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Mirrorless Cameras Accidently Killed Photography

Amar Talwar

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Mirrorless cameras gave us the most advanced cameras in history…

Perfect autofocus.
AI subject tracking.
Unlimited burst modes.
Razor-sharp images.

So why do so many modern photos feel… less memorable?

In this video, we’re diving into a conversation photographers usually avoid:
Did technology accidentally remove some of the emotional connection from photography?

This is NOT a “mirrorless vs DSLR” war.

Mirrorless cameras are incredible.
But somewhere along the way, photography may have shifted from:
📸 moments → perfection
📸 storytelling → algorithms
📸 observation → content creation

We’ll talk about:
• Why old DSLR photos often FEEL different
• How smartphones changed human behavior
• Why photography became obsessed with specs
• The rise of “perfect but empty” images
• How social media reshaped what “good photography” means
• Why modern cameras sometimes feel more like computers than instruments

And most importantly:
Have we optimized photography so much… that we accidentally lost part of its soul?

Whether you shoot Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, Leica, DSLR, mirrorless, or just your smartphone — this conversation is bigger than gear.

I want to hear YOUR thoughts in the comments:
Do modern cameras help creativity…
or make photography feel less intentional?

👇 Drop your opinion below.

#Photography #Mirrorless #DSLR #Canon #SonyAlpha #PhotographyTalk #CameraCulture #StreetPhotography #PhotographyCommunity #Filmmaking

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20 Comments

@amartalwarphotography Creator 5 months ago Pinned

Are modern cameras making photography BETTER… or just more PERFECT? 🤔📸

I’m genuinely curious where you stand on this.

Do you think:
• Mirrorless improved creativity?
• Smartphones changed photography forever?
• Old DSLRs felt more intentional?
• Social media changed what “good photography” means?

Or am I completely wrong? 😅

Drop your camera setup + your honest opinion below👇

(DSLR, mirrorless, film, smartphone — ALL perspectives welcome.)

@JunoBeachGirl 1 month ago

This is my FAVORITE YouTube channel with respect to photography: HE MAKES COMPLETE SENSE. Doesn’t buy into the hype and the absolute frenzy about getting the latest and greatest cameras. He is teaching all of us to enjoy the actual CRAFT of photography. Think about it? I remember when I had Nikons. I had the Nikon F3. Gosh, I loved that camera! Then I walked into a camera shop and I picked up the Canon, A2 E and it’s eye tracking technology and I was sold. I remember when the Canon 5D Mark IV came out and it was all I could dream about? That was the GOAT as far as I was concerned? The camera to end all cameras. And then I came to feel that way about the Nikon D850. (To this day, I feel that these two last in the line of actual DSLRs are neck-and-neck two of the greatest cameras ever made. Ever. Take a look at some of your great photographers, people you idolize, and their photos that we have consigned to “greatest photos ever taken” category and all which were taken by cameras that some people today will turn their noses up at? Literally. I sell high-end sewing machines. Berninas. The exact same phenomenon happens with Bernina sewing machines every single year around Christmas time. Every single woman who validates her worth with the kind of Bernina sewing machine that she owns gets in line in about November to buy the latest and greatest newest Bernina. (Or expects her husband to and that’s a whole other game of laughs.). So these women will trade in their perfectly wonderful sewing machines — that they literally bought only one or two years ago — because they want to buy another newer $15,000 sewing machine that they will never know how to use because it contains functionality and features that they will never be able to utilize. Same as some of the people who buy these cameras. And I am the person that they call to give them lessons on that sewing machine. He is absolutely right that people will go from YouTube channel to YouTube channel to justify the fact that they simply want to buy the latest and greatest computer that will capture images because their ego is tied up in whatever it is that they own and show to the world. This is the YouTube channel of “common sense photography“ and I love it!

@pietroscarpa2384 5 months ago

The video is excellent. I appreciate your philosophical approach to photography.

