Today, I’m answering all your questions about switching from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera!

I switched cameras earlier this year from the Canon 5Dmk3, a DSLR camera, to the mirrorless Canon R6, and I’ve been loving having a new camera to play with.

I’ve had SO many questions about switching from a DSLR to a mirrorless camera in general, things like whether it was worth making the switch, whether I had any problems with accessories or lenses, what was the most challenging thing to learn and so on, so today, I wanted to answer some of the most common ones I’ve received about changing over!

Although I will mention my specific cameras, this is intended to be brand agnostic, so whether you use Nikon, Canon, Sony etc, this will be useful for you.

These are all questions that were posted on social media, with my answers, so let’s get started!

Do you notice a big difference in image quality between your DSLR and the mirrorless?

This was probably the most asked question!

Although there is definitely a slight increase in image quality between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera, honestly, it wouldn’t be the thing that would prompt me to buy a mirrorless camera, because it’s just not simply enough to justify an upgrade.

Of course, with any technology (even DSLR to DSLR) there will be upgrades in sensors and so on, so I would expect an increase image quality, simply because there is 10 years between the two!

But in my mind, if you have to look at an image in a certain way, or zoom in 300% to see it, it doesn’t made one iota of difference in the real world.

Here’s two images taken in the same light, with the same settings, same lens, etc, so the only difference is one was taken with the Canon R6 and one was taken with the Canon 5D Mk3.

Can you tell which photo was taken with the R6 and which one was the Mk3?

(I’ll tell you at the bottom of the post whether you’re right or not!!)

(Please note though that Google makes you post your images in teeny tiny file sizes or they penalize you for having a slow site, so these images don’t reflect the true quality of either of these cameras!)

What was the most challenging thing to learn when switching to mirrorless?

Although the technology behind how a DSLR and how a mirrorless camera works is different, fortunately the principles of photography never changes!

(That’s why in my Auto to Awesome course, I can teach people how to use their Sony, Nikon or Canon cameras, and DSLR or mirrorless, despite only ever having used Canon - although the terminology might be different, the principles on how to take a good photo never changes!)

That meant I could pretty much pick up the camera, set it up the way I had my Canon 5D mk3, and was off and running in a few minutes.

However, the R6 does have a couple of features that were not available on the DSLR (technology has moved on a lot in 10 years!) and while some of these were easy to figure out, there are some I’m still getting to grips with.

The most challenging has been the touch and drag feature. This feature allows you to drag the focus to anywhere using your thumb or finger on the rear LCD screen, without moving your eye from the viewfinder. The idea is that it’s quicker than using the joystick to select your focus point.

I seem to keep accidentally moving the focus point with my nose though (Although maybe I just have both a large and squint nose!!) so I’m not loving this at the moment. I need to work on that a bit more.

The other element is also with regard to focus. There is an focus / eye tracking feature, but it’s not something I feel works really well, or at least only works in certain situations. Again, it could be a case of just trying to figure out how to make this work for me, probably by assigning some of the buttons to make a shortcut for it so it’s not on all the time, and only in situations where it’s harder to place the focus point yourself.

In short, switching to mirrorless does mean some changes, and some new features, but if you understand the principles of photography, you won’t find it challenging to switch over, and you can learn any new features at your leisure!

Do you find a mirrorless camera smaller and lighter than your DSLR?

One of the reasons I purchased a mirrorless was because of the smaller size and weight, but honestly, once you have the adaptor and a big ole lens like the 135mm on there, there is little or no noticeable difference. So if that is your sole reason for wanting to switch to a mirrorless, I don’t think this will be as fantastic as you think it will :)

Can you use your existing DSLR lenses on a mirrorless camera?

Yes! With Canon, you can simply buy an adaptor which fits onto your camera (like you would attach a lens) and then you can use any of your existing lenses with it.

You can get an adaptor WITH a lens ring and one without. (I didn’t know about the lens ring when I bought my adaptor, or I would probably have paid the extra for it!)

