Phones

[Michael Schuch]

That's a mirrorless, no?

Nikons mirrorless also has in body. dSLRs are all in lens. I haven't moved to mirrorless.

I had a 10 year old APS Sony A77 dslr(dslt) 24mp that did have in body stabilization and it was quite effective. I believe Minolta/Sony were the only ones to offer DSLR's with in body image stabilization (probably a pattent thing). My A77 was stolen last year and my home owners insurance paid "replacement value" which was enough to allow me to buy a mirrorless Sony A7RIV (61mp). The A7RIV is a GREAT camera BUT in a lot of ways I REALLY miss my old A77. Just having 10 years of familiarity with my A77 is going to take a long time to replace as getting to know the nuances of the A7RIV is quite an uphill battle. If my A77 was not stolen I would still be perfectly happy shooting with it. Since I had the opportunity to buy all new gear buying a mirrorless camera made a lot more sense to me than buying a DSLR. If I were you I wouldn't be too eager to upgrade to mirrorless. After all the hype the actual results from upgrading aren't that near the "huge leap" as they would like you to believe it is.

When I bought my Sony A7RIV is was with the intention that I would get a minimum of a decades use out of it. Having used it for a year now I am very comfortable that at least a decade won't be a problem. (I probably could have squeezed a second decade out of my old A77 though).

[mike stenson]

AHHh ok. That make sense. Not a lot of in body stabilization in dSLRs, but then again the IS in lens is generally pretty good for Nikon and Canon. I just don't have ALL IS lenses, so I use a monopod or lug a tripod. (or crank up the iso, which is actually less of an issue the low light handling on the 850 is amazing)

I'm not sure it's an upgrade. Besides I have glass that is old enough to be factory AI converted, and some non-factory AI-d too... the 850 supports that, moving to mirrorless would require either all new glass, or dealing with convertors.

[Michael Schuch]

AHHh ok. That make sense. Not a lot of in body stabilization in dSLRs, but then again the IS in lens is generally pretty good for Nikon and Canon. I just don't have ALL IS lenses, so I use a monopod or lug a tripod. (or crank up the iso, which is actually less of an issue the low light handling on the 850 is amazing)

I'm not sure it's an upgrade. Besides I have glass that is old enough to be factory AI converted, and some non-factory AI-d too... the 850 supports that, moving to mirrorless would require either all new glass, or dealing with convertors.

I have Minolta A-Mount (dslr) lenses going back to a couple my father purchased in 1983. I do use them with an adapter on my A7RIV and they do work well without really being a hassle to use the adapter. My A77 was also A-mount (I have been with Minotla A-mount for a VERY long time. Sony bought out Minoltas camera division and used the same mount). None of my A-mount lenses have stabilization and I do not believe any were ever made because of the IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization). I am guessing there was no real way to sync lens stabilization and IBIS in the legacy A-Mount.

There is a LOT of hype but I don't believe it is an upgrade either. Cameras will last a LOT longer if you just use them for taking photos and don't read all the press/internet hype. They are very good at making you believe that you are really missing out on something HUGE when you really aren't.

[Curt Harms]

Not exactly in my experience. What changed is that AT&T pulled the plug on their 3G network, at least in my area. 4G still works. SWMBO and I both have phones that used 3G and 4G. I assumed because our phones were capable of 4G we'd be okay. Not so, no service as of 8 days ago. The fix was simply to get new SIMS.

I needed to get my phone working ASAP so switched carriers which is something I was considering anyway. Mint Mobile (uses T-mobile infrastructure) has some pretty attractive plans, just beware their coverage seems to be a little spotty especially in sparsely populated areas west of the Mississippi.

I have an amendment to the above. Some phones don't work with the new Airvoice SIM. We're going to have to replace a locked LG Stylo4, it won't connect with the new network. I gather that 4G LTE is required, apparently not all 4G phones support LTE. The better news (I guess) is it looks like 4G LTE should be around for the next decade.