Mirrorless Camera - in plain English?

The difference is between an "optical viewfinder" on the slr and an "electronic viewfinder" on the mirrorless.

In the normal dslr when you look through the view finder you aren't looking straight through the actual lens, your view is a couple of inches higher than the len's actual view, so your point of view is skewed and that would cause problems in framing your shot. To fix that discrepancy camera makers put a prism in the viewfinder and an angled mirror behind the lens (inside the camera body) this lets the light go through the lens, hit the mirror and bounce upward through the prism so an image is visible on the viewing screen. (google how a dslr works and you'll find plenty of diagrams) The mirror is located between the back end of the lens and shutter curtain which protects the sensor from light. So when you click the shutter button the mirror flips up out of the way, the shutter curtain opens and the light has a straight path through the lens to the sensor. This mirror flip and curtain movement is what gives slr cameras their distinctive sound when shooting.

The mirrorless camera uses an electronic viewfinder instead of an optical one. An electronic viewfinder and sensor works like the ones on non dslr cameras. The light goes straight through the lens to the sensor and you view the sensor. Until very recently there was a very noticeable lag between what was viewed and what was captured when you clicked the shutter button. Some of the newer high end mirrorless seems to have bridged that lag.

i am following this thread because i have been looking as well. can anyone recommend a brand of mirror less camera? i was looking at the fuji film x-t1 but they are quite pricey. any thoughts? i love the idea of not having to carry a large camera.

I've been shooting with the Sony A600 (crop-sensor) and Sony A7ii (full frame) since April of last year after my debacle with Canon's 70D and 7D bodies. I am SOOOOOO happy I made the switch. The quality and innovation on mirrorless cameras are phenomenal. The ease of use and photo quality is right up there with DSLR regardless of what you read on some of the more popular photography boards. Fuji is another popular brand but from what I see their sensors are all crop-sensors. I wanted full-frame sensor to handle lower light situations better and Sony delivers.

I'll be following this thread too. I am currently eyeballing the Sony a6000. I come from a family of photographers and they all swear by Canon. Well they are even wowed by this Sony. My brother in law even uses his a6000 to shoot events like weddings and engagement pictures.