Results of 2024: cameras

The first thought when approaching the final material on cameras after a two-year pause was to make an article immediately based on the results of three years. But the photographic equipment industry is not exactly in stasis, but it is not developing too rapidly – and most of the achievements and cameras of 2021 remain more than relevant today. Although some trends have undoubtedly strengthened, while others are just emerging.

I would like to say right away that we will not be making a rating of the best cameras of the past year as such – without constant testing practice, this seems incorrect to me.

⇡#There are no more official cameras

Let’s start with the obvious and not at all new. The smartphone market, for example, was shaken by sanctions, but, at first glance, the change was not that significant – thanks to the dominance of Chinese products. But with cameras, the same thing happened, plus or minus, as with the hardware market – here, essentially, only “gray” imports are possible, because almost all camera manufacturers are Japanese companies, maximally compliant in terms of sanctions.

Fujifilm GFX 100S II

So finding a camera or optics today is not difficult (everything is available in large chain stores, including), but this equipment, which is already very expensive, is already quite outrageously expensive due to the combination of all factors. There are also problems with spare parts, although there is some progress here. With this, let’s move on from internal and sad news that is not news at all to summing up the technological results of the year.

⇡#DSLRs are finally gone, but no one is sad

Let’s just record for history – exactly zero new digital SLR cameras were released in 2024. The era that we have seen off for a long time is finally over.

Panasonic ZS99

It’s ironic that compact cameras that were supposed to be killed by smartphones still come out from time to time. For example, Panasonic released its advanced point-and-shoot camera ZS family. Ricoh/Pentax (G900 II/WG-8) also released rugged compact cameras.

Well, mirrorless cameras are becoming more and more expensive (not only in countries with weak currencies and strong inflation, this is a global trend), but at the same time they are only becoming more popular.

⇡#Professional mirrorless cameras are the absolute norm

Actually a continuation of the previous point. There has been no talk for a long time that mirrorless cameras are a more compact option in relation to DSLRs (except on particularly mossy forums). But companies needed to make their top-level offers in order to finally replace the conventional Canon EOS 1D or license plate Nikon Dx.

Nikon released its Z9 back in that same blessed 2021 (and we’ll talk about it a little later), Sony presented its Alpha 1 at the same time, but even a little earlier. Canon closed the gestalt only now, although it should have been back in 2022, but the development was delayed.

Canon EOS R1

The Canon EOS R1 looks and feels like a full-fledged “old school” flagship camera – in fact, in the manner of the Nikon Z9. It received a 24.2-megapixel back-illuminated sensor and a very powerful set of data processing systems: Digic Accelerator processors paired with Digic X, AI-assisted autofocus, a hefty OLED viewfinder with a resolution of almost 10 million pixels, and so on. Shooting speed is up to 40 frames per second in RAW+JPEG format.

Sony Alpha 1 II

Sony also released its flagship camera – but this is an update to Alpha 1. The matrix is ​​the same (50.1 megapixels), but the processor is new, with capabilities based on artificial intelligence, which improves object recognition and autofocus. The shooting speed is lower than that of the Canon EOS R1 – 30 frames per second; it is logical considering the sensor with a resolution twice as high.

Both new products are very expensive: EOS R1 – $6,299, Alpha 1 II – $6,500.

⇡#Artificial intelligence is now in cameras

The really big innovation in cameras debuted last year. We are, of course, talking about the global shutter in the Sony a9 III, which many immediately proclaimed to be the messiah, allowing you to completely forget about the effects of the “floating shutter” when using traditional line-by-line reading and capable of throwing the mechanical shutter into the trash at once. Let me remind you that this technology allows you to read the image from all the pixels of the matrix simultaneously, and not line by line.

But for now it suffers from childhood illnesses, such as increased noise levels and reduced dynamic range at high ISOs. Actually, Sony, a pioneer in this matter, knows this very well – we did not see a global shutter, for example, on the flagship, Sony Alpha 1 II.

