News/Views

News & Opinions about the mirrorless camera market appear below, latest article first. Over in right column—bottom if you're reading on a small screen—you'll find the News/Views Archive, which lets you go back in time to look at articles that have trickled off this page. If you're looking for older articles, click here for the deeper news archive.

 If you want to read an article below without the sidebar and other distractions, just click on its title.

#2 Second Camera: OM Digital Solutions OM-1 II

Next up in the CIPA release queue is the OM-1 II

bythom omds om1ii

Up front (literally) we have a name change. The original OM-1 had an Olympus name plate on the viewfinder front, while the new model gets an OM System replacement. 

In terms of what really makes this new model a new model, the list is short, but potentially significant:

  • The internal memory buffer has doubled.
  • An updated IS system improves the CIPA rating to 8.5 stops.
  • The camera is blackout free at slower frame rates.
  • The camera can now record in 14-bit raw in the high-resolution (sensor shift) mode.
  • A virtual graduated ND filter is available (computational, not mechanical), and regular ND can now be up to ND128.
  • The focusing system gains a full human recognition to its autofocus AI, and the focus system overall has been consolidated and improved.

Overall, the changes to the camera are welcome, but after two years with the original camera feel more like a firmware update than any real change (other than the extra memory). A significant update, to be sure, but still, some things I believe still need addressing aren't changed in this new camera.

bythom omds 150-600mm2

Along with the OM-1 II, OMDS also introduced two lenses, the 9-18mm f/4-5.6 II and the 150-600mm f/5-6.3. Both appear to be rebadging jobs. The wide angle zoom takes away the Olympus markings and replaces them with OM System ones as well as a newer external design ethos, but the optics appear to be the same as the original Olympus lens. The latter zoom is a bit of a controversial one in that the lens appears to be the Sigma full frame telephoto version in an m4/3 mount. The thicker OM filter layer on the top of the image sensor requires a slight tweak to how the focus is projected rearward, but otherwise this seems to be a Sigma optic being rebadged.

Commentary: When OM Digital Solutions took over the Olympus camera group I mentioned several issues with their naming decisions, and now you can see the result of that. If you accidentally type in omsystems.com in a Web browser instead of omsystem.com, well, you don't get the company making the camera. Heck, if you type in omdigitalsolutions.com, you get a Go Daddy "get this domain" page; you need to actually type om-digitalsolutions.com. This is a bit of marketing 101 failure. 

The existing customers aren't going to have any real issues with this, as they've already re-pointed their Web browsers at the new pages, but for someone seeing or hearing the name for the first time, slight misses on what they type into a search engine aren't going to bring up the relevant pages. This is one of those things I call a "friction." In business, you want as few frictions as possible, as each tends to rob you of sales, and if you pile up enough of them, that could be enough to start a downward glide in your results.

Meanwhile, rebadging a Sigma optic means I need to come up with a new name. When Nikon did the same thing with some Tamron lenses back in the F-mount days, I began calling them Tamrikon. I guess now we have Sigmoms. (When I come up with these names, I first do a search to make sure that they're unique. Then it's fun to follow what happens next. You'll see that Tamrikon on Duck Duck Go brings up zsystemuser.com references first, then Internet fora posts, for instance. In other words, I can follow my word usage from my site to Web fora. A fun game for all. Well, okay, for me.)

Here's the problem with the Sigmoms just introduced: it's the same size and weight as the full frame version. In essence, OM Digital Solutions is saying this: we'll give you a 4:3 aspect 2x crop that's 20mp. Okay, but you'd get 26mp out of a Sony A7R Mark V with the same lens ;~). The question then becomes is the OM-1 body smaller and lighter than the A7R Mark V? Well, there's a 2 ounce (66g) advantage to the OM-1, but with that lens on the camera you're also at a minimum of 300mm effective. In other words, you get 300-1200mm at 20mp versus 150-900mm at 61 to 26mp. Oops. I'd rather have the Sony. I first warned about this problem back in 2003 with the introduction of the E-1: if the size/weight and capabilities are near identical, you don't want to be bringing the smaller sensor to the fight.  

