A Guide to Buying a Mirrorless Camera for Vintage Lenses

buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses

If you’re looking to buy a mirrorless camera for your vintage lenses, the good news is you won’t be short of options. The problem though is there are so many out there that choosing the best one for your needs can at first seem a little overwhelming.

With so many different brands with so many different models with so many different features, it takes time to dig through them all and decide which is the best for you personally.

This guide is here to help you with that. It’ll cover what’s important and what isn’t, and give some suggestions that have what you need without overpaying for things that you don’t – which is all good to know before deciding which is the best mirrorless to buy.

The table below gives a quick guide to three of your top options. After that, we’ll get into the meat of this, beginning with another important question you might have: why even go with a mirrorless for your vintage lenses instead of a DSLR?

Sony Alpha 7C Full-Frame Compact Mirrorless Camera Kit - Black (ILCE7CL/B)
Canon EOS R6 Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera + RF24-105mm F4-7.1 is STM Lens Kit, Black (4082C022)
Fujifilm X-S10 Mirrorless Digital Camera XF18-55mm Lens Kit - Black
Year
2020
2020
2020
Sensor Size
Full Frame
Full Frame
APS-C
Megapixels
24.2
20.1
26.1
Lens Mount
Sony E-mount
Canon RF
Fuji X-mount
Shots Per Charge
740
510
325
Size
124 x 71 x 60 mm
138 x 98 x 88 mm
126 x 85 x 65 mm
Viewfinder
IBIS
Weather Sealing
Prime Delivery
-
-
-
Sony Alpha 7C Full-Frame Compact Mirrorless Camera Kit - Black (ILCE7CL/B)
Year
2020
Sensor Size
Full Frame
Megapixels
24.2
Lens Mount
Sony E-mount
Shots Per Charge
740
Size
124 x 71 x 60 mm
Viewfinder
IBIS
Weather Sealing
Prime Delivery
-
Buy on Amazon
Canon EOS R6 Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera + RF24-105mm F4-7.1 is STM Lens Kit, Black (4082C022)
Year
2020
Sensor Size
Full Frame
Megapixels
20.1
Lens Mount
Canon RF
Shots Per Charge
510
Size
138 x 98 x 88 mm
Viewfinder
IBIS
Weather Sealing
Prime Delivery
-
Buy on Amazon
Fujifilm X-S10 Mirrorless Digital Camera XF18-55mm Lens Kit - Black
Year
2020
Sensor Size
APS-C
Megapixels
26.1
Lens Mount
Fuji X-mount
Shots Per Charge
325
Size
126 x 85 x 65 mm
Viewfinder
IBIS
Weather Sealing
Prime Delivery
-
Buy on Amazon

Mirrorless vs DSLR for vintage lenses

My personal opinion is that if you’re buying a digital camera and a major reason is using it to shoot vintage lenses, a mirrorless is a better option than a DSLR.

This comes down a simple equation where the pros and cons of a mirrorless outweigh those of a DSLR for this use case. In short, the size and weight of a DSLR isn’t worth it to me when a lot of its best features are negated when shooting old manual focus lenses anyway.

To elaborate, in a DSLR, the optical viewfinder works by reflecting what a lens sees up and over the sensor and through the viewfinder. A mirrorless on the other hand sends the image straight though the sensor and onto an electronic viewfinder or LCD screen.

This allows mirrorless cameras to be more compact than their DSLR counterparts. Some people like the bigger and bulkier DSLR design and find it helps with handling and grip, and you may be one of them. I just prefer shooting with smaller cameras.

Other things that might be reasons you’d want a DSLR in normal circumstances, like fast autofocus and tracking of objects and large libraries of native lenses, all become redundant when you attach a non-native manual vintage lens to it anyway.

DSLRs do tend to have a longer battery life which is good, but that’s not enough to convince me to carry a bigger camera around when I could just carry a spare battery for my mirrorless if I need one instead.

As well as the size, mirrorless cameras often bring faster continuous shooting and their electronic viewfinders are quickly catching up to the clarity of the DSLR optical ones, which removes another longstanding complaint some people had. You also get help with manual focus with features like focus peaking, which we’ll explore later.

And finally, there’s just a whole lot more compatibility between a mirrorless and vintage lenses than there is a DSLR. Their smaller bodies mean getting the right distance from the lens to the sensor with an adaptor is easier than with a bigger, deeper DSLR.

