CANON EOS R
It will come as no surprise to regular readers that one of my cameras of the year is the Canon EOS R. I've been raving about it ever since I bought it. And the lens I bought recently - The Canon EOS RF 35mm f/1.8 is my lens of the year. This combination produces simply stunning results in terms of still photography, not so great for video but these days I shoot very little of that. And yes I seem to be able to live with one SD card. Because in terms of what's REALLY important, usability and primarily image quality the EOS R beats anything else I've ever used. The images that this camera produces are simply stunning, incredibly sharp with truly wonderful colour. It's the best landscape / travel camera I've ever owned and the only camera that when I'm out shooting in great light doesn't disappoint when I see the results on the screen.
With the odd exception the EOS R has had a fairly mixed reception, to say the least, but only with people whose opinions I don't respect anyway. Interestingly the reaction from some professional photographers has been more positive, as I assumed it would, since it gets the important stuff right. And I don't remember in the generally favourable reviews of the Leica M10 anybody moaning about the Leica M10's video capabilities (It doesn't have any!!) and the fact that camera has one card slot as well. And it seems that I'm not the only one who is impressed. The EOS R is already one of the best selling cameras in Japan.
As well as the image quality I love using the EOS R for it's ergonomic layout. This is of course a personal thing. I would never personally criticise a camera just because I find it uncomfortable to use, but then I'm not a YouTube 'vlogger' with an over inflated sense of my own importance. I am, as ever, just a photographer trying to make a living. And with the images that this camera creates that will be a great help to me achieving that objective. There are already rumours of a high end 'pro' version of Canons new mirrorless project with the mention of a 75MP + sensor !! Now that may well be something really special, assuming that Canon keep the quality that this EOS R 30MP sensor produces. This means that the R is a very good camera for high(er) ISO's and while I don't use it that much, good low light performance is always welcome.
PANASONIC LUMIX G9
A wonderful camera. For me the best stills / video hybrid camera out there. It has a mighty list of specifications and is extremely underrated as a stills camera. I upsize my stock photography images shot with it up to 36MP and they still look great. The dual IS system is simply the best there is. It's so good it basically turns me into a 'human tripod.' I use the G9 these days somewhat 'pimped up' which gives me even more stability.
I've just written a post on why m4/3 is an amazing format and offers a lot of advantages, so I won't repeat what's in there. Suffice it to say if you can't take high quality images and shoot high quality video with a G9, then maybe you should consider another creative activity.
I have from time to time considered getting out of m4/3 and I even did it once for a few weeks, but I keep coming back to it. Because it just works so well, And for me the Lumix G9 is the best m4/3 camera as it's purpose is as much for stills as well as video, unlike the GH5. Panasonic were apparently considering calling it the GH Pro, but changed their minds. But in essence that's what it is. A high quality, versatile camera that will basically perform any task given to it. And yes high(er) ISO performance could be better, but that dual IS and fast lenses, both native and third party, go a long way to dealing with that.
As ever these are my personal choices from the cameras I have used throughout the year. I base my decisions on the quality of the results but more importantly on how I respond to the cameras themselves. When I go out shooting, which is every day when it's not raining, which camera do I want to use? And it's these two that I've used the most for my stock work. Now I do love my Leica M10, which is pretty much my personal camera and I'm also a great enthusiast for my film cameras, but the EOS R and LUMIX G9 are beautifully put together image creating machines that can handle anything I want them too. In many ways both demonstrate just how far digital gear has come over the past 18 years or so since I first swapped film for pixels. Both come from manufacturers I respect and who consistently put out cameras I want to buy and use.
For others these choices it will be completely different, but in the end it's all down to personal taste. Neither camera would probably figure in the lists compiled by YouTube 'vloggers' and for me that's a huge plus. The majority of them are mediocre photographers anyway, so anything they pontificate about tends to pass me by. In the words of his Bobness, 'You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.'
