G'day.
Ive just recently bought a canon T3 1100D DSLR as my first interchangeable lens camera and so far I'm really happy with it.
Glad to hear it, good for you.
I'm a novice amateur photographer finding his way in photography.
Welcome to the nuthouse. We're all a little different here, so I'm sure you'll fit right in.
Yes Sam, he'll fit in.
He WILL. Now shut up.
Ive been reading that DSLR numbers are in decline and that manufacturers are starting to see more future in mirrorless and especislly Micro Four Thirds (MFT)
The sales numbers do seem to indicate that trend, yes. BUT... there's a lot of life in the old dog yet. And the numbers can be misleading - mirrorless has really only taken off in Asia, which is where the large camera buying base is, and that tends to skew the numbers, I think. The rest of the world has pretty well ignored mirrorless. (Fan boys, chill. I know there's a lot of mirrorless etc users in the Western world (I have a Nikon V1 myself), but %age wise, you ARE very much in the minority).
and I'm just wondering whether I made a mistake buying into the 'old' (comparatively) technology.
Not at all. The old flappy mirror camera isn't going away any time soon. There's too many entrenched legacy products in the hands of users for manufacturers to just drop the whole concept - I'm talking hundreds of millions of bodies and lenses, from all the makers. And there's a lot of things that mirrorless still doesn't do as well as the dSLR does.
I have the option for a shirt while longer to return my DSLR and buy a mirrorless equivalent instead.
Swings and roundabouts. You'll gain some things and lose some things. There isn't any 'equivalent' mirrorless/dSLR combo - there's cameras that do different things for different people in different situations, and sometimes, those abilities overlap, but like your Grandma's old Cortina could be driven on a racetrack, and an F1 car could (in theory) be used to go to bingo, they'd neither one be very happy in that situation.
Canon have EOS M, for instance.
No. Just no. Compared to even the low spec dSLR you have, it will feel like a slug.
(the M2 just launched, which is how I found out about all of this, but the m2 is not available in the uk)
Or indeed anywhere except Asia. Canon didn't even release the latest M lens outside Asia. (See my comment above re the takeup of mirrorless in the West).
Or, I believe the Nex range is well regarded.
It is, and some of the new models are almost up to par with low level dSLRs in regards focus and handling. Ditto the Olympus OM models.
if I make the switch then for example my lenses will be of the right size to fit future generations of mirror less camera without needed adapters.
No guarantee of that at all. Canon have now got (at least) 3 different lens mounts currently in their range (full frame, crop and M - there's a small amount of compatability, but they aren't completely interchangable), plus at least 2 old lens mounts that don't fit anything new at all. Nikon have 2 mounts (full frame/crop and their 1 System CX mirrorless) which also don't mix'n'match. In the mirrorless world, the 4/3 mount has been dropped entirely, and all you can get are Micro 4/3 mount lenses and bodies - there's some compatability, but not everything fits everything. No doubt there are more examples, my point here is just to illustrate that what's available this year may or may not be around in years to come; things change.
is buying a DSLR at this point considered a blunder?
I'd say not. Cameras are now disposable items, replaced every few years as the sensor technology matures (although we're pretty well at the point of diminishing returns now). You no longer buy a camera to pass on to your kids. If you're happy with what you have, keep it. The larger than mirrorless sensor, large lens range, optical viewfinder and general handling make for a pretty solid argument in favour of the dSLR for a while yet. Some may disagree (you may, as well), but for me, dSLRs are still the most efficient picture making tools we have for general use.
Stay with what you have. Or send it back and find a mirrorless that you like more. Your money, your choice. We live in a golden age for photography, and the choice available is amazing. Basically, if you're buying a current model, 'serious' camera, you won't go wrong with whatever you choose as far as image quality goes. The rest is up to you and how you feel about the various other things that go into how you feel about your camera.
Don't worry about trying to future-proof yourself - as you learn and grow in photography, you'll find that you end up trying many different systems and components until you find what works best for you. For now, learn photography with what you have, worry about tomorrow tomorrow, because there's always going be something new coming along, and chasing around after 'stuff' is a sure way to never learn anything, except that camera gear costs a lot to buy and has almost zero resale value.
No worries.
