The difference between a dslr and a mirrorless camera,which is better and why?
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The DSLR came first, back when film was the normal thing to use. To take a photograph, you want to see what’s the result going to be like. So a [DSLR has a mirror](http://www.pixelrajeev.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DSLR-Construction2.jpg) sitting just in front of the frame. When the mirror is down it reflects the image into the viewfinder. When you take a picture, the mirror is pulled up, and the same image goes on the film.
The downside of a DSLR is that you need a mirror. It takes space, it takes time to move it, it has weight, and it causes a small amount of vibration when it moves.
That it takes space imposes some restrictions on the optics of the camera — you can’t put a lens right against the sensor because the mirror is there, and this makes constructing good wide angle lenses more difficult.
Today it’s fair to say that DSLRs are obsolete, and mirrorless is the technically superior way to go forward. It’s a system originally made for film cameras, and persisted because using the sensor for preview worked less than ideally at the start. Good screens cost money, and electronic viewfinders were very bad at the beginning. These days that’s been fixed and now a mirror is more of a technical impediment.
DSLRs still get better battery life because the mirror in the down position doesn’t use any power, so you can look through the viewfinder all day if you like. But you can always get more batteries, and still have a lighter, smaller camera.
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