So that’s why I’d recommend buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses. Smaller, more compatibility, with more features that help you shoot them and fewer redundant features that you’ll pay for and not use.

SaleBestseller No. 1
Canon EOS R50 Mirrorless Camera RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 is STM Lens Kit, 24.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) Sensor, 4K Video, Hybrid Camera, Photo and Video, Vlogging, Content Creator, RF Mount, Black
  • High Image Quality: Canon EOS R50 4K digital camera features a 24.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor and DIGIC X processor for stunning image clarity and level of detail
  • High-Speed Continuous Shooting: Capture fast action with up to 12 fps with Electronic First Curtain shutter and up tp 15 fps with Electronic Shutter for a superior vlogging camera

Features to consider when buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses

Even if we’ve now decided it’s a mirrorless camera we’re buying, there are still a lot of options out there for which one to go for, all with different feature sets and at different price points.

Remember though that while these cameras are great for using with vintage lenses, they weren’t designed specifically for that. So even here, not all of the features will be necessary, which means you may still be paying for something you won’t need.

We’ll get into those later but for now, let’s begin with three things to look for in your mirrorless camera that will help you get the most out of your legacy glass.

Sensor size

Unless you’re going for the decadence of a medium format mirrorless like this Hasselblad X1D or this Fujifilm GFX 50S, in which case you probably don’t need to be reading this, you’re going to have three options for sensor size.

In size order from biggest to smallest, these are:

  • full frame
  • APS-C
  • micro four-thirds

The one you have in your camera matters when shooting with vintage lenses because of the crop factor they have. You can read more about this here, but a quick explanation is as follows.

A full frame sensor is the same size as one frame of film was in a 35mm analogue camera at 36 x 24mm. An APS-C sensor has a surface area of around half that, while a micro four-thirds is somewhere around a quarter of it.

This is important as it alters the field of view a camera lens will give you. On a full frame camera, a 50mm lens will give you a 50mm field of view. On the smaller sensors though, this gets multiplied to give you the field of view you’d expect from a longer lens instead, like this:

  • A 50mm lens on a full frame camera will give a 50mm field of view
  • A 50mm lens on an APS-C camera will give around a 75mm field of view (50mm x ~1.5)
  • A 50mm lens on a micro four-thirds camera will give a 100mm field of view (50mm x2)

If you don’t understand that maths, don’t worry. You don’t necessarily need to. But what you should understand is that you’ll need a full frame mirrorless to use vintage lenses with the effective focal length and field of view they were designed for.

That’s why Olympus mirrorless cameras have 17mm and 25mm lenses. Because they are effectively 34mm and 50mm with that x2 crop factor.

This is fine if you’re sticking to their native lenses, but can be an issue with using vintage ones. A 28mm is about as wide as you’ll find for a decent price, and that’s already effectively 56mm. A 35mm will be like a 70mm and a 50mm like a 100mm.

I’ve shot lenses between 28mm to 55mm on an APS-C mirrorless and they were fine for me. I get the feeling the x2 crop factor of a micro four-thirds might be too restrictive and take away some of the fun of playing with vintage lenses though.

olympus mirrorless camera

Image stabilisation

When Canon and Nikon first introduced image stabilisation to their film cameras in 1995 and 2000 respectively, they both used systems that operated from within the lens rather than the camera body.

As time went on and digital cameras became more prevalent, manufacturers began to use in-camera sensor stabilisation more. This is now common in mirrorless cameras and known pretty much across the board as IBIS, or in-body image stabilisation.

There are various advantages and disadvantages to having stabilisation in the lens or in the camera body which are irrelevant to this guide, but the obvious one that does matter is that IBIS will work whatever lens you attach to your camera – even vintage ones.

IBIS works by allowing the sensor to move to compensate for movements or shake when a photograph is taken. Accommodating this system in the camera takes space and money to include though, so you won’t find it in all models.

For example, all of Sony’s larger and more expensive full frame cameras have it, but only their most expensive ones in the smaller APS-C range – like the 2019 Alpha 6600 – do. The Alpha 6400 and the Alpha 6100, that were released in the same year and that you can read more about here, do not.

You’ll have to check per camera whether it’s present in the specifications, and also think carefully if it’s something you feel you really need given it usually comes with a price. If you shoot a lot in low light or just struggle with holding your camera steady sometimes though, it will definitely help.

