Crazy Consumer Electronics World: Best advanced mirrorless compact system camera

Mirrorless compact system cameras are gaining ground on traditional digital SLRs. The top models now have autofocus systems that can match or even beat the speeds of those in digital SLRs, and many have EVFs (electronic viewfinders) with very high resolution and high refresh rates – they can almost match the visual quality of an SLR's optical viewfinder, and they can show a much wider range of shooting information and camera settings. They can even show you what your picture will look like with the current settings, filter effects or picture styles applied.

You can check out the latest camera reviews on our cameras home page, but we've also picked out our top advanced mirrorless compact system cameras in this guide.

One of them is so new that we've not yet been able to publish a full review, but all of them push back the frontiers of mirrorless camera technology, and they all have the potential to topple the traditional digital SLR camera from its top spot in the digital camera market.

Fuji X-T1

The Fuji XT-1 looks and handles like an SLR, but in fact it's a mirrorless compact system camera with an electronic viewfinder. This means the body is slimmer than a regular digital SLR's, which gives the Fuji the feel of a traditional 35mm film camera.

Its strength is the way it combines old-fashioned external controls with thoroughly modern digital camera technology. On the top is a shutter speed dial with an 'A' setting for aperture-priority control (the camera sets the shutter speed) and some of Fuji's lenses have an aperture ring – again, there's an 'A' setting, this time to give the camera control over the lens aperture. If you set both to 'A', the camera is in program AE mode, and sets both the shutter speed and lens aperture automatically.

Not all of Fuji's X-mount lenses have an aperture ring. For those that don't, the lens aperture is controlled by the camera body, as it is with regular digital SLRs and compact system cameras.

The X-T1 has a high-resolution 2,360,000-dot OLED electronic viewfinder with a claimed 0.005-second lag time. The weather-resistant body is made from aluminium alloy, and wi-fi is built in – you can control the camera remotely from a smart device using Fuji's Camera Remote app.

There is also a Fuji X-T1 Graphite edition, with a Fuji X-T1 firmware update pre-loaded. This brings a high-speed 1/32,000-sec electronic shutter, a Classic Chrome film simulation mode and a Natural View live view option.

See our full Fuji X-T1 review.

Olympus OM-D E-M1

The Olympus OM-D E-M1 has all the styling and features of a high-end digital SLR, but in a much smaller package. In fact, it's highly reminiscent of Olympus's classic OM-1 and OM-2 35mm film cameras.

It joins the existing OM-D E-M5 and E-M10 in the Olympus range as the new flagship model, and where the other two use conventional contrast autofocus systems, the OM-D E-M1 has Olympus's new Dual Fast AF system. This combines contrast AF and phase-detection AF to produce even faster focus speeds.

The E-M1 is designed for hard use, with a dust, splash and freeze-proof body and a continuous shooting speed of 10 frames per second. Olympus claims its electronic viewfinder is 1.3 times larger than the average digital SLR's.

Like Olympus's other mirrorless compact system cameras, the E-M1 takes Micro Four Thirds lenses, and Olympus is steadily building up a range of pro-spec lenses to extend its appeal to serious users. You can also use existing Four Thirds lenses using Olympus's optional MMF-3 adaptor. These lenses were designed for Olympus's previous E-series digital SLR range – the sensor size was the same, but these cameras had mirrors, so the distance from the back of the lens to the sensor was larger.

Olympus has released a new E-M1 Silver edition pre-loaded with its Version 2 firmware update. This brings in-camera keystone correction, tethered shooting software, new Art Filters and the Live Composite feature first seen in the OM-D E-M10.

See our full Olympus OM-D E-M1 review.

Sony a7R

The Sony a7 is the first ever full frame mirrorless compact system camera, delivering full-frame image quality but in a body much smaller and slimmer than a full-frame digital SLR's.

In fact, there are three different a7 models. The a7R offers the highest resolution at 36 million pixels, the a7 is the cheapest and has 24 million pixels, while the A7s has just 12 million pixels but is designed to excel in low light.

The a7 takes full-frame E-mount lenses – not to be confused with the smaller APS-format E-mount lenses made for other Sony alphas – and Sony is steadily extending the range available. Currently there are seven full-frame E-mount lenses, but Sony has a short-term goal of 20. It's also possible to use alpha lenses designed for Sony's older SLR and SLT (single-lens translucent) cameras via an adaptor.

The a7 uses a regular contrast autofocus system rather than the generally faster phase-detection system used in digital SLRs, though the advantage of sensor-based autofocus is that you never need to recalibrate it – the focus is based on what the sensor itself sees, rather than a separate autofocus module.

Sony has paid great attention to quality, both in the camera's design and its output. The body is made of magnesium alloy, and it uses 16-bit processing to output 14-bit RAW files – the greater the 'bit depth', the better the tonal quality.

The a7R is designed for top-quality video, too, with focus-peaking for precise manual focus and full HD video at up to 60 frames per second. It has external mic and headphone sockets too, for professional sound recording and monitoring.

See our full Sony a7R review.

Samsung NX1

This camera is so new we've not yet had time to test it fully, but the specifications make it one of the most exciting cameras of the year – and certainly Samsung's best mirrorless compact system camera to date.

It has a 28-megapixel sensor using 'backside-illuminated' technology first developed for the compact camera market – the electronic circuitry is relocated to back of sensor to leave the photosites unobstructed and able to gather more light. This is the highest resolution yet for an APS-C format camera and we look forward to running it through our lab tests.

There's much more besides. The Samsung NX1 can shoot continuously at an amazing 15 frames per second – that's faster than the best professional digital SLRs – and has a super-sophisticated autofocus system with 205 phase-detection AF points, 209 contrast-detection points and a novel AF mode which Samsung says can predict the perfect moment to take a shot.

Previous Samsung mirrorless compact system cameras have clearly been aimed at the consumer market, but the NX1 has features to appeal to professionals, including a dust and splash-resistant magnesium alloy body, an optional battery grip with vertical controls and a new 50-150mm f/2.8 constant-aperture telephoto lens. Samsung is steadily building a range of pro lenses to attract more serious users.

Perhaps most interesting of all is the NX1's 4K UHD (ultra high definition) video, which looks set to be an important growth areas for digital cameras.

See our hands-on Samsung NX1 review.

Panasonic GH4

The GH4 is Panasonic's top-level professional camera. It's styled like a digital SLR, but it's actually a mirrorless camera with an electronic viewfinder. On paper, it might not look that different to the Panasonic G6, but there are important differences.

First, the body is made of die-cast aluminium and has sealing on every joint, dial and button to make it splash and dust-proof.

Second, the Panasonic GH4 has a highly durable shutter mechanism rated at 200,000 cycles (the number of shots Panasonic would expect it to take before wearing out).

Third, the GH4 shoots 4K video, which is the new standard for ultra high definition movies and offers four times the resolution of full HD. To cope with the massive increase in data, the GH4 has a quad-core CPU – it can also output uncompressed video to an external recorder.

Movie makers will appreciate the zebra pattern highlight warning, time-lapse and stop-motion modes, and you also get a focus peak display and highlight/shadow control. Both microphone and headphone sockets are built in.

The GH4 has a high-resolution 2,460,000-dot OLED electronic viewfinder, and on the back of the camera is an articulating touch-sensitive screen.

The GH4 isn't designed solely for movies, though – it's also a highly capable stills camera, with a maximum continuous shooting speed of 12 frames per second.

See our full Panasonic GH4 review.