DPReview TV: The best and worst cameras and lenses of 2022

Digital Camera website (associated with its well known magazine), put out a July 2022 review from Mike Harris, giving the Z30 a 4 out of 5 review. Also in their published charts of that review, compared Z30 to Sony ZV-E10 and Canon M50ii, and rank the Nikon Z30 ahead in photo image quality over those 2 other cameras (aps-c Sony ZV-E10, Canon m50ii) for 1. lower noise over 3200 iso and 2. higher dynamic range. Part is due to lower noise in high ISO of a 20mp sensor beating 24mp apsc sensors. The other part is Nikon is well known for dynamic range and color science. Obviously I own a couple of Nikon cameras. (Fuji apsc did very well in their review also).

Thankfully the conclusions are now available in the written format.

Cheers!

The 70-200mm F2.8 GM II was released in October 2021, by the way.

Thanks Richard. Totally valid point.

@thx1138

"Giving an award to an unreleased camera with criminally poor rolling shutter is a joke"

The camera HAS been released and IS available https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Sony%20A7rV&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

I find your comments on the poor rolling shutter (which you made several times elsewhere) hyperbolic to be honest, especially with the 'criminal' adjective that you've used here.

You own an A9 as well as an A7rIII according to your gear list, so presumably you know the difference between a camera designed to be used primarily with electronic shutter and one where you can't just use the electronic shutter as a mechanical substitute willy nilly.

The A7V probably has the best IQ of an FF camera on the market, along with good handling and improved AF and IBIS. That's why it won. No it's not good for whip pans and silent shooting of moving subjects. As a 61mp camera thinking it should be seems to me the domain of the 'spec jockeys' you disparage.

Do you feel better now?

As they said the worst camera of the year was the Nikon Z30. It wasn't the Olympus OM-5 or the Pentax. They just said those two cameras had not improved much.

You can't really call a product that cannot outdo its predecessor "good".

Nobody is forcing you to watch this video, mind you.

Does the rose bowl count?

Mods should delete this sort of nonsense

@TomCody

Well that could apply to literally Half of the posts ever made on DPR comment sections and Forums. So what is really your point? Doesn't fit your narrative?

I recently watched the FroKnows video, "CANON, SONY or NIKON...What PRO’S Use"

Jared did an in-depth coverage of What pro photographers do at a Pro Game. Maybe you should check that out instead of blowing smoke my way. Nah, that's too much to ask about folks not really wanting to look at actual Photography. Along with what the Pros deal with daily plus why we might want some of the latest Gear Upgrades.

sport photographers are such a small part of pro photographers....

Kandid, they explained it in the video, they didn't have the chance to test a production model of that lens, so maybe next year!

@gfrensen
Indeed I heard that - however some of them have been out for quite a while now (longer than the new Sony) so I would wonder why not - anyhow if they had looked at an early model then I’m sure that would be sufficient - it has for others to pass their opinion…👍

@Kandid

Nikon is constantly having production problems, even with normal lenses/bodies, so they put themselves out of the running.

And the others aren’t ❓

ask tinmanlee why he has not also ordered the 600mm nikon z mount ,oh yeah because he still waiting for his 400mm f2,8 z mount since release ? yes others do probably have similar issues for exotic glass ,i do not think nikon is high tier production like sony or canon.i guess most will accept the burden and wait for quality.

It sounded from the video that they were also looking for more “within reach” gear and not just the most expensive stuff on the market.

I think those lenses might be too niche for awards? 24-70 f2.8 are very popular lenses in general, and alot of people own one.

Well in fairness it they do call the category ’Best lens’ not ‘Best lens within certain parameters’. Also at over £2000 the chosen lens is hardly bargain basement…..

The category is ‘Best Lens’ not ‘Best selling lens’…..l

I'd have to agree with Kandid on this one: those Nikon super tele's are all unique and innovative.

