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| Panasonic TZ80 (ZS60) This photo was made with a consumer travel zoom at the long end of the zoom range. I include it here to make the point that good enough photos can be made even with models from near the bottom of the price point range. I take the view that many high end models are simply overkill for the majority of photographers, even enthusiasts. |
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that there have been no posts here since October. I have been unwell with several problems requiring surgery. I am now on the mend with plans for more posts over the coming weeks.
The silly season is upon us again with camera review sites handing out awards in profusion like sports day at junior school where all shall have prizes.
In 2014 I gave the COTY award to the Panasonic FZ1000because it enabled me to dispense with the tedium and cost of buying, carrying and changing lenses.
Since then the FZ1000 has proven its worth in our family with several copies of the camera travelling to the Arctic ocean North of Spitsbergen, Antarctica, Iceland, Europe, South America and many locations in Australia including sandy deserts. The cameras have functioned perfectly in all conditions and allowed us to make many memorable records of our travels and family life.
The camera works well indoors and outdoors and gives good results across the entire zoom range. With some expertise in Adobe Camera Raw ISO sensitivity settings up to 12800 can be used with decent results.
Each year Digital Photography Review publishes a series of roundups with “What camera should I buy” recommendations.
This year (2016) in the ‘Enthusiast Long Zoom’ category their recommendation was………..yes, you guessed it: the Panasonic FZ1000.
No doubt this recommendation was influenced by the fact that the FZ1000 is still in production and available at a much more attractive price point than the more recently introduced Sony RX10(3) and Panasonic FZ2000 models, while offering most of the features and performance of both.
In 2015 I did not make a COTY award, there being in my view no camera which offered a game changing contribution to the camera genre.
This year (2016) camera sales have declined again for the 6th year in a row with all categories being adversely affected.
Presumably this has led to a reduction in research and development budgets as the manufacturers scramble for survival. So it is perhaps not surprising that again we see a slow rate of technological development.
The consequence of this is a paucity of models which even attempt to push the product development envelope.
Let us review the categories:
There are two types of interchangeable lens camera the DSLR and the MILC.
If one were a Nikon user with a bag full of expensive lenses then I guess the D500 might be the camera of the year.
But the DSLR has a genre really has nowhere to go in terms of evolution so will never get a COTY award from me.
The Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens (MILC) category does have room for further evolution but the pace of this has been frustratingly slow in recent years.
For the enthusiast owner of a bag full of high spec Olympus M43 lenses the EM1 (2) might be camera of the year. But this model is really just fixing deficiencies of the 3 year old original EM1 and does little to develop the MILC genre. For instance it appears to have a standard mechanical focal plane shutter, albeit one designed to reduce the risk of shutter shock.
If I were still interested in interchangeable lens cameras, I would find the Panasonic G80 a more appealing offering with most of the performance of the EM1(2) at 40% of the price.
In the fixed lens category we can start with the enthusiast compacts.
In 2012 the original Sony RX100 really was a groundbreaking product, setting a new standard for image quality in a very small package. Since then Panasonic, Canon and Sony itself have jumped on the “one inch” sensor bandwagon with a series of models which at best provide small incremental improvements to the original. There is nothing wrong with that but none of them really stands out as COTY material.
Canon’s offerings have been relentlessly half baked, mediocre things. Canon was once the industry innovator, alas no longer.
Sony’s updates of the original RX100 are good cameras in the technological sense but have many ergonomic deficiencies and each advances the genre such a small amount that one must regard the exercise as primarily one of marketing.
Panasonic’s recent offerings are ergonomically inconsistent with the FZ2000 offering a very good user interface but the LX10 having numerous designed-in operational deficiencies such as no handle, slippery front, no EVF, front ring easily bumped in error, poor function allocation to rear dial, antiquated auto ISO algorithm and more.
Indeed there is much room for improvement in the ergonomics of all these small cameras and I will be publishing several posts about this soon.
Nikon appears to be missing in action, or inaction, having announced the DL series almost a year ago but thus far having failed to produce the goods.
In the enthusiast long zoom category we have the Sony RX10(3) and Panasonic FZ2000.
If the RX10(3) had the high speed sensor and continuous AF from the RX100(5), a better user interface and better ergonomics it might have been a contender for COTY.
The FZ2000 is not much of a step up from the FZ1000 for stills photography and I have now seen two reports of lack of sharpness from the lens.
The year also saw introduction or at least announcement of relatively compact medium format models from Hasselblad and Fuji. These cameras could be seen as the digital equivalent of rangefinder medium format cameras of the film era.
I regard these cameras as status symbols like Lamborghinis at the motor show. Some wealthy enthusiasts will buy them and proclaim themselves well pleased with their own wisdom. I have no problem with that but I doubt that anybody actually needs one of these cameras.
Some years ago I owned and extensively used a Mamiya 7 medium format film camera over a period of 6 years. This camera had among the best lenses available in medium format in its day and was built to a high standard.
When I review my scans of the medium format negatives from the Mamiya 7 I rate them about equal to or offering a bit less image information than my Sony RX100(4). Seriously. Today’s best digital compacts are at least as good as the best medium format in the days of film.
So there you have it. No COTY award from Camera Ergonomics again this year.
In the meantime I am holding on to my trusty Panasonic FZ1000 and my Sony RX100(4) when I want a compact. The RX100(4) is not a particularly pleasurable camera to hold or operate but it works well, operates efficiently and makes surprisingly good pictures indoors and outdoors.