Honestly, would you buy ...

jwilliams wrote:

Honestly, would you buy an R, RP or R6 over the new Nikon Z5 camera if primarily a stills shooter with no existing camera gear or brand loyalty?

R would be a maybe, RP would be a no, R6 would be a definitely for me.

I have a hard time seeing why one would spend the extra money on the R or R6. Is the RP cheaper enough to forgo IBIS, AF joystick, 2 card slots, and better EVF?

The Nikon is a great competitor for the R and RP, but IMO it doesn’t touch the R6.  Nikons af hasn’t been great and the R6 looks to be incredible.  It’s also substantially faster.  Very different cameras IMO

Now let's assume one is looking at this starting from scratch.

I own an R and RP. Love them both, but this Z5 seems like the perfect balance of capabilities and pricing. IBIS which both the R & RP lack. Better EVF than the RP. AF joystick and 2 card slots which are missing on the R/RP. Considerably cheaper than a R6 and similarly specified for stills.

For some it will be, no doubt

It seems to me the R6 either has to come down in price drastically or Canon has to update the RP to compete.

it will come down some to around $2000 at some point, but it’s in a different league than the Z5.   I agree on the RP though

Regardless, this has to be good from a camera buyers perspective as pricing on the lower/middle range has to get more competitive. Surely Sony will have to come out with a lower priced model and not just sell older models cheaper.

they wouldn’t have to necessarily.  When an A7iv comes out, they could keep selling the A7iii which is still better than the Z5.

So, put all loyalty aside and look from the perspective of a first time buyer.