Sale
Sony Alpha A6600 Mirrorless Camera
  • World’s fastest AF at 0 02 sec with real-time AF and Object tracking
  • 24 2MP APS-C Exmor sensor with front end LSI and ISO up to 102 400

Focus assists

Because you won’t be able to use autofocus when using vintage lenses on a mirrorless camera, the built-in focus assists that most models have come in very handy indeed.

The best-known is probably focus peaking, which was a technology first seen in video cameras. It helps you focus manually by highlighting the parts of an image that are in focus, by detecting the edges that have the highest contrast.

You should be able to change the highlight colour and also the amount, from low to medium to high, depending on your own preferences and your camera type. You can also set it to zoom in on the area being focused, or not if you prefer.

Focus peaking was never possible in older DSLRs that only had an optical viewfinder as it is obviously an electronic technology. Only when mirrorless cameras began producing the image directly through the sensor did it appear in still cameras, although it is now found in some DSLR’s Live View mode too.

Some manufacturers have other focus assists too. Fujifilm mirrorless cameras, for example, have a digital version of the old film SLR split prism focus, a digital microprism that works in a similar way, a focus scale indicator for scale and zone focus, and a split-screen display that shows the area you’re focusing on in a smaller window next to the whole scene.

The focus assist that goes best with your shooting style and the settings you assign to it are up to you, but whichever that is, it can only help you get sharper images with your vintage lenses. And if it doesn’t then you can just turn it off anyway.

Other features to consider when buying a mirrorless camera

Although you probably want to shoot vintage lenses with your mirrorless camera, that’s probably not all you want to do. They’re not cheap things so you might as well choose one that you’ll get maximum usage from, be that with old glass or not.

So with that in mind, it’s worth going over some other features of them that might affect your buying decision even if they’re not directly related to shooting vintage or classic lenses.

The first few of these will be relevant to whether you’re shooting manual vintage or modern native lenses, and then we’ll finish this guide with some of the features that become redundant when using the former but that you might consider important for the latter.

Viewfinder and screen

Whatever lens you use on your mirrorless camera, a viewfinder is probably going to come in handy. As you can see on the image just above, the old Sony NEX-5N I shoot a lot of vintage lenses on doesn’t have one.

That is a relatively old camera though. Nowadays, the vast majority of new models come with a viewfinder. The two most notable recent exceptions I found – both from 2019 – were the Canon EOS M200 and the Fujifilm X-A7. They are at the lower end of the price scale, though.

Regardless, some of the reasons you might want a viewfinder on your mirrorless are the same as why you’d want one on any camera.

A screen can become hard to use for composing shots in bright sunlight, especially when using focus peaking or the other assist modes discussed earlier, and using a viewfinder helps you frame a scene without being distracted by things in your peripheral vision too.

As for when you want to make use of the screen, any mirrorless you buy will have one that tilts out to some extent. Quite how much it rotates or even flips out 180 degrees to help you if you vlog with it will depend, yet again, on the make and model.

Size of the camera

As we’ve already mentioned, mirrorless cameras are smaller than their DSLR counterparts. By that I mean an APS-C mirrorless is smaller than an APS-C DSLR and a full frame mirrorless is smaller than a full frame DSLR.

You do of course get size differences in the mirrorless family too, with full frame ones generally being bigger than their APS-C cousins.

This is most obvious in the Sony range where the full frame models have an (ironic) SLR-style housing above the lens to accommodate the viewfinder, whereas their APS-C cameras are more compact with the viewfinder in the top left corner.

There’s also some correlation between camera size and the inclusion of IBIS image stabilisation, especially in the Sony range again, although this isn’t a hard and fast rule – especially across all manufacturers.

Whether you prefer the larger or the smaller mirrorless cameras and whether the features each have or don’t have is worth the trade-off is something only you can decide though.

Sony α7R IV Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILCE7RM4/B)
  • Stunning resolution: world’s first 61MP full-frame 35mm back-illuminated Exmore R CMOS Image Sensor. The product is compatible with Final Cut Pro X and iMovie
  • High speed: up to 10Fps continuous shooting at 61MP with AE/AF tracking; 26. 2MP in APS-C crop mode
Sale
Sony Alpha a6400 Mirrorless Camera: Compact APS-C Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with Real-Time Eye Auto Focus, 4K Video & Flip Up Touchscreen - E Mount Compatible Cameras - ILCE-6400/B Body
  • Next Gen speed: experience the world’s fastest 0. 02 sec AF with real-time AF and object tracking
  • Enhanced subject capture: wide 425 Phase/ 425 contrast detection points over 84% of the sensor

Flash options

You might think that the more money you pay for a mirrorless camera, the more features it’s going to have. In the case of a built-in flash though, that’s not quite true.

