A KiwiRetrospective ~

Following on from part one of this discussion, we look at whether photography is considered an art-form….. Read more

Have you really thought about what drives you to pursue photography?

Read the full article here…..

The state of play thus far.

While I think it fair to say that the new EOS-R from Canon hasn’t set the world on fire and in point of fact has had a very lacklustre reception. The Nikon Z6 & Z7 at least showed some innovation, the same cant really be said of the EOS-R, which appears to be a 5D MK4 in a mirrorless form factor, not really what people were hoping for in a full frame mirrorless camera, and lets not get started about the absurd pricing for the new lenses you will need to buy to go with it. Early days for both Canon and Nikon you may well think.

Then Fuji quietly, without much fanfare and just ahead of Photokina announces the arrival of the brand new Fujifilm XT3 and just as quietly slaps down the mirrorless options from both Canon and Nikon. Would I buy an XT3? In a heartbeat!! I rarely say that about any camera but this one has more than grabbed my interest.

Sure it doesn’t have IBIS or a fully articulating LCD and is a crop sensor camera, but at this price point it has everything else and more and makes the new Nikon & Canon offerings look second rate at best. Unless you have a very very good reason for going full frame mirrorless and spending large sums of money then the APS sensored Xtran 4 Fuji is really the best of the bunch by far. Its fair to say that it offers a great deal of what you get from the A7’s from Sony and in some areas best them as well. Kudos to Fuji for listening once again to their customer base.

At this point in time the two manufacturers that are leading the pack, and by a long way are Fuji and Sony. Both are really starting to shine and the level of refinement shown by both these manufacturers bodes well for future offerings. It will be interesting to see what Fuji does with the new version of the XH1 they no doubt have planned. An XH2 with the level of refinements shown in the XT3 will most likely be my camera of choice for my retirement years possibly earlier if finances permit.

Canon Rumours have just released an set of images and specs for the new Canon Mirrorless EOS R. Early days as yet and no doubt a number of questions to be answered, but the published specs list looks very promising and I have the feeling where the Nikon Z 6 & 7 were somewhat rushed to market, Canons slower approach may well be a stroke of genius. As always time will tell, but I have a feeling there will be some smiling faces in the Canon users world.

Click on the image to go to the Canon Rumours Page.