(commentary)
If we’re to believe B&H’s “most wished for gear” list (derived from people’s saved Wish Lists in their B&H account), we have the following interesting set of photographic gear to consider:
- 1 crop sensor DSLR (Canon 7DII)
- 2 full frame DSLRs (Nikon D750 and Nikon D810)
- 1 full frame mirrorless camera (Sony A7s)
- 1 crop sensor mirrorless camera (Panasonic GH4)
- 3 lenses (Canon 24-70mm f/2.8, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6)
Well, I can’t disagree with those choices. They’re all excellent products. But they’re also an interesting commentary on the current market. The two mirrorless cameras are both speciality ones: low-light wizard and a 4K video beast. The DSLRs outnumber them, and those DSLRs are what I’d call “workhorses.”
To a large degree, we’ve been seeing the niche-i-fication of cameras. Nikon has certainly selected FX cameras as their focus lately, and sure enough there are two of their best sitting on that list. Canon continues to update past winners, and sure enough, there’s one of those on the list. Sony and Panasonic (and others) keep poking at various less solved problems not served well by the duopoly, and sure enough there’s two of those niches showing up on this year’s list.
One interesting point that came to mind in seeing this list: if you owned all those cameras, what couldn’t you do photographically? Low light, check. High dynamic range, check. Large pixel count, check. 4K video, check. Uncompressed video, check. Fast fps, check. Additional reach, check. So, make the camera makers happy this Christmas and buy one of each ;~).
Just kidding. But I find it interesting that the wish list essentially fills out a photographer's “best possible” needs. Maybe we are wishing for the right things.
