The Best Mirrorless Cameras For Beginners in 2022

DLSRs might be all-around cameras for hobbyists and professionals, but in this day and age, where minimalism and compact gadgets are preferred, there needs to be a revolution that will change all that. This is where mirrorless cameras come in.

Mirrorless cameras are compact digital cameras that started coming around during the mid-2000s. It used to be a niche market but with brands like Sony, Canon, and Nikon joining the fray, mirrorless cameras are becoming more popular. What’s even better is that the quality of the cameras themselves is becoming better and better too.

Instead of going for a DSLR, why not consider getting a mirrorless camera instead? The best mirrorless cameras for beginners are more than enough to get you some great shots. Here are some of the best mirrorless cameras that you should consider getting right now.

At the top of this list is a tried and tested name. Fujifilm is easily one of the best camera makers out there so it shouldn’t be surprising that they’re willing to jump into the mirrorless bandwagon with the Fujifilm X-T200.

The XT200 is designed to be a full-fledged retro-style mirrorless camera. It is covered with a black, synthetic leather finish, and the composite top panel is finished in lighter tones. The camera comes in various colors such as silver, dark silver, and champagne gold. The body is a lot more compact than what you typically see from an SLR camera, 3.3 x 4.8 x 2.2 inches without a lens (HWD). Additionally, it is considerably lighter at 13.1 ounces.

What’s great is that the camera can be purchased as a standalone body. Suitable if you already have lenses, and you want to upgrade the body of your camera. There is a built-in flash and a hot shoe for an external flash or wireless trigger. The built-in viewfinder is what differentiates the XT200 from the XA7 and other base mirrorless models as this feature is not present in most of them.

The OLED display updates quickly to show a real-time preview of the exposure, showing all the colors and camera effects you have enabled. In this price range, the viewfinder looks bigger than the optical viewfinder installed in SLR cameras. The Canon EOS Rebel T7i’s optical viewfinder has a magnification of 0.51x, compared to a magnification of 0.62x.

The sleek and lightweight design of the Fujifilm X-T200 is just one of the many reasons why it’s worth getting. Overall, it’s an amazing mirrorless camera that does more for what you pay for it. It’s one of the hottest mirrorless cameras right now, so don’t let it pass by under your radar.

Pros

• Amazing color and range
• Highly functional touchscreen
• Lightweight design

Cons

• Low buffer depth

Specification

• Price $818.00
• Display 3.5-inch fully articulating touchscreen
• Sensor Size ASP-C CMOS
• Resolution 24.2 MP

When it comes to cameras in general, you can bet that Canon is one of the top names in the industry. For the best mirrorless camera that Canon offers, it has to be the Canon EOS M50 Mark II. This camera has proven itself to be the perfect camera for beginners.

The new and improved EOS M50 Mark II is an attractive, entry-level mirrorless camera for beginner photographers. The camera can provide you with snapshots that go beyond smartphones. Its mirrorless design and compact lens that come with the system make it attractive for travelers and various other types of individuals. It also comes with a front touch screen that can be very functional for selfies or people that are looking to vlog.

Like its predecessor, the M50 Mark II is available in an amazing shade of black or white. The white camera will include a silver 15-45 mm kit. As you may have known, Canon loves selling its EFM lenses in stylistic shades of black and silver. The camera itself is quite small and compact. The APSC sensor is the same size as the EOS Rebel SL3, but it prioritizes the digital EVF and discards the optical viewfinder.

The camera sizes up at 3.5 x 4.6 x 2.3 inches and 13.7 ounces if you count the body only. The camera also comes with a rechargeable LPE12 battery. It is powerful enough to take about 305 shots with the rear LCD and 235 shots with the EVF on a single charge. It’s slightly lower compared to its predecessors, but it’s still an impressive battery life for a mirrorless camera, all-in-all. You won’t have trouble using this camera.

The Canon EOS M50 Mark II proves that Canon really knows their camera game inside and out. It’s the perfect mirrorless camera for beginners, and it’s definitely something you should consider getting when you have the chance and the budget.

Pros

• Perfect for vloggers
• Neat and compact design
• Vertical video recording

Cons

• Liimted choices for lens

Specification

• Price $699.99
• Display 3.0-inch articulated touchscreen
• Sensor Size ASP-C
• Resolution 24.1 MP

Olympus is another great camera brand that has jumped on the mirrorless camera bandwagon. The manufacturer is known for its eccentric-looking cameras. For mirrorless devices, the best it has to offer right now is the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV.

The OMD EM10 Mark IV is Olympus’ latest retro-style mirrorless camera. The camera comes equipped with a great Micro Four Thirds image sensor that captures 4K quality video. Moreover, the camera also includes a wealth of filters for creative photographers that are looking to get a feel for their creative side. This is a great entry-level camera that can be paired with a variety of lenses.