The 24-70 GM II is a great lens, but it's still not as groundbreaking as those Nikon super tele's and as someone else noted, one can get world class 24-70's from the other brands as well. That 24-70 just doesn't stand out as much as those Nikon lenses do.

The Nikon lenses have little competition because no one else makes anything like them! That's the point! They stand out. They are innovative.

The Sony 24-70 GM II is a great lens, as noted...but the other competitors offer very similar products just as good. And it really doesn't matter, because these awards are only for lenses released this year and so the Sony is not being said to be better than other 24-70's because they were not released this year.

But the Nikon super tele's are all unique and innovative for what they do. And super tele's are important to the world of photography, as more and more those who use dedicated cameras are birders/wildlife shooters. With smartphones getting better and better, and basically covering the 24-70 focal range, it may come to a point where it's the amateur BIF/wildlife crowd that largely keeps dedicated camera companies going.

I agree with TRU here but not I’m afraid with Paul Cool. I fear that it is not correct to state that there is not much competition for these new Nikon tele primes. I would say that there is at least as much competition in this area as in the 24-70 arena. These new Nikons are effectively in competition with all lenses which attempt to do the same job ie any telephoto lenses usable for sport action or wildlife - crikey even Nikon produces lots of alternatives in various mounts without touching the other brands….

A few years from now, that Sony 24-70 will not stand out; it will be another great 24-70 among the other great ones by competitors. No one will think of it like, wow, that was a lens of the year...that was something special.

But those Nikon super tele primes...unless Canon and/or Sony answer...will still be thought of as something unique and innovative in the market place. They will still be thought of as something special.

And if Canon and/or Sony answer...then Nikon will be seen as the innovator that started the trend and thus those lenses will still be seen as something special.

IMHO, that 800 PF alone deserves an award...never before have BIF/wildlife shooters had an 800 lens that good, and that small and for what it is, that inexpensive. It is a game changer. And again that lens will still stand out for years.

Oh please.

Nikon would be considered the innovator just like you accept Sony was the innovator with high performance mirrorless cameras.

You don’t think people actually believe the stuff you wrote, do you?

Nikon is making some interesting lenses. So is Sony. So is canon, I mean Tamron.

@MikeRan
I think TRU is.correct here and while I agree the Sony is an excellent lens it is a little perverse not to agree that Nikon have been real pioneers with their new telephoto lens selection. Go on I’ll bite - do please explain the Tamron/Canon comment ❓

Perhaps another way of thinking about it, and echoing Paul Cools comment - a very good nay excellent 24-70 f2.8 will not temp me away from other brands as they already have very good nay excellent versions of this lens in native form. I (and I think others) WOULD be tempted to switch to Nikon for those unique lenses - if interested in that sort of photography. (On safari with a couple of Z9, Z100-400 plus Z600 f4 t/c seems perfect to me 😊)

Depends where you are (and if you want to photograph the beautiful birds also). If you are in a private park in S Africa or Kenya then the animals will almost sit on the bonnet - 600mm not so necessary. If you are in say the Serengeti where you are not allowed off road - or indeed the surrounding NP - then 600mm can be essential. I was with a guy in March in Ndutu who was using a Z9, F600 f4, 1.4tc and shooting on crop and it was barely enough at times. My 7D2 100-400L2 with 1.4tc was doing its best 😬😊. If you find that you are too cramped to shoot you are on the wrong tour (imho). Best option is a reputable photo tour - less luxe, more sitting watching animals/birds, more space to take photos.

I'll drink to that!

It's potential pitfalls. There's also the potential to have a lot of fun

I grew up in a very religious area where alcohol was super taboo. It's funny how the kids who were sheltered, whose parents protected them from content such as this, wound up being the worst drinkers/druggies while those of us who were taught that alcohol is often a part of responsible adult lives.. learned it's OK to stop at two margaritas.

I like that Chris and Jordan get silly once a year :-)

Drinking. Oh my.

Mr Bolton, I think you'll find that old cliche doesn't stand scrutiny...but this probably isn't the place for such discussions..

