This blog typically covers the art of photography. Most of the time we discuss and image to see what we can learn about composition, editing, vision, and so forth. Even when we cover the topic of editing we do not often go deep into software and the technical topics associated with editing. I almost never write just about photographic gear. Today I am going to buck the trend and talk gear. Why? Because major changes to photographic gear is upon us.

          I used to shoot canon for years. How many years? Since 1987! When the Sony A7R II was anounced I switched to Sony. I switched for a two reasons. Firstly, their sensors are great, including their dynamic range. Secondly, mirrorless cameras offer a number of advantages which I will talk about a bit later. Sony was the only player (I am not even going to credit Canon's initial mirrorless offering) in the full frame mirrorless camera market. Canon and Nikon, it seems, did not believe in mirrorless. However, just in the last month there has been a major shift.

          Nikon released a full frame mirrorless camera, complete with a new mount. The camera seems like a well balanced, all round offering. Canon then also released their full frame mirrorless camera (about a month later). Canon seems to have focused on the autofocus system as that appears to be their standout feature. It also appears as though Canon is taking the value option. The surprise thought was that last week Panasonic anounced the development of their full frame mirrorless camera (two of them). Two months ago we basically only has Sony full frame mirrorless cameras. Now there are four major players. Panasonic's entry into the mirrorless market is rather interesting as their current four thirds mirrorless (small sensors) cameras are really good with video. More so, they have partnered with Leica and Sigma on the same mount. That means that you will be able to use Leica, Panasonic and Sigma lenses natively. It also means that together they can build out the lens system for their mount much quicker.

          What this means is that we now have a war on our hands between these companies. This is good because it will push the cameras to new heights. Prices may come down. Why did all these other companies jump into the full frame mirrorless market? Well, Sony just anounces last week that they are the number one seller of full frame mirrorless cameras in the world. They have taken sales from Canon and Nikon. This is rather remarkable since Sony almost came from nowhere in this market just a few years ago.

          Here is what I personally glean from these anouncements:

• Canon may choose the value option which may help drive prices of the competitors down. Yay!

• Nikon may keep on offering good balanced cameras, but they may not necessarily be on the front lines of innovation.

• Panasonic, from the looks of things, may get new lenses out quicker, push good weather sealing and may opt for a value position too.

• The megapixel race may start up again, soon. Sony's, Nikon's and Panasonic's cameras' sensors are all in the 40+ megapixel range. I just cannot see similar future cameras offering less than that (except for niche cameras like Sony's A7S)

          Why the change to mirrorless?

• Mirrorless does not need any micro focus adjustments to the lenses

• You see the effects of your camera settings right through the viewfinder

• There is focus peaking and focus magnification

• You can see zebra lines on bright or dark clipped sections of your image right in the viewfinder before shooting

• You can display your live histogram in the viewfinder and see it prior to taking the image

• You can review your images right through the viewfinder

• New features like eye AF is a game changer

• It seems as if at least Sony has solved the poor battery life issue

• These cameras weigh less

          Now you may say that many or most of these features are on DSLRs' live view. Yes, but try shooting sports/wild life using your live view and changing settings at the same time. Try seeing what is going on, on the back screen of your camera when the lighting conditions cause glare.

          I predict a photographic gear revolution is coming in the next five to ten years. These are exciting times for photographers.