It has been on the horizon for the last few years, the shift from DSLRs to a mirrorless system.
Within wedding photography we have noticed this trend too. It was time for The Three Bears to see what all the hype was about.
We called one of our wedding photographer friends and met for coffee. Like me, my friend shot with Nikon DSLRs so we felt he would be the perfect person to chat to about specs, details, everything in-between and the switch to the new system. He is currently shooting with the Sony mirrorless system.
Sony have held the No.1 position in both dollars and units for more than six years within the mirrorless market and now No.1 overall share in full-frame cameras in the US market knocking Canon and Nikon off the top spot. Like all systems they have their pros and cons.
What was making all the noise in the wedding forums was Sonys Eye AF technology. Whereby it locks on the subjects eye and tracks it. Which in theory means less shots lost by missing focus. A lot of cameras have face detection but Sony have taken it to the next level. We were constantly hearing about this, followed by the cliché words “it is a game changer”.
Was it?
This was the main factor that peaked our interest. We could immediately see the potential.
As alternative, documentary style wedding shooters, we like to stay in the background and capture couples being themselves. Telling their story as it naturally unfolds.
We use movement quite a bit in our storytelling. Whether it be dancing on the beach, climbing mountains, swimming in the sea on our couples sessions or the more traditional shots on the wedding day, walking down the aisle and confetti shots.
We could see the countless applications of this new technology not just in wedding photography. Not only would this help us but would serve our clients as well.
Another factor is it’s 693 phase detection auto focus points which covers 93% of the image. Which is amazing when shooting those wider apertures. Allowing total creativity when framing an image. No more focus and recompose technique.
Although it does a lot more than this, these were the main elements we were interested in testing and felt where the biggest value lay for our clients.
After an initial few tests in the coffee house with a difficult customer (our two year old son) the smaller mirrorless camera felt like a foreign object in my hands compared to my big trusty DSLR, though, both Ana and I were very impressed with Sonys Eye AF and spread of focus points and image quality.
We then brought it to a wedding for some more testing and were further impressed.
With limited testing and some questions still unanswered we decided to adopt this system as well as using our trusty DSLR.
In the coming months we will do further tests. This will give us a chance to see how it performs with the actual day to day demands of a wedding photographer and find out if we want to bury are DSLR.
We are The Three Bears.
We are a family team based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, available to shoot worldwide.
For us, modern wedding photography is all about capturing you guys being you. Documenting those real, unscripted moments, you know the ones we are talking about, those little looks at each other, the embraces, the tears, the laughter, the crazy and whatever else unfolds.
Those little heartfelt, authentic moments that defines you as a couple and tells your story as it naturally unfolds is what makes our heart flutter.
For all our latest info and behind the scene action, check out our website thethreebearsphotography.com