While this is again not a hard and fast rule, there is a strong trend that the lower-end models are more likely to have one. And while I don’t work in R&D for any of these companies, I could hazard a guess at a couple of reasons why this would be so.

First is that built-in flashes aren’t really up to the standard that a professional photographer would use. If they were, they wouldn’t spend even more money on external flashes. So the camera manufacturers perhaps feel a built-in flash would go unused by a lot of the people who buy the top-of-the-line mirrorless cameras anyway.

This could be compounded by the fact there’s only so much a manufacturer can put into a camera body and other features are prioritised in the more expensive ones. Again, there’s a correlation  between camera having IBIS and not having a built-in flash and vice versa.

Fear not though, as most of them will have a hot shoe that you can use to attach an external flash. Even some of the ones that have a built-in one anyway. And some deals you’ll find come with an external flash as part of the bundle too.

The megapixels myth

In the early – or earlier – days of digital cameras, megapixels were touted as one of the most important factors in how good a camera was. Perhaps it did make more of a difference back then.

The difference between a 2 megapixel image and a 5 megapixel one would have been more noticeable than between say a 20 megapixel and a 26 megapixel shot today. Especially when they’re all only being viewed on a screen and not printed out.

Sony’s Alpha A7R IV has a huge 61.2 megapixel full frame sensor, which is great if you’re shooting an image to drape down the side of a building, but pretty much overkill if you’re printing at a more manageable size or just publishing your work online.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t buy an A7R IV, but just be wary of what those numbers mean in the real world. They can help you take better photographs to a degree, but you might not ever need to use them to their full potential.

I’d perhaps equate it to driving a Ferrari versus a Ford Escort. Both can reach the speed limit. Of course the Ferrari will get there and cruise along at it with less strain on its engine. And it is a better, nicer and more capable car. But you’ll probably never need to drive it as fast as it can go.

And if you’re looking for a mirrorless camera to mainly shoot vintage lenses on, as is the main point of this guide, those high megapixel numbers become even more redundant.

Sony α7R IV Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILCE7RM4/B)
  • Stunning resolution: world’s first 61MP full-frame 35mm back-illuminated Exmore R CMOS Image Sensor. The product is compatible with Final Cut Pro X and iMovie
  • High speed: up to 10Fps continuous shooting at 61MP with AE/AF tracking; 26. 2MP in APS-C crop mode
  • Fast Hybrid Autofocus: 567 Phase detection AF points and 425 contrast AF points to cover more area

Battery life

One supposed weakness of mirrorless cameras when compared to DSLRs is their battery life. This is due to them having physically smaller batteries, but also having more features that need to use the battery, like an electronic viewfinder instead of an optical one.

Typical numbers hover around 300 shots per charge, which is around what the 2019 Nikon Z50 gives you. Sony’s battery technology gets you more though, with the Sony A7 III claiming to give you over 700.

Those numbers have probably been reached in test conditions by optimising the camera for longer battery life, by the way.

If you want to get close to them, consider which features you can turn off when you’re not using them. Things like Wi-Fi, continuous autofocus, and eye detection for viewfinder / LCD screen switching.

I say this lower battery life is a supposed weakness though because, while mirrorless cameras generally give you fewer shots per charge than DSLRs, quite how much this will affect you in real terms is less clear.

The biggest question here is how often are you going to shoot 300 photographs – and that’s at the low end of things – and not be able to charge your battery before shooting more?

It’s possible on a multi-day wildlife photography camping trip. But if you’re doing regular travel or street photography, you’ll probably be okay.

If not, you could always buy an extra battery. Or a battery grip if you don’t mind the extra size. I’ve never needed either in my time shooting a mirrorless, though. And I’ve never found myself unable to charge it overnight either.

High ISO capability

The exposure triangle, or how ISO, aperture and shutter speed work together, is a whole other topic that you can read all about in that post I just linked to. In short though, the higher ISO value you set your camera to, the faster shutter speed you’ll be able to use in lower light.

