What is the best beginner mirrorless camera?
Mirrorless cameras are compact, lightweight, and affordable. They also offer great image quality and features. The question is, which one should you get?
There are several options out there, from entry-level models to high-end professional-grade ones.
We've picked the best cameras for beginners, for a range of budgets, so anyone can find the best beginner mirrorless camera.
So, if you're looking for a high-quality mirrorless camera, then our guide will direct you to the best cameras on the market.
We've researched and tested these cameras, so we can assure you that they are quality, and perfect for beginners.
What's A Mirrorless Camera?Â
A mirrorless camera is a type of camera, similar to a DSLR. The main and obvious difference between a mirrorless camera and a DSLR is that a mirrorless camera lacks a mirror.
What's a DSLR camera? Well, a DSLR relies on a mirror to reflect light through the lens to the focusing sense and the optical viewfinder.
But, mirrorless cameras don't do that.
Instead, light directly goes through the lens and reaches the imaging sensor. The sensor then directs the image to an electronic viewfinder.
The result is that a mirrorless offers better image quality than a DSLR.
Mirrorless cameras are ideal for more advanced focusing photography.
Due to the imaging sensor, the focusing is way better for mirrorless cameras, which makes it ideal for precise image tracking, as well as facial recognition.
Beginners often prefer using a mirrorless camera. This is because the image in the viewfinder is often close to what the final image will look like.
A DSLR is not so reliable due to the various settings required. With that said, many professional photographers prefer using mirrorless cameras — the quality of mirrorless cameras is incredible, and for photographers who need to capture focused images, mirrorless cameras are the ideal camera.
Choosing a camera can be difficult, especially with technically advanced cameras, like mirrorless cameras.
For beginners, it can be difficult to know what to spend your money on. That's why we wrote this guide.
We've assessed the best mirrorless cameras, and analyzed the pros and cons to each camera.
So, if you're ready to discover a world of mirrorless cameras, keep reading!
The Best Mirrorless Cameras For Beginners
Best Canon Camera For Beginners – Comparison Table
Best Canon Camera For Beginners – Reviews
The Sony Alpha A6100 is a refreshed version of the Sony A600.
The Sony A600 is a quality camera, but compared to the Sony A6100, the A6100 is far greater and worth the extra money.
With that said, the price range doesn't tend to be dramatically different, so even money-wise, the A6100 is still worth it.
One of the coolest features of the Sony Alpha A6100 is the advanced autofocus options.
One of these options is Eye Auto Focus, which is suitable for humans, as well as animals.
This really is a quality feature, because the Sony Alpha A6100 creates incredibly accurate photos.
The Sony Alpha A6100 features a 24.2MP CMOS sensor, as well as a BIONZ X processor – which is a great feature for high resolution stills.
The video features on the Sony Alpha A6100 are always pretty good, as it offers 4k.
- 24.2MP CMOS sensor, high quality photography.
- Great autofocus options
- Good video features
- Â Basic camera design
The Panasonic Lumix G100 is a fantastic mirrorless camera for beginners.
This camera is ideal for those looking for a quality camera, as well as a video recorder.
While this camera is suited to vloggers, and very popular with vloggers, it works exactly the same for anyone who isn't interested in vlogging, and just wants a high quality camera with great videography abilities.
The reason it's popular with vloggers is that it actually features directional audio tracking.
This means it picks up audio from different directions, which produces a high quality audio recording.
This actually works with the face-tracking feature, which is a great feature for accuracy.
This camera is seriously made for bloggers — the touchscreen can be switched around, so it's facing you, and when this happens, the camera automatically goes into ‘self shot' mode, which immediately enables the audio tracking and face tracking features.
This is truly a really awesome camera, but it's really suited to those who are interested in vlogging.
If you're not about making vlogs, or even taking videos as well as pictures, then this camera probably isn't the right camera for you.
The megapixel is 20.3, which is pretty decent for a beginner camera, and the video is also 4k.
However, if you're not aiming to take quality videos as well as photography, then this camera isn't the best option, because there are other cameras on the list, like the Sony Alpha A6100, which have a way higher megapixel.