#1 First Camera Announcement: Hasselblad

I wrote earlier that the run up to CP+ was going to be full of announcements. First out of the gate is something that at first glance looks very familiar:

bythom hasselblad 100c

Even though it's quite compact, that's really two separate pieces you're looking at: a thin 907x "camera plate" containing pretty much just a mount, coupled with the new CFV 100C back that has all of the control functions. (You can also use older Hasselblad "backs" with the CFV 100C body instead of the 907x plate, but you lose autofocus and end up with a far bigger product with those.)

The CFV 100C packs quite a bit of high-end capability into a really small unit that weighs less than two pounds (27.5 ounces, or 780g with battery and card, but not lens). If you purchase this combination you'll likely be using XCD lenses, of which we currently have fourteen. While I mentioned card—one CFexpress Type B slot—the CFV 100C has 1TB of built-in storage. Out back you have that tilting touchscreen, at 3.2" and 2.36m dots. As usual with the classic Hasselblad designs, there are add-on grips and (Nikon style) hotshoe adapters you can add. But modern features are present, too, including 10-bit HEIF support.

Price for the combo is US$8200.

Commentary: Hasselblad went through a "not sure what to do next" period that included rebranding some Sony cameras with odd body style changes before DJI acquired them and settled them back down into what they do best. 

Personally, I like this new camera better than even the X1D, as it returns to something that was valued in the studio (and to some degree, in the landscape photography world). That, of course, is not hiding the photographer behind the camera. In the studio with the old look-down finders, a Hasselblad user could stay in eye to eye contact with their subjects, only occasionally glancing down to check composition. If you use a camera with an eye level viewfinder in the studio, you have to take the camera from your eye and ready-to-snap position to engage your subject. 

In terms of landscape work, I also prefer composing on a larger screen than a small screen at my eye. There's something about looking at a larger surface further from your eye that's more akin to the way a photo will eventually be hung on a wall that I can't quite explain, but I noticed back when we got Live View on our DSLRs. Moreover, I photograph really low much of the time with nature and landscape work, so having a screen that tilts up is preferable to me laying on the ground to see how my composition looks. Coupled with how small the CFV 100C is and it's big 100mp capture, I'll bet I start seeing more and more of these in the field. 

Yearly Site Update

As usual each year around the holidays, I do a bit of maintenance and updating of my sites. It's taken me much longer than usual to get this done this time around, as the number of changes in the mirrorless market last year coupled with some inattention on my part made quite a few bits and pieces needing some loving attention. A quick summary of what's progressed so far:

  • The 2021 and 2022 news/views has been archived into a sub-folder. Pre-2021 news/views lives here. That's 12 years' worth of news that needed to be dealt with in a more permanent home that doesn't clutter the top menus.
  • The Articles section has been gone through, and I've updated comments and recommendations to be up to date. That includes the System Guides for the five major mounts, as well as my small travel camera recommendations.
  • The Cameras section has been updated, with new charts and information where needed. Some missing Z System reviews have been brought over from zsystemuser.com. 
  • The Books section has been simplified, with the Z System books all now pointing over to the zsystemuser.com site where their information is maintained on a more regular basis.
  • About Sansmirror got a bit of editing and fixes.

Which leaves me with...

Lenses. I've got a lot of work to do to bring this section up to my standards. We've got a dozen years' worth of collected information, some of which is no longer accurate (e.g. lens no longer made, change in specifications/price, etc.). What I'm doing is going through all the autofocus lens databases and making them "current" one by one. Unfortunately, some of the lens makers have been "fiddling" with available lenses/mounts, changing prices with currency fluctuations, and in some cases, finally providing full details on a lens. So I've got a lot of work to do on these sections, and it will take me awhile to do it. My priorities in updating this section are: (1) camera maker lens data, (2) autofocus third party lens data, and (3) manual focus third party lens data. I also need to take another pass at the articles in the lens section. I'll let you know when all this work is complete. For now, I've updated the Canon RF, RF-S, Fujifilm GFX, Nikon Z (DX and FX) sections, and am currently working on the Fujifilm RF section. I'll probably tackle one section each week, but that's at least three months work.

