Been meaning to write this down... after some busy stuff at work... okay... here goes.
Mirrorless interchangeable lens system : As the name suggested, this type of interchangeable lens system do not have a mirror in it. Mirrorless system is normally smaller as compared to traditional camera. This is because, it didn't have a mirror and a large prism. The entire group of this camera type utilize the contrast measurement (detection) autofocus system only.
There are a couple of brands nowadays making the mirrorless system unlike a couple of years ago whereby Olympus pioneered the first one, following closely was the Panasonic... now Sony, Nikon, Pentax and Samsung had joined the market... both Sony and Samsung's mirrorless system featured larger APS-C sensor, while Nikon and Pentax took on a different approach by introducing smaller sensor that is basically a bit bigger than normal point and shoot camera.
Olympus : E-P series, E-PL series and E-PM series
Panasonic: GF series, GH series and soon GX series
Sony : NEX series
Samsung: NX series
Pentax: Pentax Q series
Nikon: 1 series (not to confuse with Canon's 1 series flagships)
The mirrorless camera is an alternative to traditional camera and image quality are getting better and better... especially for Sony and Samsung's who utilize the same type of sensor for cropped DSLR. I have not really tested the Samsung camera, but from what I understand... I don't like Samsung cameras - it is just personal opinion and by no mean a deterrence to people going to purchase one.
The main problem with the mirrorless was that I find that many of them had really aweful electronic viewfinder and some even lacked a dedicated viewfinder build in but sold as an accessory. This can be a problem though... when you fit the optional viewfinder, you cannot attach any other accessory to the camera. In bright sunlight, many of the live view (the big LCD at the rear of the camera) became difficult to see and so we need to utilize the viewfinder. However with the viewfinder attached... we cannot use an external flash, which mean we cannot do fill flash for some of our subjects. Although many would argue that many of the camera have build in system to control external flash wirelessly... but I still find that a hassle.
As for my recommendation on which mirrorless system to get... well... the first thing you must look into was what you intended to use the camera for? what is your photography preference/ style?
If alot of your shots are to be done in dark areas or you are extremely particular about noises (image term) you would want to consider larger sensor mirrorless systems such as Sony's NEX system. But my personal preference would keep me away from Sony, because I don't like the feel of that camera.
If you want very very fast autofocus... then you should go for the Olympus E-P system and also Panasonic's GF and GH systems. They boast to have the fastest autofocus system around... not sure if they are really able to compare with DSLR, but they are sure to be the fastest in the mirrorless system.
If you want insanely high frame rate (for sports and action photographers), then the choice is pretty clear... Sony's NEX and Nikon's 1 series (Nikon's 1 series also had a 62 points autofocus system which is very good for tracking purposes)
All in all, the mirrorless system make a very good and small camera that can be carried around with minimal efford. By far, only the Olympus and Panasonic offered the most number of lenses and what is great was that both can use each other's lenses... which mean those juicy Leica lens that are build for Panasonic can be used on Olympus with no modification, adapter etc. and also those nice Zuiko lens that are being used by Olympus' DSLR can be used on the m4/3 mirrorless cameras via a simple adapter and the lenses can still have AF, metering, etc. And that increases the number of lenses needed.
And yes... many would argue that you would not need that many lenses in your life... but it is good to know that there is the lenses there in case you need to rent them or purchase them... it give you a choice.
DSLT : This is Sony's innovation and up till now... only Sony builds it. The DSLT camera are branded under Alpha series which for all Sony camera user would know that that was their DSLR system. The DSLT cameras are of the same mount as the rest of the DSLR mount and so they can utilize the same lenses from Minolta, Sony and Carl Zeiss lens build specifically for Sony.
A short history of Sony's venturing into DSLR sector. Sony bought down Minolta which was essentially a camera maker and had make some really good SLR in the past. This is the first venture they have into the DSLR market. Previous attempt are not really that amazing... until the introduction of the A580 onward... which is quite good but still abit lacking in my personal opinion.
Sony had also came with an agreement to the German's Carl Zeiss lens manufacturer to create lenses with Autofocus capability for Sony's lenses (Sony and Sony alone). So in the market even when you purchase a Carl Zeiss lens with your brand of camera's mount, you would not receive a lens that could autofocus, so you will essentially be paying thousands of dollars for a fully manual lens.
Okay, now lets come back to the DSLT technology. This technology utilize a semi transparent and 'fix' mirror, which effectively removed any forms of 'reflex'. So it cannot be called a DSLR (for the lack of the reflex in the term). Meaning, the mirror would not flip up or down when you press the shutter button, unlike the traditional DSLR, whereby the mirror will flip up and allow light to fall on the surface of the sensor. For the DSLT technology, the mirror is semi-transparent, so the light will penetrate this mirror and fall on the sensor surface. However some amount of this light (around 30%) of it will be reflected off the mirror and channel to the AF sensor for autofocusing.
With this, the DSLT could utilize the faster phase-detection autofocus system... and without provision for moving mirror and also the lack of the large prism needed to channel light to the viewfinder and metering system. The overall size of the DSLT is smaller than the DSLR... however when compared to the size of the mirrorless system, it is still larger, because there is a need for a mirror and so the sensor had to be pushed back more.
So... it seemed like this system is the best... it used the faster autofocus system and was smaller and lighter than the traditional DSLR (of same classes) and because there is lesser mechanical movement of the camera (mirror reflexing) it should be more durable and also cheaper to manufacture so it should be cheaper for consumer pocket. Finally without the provision of flexing mirror, the camera can achieve insanely fast frame rate.
However, everything came with a price. The semi-transparent mirror would disallow full light to be falling on the sensor, and so only 70% of the light fall on the sensor, thus we are seeing around 30% light lost... which can be very undesirable for people who are shooting in darker places.
For me... that is a no go... but that is only me.
GXR system: Okay... here is a strange little system. When we say interchangeable lens system, we are looking at changing of lenses only. Ricoh came out with a new solution... They recognised that not everyone wanted a APS-C size sensor in their interchangeable lens system and might want it in future. So they came out with a modulars system whereby they allow user to change the lens + sensor modules easily. Their base system was just a 'skeleton' system that do not have anything except for the LCD live view, shutter button, control dails, and other feature buttons.
Then they came out with a couple of modules that include a lens fixed to an enclosed body that also housed a sensor. The user can simply attach one modules at a time to the camera back module easily. And as Ricoh claims it... since their lens are fixed to their camera module, there are less chances for dust to gathered in the camera... making the camera easier to maintain.
Another good point is that there is no mirror in the module too. So it was essentially a mirrorless system and without the flexing of camera, the shutter speed can be electronically controlled to achieve very very high frame rate.
One problem though... each module would not be cheap and also there are only three modules available at present moment. So for people who wanted to shoot telephoto... forget it.
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