I see nothing changed while I was away. The Sony fan low self esteem has them all akimbo over the upcoming Z8 for some reason. They seem to want to compare rumored specifications of a future camera that probably isn’t intended to compete with a Sony product so as to once again disparage things they know not of. (I believe the Z8 will compete mostly with the Canon R5; Canon users also seem a bit riled up.)
Sony Rumors even put up a chart where the RAW [sic] row was "HEIF 10-bit support" for Nikon, while "14-bit RAW" [sic] was listed for Sony. Hmm. The Z9 upon which the rumored Z8 is based does only 14-bit raw when it records raw, while the Sony in question punts to 12-bit for a number of situations. That chart looks pretty, though ;~).
Yes, Nikon’s getting ready to launch a new camera. No, it’s not really a camera intended to directly compete with a competitor’s model (again, if any, it would be the Canon R5). If the rumors are to be believed Nikon’s actually getting ready to launch what effectively is a D850 replacement, mirrorless style. In other words, a camera designed to transition more existing Nikon users to a new Nikon model.
Meanwhile, those same Sony users seem oblivious to the fact that Canon and Fujifilm are actively and successfully attacking the APS-C crop sensor dominance of Sony. Indeed, I suspect that Sony is living on borrowed time in terms of significant market share in the crop sensor race.
The camera companies have all chosen primary lanes. Fujifilm has chosen (mostly) high-end APS-C, and put their largest R&D investment into state-of-the-art APS-C image sensors no one else has (at least until exclusivity agreements expire). Nikon has (mostly) chosen to move their full frame DSLR owners to mirrorless, and to do their usual thing of starting at the top and working their tech downward. Sony has decided that the videographer/vlogger/creator is where their primary focus should be. Meanwhile, Canon is trying to drive a Hummer down all lanes simultaneously (don’t look in the rear view mirror, that thing looks B I G ;~).
You heard it here first: the days of mount switching are about to die off. If you haven’t already changed lanes, you probably shouldn’t, as it will be expensive without a lot of practical gain.
What everyone should be complaining writing about is gap filling within lineups. And most of those gaps will be obvious in the lens lineups, not the camera lineups that we’ll have by the end of 2023. If you can’t take a great image with any of the cameras available in 2023, it’s not the camera that’s the problem. This is more true now than it ever was. But you may find that the lens you want for the perspective/exposure you need is still missing, though.
One thing that still doesn’t get discussed enough is that the Nikon Z mount is now the big throat that can adapt almost anything, while the Sony E mount is the small throat that won’t really be able to use great Canon RF and Nikon Z lenses the same way. This is the inverse of where we were in DSLRs, where Nikon had the most restrictive mount. And yes, it matters. I’m able to use almost any Sony E mount lens on my Nikon Z cameras, but only Nikon F-mount lenses on my Sony cameras. I just spent a month with a Sony mount lens on one of my Z9’s, and loved it.
Still, at this point virtually all of you reading this that are still buying cameras are (or should be) one of four things:
- an RF mount user
- an X mount user
- a Z mount user
- an E mount user
Yes, I’ve left off m4/3 and the L-mount. It’s far less clear how the cameras for those mounts will evolve now. Ongoing market share will be mostly (90%+) for the four mounts I noted in the bullets above.
My point is that there is no need to be fanning flames about a competitor’s product. The mount you’ve chosen is perfectly fine and has excellent products that are (or should be) iterating just fine. Everyone should just be out photographing and enjoying themselves.
Thom’s new rule: for every forum or discussion post you make, go out and take one new photo. On your existing gear. If you insist on continuing to sit at your computers and just type, I’ll have to up the punishment requirement to two new photos per post. Flogging will come eventually if you continue to misbehave ;~).