Once I've completed getting most of the lens section up to snuff, I'll start adding new reviews to the site. 

State of the Mirrorless Market

Here at the start of 2024 we now have a full set of players, and a fairly full set of product from each. That started to become true in 2023, but now it's a reality. It's important to understand a few things if you're just entering the mirrorless world (and probably even if you're already in it). 

First up, is that the various makers have some divergent strategies now:

  • Canon — Canon is highly focused on market share, much as they were in DSLRs. Canon's financial fundamentals start to become problematic—owning, maintaining, and updating their own sensor fab, for instance—without that 50% market share they seek. 
  • Fujifilm — Fujifilm is mostly focused continuing their slow gain in market share in the APS-C arena, while keeping their GFX (medium format) cameras a tempting option for high pixel full frame users.
  • Leica — Leica continues the M, Q, SL iterations and tweaks that appeal to their high-end customers.
  • Nikon — Nikon is focused on bringing the highly acclaimed and successful Z9 technology downward in their FX lineup at the moment, and have had three hits in a row now doing that. The question everyone is asking is whether any of this will make it to DX lineup, too, and if so, when.
  • OMDS — OM Digital Solutions is the one company I don't have a good read on. They've tolerated a significant ILC market share decline while mostly rebranding the original Olympus gear they inherited. 
  • Panasonic — Panasonic has surprisingly resurrected their m4/3 line, bringing back products that had appeared to go off market. Meanwhile, their L-mount lineup seems to be chasing the same pot of gold at the end of the mid-level full frame as before. I've always felt that they needed more integration with the Pro Video side of the company, and now that these divisions have finally been merged, perhaps we'll see it.
  • Sigma — The Foveon sensor seems to be lost in fab space, leaving Sigma with just its oddball fp models. But let's face it, Sigma has always been an oddball with their cameras. They simply march to a different rap beat.
  • Sony — If you haven't already detected it, the video side of the Sony Imaging group is fully driving the car now. Alpha models seem more like "mailed in" efforts lately, but the video side keeps expanding and exploring. This has to be strategic: Sony is seeing video as more important in the future than still photography. 

Second is my usual proclamation: if you've been using Brand X in the film and DSLR era, there's really no clear reason to move to another brand in the mirrorless era. Canon and Nikon, in particular, have been relatively faithful in moving their long-established UX (user experience) into mirrorless. 

That said, the place where that logic starts to break down is with crop sensor cameras. Nikon has fumbled their DX lineup. Sony seems to suffer from a lack of imagination (and energy) in theirs. OMDS seems intent on saying "m4/3 is for the birds" (small, light, and lots of reach). Only Canon is continuing to be the rebel and powering on much as they did with DSLRs (see what I did there?) When Fujifilm re-entered the interchangeable lens market after a long DSLR hiatus, they did so pretty much targeting crop sensor, so they're not surprisingly the ones with the fullest, most interesting crop sensor lineup now. 

(Disclosure: I currently perform my professional work with Nikon FX cameras, the Z8 and Z9. When I want a smaller, lighter, casual approach to fool around with, I use a Fujifilm X-S20 at the moment. Why did I pick those cameras? For the reasons stated above: the full frame Nikons because that's the UX I know best, and the Fujifilm for APS-C because, well, Fujifilm seems to be the only one trying to build out fully competitive products, including lenses, in this space.) 

Way back in 2006 I wrote "if you can't create a good looking image at the maximum size the top desktop photo printer can produce, it isn't the camera that's the problem." Even though that maximum size has increased a bit—was 11x17" when I wrote that, now it's basically 13x19"—the same thing is even more true today. That's why understanding and mastering the UX for a camera is so important. You can take great photos with pretty much any mirrorless camera on the market today, but to do so means you have to understand how it works and make it work. 

It's easy to get caught up in the specifications. This site has hundreds of pages of camera and lens specifications. But I believe all those numbers and factoids are mostly meaningless now, except for specific tasks or requirements. If you have those specific needs, the camera that will cater to them will isolate out of the noise pretty darned fast with just a bit of looking.