This video teaches zero about photography. It’s strictly a gear video. If you’re trying to teach him photography you can safely skip this one.

@Eric Hensel you didn't grow up in 1970s and '80s Salt Lake City, Utah.

Puritanism still lives. Who woulda thought.

You missed Prohibition by a few years.

"you didn't grow up in 1970s and '80s Salt Lake City, Utah."

I didn't, but I had classmates, and later students, who did. Experience tells me that while Mr. Bolton's generalization isn't universally true (nor did he make such a claim), things become "cliche" for a reason. I observe that the harder you try to keep them back on the farm, the more determined they are to make up for lost time when they get to NYU.

Raise children for an adult world. Don't keep 'em in a barrel.

The word is "brake," not "break."

It’s pretty clear from the description that drinking is involved.

You could simply choose not to watch it, based on that information.

jaberg and Bolton -I'm in general agreement with your points. My contention involves addiction, especially long-term --which respects no borders, and is different issue than the kid-in-a-candy-store binging that comes from too much repression. BTW -I attended Catholic School in the 60s and might actually have a clue ;)
Like I said, this is a complex subject, and I should have left it alone.

Then teach your grandson how to drink.. duh

Yawn... Moralists.

Oh, the fake outrage. Since when is this channel catering to non-adults? As if the internet isn’t full of way worse stuff than two folks talking about gear while not being sober.

DPR TV, please continue as is and ignore the noise.

So, you think because he watches Chris and Jordan drink alcohol, he is going to become an alcoholic?
One question: Did your son ever watch a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, like Avengers, Thor, Iron Man etc?
If yes, how comes he didn't yet commit homicide or started drinking alcohol or became a violent man? Because these movies show all of that.

I also don't drink or feel like watching drinking...and guess what, I didn't watch it. Jeez some people get too serious here.

I always think of Chris and Jordan as Canadian Cultural Ambassadors. Canada's just not so conflicted about sex or alcohol as the US --- and pretty much across the board Canada still has much lower rates of drug/alcohol addiction or teenage pregnancy. I doubt Jordan or Chris blocked their children from watching this video, and if they're anything like my parents instead gave a lecture on getting a ride home afterwards.

I was brought up in a strictly teetotal Methodist family; now, looking at my wine racks, I wonder how I got from then to now without a DPR Christmas drinking video?

This is one video, one day of the year where they publicly get drunk. Drinking one day a year is hardly demonstrating the the pitfalls of alchohol. If anything it’s a good teaching moment about what alcohol is, what it can do, and like anything, that moderation is the responsible way to consume it. Demonizing it only makes inexperienced drinkers covet it more. Normalize it and it’s not a big deal. Growing up, my parents (European immigrants to Canada) always asked if I wanted the last drop of beer from the bottle after they poured it. They made it so it wasn’t a big deal. As a mid-life adult now, I hardly drink. When I do, I drink to enjoy it, not to get inebriated. Chris and Jordan’s yearly drinking videos are great. Everyone has memories of sitting around with friends discussing seemingly important topics while drinking.

That poor kid......honestly, watching adults get really drunk is probably the most sobering way of teaching kids not to drink anyway :-). It's a win win!

It really depends of the usage. Btwn these 2 the a7rV is better at slow paced photography while the a9III will be a better generalist camera able to deal with moving subject in a much wider array of situations and light levels.

As a former a9II and a7rIV I was using the a9II a lot more because I had other options for slow paced photography.

I watched Gordon after reading this comment. He is quite positive about the A7RV, though he observes the the value proposition relative to the R4 is subjective.

@MikeRan

Don't forget sensor readout speed, too. A7R IV and V both have extremely slow sensor readout, resulting in a bunch of rolling shutter artifacts with silent shutter and video, and they're probably extremely prone to banding under artificial light. The A9 III should be a low res A1, with the ability to shoot successfully under any lighting with silent shutter (first true shutterless camera?), along with using flash. You don't need to use 20/30/40fps to enjoy the benefits of a faster sensor.