Sony a9 III

As for 2024 specifically, there were no global shutdowns. Let’s just record the massive mention of artificial intelligence in the conversation of brands about their cameras. This is partly, of course, marketing; AI, in fact, at the current stage does not have that much influence on shooting – cameras are designed quite conservatively. But the built-in neural processor is already influencing autofocus, and then, undoubtedly, elements of computational photography will be used when shooting to improve the result.

Nikon Z50 II

In the meantime, “smartphone” elements are penetrating cameras in a different way – like a set of various filters for shooting directly on social networks, without processing. Moreover, in some cases, these filters are even placed on a special key (see Nikon Z50 II).

Nikon Z6 III

It’s also worth mentioning the “partially multilayer matrix” technology used in the high-end semi-professional camera Nikon Z6 III. What is meant by this is, frankly speaking, unclear. The fully multi-layer sensor technology itself is already used in the Nikon Z8 and Nikon Z9, and it has significantly increased the speed of reading data from the sensor. Here this speed has also increased – 3.5 times compared to the previous generation. But it’s still very interesting, what does “partiality” consist of?

⇡#Cameras have a “longer tail”

And now something important about the 2021 camera already mentioned twice here – Nikon Z9. In any case, serious cameras are used for a long time and become obsolete very slowly – technologies in this area are not updated very quickly. But the increasing importance of image processors leads to new consequences – and not the ones that you might think about right off the bat. No, cameras with new processors do not replace cameras with old ones. It’s just that firmware becomes much more important!

Nikon Z9

Nikon Z9 is the clearest example of this process. Just six months after its release, firmware 2.0 appeared, which enabled the camera to shoot 12-bit RAW video in 8K at 60 frames per second, take photos before you press the shutter button, changed the appearance of the video shooting screen, and added 20 new autofocus presets and so on (this is not a complete list of innovations). And at the same time it led to a patent dispute with the manufacturer of professional film equipment RED… which recently ended with Nikon buying this same RED.

Camera RED

And the firmware continues to be updated, removing errors and continuously adding new functions (the fifth iteration is now available), I suggest you familiarize yourself with the endless list of improvements on the official Nikon website.

A bit of a strange policy for a manufacturer of equipment (why buy new if the old one is constantly being improved?), but a fact is a fact – and this fact somehow reconciles with the continuously growing (and long-standing in space) prices for serious photographic equipment.

⇡#Cameras are now like turntables

In principle, this process did not begin yesterday, but it reached almost absurdity already in 2024. Cameras have ceased to be consumer goods, displaced from this area by smartphones. But they are not in a purely professional sphere either – a niche is open to them not so much for products of prestigious consumption or goods for creative expression, but rather for things that emphasize the special status of the buyer. Not an ordinary buyer, but a retroman.

Fujifilm X100 VI

This partly includes compact digital cameras that are still not completely dying (for those who are used to “as in the 2000s”), and disciplined, with a strong retro-reflex camera, but at the same time beautiful and modern cameras like the Fujifilm X100 VI (this camera with a non-replaceable “ “street” optics became a real hit this year, despite the price of $1,600 – let me remind you that the first version at one time cost about a thousand dollars). And “ordinary” cameras like Nikon Z f, attractive with their retro design. And cameras with fast printing functions (mostly Fujifilm INSTAX) that hold their unique niche. But, most importantly, film cameras.

Pentax 17

I counted at least 9 (nine!) new film cameras released in 2024, not including those same INSTAX – and the list is not only “toy” Lomo cameras. Pentax (Pentax 17), Rollei (more precisely, the company Mint Camera, which bought the legendary but long-defunct brand), and Kodak (here, however, is a video camera – as you understand, this is a revived Super 8) released their new film camera. Leica regularly releases new film cameras – and the German company, which was preparing to leave the scene ten years ago, is feeling just great in the wake of this retromania!

It seems a little inappropriate to use this word about the entire photographic equipment industry – but, as we see, smartphones did not kill it. All the same companies in their places continue to develop their wonderful cameras (with the exception of Olympus, although from time to time it releases something under the OM-System brand), including with an eye on the most current trends.