@petrvokurek2286 5 months ago

Bang on! I really enjoyed this rant 😊

@constantine_8m 5 months ago

This video is brilliant. Thank you a lot

@victordutt 5 months ago

Golden words-“2 idiots chasing the wrong thing which has nothing to do with photography”. Back in the days, one could learn something about photography from YouTube videos by Bryan Peterson, Gavin Hoey, Mark Wallace. Now we only have idiots.

@rogerbruneau4550 5 months ago

You hit the nail on the head. You read my mind on this subject.

@peterlebengood7160 5 months ago

You absolutely out did yourself! I thoroughly enjoy your videos especially the fact you present thoughts which generate dialogue between you and your viewers. Just the fact you welcome all opinions and really only require respect between commenters is absolutely a breath of fresh air! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into each video.

@faust5000 5 months ago

you are very poetic even ehen you talk about specs 😊 it’s refreshing to hear someone saying imperfections make pictures perfect

@ZacRockwell 5 months ago

Well said. I like your channel more and more

@hasselbart 3 months ago

One of the things I find so wonderful — especially as an IT worker — is putting a roll of Tri-X or Ilford Delta 100 into my Nikon F3, and while photographing only having to think about the shutter-speed dial, the aperture ring and focusing. Then pressing the shutter and feeling the vibration inside the camera, almost like a living thing.

And later, having the film developed — or developing it myself — and making prints. When you finally produce a beautiful print in the darkroom on baryta paper, it is such an amazing feeling. The whole process can be done without touching a computer.

Of course, it is a very slow process. So, to be able to work a little faster from time to time, I have now bought a DSLR — a Nikon D810. So for me, a DSLR already feels very fast. ;)

One downside, though, is that you have to charge batteries and adjust settings, so in a way it is still a kind of computer. But it’s not too bad.

@jv7070ful 5 months ago

A masterclass on photography !

@nickathos7428 3 months ago

You covered everything ive felt for a long time👏

@AbdulraufYahaya-e2z 5 months ago

Really appreciate the insights in this video.

@MarkP-df8ho 5 months ago

GREAT VEDIO !!!!
I wanted to comment after number 2, but so glad i waited.
2 years ago, after wanting the perfect high end Nikon my whole lide, i bought one....
Back to solud, high end vasics for me, a D800. I was picked on by the mirrorless circle around me, i scrapped most of my plastic, NEW lenses and went back to the 90's glass. Still pucked on, i bought another one a year kater...
Sime matters, in those 2 years, my ohotography has grown 15 !
Thank you for this!!
Well said my friend.

@zaharib 5 months ago

What are you bringing to the table? Hmmm... sounds so red pill Amar. Love it !!! Watching this on a bus in Malaysia with my Nikon DSLR 🥰 Canon mirrorless left at home gathering dust...

@CEEPMDEE 5 months ago

Great video, Amar.

@universalacousticradio5540 5 months ago

“Even the beggar on the street , for 500 dollars , can have 30 frames per second”......what a statement that is....it’s more like a self portrait than street photography......

@detroitgagt 5 months ago

you cooking Amar glad i ran into this channel
everything you saying on point don't stop!

@robinschaeffer6252 5 months ago

Mirrorless cameras did for photography, what photography did for painting. Cameras recorded reality better than most artists could. Painters were then free to explore art that was no longer "representational". Mirrorless cameras have done the same for photography. Yes - you can manipulate the image in real time and see it on the EVF. There are many advances that allow you to do things easily that in the past were difficult to do with the old technology. Cartier Bresson' s "decisive moment" is a thing of the past when the camera has Procapture and shoots 120 frames a second, but other frontiers await those that are truly creative. As an old goat that has shot film on everything from 8X10 large format to Minox cameras, and still uses film as well as digital cameras, I try to recognize the differences and explore the new opportunities mirrorless cameras offer.
Challenge yourself - draw inspiration from what modern artists have done with paintings and see if you can do something similar with the tool called a "mirrorless camera".