Don’t feel ashamed if you thought the new Sony Alpha A77 is a DSLR. But it’s not. It’s a glimpse as to what may make DSLRs obsolete.
...[T]he A77 has no traditional mirror, which makes it something altogether different than your average DSLR. Instead, Sony’s designed a translucent replacement that offers ridiculous fast autofocusing with less bulk.
Basically, the translucent mirror setup the A77 has reflects just enough light for focusing needs while letting the image pass through to the sensor normally. This has the potential to be more compact, but more importantly means that the camera’s phase-detection autofocus system always has a source to focus on. DSLRs have been already available with continuous autofocus, but they are forced to use a less accurate sensor-based solution when in video or burst mode. The A77′s translucent mirror allows it to always use its most accurate focusing system.
It’s a huge breakthrough for DLSR videographers, who now have a viable option for seriously fast and accurate focusing (read: great for sports). It also allows the camera to have a crazy burst rate: 12 frames per second at 24.3-megapixels, far faster than any DSLR, even those that use lower resolutions.
Zak wrote:Panasonic has a mirror-less camera on the market for a while already - the G1. But pro photogs still prefer a real viewfinder that gives you a natural, non-digitalized view on the image.
The whole idea isn't really new - it's basically older than the SLR idea. Leica had a direct vision camera system - the M series - decades ago already, far back in the analogue age. It was (is) also a interchangeable lens camera system that did not use mirrors. It never got as popular as their SLR systems, even though it offered the same advantages - less bulky, less weight, no vibration from the mirror movement - back then already.
Now in the digital age, mirrorless systems may stand a better chance of becoming popular, and maybe one day they will make SLRs obsolete. But I don't think this will happen in the next few years already.
