The Best Affordable Mirrorless Cameras Under $550
May 18, 2017
Ben Hertoz
Sony NEX-5TL/S Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens (Silver)
The Sony NEX-5T/S has a large sensor for detailed photos, fast
shooting speeds, Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, and a solid body of lenses.
To put it bluntly, Sony’s camera has the best bang-for-your-buck, especially when it comes down to image quality. You might not have quite as many lenses as you would if you bought a Micro Four Thirds camera, but the Sonys take clean photos, are affordable, are arguably only second to Micro Four Thirds in lens selection, and are an ecosystem that’s fairly well established and seems to be in for the long haul. Getting an second hand model means you get the all the advantages to last year’s step-up (like a higher res touchscreen, and faster shooting) at a reduced price.
Sony a6000
The Sony a6000 is an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera that is pretty incredible value for what it is. With the kit lens (18-55) it makes a great travel camera, and I use the 55-210 telephoto for nature photography. With an affordable $548 US price tag there's a lot on offer in the A6000. The built-in electronic viewfinder to the side delivers a 0.39-inch panel with a 1.44m-dot resolution and it in short works brilliantly.If you want it for a little less you can also buy it used for $446.53 which is not as great a mark down as the Sony NEX-5T/S but it does come with the lens included in the price.
Sony a5000
The Sony a6000 is an interchangeable lens mirrorless camera that is pretty incredible value for what it is. With the kit lens (18-55) it makes a great travel camera, and I use the 55-210 telephoto for nature photography. With an affordable $548 US price tag there's a lot on offer in the A6000. The built-in electronic viewfinder to the side delivers a 0.39-inch panel with a 1.44m-dot resolution and it in short works brilliantly.If you want it for a little less you can also buy it used for $446.53 which is not as great a mark down as the Sony NEX-5T/S but it does come with the lens included in the price.
Sony a5000
The Sony a5000 while not as good as the a6000 has a good sensor for high-quality
images, but it doesn’t have a high burst speed like our pick. Still for landscapes, the a5000 is incredibly capable.
the Sony a5000 or even last year’s NEX-3N also make for some decent, even-more-affordable
options with a basic lens kit at around $344.86 US second hand. If you want it new then prices start around $479 US. These two will bring you images
that are sharp, noise free, and able to blur out backgrounds in a way that
cheaper cameras just can’t. They just have to do without some nicer features
like high burst speeds, high-resolution screens, and more autofocus points.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $357.49 new
Although Sony advertise the a5100 as a step up from this model, which if you buy one new is at the time of writing $498. However we believe it for the increased price it does not offer any more features than the Sony a500 to justify the increased price (aside from a 3 3-Inch Flip Up LCD).
Panasonic Lumix
While the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 was released in 2011, it still rates a mention, as it is a very high quality mirrorless camera for those on a budget. At the time of writing this, you can pick one up as a second hand item at $139.89 (body only). Or if you want one new with a lens kit it comes to $499.95.
For the advanced photographer
The Fujifilm X-A1 is a great option if you want access to a
truly great lens collection. Those are expensive, though, so this is better for
more experienced photographers.
The Fujifilm X-A1 will give you access to some
truly great lenses. But although the cameras can be had new for $599 each with a 16-50 mm lens kit, if you want to try it out second hand with a 16-50 mm lens kit it is available for $300 at the time of printing.
Should I upgrade?
The Sony NEX-5T makes an gateway camera for someone who’s just getting started in more advanced photography or who wants to take better pictures. But what if you already have a decent camera floating around? Should you upgrade?If you have a DSLR that’s less than four years old, you probably don’t need to change over to mirrorless. The image quality on an SLR of around that age is still really good, and, depending on the model, might even be better than that of the NEX-5T. Especially if you’ve invested in a lot of lenses, there’s no need to upgrade. That said, you might want to just to save on space and weight.
The one situation where we’d say it would be worth switching is if you never take out your nice camera because you find it to be too large or clunky. There are a bunch of people out there who bought DSLRs, even fairly recently, only to be turned off by the size and complexity. If you have a Canon Rebel that’s gathering dust in a drawer somewhere, then maybe you should jump on board with a mirrorless camera.
We’ve been running this piece recommending low-end mirrorless cameras for a while now—which raises the question, “if you bought one of our previous picks, do you need to upgrade?”
Previously, we’ve recommended the NEX-3N and NEX-F3. Both stand the test of time fairly well, especially when you consider that we’ve opted for a year-old camera for our new pick anyway. Both of the two previous choices still take admirably good photos—the only reason to upgrade would be if you find the lack of Wi-Fi a major problem or if the slightly slower shooting speed and/or lower-res screen is really bothering you. That said, you should consider spending a bit more on something better like the Sony a6000, Olympus OM-D E-M10, or the Panasonic GX7. You’ll be much more likely to notice significant performance increases.
Otherwise, if you already have a mirrorless camera, there are a lot of variables that should sway you on if you should upgrade or not. The first thing is if you’re already invested in a lens system. If you’ve dropped hundreds of dollars on Micro Four Thirds lenses, it doesn’t make sense to completely swap over to an E-mount camera. Also, a lot depends on the age of the camera you already have, as there have been big strides in image quality and focusing speeds over the last 2-3 years; early-generation mirrorless cameras have fallen behind.
How we picked
We looked over the entire range of mirrorless cameras currently available for less than $500 and then discarded a few of them for being poor performers (like the Ricoh Q), or part of a half-dead system (like the Canon M). This left us with ten models that we compared in depth, reading dozens of reviews and detailed spec-based comparisons to narrow the field to just a couple of great options.Even though entry-level mirrorless cameras are often aimed at new users, we still demand a lot from them. First priority is that a camera has to take good photos. They don’t have to be the best the world has ever seen, but even the most wonderfully-designed camera is pointless if the images look like dreck. That means if you’re shooting in low light, the photos have to come out clean and sharp. The ideal camera has to capture a wide array of highlights and shadows on a single image, so you won’t lose the details hiding in the shadows of a shrub or the artful texture of a cloud. The lens it comes with has to be of decent quality so that it’ll take good photos straight out of the box.
This left us with ten models that we compared deeply,
reading dozens of reviews and detailed spec-based comparisons to narrow the
field to just a couple of great options.
Since you’re buying into a system of lenses, you have to
be comfortable that the manufacturer will keep producing new options and
supporting the format for the foreseeable future. That means the
all-but-stillborn Canon M, which has only one model in the USA and just two
lenses, the tiny and comparatively low-quality Ricoh Q, the extremely new and
limited Samsung NX-mini, and the fast-to-focus but poor-image-recording Nikon
1-series are all pretty much nonstarters.
The camera needs to be substantially smaller than a DSLR, because being small and light is one of the huge advantages mirrorless cameras have over DSLRs.
It also needs to be easy enough for a new user to just pick up and be able to take good photos. There needs to be a wide array of lenses at a variety of price points, from the very affordable to the high end, so that people who stick with the system can upgrade to a level they’re comfortable with.
And we want all of that for less than $500. It’s also great to have a battery life long enough for a full day of shooting and some nice extra features like panoramas, touchscreens, or Wi-Fi.
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