He fled the country, the chain declared bankruptcy, and he was charged with fraud and eventually returned to stand trial. So I guess a little bit of all of the above.

Jordan has reviewed some Black Magic video only cameras before. That market segment isn't really the primary area for this website, but he does talk about it sometimes.

yes, there should be a category for things like prosumer camcorders, due in part to their far superior ergonomics for event shooting and such.

dpr branched out to smartphones instead, which have the absolute worst ergonomics, but the biggest market share by far... gotta give people what they want.

Except the Z9 that tops pretty much any of the dedicated video cameras short of high end Red or Arri costing many times more.

At least for the image part. The Z9 would require a dedicated sound recorder for high end priductions.

a porky z9 brick might be an option for shooting cine-style, but in comparison to a prosumer camcorder in an event shooting situation, z9 is a functional/ergonomic failure.

people who have never worked a paid video gig seem to always get that confused.

I think if you're trying to broaden your appeal, the question is both if the old audience want the new content and if the new audience want the existing content. Sure, if you're already looking at hybrids it's interesting to see what you get if you "tip over" to the video side, but I don't think the people who are comfortably on the video side has any interest in most content on DPReview.

I recently shot a ballet dance event backstage with my Z9 on a DJI RS3 Pro.

It worked beautifully.

Shot in Nraw 4k30, edited in Resolve Studio 18. A perfectly smooth end to end experience. The ease of white balance tuning with the 12 bits raw files is a life saver with the changing lights.

My MC10-N remote grip arrived last Friday and will further expand the power of the system.

@MILCman….. and people who have never used the Z9 always comment on its weight and ergonomics. I understand what you mean.

No VG breaks (to my mind) the most valuable feature of the X-T serie: the ability to be small for casual photography and "pro" (better handling, more power witg the VG).

Also, the sensor is slower as the X-T3 and the H/L ISO markings are still missing

Yes, that is funny (that you would leave a brand because of a single camera). I’m not sure what you were wishing the XH2s would be, but it is getting fairly rave reviews from many corners of the internet.

The X-T5 was a big disappointment as well as the X-T4...

The X-H2s design is not well to me (unreachable buttons while shooting..), mixed cards slots, worse IQ that X-T3, and so on.

@Nicolas Det

Amen re: the X-T5. I was vastly underwhelmed and had been looking forward to replacing my X-T4. Seems that all things point to the H2S but it looks so much bigger than my X-T4. Maybe, I'll wait for the X-Pro 3 replacement but I also fear being disappointed though at least I know what to expect regarding its viewfinder.

Vloggers film themselves and are mostly non technical people… they almost never use a headset to check sound levels.

I know several youtubers with budget compatible with a Z30 and the camera is exactly what they need.

Dpreview is confusing vloggers and video producers.

You know different vloggers than I do. They might start not caring about sound when they first start out…but why move to a dedicated camera if it's not to improve the production value?

In my opinion "checking levels" is a set-and-forget thing for vloggers who aren't traveling. Make a video, check the levels that way, adjust a little, check another, DONE. Sit in the same room in the same location for each video and use roughly the same voicetone. Done.

I mean, their reasoning was pretty clear: they think the Z30 lacks a lot of useful features compared to existing cameras at about the same price point with similar specs. ZFc and Z50 have it utterly whipped for photography from within the same company. For vlogging, ZFc or Sony ZV-E10 just offer far more usable devices, with z50 only lagging because of the awkward flip-down screen.

The OM5 and Pentax KF aren't impressive--they're essentially old models with the slightest of tweaks, but weren't intended to be more than that. Those old cameras are still reasonable for what they are, with good weather resistance, good IBIS, and strong features for the pricepoint.

The z30 mostly fails to accomplish its goals.

My Point was that they Chose a "Video" camera for worst stills camera and their main complaint was video related ............