However, this isn’t without its caveats and I think it’s another set of numbers – like megapixels before it – that can fool people into spending money on something that they’ll never actually need to use at its full potential.

Most mirrorless cameras have a native maximum ISO value and then an extended one too. The former is what the sensor is naturally capable of doing while the latter is what the camera can push on to by processing the image with its own software.

Both of these figures are, in my humble opinion as someone who shoots a lot of low ISO film, reaching absolutely sky high levels now.

No recent mirrorless camera I’ve seen has a native ISO capability lower than 12,800, while some of them – like the Sony A9 II, the Panasonic Lumix GH5S, and the Nikon Z50 – all extend up to a huge 204,800.

The problem with shooting at high ISO values though is that you lose image quality, with digital noise appearing in your shots the further up you push those numbers.

While the technology is constantly improving and things will only get better in the future, a general rule of thumb seems to be that you’ll notice a difference once you shoot at around ISO 3200 or 6400 and beyond. Go too high above these numbers and you might find the noise is too much for shots you’d want to use anywhere.

I also struggle to think of too many situations where you’ll require the shutter speed in places dark enough where an ISO value that these cameras are capable of would be needed anyway. Especially if it has IBIS too.

Maybe you need a super high ISO for what you shoot. Action shots in a laser tag or something. All I’m doing here is giving a word of warning that the high ISO arms race is perhaps not something you should put too much stock into when deciding which mirrorless camera to buy.

Sony a9 II Mirrorless Camera: 24.2MP Full Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with Continuous AF/AE, 4K Video and Built-in Connectivity - Sony Alpha ILCE9M2/B Body - Black
  • SONY ALPHA A9 II: Compact professional cameras mastered for sports photography and photojournalism
  • SUPERIOR SPEED: Fastest 35mm full-frame 24. 2MP stacked Exmore RS CMOS sensor with integrated memory

Weather sealing

If you’re ever going to take your mirrorless camera out in rain or snow, or on windy days when dirt, dust and sand are flying around, weather sealing is something you should be looking for it to have. It can even protect it from humidity and very low temperatures too.

Weather sealing works by placing silicon rings and gaskets in vulnerable spots, such as where buttons and switches are. Other measures include clever design of interlocking panels.

Weather sealing is not the same as a camera being water-resistant or waterproof, though. It’s far more for protection from drizzle than it is for a dip in the pool.

On that note, most manufacturers won’t say exactly how much protection their weather sealing on any given model does actually give you. A rule of thumb might be that a more expensive camera will have better build quality. But if it were me, the more I’d spent on a camera, the less keen I’d be to take it out in bad weather anyway.

One final and very important point here is that native lenses on a weather-sealed camera are weather-sealed too. They’d be a vulnerability to the whole thing if they weren’t.

That means if you’re going to be using vintage lenses on your mirrorless camera, you’re actively introducing that vulnerability; be that through the attachment and adaptor or just through the front or body of the lens itself.

FPS and buffer size

Another number that is often used as a selling point with cameras is the FPS – or frames per second – rate when shot in burst mode, and mirrorless cameras are now becoming quicker than DSLRs in this regard.

This is good for action, sports or wildlife photography when you have fast-moving objects or subjects. Just shoot as many frames per second as you can and choose the best one. Simple as that.

However, while a high FPS rate can look good, be sure to check the buffer size of a camera too if continuous shooting is something you see yourself doing a lot of.

When a digital photograph is taken, it doesn’t go instantly onto the memory card. Instead, it goes into the camera’s buffer where it’s processed first.

When you shoot single images, you won’t even notice this happening. However, when a camera’s buffer is full of images that need processing, it won’t allow you to take any more until there’s room for them in there.

So while a 15 FPS camera like the Fujifilm X-T4 will let you take 15 shots in a second, it won’t let you take 150 in ten seconds. Once the buffer is full, that FPS rate will slow right down until it’s empty enough again.

This is probably not a huge issue and may mean waiting just a second between your 15 FPS bursts, but it is worth knowing before buying if you use burst mode a lot.

