Some have interchangeable lenses, and others offer a single, built-in lens. Thanks to the absence of a mirror, mirrorless cameras are generally much smaller than their DSLR counterparts, especially when compared to cameras of an equivalent sensor size – though the removal of mirror technology has led to a number of additional benefits and drawbacks, as I discuss below.īy the way, it’s important to note that there are actually many different types of mirrorless cameras on the market. (Often a mechanical shutter is involved, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.) When you hit the shutter button on a mirrorless camera, the sensor simply starts recording data, and you get a photo. The sensor is then digitally projected onto the camera’s rear LCD, and (sometimes) through an electronic viewfinder. Light enters the lens and never bounces off a mirror to beam through a viewfinder instead, the light goes straight to the sensor. Mirrorless cameras are like DSLRs, but with one fundamental difference: