Amateur Photographer Investigates Why Mirrorless Cams are Losing to DSLRs

Last Updated on 02/25/2014 by Chris Gampat

It’s no secret that despite how hard manufacturers are trying to push mirrorless cameras, DSLR sales are still better. Recently, Amateur Photographer looked to investigate why this is. According to Mirrorless Rumors’ summation, it’s because mirrorless cameras are too small, have confusing category names, and DSLRs have more lenses, have become cheaper and also have more appeal because of the fact that consumers are holding onto Canon and Nikon’s glory days.

The interesting thing about the study though is that it only seems to have sampled the complaints of a small few and it doesn’t seem to be a worldwide test at all.

Sure, folks are really holding onto the glory days of Canon and Nikon, but let’s also face it: not many folks are as geekily into the camera world as most readers of this site. So they only go with what they know–and that means Canon and Nikon. For what it’s worth, let’s think about where you see ads for these companies: at baseball games, football games, hockey, etc. You barely ever see Olympus anywhere else besides in Tennis and I haven’t seen very much Fujifilm or Sony other places. Canon and Nikon both have television ads too. So maybe part of it is brand awareness. If I told my sister what brands make good cameras, she would probably say Canon immediately and might say Olympus because my mom taught us on Olympus cameras. But otherwise, there is very little customer education. She owns a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone but probably knows nothing about the company’s Galaxy Cam.

For what it’s worth too, lots of consumer tech websites also mostly focus on phones and laptops with very little going towards the imaging world. Cameras require special attention though–blending art and tech knowledge in order to give them their due.