Fujifilm X-T4 Mirrorless Camera Body - Black
  • Putting stability in your hands: A huge part of creating great photos or videos is making sure you are in the right place at the right time – and that often means making handheld images to get to the heart of the action. X-T4’s state-of-the-art, five-axis In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS) provides up to 6.5 stops of image stabilization to make sure that, even in the midst of all the excitement, your images remain steady and sharp. Combine this with the new four-axis digital image stabilizer, and you have lots of room to maneuver.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity

When I use my old Sony NEX-5N to shoot my vintage lenses, transferring the images out means taking out the memory card, placing it into my laptop, and doing the good old Windows drag and drop.

It works very well and is easier than finding the cable every time and making sure the camera has enough battery power left to do it that way.

These days though you’ll probably find your new mirrorless camera has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity built in, making it even easier to get your photographs onto your computer and any other devices.

If you want to get your photographs straight onto your phone so you can upload them to Instagram, you can. If you’ve been out with family and friends and want to share a few shots directly onto their phone for them to take and do what they want with, you can do that too.

And before you even get to that stage, Bluetooth connectivity allows you to use further accessories while actually taking your photographs, like this Sony Wireless Remote for example.

Sony Wireless Remote Commander
  • New rmt-p1bt provides reliable and precise wireless shooting

Native lens range and price

The last three sections of this guide will explain things about mirrorless cameras that need covering but will be irrelevant in terms of using it to shoot vintage lenses. This first one is all about their native lenses.

One huge reason people get locked into a single camera manufacturer, often either Canon or Nikon in the SLR and DSLR glory days, is because of their lenses.

Changing from one manufacturer to another isn’t just a case of selling the camera body. All the glass would need to be sold and replaced as well.

This remains something to consider if you’re planning on buying more than just the basic zoom kit lens that will probably come with your mirrorless camera. While vintage lenses are great on all mirrorless cameras, using one brand’s native mirrorless lenses on other’s camera just isn’t sensible in terms of cost and compatibility.

Each manufacturer’s lens line-up is ever-expanding though and each comes with its own nuances. Having been in the game for a long time, Sony has a large selection. However, they can be pretty expensive.

As relative newcomers to taking the mirrorless industry seriously, Nikon and Canon currently have fewer options, although they will surely catch up in due time.

Panasonic have some very good value for money lenses, but you’re then stuck with that 2x crop factor if you want to use vintage lenses on your Lumix mirrorless camera too.

For me, a Sony mirrorless camera was ideal as I never bought any of their native lenses anyway. Quite how much you feel you might though should be a serious consideration before getting financially invested in any of today’s mirrorless ecosystems.

Autofocus systems

The first next thing that becomes completely redundant if you’re shooting vintage lenses with your mirrorless camera is its autofocus.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. I’ve found myself enjoying the process of manual focus ever since I got into vintage lenses and film photography, and just use zone focusing for when I’m out shooting in the streets anyway.

That said, if you want to have good autofocus at your fingertips for the times you use a native lens, rest assured that all new mirrorless cameras will have a very good system indeed.

Without getting into it too much, DSLRs use a phase detection system for their autofocus while compact cameras detect contrast instead. Mirrorless cameras can use either.

While in general they don’t track moving subjects as well as DSLRs can, they’re superbly accurate for static objects.

And things like the Panasonic GX85‘s Depth from Defocus or the Canon EOS RP‘s ridiculous-sounding 4,779-point autofocus systems probably won’t leave you desiring anything more.

Canon EOS RP Full Frame Mirrorless Vlogging Portable Digital Camera with 26.2MP Full-Frame CMOS Sensor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4K Video Recording and 3.0” Vari-Angle Touch LCD Screen, Body, Black,
  • Lightest, smallest full-frame EOS camera
  • RF mount compatible with RF lenses and EF/EF-S lenses with optional mount adapter
  • High image quality with 26.2 Megapixel Full-frame CMOS Sensor and DIGIC 8 Image processor
  • Dual pixel CMOS AF for fast and accurate auto focus

Video quality and audio input

Finally, if you’re planning on turning your camera on yourself and doing some vlogging or are just going to be shooting any other types of videos with it, you’ll want to check the quality each model can produce.

4k video is actually pretty common in new mirrorless cameras, although how necessary that is right now is possibly up for debate. It’s a little redundant for making YouTube videos as that platform doesn’t stream videos in 4k yet, although your work is more future-proofed if shot in 4k.

Of today’s mirrorless cameras that shoot in 4k, a lot are limited to 30fps. This is still more than enough if you only want to make videos at normal speed. If you want to include slow motion segments though, 60fps will make those look a lot better.

