Once again this year, the knockon effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact on many industries that have been hit by supply-chain issues, illness-related staffing shortages – sometimes necessitating total shutdowns – and various other logistical challenges. To the mix in 2022 has been added the increases in fuel costs arising out of the on-going war in Ukraine, which has had significant ramifications for transport costs and, consequently, a huge range of goods and services have become a lot more expensive. All this has no doubt shaped what the last year has looked like for the photo industry… which is to say, just a little bit unusual.
With just a couple of exceptions, all the new cameras released during our period of eligibility have been either high-end or professional. The exceptions are the Canon EOS R10 and the Nikon Z 30… and really the R10 can be classified as an enthusiastlevel camera as it's a lot more than an entry-point model. Will we ever see such a thing again? Certainly with the transition from DSLR to mirrorless there has been a general move upmarket, especially with the emphasis on the full-frame sensor which essentially precludes a “budget” model. But even with the cropped sensor systems – i.e. Micro Four Thirds and APS-C – all the recent arrivals have been top-end, with price tags to match. This is no doubt part of a concerted effort to sell the benefits of the cropped sensor systems to professionals especially in the sports, action and wildlife areas, as well as video-makers in general – but also symptomatic of a market that's trying to put more distance between ‘real’ cameras and smartphones. Of course, smartphones are continuing to get smarter in terms of their photography and video capabilities, so this may be a strategy with limited effectiveness over time, especially if the economic situation makes affordability more of a critical factor in buying decisions.
Right now, not only do the camera makers want to convert DSLR users – of which there are still a huge number – but in most cases they also want to convince them to spend more in the process and move up to something with more features and a higher spec. It's likely you'd be doing this anyway even if mirrorless hadn't happened, but there are additional considerations here, such as lenses, so making the switch isn't quite as straightforward as upgrading your camera body.
Regardless of the whys and wherefores, this has been a champagne year for great cameras – we've already mentioned the EOS R10, but also the R7 and the flagship R3, Fujifilm X-FI2S and X-FI2, Nikon Z 9, Panasonic Lumix GH6, Leica M11, Sony A7 IV and OM System OM-1. That's a starstudded line-up by any measure, with the cropped sensor formats easily holding their own against the full-frame heavy hitters. It certainly presented some challenges when it came to judging in the Enthusiast and Professional categories, prompting the decision – as we did last year with the lens categories – to distinguish between the cropped sensor and full-frame cameras. This year, we're only doing this for the Professional category, but down the track it may also be necessary for the Enthusiast category too (however, as just discussed, whether there will ever by a budget-priced full-frame mirrorless camera is debatable).
As has been happening over the last few years, the lens categories continue to be very hotly contested as everybody rushes to expand their mirrorless systems. Canon and Nikon have been particularly impressive here, especially as – also pertinent to the opening discussion here – they have both been delivering more affordably priced lenses as well as premium models. Both Sony and Fujifilm have reached the stage where they're starting to upgrade their earlier lenses, often with revised optical
