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Comment by jjav | Hacker News Reader

> So the DSLR, except for maybe a few niche cases is old technology that is superseded in every single way.

This is a one-sided comment, as you describe the advantages of mirrorless but don't discuss the significant disadvantages.

With mirrorless you don't see through the optical lens, you're always looking at an LCD even on the viewfinder. This is not a good thing, it means the camera is always consuming battery. With a DSLR battry life is measured in months (I go on vacations and don't even bother bringing a charger) since the camera doesn't need to consume any power most of the time.

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True the DLSR has the advantage in power consumption, however, most users will accept the trade of and carry extra batteries / charge more often to take advantage of the advantages that mirrorless provides. The battery consumption is improving with every generation of mirrorless.

But yes, that is probably the biggest advantage the DSLR has left.

Here’s the thing. Yes, you’re giving up battery life with the EVF. However, you’re also giving up all the other new advances manufacturers are shoving into newer mirror less cameras. Eye tracking auto focus, great low light performance, next gen lenses, etc.

I too was very anti EVF until I used one last year. In the end, the visual performance fears didn’t show up, the battery life can be dealt with, and the benefits of the Canon R5 were just too much.

The Canon EOS 50 film camera had eye controlled focusing in 1995... sure it could only manage 3 zones but that's all the camera had :-)

That's a different type of eye AF. One is AF point controlled by where the photographer is looking, the other detects the eyes of the subject.

> With a DSLR battry life is measured in months (I go on vacations and don't even bother bringing a charger) since the camera doesn't need to consume any power most of the time.

That's more than a bit optimistic. With things like lenses with IS, etc., it's quite easy to use a battery a day with a DSLR. My 5D4 would run down the charge on two batteries on heavy use days (like weddings, to be sure) but a full day walking around SF would need a charger.

With my Nikon D7200 a battery lasts a few months in normal casual use. Even in tourist mode it'll last over a week or three. As I type this, I'm on week four of a trip away from home and still have over 50% charge left from when I charged it up at home.

Being the photo geek in my circles, I occasionally get asked to be an event photographer for some activities. In those days I'll take on the order of a thousand photos in a day, and that doesn't come close to using up a battery.

Battery life on DSLRs is almost miraculous, I love it.

Not my experience with that same camera. Are you shooting RAW?

Interesting that on the same camera the experience is so different.

Are you a heavy user of the screen? I mostly don't use it, I do everything through the viewfinder. I only shoot RAW.

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