At the time of writing, the Panasonic Lumix GH5, the Panasonic Lumix S1, the Fujifilm X-T3, and the upcoming Canon EOS R5 –  amongst a few others – all offer 4k 60fps video.

But really, for making vlogs for YouTube and any other platforms, these numbers are similar to the megapixels and high ISO situations earlier. They look impressive but can mean you spend more to get something you don’t actually need.

Other features like the image stabilisation and autofocus technologies talked about earlier can also help you make better quality videos, especially if you do so outside and on the move.

And any mirrorless camera worth its salt these days will have dedicated audio input jacks, so don’t worry about those.

Buying a secondhand mirrorless camera

With all that said, and it is a lot to take in, it’s worth mentioning that a secondhand mirrorless camera might be all you need if all you want is something to shoot your vintage lenses on.

There will always be plenty of options on eBay. If you want a little more security on your purchase though, places like KEH Camera and Used Photo Pro offer money back guarantees and warranties similar to if you bought from new.

Wrapping up this guide to buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses

That’s been a lot of information but hopefully you’ve been able to navigate to the sections that matter to you and find them useful.

Buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses is a balance between how much you’ll use it for that and how much you need all the other features they bring too. You don’t want to overspend on things you’ll never use, but you may find you want them at a later date and have limited yourself by buying a less fully-equipped model.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been happy with an old Sony NEX-5N to use with my vintage lenses ever since I bought it in 2013. Perhaps the biggest things that would make me want to upgrade now would be to go full frame and to have a viewfinder.

Aside from those, I don’t see any features I’m missing out on in the more recent Sony offerings.

Whichever way you go, I hope you come to a decision that you love and that helps you create the kind of photography you want to – be that predominantly with vintage lenses or otherwise.

And if you’re ready to dive deeper into what’s available today and compare their features, check out this post on the best mirrorless cameras for vintage lenses right now. 🙂

SaleBestseller No. 1
Canon EOS R100 Mirrorless Camera RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 is STM Lens Kit, 24.1 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) Sensor, 4K Video, RF Mount, Black
  • Stellar Image Quality: Canon EOS R100 4K digital camera with 24.1 megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor for superb image clarity and detail can capture images with natural bokeh
  • Compact Design: Compact, lightweight EOS R series 4K camera with an affordable price; smallest and lightest camera body in the EOS R series built for excellent mobility
SaleBestseller No. 2
Panasonic Lumix G7 4K Digital Mirrorless Camera Bundle with Lumix G Vario 14-42mm and 45-150mm Lenses, 16MP, 3-Inch Touch LCD, DMC-G7WK (USA Black)
  • Photo and video capability 16 Megapixel micro Four Thirds sensor confidently captures sharp images with a high Dynamic Range (HDR)
  • 4K capture 4K Ultra HD video recording (3840 x 2160) Plus 4K PHOTO pause and save frame that extracts individual high-resolution photos from 4K Ultra HD video
SaleBestseller No. 3
Canon EOS R50 Mirrorless Camera RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 is STM Lens Kit, 24.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) Sensor, 4K Video, Hybrid Camera, Photo and Video, Vlogging, Content Creator, RF Mount, Black
  • High Image Quality: Canon EOS R50 4K digital camera features a 24.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor and DIGIC X processor for stunning image clarity and level of detail
  • High-Speed Continuous Shooting: Capture fast action with up to 12 fps with Electronic First Curtain shutter and up tp 15 fps with Electronic Shutter for a superior vlogging camera

If you found that guide to buying a mirrorless camera for vintage lenses useful and want to dig deeper into the topic, why not take a look at these other posts too:

  1. A guide to the best mirrorless cameras for vintage lenses
  2. The best mirrorless cameras for your street photography
  3. A comparison between the Sony A6100, A6400, and A6600

And if you think others will also find this useful, help them find it by sharing or pinning.  😀

written by
LEE WEBB
Hi, I'm Lee - creator of My Favourite Lens and the one whose work you're seeing whenever you read a post on here.
I shoot as much film as I can in as many different cameras as I can, and I enjoy playing with vintage lenses on digital cameras also.

Everything I do and what I learn along the way gets shared on here, to inform and inspire you to get out and shoot as much - and as well - as you can too.

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