- Incredible vlogging camera
- 4K video
- The audio tracking and face tracking – accurate photography and videography
- 20.3 megapixel
- This camera is more suited towards vloggers, than photographers
The Nikon Z 50 DX is one of the best mirrorless cameras for beginners. This camera produces great images and has a pretty good video recording quality.
The Nikon Z 50 DX has a megapixel sensor of 20.9. This is a pretty standard quality, it'll still produce great photographs, but it's definitely not the highest megapixel on the list.
For that reason, the Nikon Z 50 DX loses some points, but it doesn't take away from the other great features that the camera offers.
The overall image quality is good because it has noise handling capability, meaning that in dim conditions, photographs still look good.
Plus, while the autofocus system is overall good and reliable, the autofocus system is even better with recording videos than it is taking photographs.
It tracks faces and objects really well, and tracks in 4k, so it's a great, reliable video camera.
It's an overall great mirrorless camera for beginners. Furthermore, it's pretty much a standard reliable camera, it's going to produce high quality photos and record videos very well, but it's not as advanced as other cameras, such as the Sony Alpha A6100.
The quality of the Sony Alpha A6100 is far better than the Nikon Z 50 DX, but with that said, the Nikon Z 50 DX is still an overall good camera, and it's still a really good choice for beginners, for that reason.
- Great autofocus
- Records in 4k
- Noise handling capability
- The megapixel sensor is only 20.9
The Canon EOS M50 Mark II is a lightweight mirrorless camera that is ideal for beginners.
The megapixel-sensor on the Canon EOS M50 Mark II is excellent at 24, and creates incredible images, even in dim lighting (that's thanks to its noise handling features).
It has a good autofocus system, and the autofocus is effective when recording 1080p video, as well as photos.
Another great feature of the Canon EOS M50 Mark II is that it has a guide mode on the menu.
This pretty much explains all the features. This mode is really cool, because learning about all the features of a camera can become confusing. The guide makes learning about the features simple.
The only real issue is that while the cameras can record in 4k, it can't always record in 4k.
That's because the Canon EOS M50 Mark II only records in 4k with 24 fps and a 1.5x crop. Plus, that's when the autofocus starts to worsen, so it's not ideal for a focused video.
This camera also doesn't support USB charging, which really isn't a huge concern, but it may be annoying for some photographers.
To be honest, while this camera does have its faults, it's still an incredibly good beginner mirrorless camera.
The megapixel quality is very high, and it produces high quality photography.
The camera really has some awesome features which makes it a good investment.
The only real concern is that the videography aspect isn't the best, but if videography is just a bonus, and not a priority, then this camera is excellent value for money.
- 24 megapixel sensor — great image quality
- Good overall autofocus
- Â Only records on 4k with 24 fps and a 1.5x crop
The Fujifilm X-A5 is an entry level camera produced by Fujifilm. It's an incredible mirrorless camera, and is ideal for beginners.
This camera uses a 24.2 megapixel APS-C sensor. The autofocus system is decent, as the sensor is equipped with a Phase detection autofocus.
This camera produces incredible photographs that have insane color, the image quality of this camera is surprising and definitely something beginners will appreciate.
For a beginner camera, The Fujifilm X-A5 is pretty fantastic. It's not the very best beginner mirrorless camera, but it's certainly an incredible camera that has tons of photography potential.
The autofocus system could be better, but it's really not a problem.
The best aspect of this camera is probably the amazing design. It's designed to look retro, but the technology is far from old.
The only major concern about this camera is that it only produces 450 frames per charge, meaning that serious photographers may get annoyed at the short battery life.
However, for beginner photographers, that's not really a huge concern, as it's still reliable.
- Incredible retro design
- 24.2 megapixel camera – quality photography
- 450 frames per charge, short battery life for avid photographers.
The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III is an incredible mirrorless camera that is great for beginners.
This camera tends to retail on the expensive side, and while it is a camera suitable for beginners, it's also extremely high quality, and has some amazing features.
The Olympus OM-D E-M1 MARK III features in-body stabilization, which is necessary for reducing handheld camera shake.
This is an incredible feature which really upgrades the camera, because this feature tends to be only installed on more expensive cameras.
