# Has anyone switched to Mirrorless for Photojournalism?



## TMortPhotos (Jun 10, 2014)

I'm in the Military and think a Mirrorless would make sense for shooting in the field...at least one body and lens. Has anyone else made this switch? I know that we always want quality but sometimes it's about capturing the moment and carrying big heavy cameras and lenses might hinder this. 

Any suggestions and/or feedback or example photos? I was looking at the new Panasonic GH4 but it's out of stock everywhere and pretty spendy.


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## TMortPhotos (Jun 10, 2014)

0 replies to either of my posts on this forum.  =/


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## The_Traveler (Jun 10, 2014)

Look at my website and my articles on street photography.
m43 is all I use.

Are you at DINFOS by any chance?


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## TMortPhotos (Jun 10, 2014)

I've been trying to reclass to photojournalist. 

How do you know of Dinfos? Are you a prior instructor/student? I will check out your website thanks!



The_Traveler said:


> Look at my website and my articles on street photography.
> m43 is all I use.
> 
> Are you at DINFOS by any chance?


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## The_Traveler (Jun 10, 2014)

I was on Ft Meade for 12 years but now retired.
I live about 10 miles from there and Have a meeting with the photo dept heads on Tuesday.

Should I ask what it takes to get into their program?


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## TMortPhotos (Jun 10, 2014)

It certainly couldn't hurt! They can take a look at my site if they want. =) I just started it a couple weeks ago so it's a work in progress atm.


The_Traveler said:


> I was on Ft Meade for 12 years but now retired.
> I live about 10 miles from there and Have a meeting with the photo dept heads on Tuesday.
> 
> Should I ask what it takes to get into their program?


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## gsgary (Jun 10, 2014)

Henry Cartier Bresson shot mirrorless all his life and it's all i shoot (Leica and Sony A7)


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## Ilovemycam (Jun 10, 2014)

Have dslr, but have not used if for almost 2 years except for macro. I'm not a pro, but I use mirrorless for street and doc work.


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## TMortPhotos (Jun 11, 2014)

Which of the mirrorless cameras, would you all say, provide the best quality photo with good AF speed? Like I menetioned, I know the GH4 is a sweet setup, but I feel like one is paying extra for the video capabilities. Still photography is my main focus with video being second.

By the way, Mr. Lorton, your photography is excellent!


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## curtyoungblood (Jun 11, 2014)

I've read a lot of stuff from photojournalists using mirror less, and everyone of them complains about the auto focus speed. Personally, I'd also be worried about the availability of the right lenses, although the GH4 does seem to have a good selection of lenses.


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## The_Traveler (Jun 11, 2014)

curtyoungblood said:


> I've read a lot of stuff from photojournalists using mirror less, and everyone of them complains about the auto focus speed. Personally, I'd also be worried about the availability of the right lenses, although the GH4 does seem to have a good selection of lenses.



I use an OMD 5 (and have shot with the new em-1) and their autofocus speed is stunningly fast.

There  are 51 lenses specifically for m4/3 (  Four Thirds | Micro Four Thirds | Products(Lenses) ) plus adapters from  4/3 and other Nikon//Canon lenses.

I use 4 lenses the Oly 20 mm 1.7  (40 mm equivalent), Panasonic 12-35 2.8 (24-70 equiv), Pana 35-100 2.8 (70-200 eq) and Oly 45 1.8 (90 mm equiv)
The shortcoming in lenses for m4/3 is no long fast primes.


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## gsgary (Jun 11, 2014)

The A7 is great, why do you need auto focus ? All my Leica lenses are manual on th A7 but I might treat myself to the 35mm lens for the A7 (did you know the A7 is full frame )
Use hyperfocus like these







and next shot on single shot


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## Ron Evers (Jun 11, 2014)

Nice shots!  

I too used to use hyper-focus to advantage when I used adapted lenses on my G1.  Now that I have a E-M5 & faster native lenses I do not find the need.  

Full frame cameras require full frame lenses & thus are not as compact as a m4/3 camera & native lenses.


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## gsgary (Jun 11, 2014)

You can also do this with the A7 if you have Leica M fit lenses and buy the Voigtlander close focus adapter


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## CAP (Jun 11, 2014)

The Canon 1DX, AKA "The Photojournalism Lord Grandpoba the highest"   I have dappled in photojournalism and most of the pros i ran into where running the 1dx.


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## Derrel (Jun 11, 2014)

Have you checked out sansmirror.com for reviews ofd mirrorless cameras done ONLY AFTER EXTENSIVE, real-world, prolonged USE??? Not 1-day hype and BS, but reviews done only after extended use!

Fujifilm X-T1 Review | Sans Mirror &mdash; mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras | Thom Hogan

Look around the site for some answers and guidance. Read what an accomplished shooter has to say about various cameras and lenses after actually putting them through their paces, often for several months: NOT the week before the things go on-sale...

Note what Thom says about how a single frame, or two, do not prove much of anything about focusing.


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## gsgary (Jun 12, 2014)

CAP said:


> The Canon 1DX, AKA "The Photojournalism Lord Grandpoba the highest"   I have dappled in photojournalism and most of the pros i ran into where running the 1dx.



Yeh a 1D would be great to carry round in a kit bag, in the UK army photographers have to carry all their combat gear that a regular soldier would carry plus all his camera gear


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## gsgary (Jun 14, 2014)

I was being sarcastic about 1D


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## rexbobcat (Jun 17, 2014)

The only thing I'd be worried about is the autofocus speed/accuracy of a mirrorless camera in a Photojournalistic environment. You don't want to miss a shot because your camera was hunting for focus. The Fuji mirrorless cameras are infamous for their lackluster focusing. It's not bad, but if you're not in decent light with good contrast, focusing becomes a chore. Not sure how Sony fairs, though.


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## gsgary (Jun 17, 2014)

rexbobcat said:


> The only thing I'd be worried about is the autofocus speed/accuracy of a mirrorless camera in a Photojournalistic environment. You don't want to miss a shot because your camera was hunting for focus. The Fuji mirrorless cameras are infamous for their lackluster focusing. It's not bad, but if you're not in decent light with good contrast, focusing becomes a chore. Not sure how Sony fairs, though.



Manual focus is no problem for photojournalism I would have no problem using my A7 with my manual lenses how do you think they used to go on I get more shots in focus with my Leica M's and A7 than when I used auto focus


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## bif (Jun 28, 2014)

The most recent m4/3 cameras from both Panasonic and Olympus have blindingly fast autofocus.  I have my Lumix cameras programmed for "back button" autofocus so one press does a single AF operation then switches to MF with MF ASSIST.  If the AF misses, grabbing the focus ring on the lens causes the magnified assist to "kick in" and I can usually "nail" focus quickly.  Half press on the shutter button clears the EVF or LCD back to normal view and refocusing with MF can be done until a second press on the "back button" (AF/AE) clears AF back to default half press of the shutter.

I have a GH3, GH4, and Lumix GX7, all take the same lenses, and if you can protect the GX7 camera from moisture (ziplock bags!) it makes an ideal hiking, travel, "carryaournd", and field camera.  Compact, EVF and LCD, and full featured.


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