Someone, somewhere is going to tell you that dynamic range or focus ability matters. Not really on any current camera. As I've proven before, they can pretty much all focus just fine once you master them, and it's going to be rare that you find a dynamic range that stops you from doing something (assuming, of course, that you know how to set exposure properly). I don't obsess about those things now. Well, okay, I do obsess about them, because I obsess about everything in my own work. But I mean in terms of recommending one camera over another to others, no, it's rare that specifications and performance issues come into play. 

We're probably at or near Peak Mirrorless here in 2024. Not necessarily peak in sales volume, but more in terms of breadth and depth of options available on the market. If there's something I want to do photographically, I'm pretty sure there's a mirrorless camera available today that will let me do that. That's a pretty remarkable statement, if you think about it. 

For me, 2024 will be more about extending my personal abilities, not finding a camera with more abilities. 

Some Don't Understand the Sony A9 Mark III

(Disclaimer: I haven't yet been able to do more than quickly handle an A9 Mark III, and that's probably all I'll be able to do until it becomes generally available later this year. However, for the purposes of this discussion, I don't need to have an extended session with the camera.)

Now that dpreview has given credence to all the measurebators' fears (lower dynamic range) and provoked even more misinformed discussion, it's time to adjust people's views.

Simply put, the Sony A9 Mark III buyer would not typically be all that worried about maximum dynamic range. Never was, never will be. 

The primary technology change in the A9 Mark III is the global shutter. Global shutters have basically three benefits at the expense of two drawbacks, all else equal:

#1 Benefit: No rolling shutter, LED banding, or display line mismatch effects.
#2 Benefit: Potentially higher bandwidth (higher frame rate).
#3 Benefit: Flash sync at any shutter speed.
#1 Drawback: The extra electronics involve decrease well capacity, which triggers a gain adjustment that increases base ISO.
#2 Drawback: The same changes basically lower dynamic range compared to a non-global shutter version, due to noise.

That's really it. For general purpose photography, the two drawbacks would make it unlikely that you'd buy an A9 Mark III. For particular use cases, particularly in sports and wildlife photography, the benefits might make it so that you do want an A9 Mark III.

Here's the thing: if I were a full-time working pro sports photographer running from venue to venue, that #1 benefit would easily outweigh the two drawbacks. That I'd also get that #2 benefit might come into play every once in awhile. The #1 drawback isn't really a drawback, as I'm rarely at base ISO for this type of work. The #2 drawback might come into play in a few situations (ironically, including when LED displays are backlighting the action on the field, so instead of a scrambled display I'd get a blown out display). 

Putting on my hat as a full time wildlife photographer, benefit #2 starts to become more interesting, though with small birds in flight I could see some benefit to #1 when it comes to wing tips. Unfortunately, the #2 drawback starts to come into play, particularly as a lot of my work these days happens in very low light (and no direct light) but high contrast conditions. 

I'm still trying to figure out just how much of a benefit #3 actually would be to anyone. Granted, flash sync at 1/200, as it is on the Nikon Z9, is too slow. I encounter plenty of situations where I need that to be higher. However, even being to sync at 1/500 would be enough, and I'm sure that's coming soon in a non-global shutter camera. (Actually, coming again. We had 1/500 flash sync during the early DSLR era with CCD image sensors.)

Dpreview's test results aren't surprising. As I wrote when the A9 Mark III was announced, this was definitely a technology play by Sony, and one that seemed timed and presented in a way that suggested more than it was. The A9 Mark III is going to have customers, for sure, but it's a fairly small subset of the market. Nikon's Z9 followed by the Z8 has taken quite a bit of wind out of Sony's sails (and sales), but I'm not sure the A9 Mark III really gets them to the mark in first place.

I wrote that we need to adjust some folk's views. That's very true with all that I see from the comments that are proliferating. 

