2017 Roundup: Semi-Pro Interchangeable Lens Cameras $2000+

A99II have the same BSI 42MP sensor as A7Rii, with better AF, the AF sensitivity is down to -4EV @F2.8, which is 3 stops better than A7Rii -2EV@ F2.0.
The A99II also have dual card slots, EYE AF and a new menu system.
The buffer of A99ii is 3 times larger than A7Rii, the write card speed is 50% faster than A7Rii and the burst rate is 2.5 times faster than A7Rii. (12fps vs 5fps)
You can also review image immediately without waiting the buffer clear completely.

If you love the form factor of DSLR, you will love the form factor of A99II too. The better ergonomic, larger buttons, AF joysticks, comfortable grip.

The A99ii also have longer battery life than A7Rii, It build in 5-axis IBIS, Zeiss 85mm F1.4 ZA, Zeiss 135mm F1.8 ZA are both extremely sharp lenses and stabilized by 5-axis IBIS. A99II also have a new Front-End LSI, Hybrid PDAF (79+399), 79 Hybrid Cross AF, “S&Q” Video, fully articulated LCD, Spot metering link to AF point, highlight priority metering, Slog 3, 12fps, etc.

Since price is the number criteria for most folks who read DPR reviews, it seems appropriate here to categorize a camera on how much it costs. Quit griping about price and DPR may stop categorizing by price.

If categorizing by image quality, half the cameras on this list would be off it. Same would hold true for features.

The bias against Pentax K-1 here is very clear. When DP reviewers found fault with K-1 autofocus, however subjective or objective it was, I supported your findings.

But now you have started the trend of discussing cameras by price, and not exactly by feature! Clearly nothing objective here! And somewhere down here you are now referring to the old 2016 roundup for K-1. I just saw your <1200 bucks list for 2017. Where is the list for 1200-2000 for 2017, please? In any case, going by price is silly. You want to talk of features, fine. Please please please, stop being so cheesy about just the sticker price. So if Pentax K-1 should increase its price you would add it to the list?

Come on DP reviewers/editors! Some of your are Ph.Ds. Should your Ph.D. be compared (and valued) based on your college fees? An extreme example, I grant you.

If your goal was to review semi-pro full-frame cameras, then selecting an arbitrary price point that excludes the Pentax K-1 deprives us of the opportunity to see it compared to your other choices. Pentax has a reputation of performing above its price-point. You are effectively saying it is too cheap to be a semi-pro camera. I disagree.

Why draw a line at $2000? The Pentax K1 with a Canon/Nikon badge would be well over £2000. So what's not semi-pro about the K1? Must agree with others on anti Pentax bias in DPR. (Driven by amazon?)

I have read DPR since it was the product of the one British fellow. Sometimes one of his buddies helped him with a camera review. So I go way back. DPR is a marketing tool for Amazon to sell photographic equipment. They may have some articles with journalistic merit. The two are not exclusive of one another.
I'm tired of hearing about shutter shock with the D810. All of the high MP full frame cameras suffer from it, even the mirrorless ones. The D810 has been my go to camera for three years now. It gets the shots. The focus system is out of date and doesn't cover enough of the frame. That's true. Weak focus performance in low light - true. Nikon needs to fix this and put out a D820, for all of us who can't afford a D5. Until then my bag is the D810, and the D500 for action and reach.

Again no Pentax K-1? Another omission by dpreview of a fine Pentax product.

No Pentax K1? :,(

Regarding the review comment about the Canon 5D Mark IV, "Although its dynamic range still isn't best-in-class", I would point out that, according to DXOMark, by ISO 200, the Canon 5D Mark IV dynamic range (DR) is the same as the Nikon D810. By ISO 400 the Canon 5D Mark IV leads the Nikon D810, and continues to lead in DR through all higher-sensitivity ISOs.

The Canon 5D Mark IV leads in high-ISO dynamic range, and in SNR 18% for that matter, where it counts. It would be appreciated if DPReview would accurately represent the facts. (Exposure Latitude and ISO Invariance are interesting, but not representative of Dynamic Range by itself.)

In short, the Canon dynamic range ranks with the best sensors out there for High-ISOs (along with the Sony a7R II).

