The camera evolution is moving more and more towards mirrorless systems.
The broad progression is something like this below:-
Mechanical Film camera > Automatic Film Camera > Digital camera with mirrors/ rangefinder > Digital mirrorless cameras
I have a Sony RX100 and this stays more with me than my DSLR pureley for convenience, however….
Purely from an adventure and back of beyond type of perspective, today’s cameras need power to operate . Power is a scarcity in the wild , hence my point.
Lets take a two months expedition into the mountains and a digital camera. The amount of “power planning” and logistics is substantial. Power packs, chargers, solar panels etc etc, each adds to the weight & complexity. Chargers & batteries weigh a lot. You dont want to trek 10 days and not have power for your shot !
The largest single component that chews power is the LCD display and the VR/ IS. Going mirrorless even with an electronic viewfinder means , much more power required even to frame a shot. Without the electronic rendering of the scene, no composition possible.
The camera holding stabilisation with a mirrorless camera back LCD means the support is a two point system, vs the eye piece which is a 3 point support system ( 3rd being the head which is pressed to the eye piece). Sure you have some VR or IS system to compensate but, that too required power to operate. With mirrorless camera, one needs much more power, just to take the shot. Change settings, need power on the LCD. Pretty much anything that you do , pulls up the LCD into operation.
In the urban situation, power required- just plug in, camera bust…borrow or rent another. All this is good when in an urban / studio setting but, doesn’t work as well when in the great outdoors.
So what is the possible solution ?
Of course , one can go back to film 🙂
My wish is a “digital Nikon FM”, manual all the way with a watch LCD type back just to view the histogram. No image review 920K LCD etc. Ability to switch off anything “Auto”. One can review the image later at leisure…off camera.
Sony RX-100 while driving in the monsoon in Mumbai.
Sony RX-100 shot from the aircraft window on my recent flight
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