> You could argue that it IS a DSLR but not an SLR.
I argue that the definition of an SLR/DSLR is formfactor, not specific
technology. The problem with tying it to technology is that every time
you make even the most minor change to it you risk having to come up
with an all new nomenclature. That gets pretty nonsensical.
Same with rangefinder cameras. To me, this term applies to a
shape/functionality/usage factor, not the specific technology used for
focusing.
Further down the list would be point-and-shoots. This isn't just a
technology or even category of buyer, but a formfactor. Most of the
m43 cameras would fall into this category, but strangely enough, so
would the old Olympus XA even though technically it is a rangefinder
camera.
That's why this whole EVIL, MSC or whever somebody tries to say just
doesn't take off. When it comes right down to it, lens-mount
flexibility doesn't change which of these three categories a camera
will fall into. It's a pretty big tent that covers each of these three
categories. The Nikon 1 system is a perfect case in point. It
absolutely falls in the point-and-shoot category. No amount of lens
changing is going to lift it out of that category. Once you slap a
lens on the camera, it looks, feels and operates exactly like any
other point-and-shoot in the same pricing. In fact, the Nikon is
EXACTLY like the non-interchangeable-lens camera.
The OM-D is most certainly a DSLR even though the "R" for reflex is an
anochronism. No more so an anochronism than the aperture and speed
settings we can't seem to get rid of. F5.6 at 1/125... huh? On the
flip side, we never really called Hasselblads SLRs even though they
were too. Not like TLRs, which definitely had an entire culture unto
their own, but in that category we rarely differentiated between
fixed-lens TLR and interchangeable-lens TLRs by name.
AG
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