For example, that dynamic range thing. Basically, we measure that from some "noise floor" to saturation. I've already noted that the extra electronics at the pixel level reduce the maximum saturation, so the noise floor starts to become very important. Almost everyone (including dpreview) that I see commenting about A9 Mark III noise tendencies seems to be doing it from "what I see." Have you tried measuring their samples? In particular, use a largish area on one of the ColorChecker patches and observe the standard deviation. Curiously, the Sony A6600 has a slightly lower standard deviation in every same ISO sample I took. But then again, that 24mp APS-C sensor in the A6600 was essentially Exmor state-of-the-art, so I don't find that surprising. 

The question is whether the A9 Mark III has enough dynamic range for its intended use(s). My answer in looking at others' results so far is, "yes if the image is properly exposed." All sports venues are lit, for instance. Sure, some of that lighting is low in value and has a fair amount of fall-off from the central point, but it's direct light. If you're accounting for the difference in images taken, say, in the far corners of a poorly lit soccer field versus the center field with your exposure, you should be fine with the A9 Mark III. About as fine as you'd be with the A9 Mark II, which I don't hear any of my pro friends complaining about. Moreover, there's the issue of frequency with some lighting, and the global shutter is going to deal with that, too.

The fact that a lot of pro sports output is JPEG means I'd be looking at how Sony tweaked BIONZ for the A9 Mark III, too. Judging from dpreview's examples, that seems to be fairly strong JPEG noise reduction with only modest edge softness at ISO 12800. Indeed, with those settings, the standard deviation is now lower than the A6600, and the A9 Mark III seems to be retaining edges a little better. I also look at the A9 Mark II results against those from the Mark III, and see similar things, so I'm just not seeing that the intended audience for this camera is likely going to be disappointed in it. 

The Week I Dread (But You Don't)

We’ve left the traditional summer selling season and are now starting the upcoming holiday one. One thing people are trying to figure out is which cameras are actually be offered by which companies, and what should they consider.

As you probably realize, I’m aggressive in labeling cameras “current” or “older.” If a new model of a camera is launched (e.g. Mark III), then the older model data (e.g. Mark II) gets moved to the older camera folders on this site. 

But a number of camera makers overbuild products during their product cycles, and thus leave those older products on the market. Some keep making older cameras but reduce their price just to have lower cost products on the market. Figuring out what is actually truly considered truly available and not just an unsold relic that your dealer still has sitting around. 

So to answer that question, I did some homework for you. By brand, here are the models the manufacturer is still selling. In the bullets, below, I also indicate what I believe to be the true “current” models in bold. I’ve added parenthetical comments about likely inventory status and any real holiday discount as I write this.

Canon

Canon is all about generating market share, so they often keep older models on the market at low prices.

  • EOS M (APS-C)
    • M50 Mark II (mostly just creator kits with a US$100-130 discount)
  • EOS RF-S (APS-C)
    • R100 (US$50 to US$100 off)
    • R50 (US$80 to US$100 off)
    • R10 (US$100 off)
    • R7 (US$100 to US$200 off)
  • EOS RF (full frame)
    • RP (US$100 off)
    • R3 (US$1000 off!)
    • R5 (US$500 off)
    • R5C (US$500 off)
    • R6 (US$300 off)
    • R6 Mark II (US$200 off)
    • R8 (US$200 off)

As if to further confuse you, the model number in the RF-S line goes down as the camera gets more advanced, but for full frame a higher model number indicates a less capable camera.

What would I consider buying this holiday? The R7 and R10 are interesting APS-C cameras, though they need more lens support. The R6 Mark II and R8 are both comfortably in the state-of-the-art mid-range for full frame enthusiasts.

Fujifilm

Fujifilm for awhile was cycling new cameras constantly, but is currently slimming down their lineup while pushing more up-scale for awhile:

  • XF
    • X-H2S (US$200 off)
    • X-H2 (US$150 off)
    • X-Pro3 (has been discontinued, but may be still available)
    • X-T5
    • X-T4 (discontinued, but may be still available in places)
    • X-S10 (US$100 off)
    • X-S20
    • X-T30 II (official status unknown, back-ordered most everywhere)
  • GFX (medium format)
    • GFX50S II (US$800 off)
    • GFX100 II 
    • GFX100S (US$1600 off)

What would I consider buying in the Fujifilm line? Well, I actually bought one recently, and it was the X-S20, a really solid basic APS-C camera. I'm less enthused about the 40mp cameras, the X-H2S still doesn't equal a D500 in focus performance in the hands of a trained user, and I've just had and seen in others too many inconsistencies (bugs, sample variation, etc.) that tend to take away the gains of the medium format cameras over a full frame one.

