Hybrid mirrorless cameras are not all they're cracked up to be - and here's why

Having killed off the DSLR (grrr), mirrorless cameras have evolved into ‘hybrid’ cameras that can also be used for video creation. They’ve become the ‘professional’ upgrade for countless vloggers and content creators.

It’s this idea, unquestioned as far as I can see, that they are the bee’s knees for video that needs some closer examination, I think, particularly since they are often aimed at new or novice users who are easily led to believe they are inherently superior to other video capture devices, like action cameras, 360 cameras, gimbal cameras like the DJI Pocket 3 or even the video smartphones that they may already have.

Where hybrid mirrorless cameras win

Let’s be clear about where the best hybrid mirrorless cameras are clearly better than these other devices. The larger sensors give improved image quality, less noise in low light, more ‘cinematic’ depth of field and the ability to change lenses. These are facts.

However, people often misinterpret this. Mirrorless cameras and their bigger sensors give better quality, but that doesn’t automatically create a division between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. It’s all a question of degree and some common sense. Smaller video devices can deliver very good video quality today, which is often at least as good as you need for your video projects, sometimes better. And if you treat these smaller devices with the same filmmaking seriousness that you would need with a hybrid camera, you might find the results aren’t so very different.

So in many cases you might find that a hybrid mirrorless camera gives you an improvement in quality over a smaller, simpler device that is actually quite good enough already.

That’s not the end of the story. Hybrid mirrorless cameras are demonstrably superior in the ways we’ve mentioned, but they are worse in others.

Where hybrid mirrorless cameras lose out

1. Portability:
No hybrid mirrorless camera will fit in your pocket like the best smartphones, or go with you everywhere like a smartphone or film as unobtrusively as a smartphone or share videos to social channels like a smartphone. An action camera can go in a shirt pocket, as can a 360 camera. You can put a gimbal camera in a trouser or coat pocket.

2. Screens:
Action cameras, 360 cameras and gimbal cameras have smaller screens than hybrid mirrorless cameras. That’s quite true. Smartphones are different. A premium smartphone will have a screen twice the size of the screen on a hybrid camera. In terms of screen size, a hybrid camera is a real downgrade from a smartphone.

3. Stabilization:
The best mirrorless stabilization I’ve used is on MFT cameras, the worst is on full frame cameras. Bigger sensors are just harder to stabilize. But if you want to see REAL stabilization, just use a modern smartphone, or watch Insta360’s FlowState in action, or use a Pocket 3 or any other gimbal camera. With hybrid mirrorless cameras, you have to work to get stable footage. The best camera gimbals will give you remarkable results, but they are bulky, heavy, slow to set up and need some skill to operate.

4. Immersiveness:
Smaller cameras fit into smaller gaps, attract less attention and film in places where you wouldn’t use a mirrorless camera. GoPros can go in the water, smartphones are ignored in public buildings where regular cameras are banned, and if you don’t mind looking like a bit of an idiot you can walk around a city with an Insta360 on a pole and film everything in every direction and figure out your framing later. This is perhaps my biggest beef with hybrid mirrorless cameras – they lead you into shooting only what’s practical with a big camera-lens combo.

5. Cost:
The DJI Pocket 3 is currently one of the most expensive compact video cameras but still costs no more than a basic hybrid mirrorless model, while GoPros and Insta360s are significantly cheaper. If you can look past the sensor size (and snob value?) of hybrid cameras, a smaller video device is just cheaper.

6. Complexity:
Action cameras, smartphones, 360 cameras and gimbal cameras have simple video options. Hybrid cameras? Not so much! You will need to navigate a series of complex video settings and their countless permutations, not to mention all the stabilization and AF tracking options you’ll need to get right.

Hybrid mirrorless cameras are pitched as a quality upgrade for vloggers who want to take their filming to the next level. I don’t want to disrespect these cameras. They do offer a substantial upgrade in quality and represent a logical path for anyone who wants to develop commercial or professional filmmaking skills… but they demand more time, effort and skill and fast-moving, and more freeform, experimental, POV-style filming becomes a lot more difficult to the point where you may just give up and stop doing it.

The blinkered pursuit of technical quality can be as destructive to creativity for filmmakers as it can be for photographers. You think it’s going to open doors, but sometimes it just closes them.