The DSLR - Life & Death

Before the DSLR and even before film SLRs were retrofitted with digital components - Digital sensors started out in "compact" & "mirrorless" form. These cameras were initially consumer toys; playful with deign, but crippled by emerging technology. Little, low-resolution sensors. Small, slow memory capacity. Unrefined & sluggish processing. Poor autofocus. Terrible screens. All this made for a pretty rough user experience that would not impress professionals.

Combining rapidly improving technology with the mechanism of an SLR (shutter, mirror and prism) made a much nicer shooting experience and this finally got digital cameras appealing to professionals. Apart from being a familiar system that could continue using existing lenses, it made the technology seem considerably more elegant than it really was (at the time).

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First purpose build DSLRs from Canon and Nikon

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Timeline (rough)

1920's - Rangefinder (35mm standard popularized by Leica)

1960's - SLR (the ability to look through the lens 

1980's - SLR + Electronics (less & less mechanical SLRs produced)

1990's - SLR + Digital

2000's - DSLR

2010's - Mirrorless

Bolting digital components to SLRs began with Kodak's DCS 100 in 1991 (using a Nikon F3). Purpose built DSLRs started with the Nikon D1 in late 1999 and really took off during the 2000's. Technology moved really fast However and the mirrorless type emerged in 2008 with Panasonic's DMC-G1, then really took off during the 2010's. In 2021 Nikon's Z1 removed the physical shutter mechanism entirely, meaning the last mechanical relic from SLRs has finally gone. With mirrorless cameras having a lot more features and speed in a smaller package (usually); DSLR development has been almost entirely halted.

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Mirror Limitations

The optical viewfinder, mirror and shutter mechanism of the DSLR are a fascinating piece of engineering history, but it's also true that it held them back. As technology has evolved its once greatest strength has become its greatest weakness. This design now restricts lens design, limits their focus systems, makes previewing depth of field difficult or even impossible. It limits their usefulness in dark conditions, with ND filters or simply doesn't work at all in UV or IR wavelengths (usually after conversion). Information overlaid on an optical viewfinders is extremely limited and using them to look towards the sun can be dangerous.

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Competition

The exponential improvement of digital components over the last few decades has enabled mirrorless cameras to leapfrog over the venerable DSLR's functionality. Although mirrorless was initially marketed on simply being smaller & lighter, ultimately they're becoming more capable (reliable, versatile, faster an silent). To illustrate what I mean let's compare features from Nikon's latest flagship DSLR (D6 - 2020) to Sony's first flagship mirrorless camera (A9 - 2017):

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EVF

Mirrorless technology and electronic viewfinders (EVFs) have allowed cameras to keep all the functionality from DSLRs while being smaller, but they also bring a host of additional features. Many of these things don't show up on a specification sheet, but can make a tangible benefit to your photography:

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1. Live Exposure - No more guessing exposure. Makes shooting full manual much easier, faster and better

2. Silent functionality - the viewfinder & primary autofocus functions equally when shooting silent or video

3. No Chimping - reviewing images is now unnecessary - correct DoF and Exposure are shown in real-time

4. Augmented Info - the viewfinder can show: histogram, levels, eye-AF, focus peaking, clipping etc.

5. True Focus DoF - permanent DoF preview that shows the correct depth & unaffected by brightness

6. Focus Magnification - makes manual lenses or checking focus, very fast and accurate

7. No light leaking - viewfinder doesn't need to be covered during long exposures

8. Focus & Speed Unhindered in Live-View - due to no mirror moving to switch systems

9. Shooting Into The Sun - is no longer dangerous for your eyes

10. Image Review In Sunlight - when you struggle to see the rear screen

11. Crop Lenses - show just like full frame (zoomed in and 100% coverage)

12. Viewfinder Colour - showing the world with white balance adjusted colours (full spectrum game-changer)

13. See With Opaque Filters - strong ND, IR or UV pass can still show a normal exposure in the viewfinder

14. IBIS - DSLR viewfinders would bypass the sensor stabilisation effect, if any DSLRs had the feature

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Several professional cameras (Canon 1Dx III / Nikon D6) boast high "electronic" burst speeds without mentioning rolling shutter performance, despite being built for action photography. If this speed were high enough not to cause issues you can be sure they would shout about it, thus if it's something you think could affect you I would advise avoiding these models for silent shooting.

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Some people are more sensitive to this issue than others, but this will mostly depend on the subject you're shooting and what it's doing. Larger birds in flight will often not be an issue, smaller birds - more likely. Panning shots with geometric detail in the background is a common issue, but it will depend how fast you're moving, how long your focal length is and how much the subject fills the frame. High speed spinning things like propellers, fans etc. are the worst case so consider carefully how likely you are to photograph these things in silent or burst mode.

One Weakness

Battery life is one of very few objective advantages for the DSLR. Although it's worth noting that this is mostly true when using the viewfinder. In live-view mode (using the rear screen), this advantage often can flip back to mirrorless cameras, despite their smaller batteries.

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The End

Like film cameras in the early 2000's, DSLRs will still function, be enjoyable to use and available on the second hand market for some time to come. However, it's increasingly clear that their commercial viability will soon be over. Mirrorless cameras simply offer more features in a more reliable package for less money as time goes on. Sure some people be disappointed that they can't go out and buy a brand new DSLR for a while, but eventually they will realise that they gained a lot more in the transition than they lost.

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What's Next

Some might assume that camera phones (and computational photography) will someday replace mirrorless cameras, the way they did with compact cameras. I think this is unlikely to happen given how large sensors and especially lenses have always been intrinsically linked to high image quality (light gathering and depth of field). Shorter flange distances from mirrorless cameras have allowed wider lenses to be a little shorter, but many modern optics have also gotten larger due to an increased demand in optical perfection.

Lens size is most likely a fundamental issue of physics, however there is hint that curved image sensors will soon be developed commercially. This will remove the need for so many corrective elements in the lens groups. Although this will shrink lenses further it won't bring them down to phone sizes and they will have some really difficult technical issues to overcome before they are viable for different focal lengths. The short answer is; Don't hold your breath for pocket sized wildlife cameras, or super shallow depth of field.

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