Nikon

Nikon is relatively easy. At this point the original Z6 and Z7 are officially gone, which leaves a lineup with all current models:

  • APS-C (DX)
    • Z30
    • Z50
    • Zfc
  • Full frame (FX)
    • Z5
    • Z6 II
    • Zf
    • Z7 II
    • Z8 
    • Z9

For Nikon holiday pricing, see this article on zsystemuser.com. My recommendations are also on that site.

Micro 4/3rds

The two m4/3 companies are a mix of old and new:

  • OMDS
    • OM-1 (US$300 to US$400 off)
    • OM-5 (US$200 off)
    • OM-D E-M10 Mark IV (old Olympus product, likely on its way out)
  • Panasonic
    • BGH1
    • GH5 Mark II (US$300 off)
    • GH5S (US$300 off)
    • GH6 (US$500 off)
    • G100 (US$250 off)
    • G95 (US$300 off)
    • G85 (made a comeback, but low stock, US$150 off kit)
    • G9 (US$400 off)
    • G9 II 
    • G7 (US$150 off)

It was strange to see the Panasonic m4/3 lineup sort of resurrect. I'm not sure what happened there, but the lineup is once again full. If you're looking for performance in an m4/3 camera, you have two choices now: OM-1 or G9 II. The problem with the "I want small" choices that remain is that they're not state-of-the-art in many ways, including autofocus.

Panasonic Full Frame

  • S5 (US$800 off)
  • S5 II (US$300 off)
  • S5 IIX (US$100 off)

In some ways, the S5 II is the Oldsmobile of the full frame mid-range choices. A bit different, basically good, but seemingly not a choice most would make. It's a highly competent camera. It's holds up well against the Nikon Z6 II and Sony A7 Mark IV, and may even slot in between those two. At discount, it becomes a camera you should consider, particularly as the L-mount lens set keeps growing.

Sony

Sony’s is one of the worst offenders in keeping products around. In particular, several older A7 and A7R models are malingering on the market. Moreover, there’s a sneaky bit hidden in plain sight: the new models were increased in list price, thus making any sales markdowns on the older ones look even more tempting.

  • APS-C 
    • A6100 (US$200 off)
    • A6400 (US$150 off)
    • A6600 (US$200 off)
    • A6700 
  • Full Frame
    • A1
    • A7C
    • A7CR
    • A7 Mark II (US$600 off)
    • A7 Mark III (US$500 off)
    • A7 Mark IV (US$200 off)
    • A7 Mark IIIA (US$200 off)
    • A7R Mark IVA (US$200 off)
    • A7R Mark V (US$400 off)
    • A7S Mark III
    • A9 Mark II
    • A9 Mark III (new camera available at end of February)
  • Vlogging
    • ZV-E1 Mark II
    • ZV-E10 (US$100 off)

Personally, I'm less thrilled by Sony's lineup than I used to be. There's nothing wrong with most of them, but Sony now has the old Nikon problem of lineup inconsistency and too much model generation hangover. I can recommend an A1. I can recommend an A7 Mark IV. Once I've completed testing, I'd probably recommend the A6700. From there we get into handling choices (the C and E type models), and speciality use. The one thing I'd tend to recommend against is buying any of the non-bold models. They might have been state-of-the-art when they first appeared, but all of them are now well behind that. I'd need even more discount than Sony is given to consider them.

That’s basically the current camera situation. I’d characterize bold entries as “safe to buy,” while non-bold would be buying at the tail end of a product’s life cycle. There’s nothing wrong with buying at the tail end of the lifecycle, but you should be getting a significant discount for doing so, in my opinion.  