This is not a slam against the Nikon D810, which is an extremely well designed camera, nor is it a slam against Nikon in general. I own lots of Nikon SLR and dSLR bodies, and truly enjoy and appreciate them as fine cameras.

It is remarkable that the 5Div still seems to be the best allrounder. It doesn't win any category but it can do everything pretty well. Of course it has flaws but there is no dealbreaker as there is with others and the dual pixel autofocus is a unique thing.

D750: no 4K which is a no go these days, no usable video AF
A99ii: poor lens support and unreliable AF
a7rII: slow AF and few lenses
...
They all have a fatal flaw

After working with photography for a long period, and now teaching photograpy, I don't care much about categories like "high end", "semi pro" etc. I have met photographers at all levels using different brands. From my point of view, photography is more about camera technique than camera model and system.

When buying into a system, I would not say: Buy the "best specs" or "best i test" or what your heroes use. I would rather ask to took closely into what their photography is about, and then go for a system that covers their needs. Many will find the emotional part the most important: Do I like the system, and will the system suit my needs for the future?

Cameras are tools that need to be operated with skills and knowledge exceeding shutter speed, aperture, ISO and autofocus settings to get results results that satisfies the photographer and the public, no matter if the goal is sharing pictures on Facebook, attending a camera club, making exhibitions, earning for a living, etc.

So the real name is "35mm Semi Pro ILC" - I'll be waiting for the "Non-35mm Semi Pro ILC" round-up - except that it will probably be called "Advanced Amateur" ... still the so called "Full Frame " is good enough for professional format snobbery continues in the digital age.

The brou-ha-ha is because these are semi-enthusiast cameras

I get all the hoopla about the A7RII. I do............but:
I have shot for many years...and I think for a seasoned photographer...the Canon 5D Mark IV is just so more well-rounded as a photographer's tool. It's not a computer. Its a camera. (oh...I shoot still exclusively and that effects my take here as I immediately disable the video. :-)). Actually it is larger and more balanced with all of the fast-glass lenses that I use. No hokey adapters (never for me), no slow focusing. The Canon has a far better native lens selection from multiple manufacturers and it just responds well to my photographer's hands and mental needs. The file size is big enough...and I can process the images quickly and store them in less space.

What is this whining about "pro" or "semi-pro"? Nikon and Canon always classified their cameras this way, and it seems plausible to use the same terminology for DPReview.

Yes, there are arguments to classify cameras in another way, but there will probably never be a unequivocal classification.

In which universe are a 5D Mk. IV, a D810 or a a7R II 'semi-pro'?! If we only counted D5, 1Dx II and medium-format as 'pro', the worldwide population of professional photographers would suddenly drop by, what ... 90%?

I find funny that everyone that hadn't seen his own camera on the list are just bashing dpreview staff and asking to be included, but with not a single argument of why the camera they promote would be better at the "semo-pro" segment than any of the ones choosen by the staff.

Take a moment to check the cameras that were choosen, the camera capabilities and the systems were this cameras are included (lenses, flash, triggers and rest of accesories) and then you will probably understand why this cameras were included and some others were left out of the semi pro selection. There are a plenty of cameras that can provide great results, but not every camera will met the requirements taking account the camera itself and the system.

I have been selling prints up to 24x36" of my Nature/fine art photography part-time since the early 1980's. My clients include the general public and magazines. My main priorities include light and small equipment (lots of walking around also in heavy weather), a good viewfinder and weatherization. I don't use very long telephoto lenses, don't do video but always work with 2 bodies. I believe that there are many advanced photographers with whom I share these needs. I found that Pentax gear gives me what I need, and a lot more, for competitive prices. 2 x K70 bodies now cost $1,200 and there is a good selection of weatherized lenses. The same can be said for my very portable 2 x EM5II bodies and M43 lenses. Even the 16MP of the EM5II are enough for my enlargements and absolutely acceptable for magazines. If needed, the 24MP of the Pentax go even further. I am surprised to see that such gear, with its remarkable price/quality ratio, is not represented in this and other similar articles.