The only lens I did have a little trouble with was my Sigma lens, probably because this is not a Canon lens. I got these circular lines when shooting 👇

Luckily, all I needed to do to fix it was turn off “lens aberration correction” but it did take a bit of head scratching to figure it out! So just be warned that off-brand lenses may run into some issues.

If you are moving from a Nikon DSLR to a Nikon mirrorless camera, it’s the same thing - you just buy an adaptor to use your existing lenses.

But I would also point out that there may be some compatibility issues if you are using any of the older lenses. You need to make sure that your lenses have built-in autofocus motors, otherwise it will be manual focus only. Newer lenses have this, so most people will be fine, but just to make your aware!

Finally, if you intend to switch brands, for example, go from Canon to Sony, you can also get adaptors that will allow you use your canon lenses on a sony mount. A good one might be pricey though, and you’ll need to do your own research on how well these work. I’d personally prefer to get lenses that have been made to work with a particular camera manufacturer.

Do you notice a decrease in quality when using a lens adaptor?

I haven’t noticed any difference in quality, and my lenses perform at exactly the same standard as before.

The new Canon RF line of lenses are meant to be stunning, so perhaps there would be a difference with those! I’m too scared to rent one in case I love it and want to buy one - they are definitely on the pricey side. (Check out the price just for the 85mm!!!!!!!!!!!)

As I have 6 lenses - you can see them all here - there is no way I could afford to replace all of these with new RF lenses (heck, I can’t even afford to replace ONE) but there’s really no problem at all with my existing lenses, so I wouldn’t consider that a factor when switching over.

If you use the RF lenses, what do you assign to the lens ring?

With the RF lenses you also get a control ring, which you can assign to change a function such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO or exposure compensation.

(Remember, you can also buy an a lens adaptor that has this control ring, so you don’t need to have the RF lenses for that! Check it out here)

If I did have it, I’d probably use it for adjusting ISO, but as I find it easy enough to change ISO with the normal settings, I’m not sure if it would have much use from me! If you shoot in Aperture Priority Mode rather than manual mode, then exposure compensation would probably be a good use for it.

Was it worth making the switch?

Although I definitely didn’t NEED a new camera, and I could have gotten along just fine with my Canon 5dMk3 for years to come, the R6 is such a wonderful camera that I’m really glad I made the switch.

There are several features that I love, but the one that you only get with mirrorless is the Electronic Viewfinder.

This allows you to see the changes in your exposure in real time, which is definitely easier, and saves you some time when shooting! It also stops you from accidentally shooting a bunch of pictures before realising that you were way over or under exposing because you forgot to change your settings.

The most important part for me is not the new features, but just the fact that having a new camera has made me excited to go shooting again! I also like being challenged - I knew my old camera like the back of my hand, and it was getting a little dull, so the new camera has given me a new lease of life as I figure it out.

Should I switch to Mirrorless?

If you are currently shooting with a DSLR then I wouldn’t rush out to switch to a mirrorless camera just for the sake of having one.

Although mirrorless cameras do have some wonderful features, you can definitely get amazing pictures with even entry level DSLRs, so it’s far, far, far more important to get an education in photography over going mirrorless. (Remember, the principles of photography never change, regardless of what camera you are shooting with!)

However, if you are ready to upgrade your camera, or you are ready for a change, then I would definitely consider making your next camera a mirrorless one.

I really think you’ll appreciate some of the features, particularly the EVF.

Plus, the future of photography is mirrorless, that’s where the big names like Canon, Nikon and Sony are investing, so you will probably move over to mirrorless at some point in the future anyway.

One final thought on this is that you can pick up a used, high spec DSLR for a really good price, so you can get a better camera for less money than a new mirrorless one. For example, if you want to upgrade from a crop frame to a full frame but are short of funds - getting a used full frame DSLR (like the Canon 5d mk3) will give you more bang for your buck than getting a mirrorless one. Just something to think about.

I have a question not answered here!

No problemo, leave it in the comments and I’ll get back to you and help out if I can!

So, which was which?

Remember right at the beginning of this post I gave you two images to look at - one taken with the R6 and one with the Mk3? For those of you wondering, the first image taken with the R6 and the second image with the 5 D mk3. Did you get it right?! Let me know in the comments!!!