Sony Goes Global, Shutter That Is

bythom sony a9iiiangle

Today Sony announced the A9 Mark III model, with the big news being a new 24mp image sensor with global shutter capabilities. 

To understand the big news, you have to first understand the situation as it stood until today. The digital cameras we've been using all use what's called a rolling shutter. In a rolling shutter, data is captured and moved off the image sensor a few rows at a time. The time it takes in getting from the top of the frame to the bottom means that motion in the scene can result in distortion. 

In a camera such as the Sony A1 or the Nikon Z8/Z9, this rolling shutter is extremely fast, and that allowed Nikon, for instance, to completely remove the mechanical shutter. Removing mechanical things that can break is good for us, it makes cameras more reliable long term. It also means a camera can be made to be completely silent, which if you've ever been at a press conference with a dozen photojournalists clacking their shutters, you'd know to be a good thing ;~).

On the other hand, we have cameras with rather slow rolling shutters, too, such as the recent Nikon Zf. The reason why that camera still has a mechanical shutter is that the rolling shutter for the image sensor used would cause issues on motion. The difference between a rolling shutter and a global shutter is a bit like sitting in a theater: for a play, the curtain slowly rises to reveal the scene (rolling shutter) while for a movie the first scene instantly appears (global shutter). 

So why do we have rolling shutters, at all? Isn't the image sensor just a chip with "instant access"? One reason has to do with things that happen when you boost bandwidth (speed of transfers). It's partly the issue of how much data an image sensor is creating. You need extremely fast channels to get the data to the image processing chip, and the speed of electronics is one of those things that parallels Moore's Law: as semiconductor technology progresses, there are very predictable and real gains to be made, but nothing is instantaneous, even in digital.

Unfortunately, moving things really fast also has a tendency to induce read noise and thermal issues (and thermal issues can create noise of their own). There are also manufacturing and cost challenges that come into play, though as you're probably well aware, over time semiconductors solve those problems in subsequent generations. It's taken awhile for sensor makers to build affordable image sensors that get through all the possible issues, which is what Sony has done with the A9 Mark III.

What are the benefits of a global shutter?

  • No need for a mechanical shutter (simplifies build, improves long term reliability)
  • No motion artifacts seen in the frame
  • No stabilization motion artifacts
  • Potentially very high frame rates possible
  • Flash sync at any speed
  • Flicker free individual stills

The downsides are primarily going to be, at least initially, cost to produce, can produce more heat, and have higher noise than a sensor with the same design, but with rolling shutter.

Which brings us to the Sony A9 Mark III. The A9 Mark III features a 24mp stacked image sensor with a global shutter. This allows it to capture 120 fps (and 4K/120P). The viewfinder is blackout free, and Sony is claiming this is their fastest camera yet, with the best autofocus system they've deployed. 

Because next week is the 10 year anniversary of the full frame Alpha mirrorless line era, which started with the A7, it seems that the A9 Mark III was introduced now even though it's still quite a ways off from delivery. Sony says "Spring 2024". 

Besides the A9 Mark III, Sony introduced the 300mm f/2.8GM OSS, which Sony claims as the lightest 300mm f/2.8 available. Also available Spring 2024.

I've put up my usual data pages for the new products, but since actual final product delivery is a ways off, I'll reserve more comments until the product is actually delivered.

Fujifilm's New Top End Medium Format

bythom gfx100iiwithts

Today Fujifilm announced the GFX100 II, a revision of its original top end medium format camera. At US$7500, this reflects a significant (25%) discount from the suggested retail of the previous model, while adding/changing quite a bit. To wit:

  • A faster 102mp sensor (2x the read-out speed)
  • X-Processor 5 (from 4)
  • Frame rates now 8 fps (from 5)
  • 4K/60P (from 4K/30P) and 4:2:2 10-bit internal (from 4:2:0 10-bit)
  • 8K video
  • Subject tracking autofocus
  • Improvement of sensor IS to 8 stops (from 5.5)
  • EVF of 9.44m dots (from 5.76m), still detachable and tiltable, and now 60 fps with less lag
  • A change of storage cards to CFexpress Type B + SD (UHS-II) from dual SD
  • Ability to record stills and video to external SSD
  • A move to an optional battery grip instead of built in
  • Full size HDMI (no longer micro), supports 8K, 12-bit raw
  • A change to the NP-W235 battery
  • A new Reala ACE film simulation

All these seemingly smaller things seem to add up to a very large change overall. The new version, while not adding pixels, seems to gain at virtually every pain point of the previous model. Which is a good thing, as the original version (not 100s) did have a number of issues that irritated users, particularly given the price they paid for the camera.