The reason it's so great is that it prevents blurry photos, which is very common with handheld cameras.
While the megapixel sensor is not the highest (20 megapixels), the quality of the photos tend to be great.
It's also good for reducing noise, which means shooting in low light isn't a problem with this camera.
The only real issue with the camera is that the autofocus system can occasionally be inconsistent.
It's truly not the best camera for tracking faces, as the autofocus can lose the subject when the subject is moving.
So, if autofocus is a very high priority for moving images, then it's probably not the best camera for you.
With that said, the other features are really incredible, so it does balance itself out.
This is overall a really incredible mirrorless camera for beginners. It has some amazing features which work to improve the quality of the photos and videos.
- In-body stabilization – no blurry photos
- Noise-canceling features — shoots well in low light
- 20 megapixel sensor
Best Beginner Mirrorless Camera – Buyers Guide
This part of the article pretty much tells beginner photographers all they need to know about mirrorless cameras, and the first main question is to examine what mirrorless cameras actually are.
After all, there are thousands of different cameras on the market, so what is a mirrorless camera, and why do people invest in mirrorless cameras?
Well, mirrorless cameras are digital cameras without a mirror. They're usually smaller than DSLRs, and they don't have a built-in optical viewfinder.
Instead, you use an electronic viewfinder or LCD screen. You compose your photo using live preview, like with a smartphone.
When you take the picture, the image appears on the screen immediately.
Mirrorless cameras are often considered to be the ideal choice for beginner photographers who want a camera small enough to carry around with them everywhere, yet powerful enough to produce professional looking photographs.
They're much easier to use, because of the electronic viewfinder, because the photos taken are much more accurate.
If you know anything about DSLR cameras, then you should know that they're a pretty traditional camera.
They're popular because they produce incredible images, but they're also heavy, bulky, and require a lot of maintenance.
Compared to mirrorless cameras, DSLR cameras are a lot more difficult to use, because they do not offer the accuracy of a mirrorless camera.
In fact, with a DSLR camera, a photographer will be investing thousands of dollars to buy a high quality camera that also has a high quality video resolution.
Plus, DSLR cameras are traditionally not great for autofocusing, especially compared to mirrorless cameras.
With a mirrorless camera, high video resolution is pretty much a standard feature in most mirrorless cameras.
That means that a lot of beginner mirrorless cameras will have this feature. For photographers who need to take videos, the mirrorless camera is a great option.
When choosing a mirrorless camera, you'll want to look at how many megapixels the camera offers.
The higher the megapixels, the better the camera will perform in terms of taking pictures.
However, the number of megapixels doesn't always mean that the camera will be able to produce high definition photos.
There are other factors that determine the quality of a photo, such as aperture size, shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, etc.
But if you're a beginner, then it's important to choose a mirrorless camera with at least 20MP.
If you can invest in a higher quality camera, the highest available megapixel count on this list is 24 megapixels.
It's pretty obvious that a camera, with higher megapixels, will generally produce better photos. But, as stated, a photographer has to take into account the other features of the camera.
If the camera has an awful autofocus, then the quality of the photos is going to be dramatically reduced, because it'll be difficult to capture a clear photo.
Frequently Asked QuestionsÂ
What Is A Mirrorless Camera?
A mirrorless camera is a type of compact digital camera that uses a sensor instead of a mirror to reflect light onto the lens.
Why Are Mirrorless Cameras Preferred Over DSLR Cameras?Â
In general, mirrorless cameras are favored by beginners because they are smaller, more accurate, and less expensive than comparable DSLR models.
Do Professional Photographers Use Mirrorless Cameras?
Professional photographers use mirrorless cameras for nature, event and street photography for accuracy.
Summary
The best mirrorless camera for beginners would be one with a good autofocus system, a great sensor, and high level megapixel.
All of the cameras on the list are ideal for beginners and are high quality mirrorless cameras.
Each of the cameras have different features which makes the cameras unique.
Some cameras are better for videography and photography, while other cameras are excellent at photography and very average at videography.
The overall best camera is the Sony Alpha A6100 as it’s the most reliable and overall creates the highest quality photography and videography for beginners.