nigeria from America so I just shipped it to him for free and didn’t have to pay any shipping fee.

Sensor size: APS-C | Resolution: 24.2MP | Viewfinder: Electronic(VF) | Monitor: 3.0-inch tilt-angle display, 921,600 dots | Maximum continuous shooting rate: 11fps | Movies: 4K | Iso sensitivity: 100-25600 | Price: $498 for just the body and $598 with kit lens inclusive | Where to buy: Bhphotovideo

Here are a few things I love about my Sony A6000:

• Compact Size – Well, I’ve gone on and on about this already but again, yass!
• Great image quality! – I used my Sony A6000 to take the pictures in my last style post and the edits were very basic edits with snapseed. You can check out the pictures here
• WiFi – I love that I can easily just send my pictures to my phone and edit on the go. There’s no more waiting to get home to my laptop before I can view or use the pictures I took. It is also NFC enabled so you can transfer pictures easily this way too.
• Inbuilt Apps: The Sony A6000 has some inbuilt apps and you can also download some apps into the camera like the remote app which helps you control the camera and snap with your phone and the photo editor which allows you apply some basic edits to your pictures while still in the camera
• Dope Electronic viewfinder
• Clear Image Zoom when manual focusing: When you manual focus, it zooms in and allows you achieve the sharpest focus you can.

What I don’t like about the Sony A6000:

• Poor Battery Life: When compared to my canon, my sonyA6000 battery doesn’t last for long but thankfully, it charges pretty fast. It has a battery life of 300 shots.
• Non-Tiltable LCD Screen: I hate that the LCD screen can’t tilt at all angles ( I can’t view myself when recording videos or taking a selfie. Although the inbuilt remote app helps to take self-portraits when connected to my phone as I can place the camera on a platform using my phone to view myself and snap. Cool stuff!
• Not Touch Screen: This isn’t such a big problem for me but I just think a touch screen would be cool and it wouldn’t have taken them anything to add this feature, same way it wouldn’t have taken them anything to include a rotate-able LCD in the A6000 like they did in the A5100. Kmt!

All in all, it’s a pretty decent camera that I would recommend to anyone! I just really hate that the LCD screen can’t be tilted 360 (but the Sony A5100 has that feature) so I can’t really do on the go videos myself. Adding to this is the fact that I got a 50mm lens which is a non-zoom lens, so I’m currently looking to get the regular kit lens too.

To conclude this long post, I’ll just add that If you find a camera you like that works for you, then it really doesn’t matter whether it’s a DSLR or mirrorless.

Now, let’s sound off in the comments please! One of my new favorite question to ask is “What camera and lens do you currently use for your photography/videos so please if you own a camera, kindly help me answer this question in the comment

If you currently use a mirrorless camera, which and how’s that working for you?

Share, comment and let’s connect!

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