I hesitate to write this, as some Fujifilm fans will get upset and send my missives targeting my In Box, but Fujifilm has had a pretty productive last 18 months; I'd say their cameras are no longer trying to catch up, but are now basically in the peloton again. Maybe even leading out the APS-C and MF pelotons. This should keep the other competitors on their toes, which is a good thing. 

Along with the new camera, Fujifilm also introduced their first medium format tilt/shift lens. The 30mm f/5.6 tilt/shift lens is about a 24mm equivalent, while the 110mm f/5.6 tilt/shift macro is a bit over an 85mm equivalent. These two lenses look like excellent additions for the landscape (30mm) and product (110mm) photography community. Along with the two tilt/shift lenses, Fujifilm also announced the 55mm f/1.7 lens that was also on their previous Road Map. The new Road Map includes a powered wide-angle zoom and a 500mm lens.

Panasonic Introduces the G9 II

bythom panasonic g9ii

Generally the Japanese companies don't schedule releases on the same day as each other, much like blockbuster movies try to avoid bumping up against each other. However, besides getting the "big sensor" announcement from Fujifilm in the GFX100 II, we also get the "small sensor" announcement from Panasonic in the G9 II.

After almost six years since the original G9, the big news with the G9 II is that it features a 25mp image sensor (same as the GH6), but with phase detect autofocus. While the video specs look impressive on the G9 II, it's probably the still photography goods that get your attention first: 60 fps electronic shutter with focus, no black out up to 3 seconds, pre-release capture, and a very complete set of controls, including a well positioned thumb pad. On the video side we get 4K/60P 4:2:2 10-bit (120P 8-bit), V-Log, real-time LUT application, and more. All wrapped in a dustproof and splash proof body that is identical to the Panasonic S5 II. The Rear LCD gets an upgrade, but the EVF remains the same dot count. Alongside the image sensor, Panasonic is again using Leica's L2 image processing techniques, a partnership that started with the S5 II.

With the G9 II the OM-1 now has a fairly clear competitor at the top of the m4/3 choices. 

Sony Provides More Video Options

Today Sony announced three new products that will mostly appeal to the video user: the A7C II, A7CR, and 16-35mm f/2.8GM II

Let me explain. The C bodies are slimmed down Alpha bodies with an offset EVF, and which have an emphasis on video/vlogging use over still photography use. They can still be used as still cameras, but in the case of the A7C II, it's basically the A7 Mark IV in the C video style body, while the A7CR is basically the A7R Mark V in the same body. BIONZ XR with artificial intelligence powers these bodies, too.

As video-oriented cameras, they have a reduced dot count EVF (and Rear LCD in the case of the A7CR). These cameras are smaller and lighter to be more gimbal friendly, and the new C body is somewhat thicker, probably for heat dissipation. Because the two bodies max out at 4K60P, another compromise is the single SD UHS II card slot (though you need a very fast card to take advantage of the maximum video capabilities).

I'm not a big fan of offset viewfinder cameras, and you can see why in Sony's own launch video: with the cameras handheld at their eyes, their models are having a more difficult time keeping the camera steady ;~). Good thing the built-in stabilization can perform up to 7 stops (with certain lenses). Generally, I'd tend to recommend the original A7 style body for still photography, but the A7CR is only US$3000, a significant discount for 61mp (including 240mp pixel shift) if you can live with the penalties.

You see the continued video emphasis with the update to the 16-35mm f/2.8GM lens, too. The lens has gotten smaller, lighter, and been reworked so that it doesn't change balance when on a gimbal. That took an impressive array of special elements (8 of the 15) and four XD focus motors.


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