No Fuji (X-T2, X-Pro 2)? No Panasonic (GH5)? No Pentax (K1, 645Z)? No Olympus (OM-D E-M1ii)? Crappy list, guys.

Why are you calling these "semi" pro ? Many qualify as Pro

Did you invent a new class in the middle of picking your best in Semi-Pro class? Is being the top pick of the new "Money is No Object" class a good thing or a bad thing? Does that mean the A7RII is the most "Money is No Object" of the bunch. It does hold together a little thematically with picking the cheapest "Lump-O-Plastic" as the best I suppose.
Suggested new classification: "They're all just disposable consumer electronics now" class. Pick least expensive = done. :^)

Nikon is best, fully agreed.

Looking at your overview video on the D750, I see a rather major error - you say that its chassis is mainly magnesium alloy. No, it isn't - it is Sereebo carbon loaded polymer in a monocoque construction (which technically means it doesn't have a chassis). It's the case than none of the DSLRs here, Canon or Nikon, has a magnesium alloy chassis, they are all polymer.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

The Best Semi-Pro Interchangeable Lens Camera: Pentax K1

D750 -- excellent recommendation, reasonable price.

In terms of camera only - 5d IV. In terms of system 5d IV.
This web site totally forget about Canon.

I`m Nikon guy. But D750 is less capable than 5d IV in eny terms.
Agree with the A7R2.

Communication is a very difficult matter!
Especially if you try to make a living out of it.
More specifically if you find it harsh to explain even to yourself the meaning of what you claim/propose...
If u cannot make clear the parameters of what you want to compare.
If the side parameters of what you compare are mixed with the main ones just "because"...
Then you 're ending up in an article because of which the vast majority of readers looking at you rather suspiciously. And the editors are posting in less than 24 hours, 30 replies apologizing or clarifying...
And readers write bad bad things about you...
Don't you feel ashamed DPR..?
(It is the third time, or fourth, in less than 18 months you received a barrage of bad critics, sheer masochism cannot stand as an excuse any more, I guess)...

What the article DOES indicate indirectly is that a smaller than FF sensor is not up to semi-pro let alone pro standards. Sigh...well have fun.

Pointless selection of only four campanies, specifications for semi-pro not clear, and no news added to old reviews. Recycled articles may add clicks to the homapge, but ultimately they belong in the receycle bin.
At some point one may ask what kind of trip Pentax and others have to pay dpreview for any kind of serious coverage. Sony A9 is all over with pre-release stories - where is Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Sigma i this article? Feel free to define whatever you want as semi-pro, pro, amateur dpreview, your authority is on the brink here with popular review compilations like this one.

A very sub-professional rehash of an 11 month old article about a mere subset of what might be considered to be be 'semi-pro' cameras. As many others have said - Pentax K-1?

"Due to the fuzzy line between semi-pro and pro, we've made the decision to not include very high-end full-frame...." A very fuzzy set of exclusions therefore.

S.

Why isn't the Pentax K-1 included?

Why are the comments from 11 months ago attached to this round-up?

Because you expect people to say the same again?

I mean, when the contents are recycled.--

This article wins the Semi-Pro category in photo articles.

Another utterly pointless and arbitrary interpretation of a camera category label which never was all to meaningful in the first place—purely for clicks. Which fits to the Amazonization of dpreview, of course.

"Semi" is such a buzz word today that I wouldn't be surprised to find a "Semi-Amateur" and "Semi-Novice" category someday... with all the layers upon layers of spread-out and thinned-down gelded features of practically the same cameras over and over and over again...

.

The "semi pro" categorization is somewhat awkward. If a professional shoots fashion in studio, he won't choose a the Nikon D5 over the D810. Categories should be defined respect to the PURPOSE...

So the 7D ii and the D500 don't count as semi pro?

What a DUMB and useless article! Enough said. You guys must be getting desperate! Semi-pro?

I think they should drop the SEMI label.. I know plenty of high end NY photographers making 6 figure salaries using these cameras.. It be funny if they tell the customers there using SEMI PRO GEAR.. Whats considered pro 1dx , D5, isn't the Iq of lesser quality.. Oh is it DP review reality, or real working photographers ... Like to see you guys tell people they have semi pro camera when they spent $3000..