The OMD EM10 Mark IV sadly doesn’t have a mic input, which is one of its biggest flaws. However, it is one of the slim models with interchangeable lenses. It measures 3.3 x 4.8 x 1.9 inches and weighs in at 13.5 ounces if we’re measuring the body only. The camera can be purchased without a lens. This is good if you’re just looking for a body upgrade and nothing else.

This camera is not as well made as some of the top Olympus cameras. Sadly, weatherproofing and the magnesium chassis that are found in top Olympus cameras are not available here. That means you need to avoid getting the camera wet and be content with the sturdy, plastic body.

You can find some metal accents on the dial. There are also some in the lens mount to give it a more luxurious feel. The top panel has two dials, which have customizable control buttons. 

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV’s main attraction is its amazing design and compact body. It might be up to par with other Olympus cameras, but it’s more than enough for beginners that want to try their hand at becoming photographers.

Pros

• Compact body
• Still and steady shots
• Good IBIS

Cons

• No microphone input

Specification

• Price $699.00
• Display 3.5-inch fully articulating touchscreen
• Sensor Size Micro Four Thirds
• Resolution 20.3 MP

Nikon is one of the top makers of cameras today, and the brand is known for its amazing selection of DSLRs. When the Nikon Z FC came out, photographers knew that Nikon was finally willing to embrace the mirrorless camera craze, and they were doing so in style.

The Nikon Z FC is a small APSC camera with 20.9 megapixels. This is a retro rebranding of the Nikon Z50, Nikon’s entry-level mirrorless camera, with additional features such as transfer and a fully articulated LCD screen. Nikon’s previous mirrorless camera was adopted from a DSLR camera with reduced features in the name of a retro image. What makes the FC different is that its completely unobstructed-full resolution captures stills up to 11 fps and 4K up to 30 fps.

You can record video with an impressive 30-minute limit at a time. The photos with the packaged 16-50 mm kit lens of the camera are sharp. RAW files have plenty of space to lighten shadows and tone down highlights. Many users of the camera are impressed with the processing of grains in the dark. Instead of a jumble of color and pixel spots, low-light particles have a cinematic, uniform texture that doesn’t get in the way when viewed on a small screen like a phone.

The Z FC’s biggest downside, however, is a slow AF system. In many cases, the camera will not be able to find a subject to focus on and will track quite a bit once the point is fixed. It has focus tracking in both photo and video modes and works well in full light, but in dim light the camera has a hard time locking to a single point. 

The Nikon Z FC is a good camera for many reasons. One of the most important ones that beginners need to know is its good display build and amazing retro design. The display is perfect for beginners looking to explore the world of photography.

Pros

• Good retro design
• Nice display build
• Intuitive

Cons

• Limited choices for lens

Specification

• Price $899.95
• Display 3.0-inch vari-angle touchscreen
• Sensor Size APS-C
• Resolution 20.9 MP

What you may not know as a beginner is that Nikon already has a wide selection of mirrorless cameras to choose from. If you have the extra budget to spend, you might want to consider getting the Nikon Z5, which is the company’s prime mirrorless offering right now.

With the Z 50, Nikon brings mirrorless technology to a more expensive, full-frame body. It omits some features, especially image stabilization, but still provides a great viewfinder, a surprisingly high-end autofocus coverage, and of course, 4K capture. However, the autofocus system is not as sophisticated as Fuji Film or similar Sony cameras.

The good news is that there are a few mirrorless lenses dedicated to the Z 50, which make it suitable for beginner photographers and veteran photographers who already have good Nikon gear.  

The Z 50 matches the look of the full-frame siblings, so it might feel familiar for those who’ve had a hand at a Nikon camera before. The difference is that it shares the same large-diameter lens mount, but it’s small overall.

With the Z 50, you don’t always use the maximum speed setting. However, it uses the autofocus system whenever you boot up the camera. The Z50’s user interface is pretty basic, which is just right for beginners. There are three basic modes: automatic (AFA), single (AFS), and continuous (AFC). With Auto, the camera can decide whether to keep the focus lock or continue the search. Single lock checks the focus after acquisition, Continuous checks the focus until the shutter is released.

If it weren’t for its pricing, which is almost double that of some of the cameras on this list, the Nikon Z5 would definitely sit higher on this list. It’s an amazing mirrorless camera with great features to boot.

Pros

• Great viewfinder
• Good AF system
• Great build

Cons

• Expensive

Specification

• Price $1,493.90
• Display 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen,
• Sensor Size Full-frame CMOS
• Resolution 24.5 MP

Last but not the least, we have another big name in the camera industry. The Panasonic Lumix GX9 is a great, handy mirrorless camera that will give you your money’s worth thanks to its amazing set of features.

Pros

• Built-in viewfinder
• Good IS
• Very compact

Cons

• Not stylish

Specification

• Price $797.99
• Display 3-inch tilting touchscreen
• Sensor Size Micro Four Thirds
• Resolution 20.3 MP