CANON DSLRS VS MIRRORLESS

THE CONTENDERS

Canon first dipped its toe in the waters of mirrorless digital system cameras back in the summer of 2012. The launch of the EOS M (Electro-Optical System Mobility) was effectively a mirrorless version of the EOS 650D digital single lens reflex camera. Without a reflex mirror assembly or viewfinder, it was indeed very much smaller, slimmer and lighter, while still qualifying as a ‘system’ camera, thanks to having interchangeable lenses.

Although it helps with downsizing, most of us struggle to shoot naturally without a viewfinder, especially under bright sunlight. Sure enough, the current EOS M50 and M5 mirrorless cameras have a built-in electronic viewfinder, and one is available as an optional extra for the M6. A bonus of electronic viewfinders is that they give a live preview of the effect of exposure and white balance settings but, despite having very high pixel-counts, they still tend to lack the clarity of an SLR’s optical viewfinder.

Naturally, Canon has much more experience in making DSLR system cameras, stretching all the way back to 1959. EOS 35mm film cameras arrived in 1987 and went digital in 2000. Nearly 20 years later, Canon DSLRs have evolved into fabulous cameras. By contrast, Canon’s EOS R and RP full-frame mirrorless system cameras have been around for less than a year, and are still in their infancy. Let’s see how the range of APS-C format and full-frame system cameras stack up against each other, throughout the price range.

CANON EOS 250D/REBEL SL3

£519/$549

Reflex cameras don’t have to be big. Canon’s latest DSLR is especially compact and lightweight

Weighing only 60g more than the mirrorless M50 and barely any heavier than the M5, the 250D is lightweight for a DSLR. It’s only about half the weight of the 5D Mk IV, and is impressively compact.

The outright newest camera in the group, it’s only been on sale a few months and shares the same core specs as the M50, which was launched last year. These include a 24.1Mp Dual Pixel CMOS image sensor and DIGIC 8 processor, and the same shutter speed and sensitivity ranges. Both competing cameras have the same high-res, vari-angle touchscreen and both enable 4K movie capture.

A difference between the 250D and M50 is that the DSLR has an optical rather than electronic viewfinder, of course. It gives a clear and bright view, despite only being a pentamirror rather than pentaprism unit. Unlike in