Mirrorless - what technologies teamed up to make it possible ?

I would like to get an understanding of the high-tech things that came together to make mirrorless dslr's possible.

Seems to have been a long time coming even though cheap point and shoot cameras had electronic shutters and video capability for a long time now.

Lots of benefits to the camera maker by eliminating many moving parts. But there must have been technical and financial hurdles to resolve.

Any links about these issues and how they were resolved would be great.

mirrorless dslr

You do realize that's an oxymoron?

To make mirrorless competitive with DSLRs at the very least it was necessary to have high-performance/high-speed live view (excludes CCD sensors), high-resolution and "lagfree" electronic viewfinders, and on-sensor phase-detection AF. Quite certain that high-performance processors play a role but they are not unique to mirrorless.

The most significant stage in the development of mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras (MILC) is relatively non-technical - creating a market where virtually nothing existed. Mirrorless digital cameras have been around a long time, especially if you include the Leica digital M cameras. However Sony was the first to offer full-frame sensors with high quality electronic viewfinders (full time live-view), and compatibility with nearly every rangefinder and DSLR lens on the market. Electronic shutters are nothing new, and the Nikon D1x relied on an electronic shutter for speeds faster than 1/250 second. Even live view is nothing new, but only on a tripod or at arms length for a DSLR.

Going back 35 years, Sony also broke through the video recorder world by advertising you could record TV programs and play them back at your convenience. Broadcast and movie companies sued and lost, and in losing now rely on video for over 1/3rd of their revenue.

Compatibility with older systems was Sony's foot in the door (nose under the tent) moment. Staying power comes with new features, quality of results and the ability to handle tough assignments (which is developing rapidly). It didn't hurt that cameras and systems were 30% to 50% smaller an lighter than the DSLRs they replace.

In the end, the only thing that counts is persuading people to buy your product, and to develop that market before older, larger companies catch on.

I would like to get an understanding of the high-tech things that came together to make mirrorless dslr's possible.

 

Seems to have been a long time coming even though cheap point and shoot cameras had electronic shutters and video capability for a long time now.

 

Lots of benefits to the camera maker by eliminating many moving parts. But there must have been technical and financial hurdles to resolve.

 

Any links about these issues and how they were resolved would be great.

the moving parts have been eliminated

the technical hurdles are now resolved

smaller and lighter is now the norm (before the larger camera companies catch on to the norm)

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

Brett, thanks

that explains the details perfectly on these new DSL cameras