2010 Camera Of The Year - Your Picks?

[Anbesol]

I would consider the SLT A-55 and the NEX-5 as well. If I have only one vote, it would be the SLT. I believe those two cameras are doing the most in bringing new technology to the DSLR world.

[cal_gecko]

I have purchased a couple cameras this year.. I upgraded from the Canon 40D to the 7D, and have also purchased the Samsung TL350 as a more compact P&S to use when I don't feel like lugging around the DSLR rig..

HOWEVER..

I would definitely support the iPhone 4 for 2010 COTY.. when you factor in all the aftermarket apps (I regularly use Pro HDR, TiltShiftGen, Autostitch and Lensflare) that you can use.. it's really made 'instant photography' something that everyone can have in the palm of their hands. I can take good photo with the camera and with some creative editing, have the picture posted to Facebook, Flickr and Smugmug within moments while I'm out on the road - never touching a computer.

definitely, iPhone 4.

[Photo-John]

I would definitely support the iPhone 4 for 2010 COTY.. when you factor in all the aftermarket apps (I regularly use Pro HDR, TiltShiftGen, Autostitch and Lensflare) that you can use.. it's really made 'instant photography' something that everyone can have in the palm of their hands. I can take good photo with the camera and with some creative editing, have the picture posted to Facebook, Flickr and Smugmug within moments while I'm out on the road - never touching a computer.

definitely, iPhone 4.

Connectivity and apps are key with the iPhone, I think. Thanks for mentioning those two things. I see the entry of the iPhone creating a divergence with this discussion - high-end features and innovation vs. proletarian convenience.

[Photo-John]

I think I've got my final list for a 2010 Camera Of The Year Poll:

Apple iPhone 4
Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D
Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W3
Leica S2
Nikon D7000
Olympus E-5
Pentax 645D
Sony Alpha Nex-5
Sony Alpha SLT A55

Does anyone else have any comments or suggestions? There aren't any point-and-shoots on this list and that concerns me a little. On the other hand, in spite of there being a lot of great compact cameras in 2010, I can't think of any standouts that I feel really qualify for Camera Of The Year.

Please give me your feedback so I can get this poll up and we can start voting and collecting data!

[Anbesol]

The fuji is a point and shoot, and the iphone is basically a really low-end point and shoot.

Perhaps a panel of judges would be a better idea than a poll, if this were a poll submitted by the common man, the T2i or Iphone would win by default, without any real consideration of the award, only due to its popularity. The title is 'camera of the year' and not most popular camera of the year.

Haha sorry PJ I'm always nitpicking your efforts aren't I ;).

[Photo-John]

Perhaps a panel of judges would be a better idea than a poll, if this were a poll submitted by the common man, the T2i or Iphone would win by default, without any real consideration of the award, only due to its popularity. The title is 'camera of the year' and not most popular camera of the year.

Nitpick away. This poll is a popularity contest. I haven't managed to ever put together an actual professionally judged Camera Of The Year. If I did, I'd probably just pick the camera myself. That has been my intention in the past when I've planned to have a more official Camera Of The Year.

I am interested to see what camera the community picks, though. In the past I've been surprised. The PhotographyREVIEW.com community is not low-end. It's not 100% pro, either. So I will be surprised if the iPhone does come out ahead. The T2i is a little more complicated, though. The filmmaker community was really excited about the T2i this year. It's democratic appeal to both high-end and entry-level filmmakers and photographers was the reason I included it.

[Photo-John]

if this were a poll submitted by the common man, the T2i or Iphone would win by default, without any real consideration of the award, only due to its popularity.

I just checked into the Camera Of The Year poll and I think you'll be surprised by the results

We don't have enough votes for the results to be definitive yet but neither the iPhone nor the T2i / 550D are in first place. In fact, the iPhone 4 is below the Pentax 645D. Hopefully that will renew your faith in this community's ability to be serious about photography.

2010 Camera Of The Year - People's Choice Poll >>

If you haven't voted yeat, please do! And share it with other photographers you know. We need about 200 votes for the results to be accurate.

[Photo-John]

The 2010 Camera Of The Year Poll is live - time to vote! And yes, this is a popularity contest. The poll is for the people's choice for Camera Of The Year.

2010 Camera Of The Year Quick Poll >>

Thanks for all your input on this. I think we've got a pretty interesting lineup and I'm really curious to see what comes out on top. The 2009 Camera Of The Year poll bounced around a lot and had a few surprises as we got more votes

[Skyman]

I want to vote for 2 cameras! Hmm really going to have to think.

Incidentally I have gone off the 550d as a video device. It simply is to cumbersome to use for a lot of different applications. Don't get me wrong it produces fantastic results but is missing to many things that really should be standard features.

[NoKnees]

PJ: Regarding the Sony compacts... Yep, they already have some good ones, and the tx5 is currently on my list to replace my Pentax when it dies, thanks to the good review you gave it.

The touchscreen put me off at first, but it seems like the right way to go for these types of cameras... I just had visions of a large screen on the backpanel being a point of failure that would render the camera useless if it ever took a bad fall...

Good stuff... My vote is in...

[Ken Nielsen]

Camear of the year, 2010, Canon 7D.

[Photo-John]

Camear of the year, 2010, Canon 7D.

I agree that the 7D is a great camera. However, it's not on the list because it came out in 2009. I know because that's when I got mine

[Photo-John]

Choice is made and an article is finally posted. I made the first forum announcement on the Sony forum, because - well, it's a Sony.

2010 Camera Of The Year >>

Ok, go ahead and tell me why I'm wrong

[Greg McCary]

Wow last time I looked Nikon was way ahead.

[Photo-John]

Wow last time I looked Nikon was way ahead.

Nikon is still way ahead in the poll. But my pick was not the Nikon. The poll is for the community choice. My Camera Of The Year doesn't have to be the same as the democratic pick

[Class A]

AFAIC, the real camera of the year 2010 was the Pentax K-5. It wasn't available as a choice in your reader's poll.

The Pentax K-5 features weather sealing, in-body image stabilisation and the best rated APS-C (Sony) sensor (see the DxOMark result) ever. It has excellent ergonomics and a better built than the Nikon D7000.

Not sure how you could overlook the Pentax K-5 and have the Nikon D7000 as a runner up.

I applaud Sony for its innovations but the A55 was primarily born to support continuous AF for video. As a still photographer I take issue with the light loss induced by the translucent mirror.

[Photo-John]

Thanks for the post, Class A. Unfortunately, you're too late. I started this thread almost a month ago, asking for opinions on what cameras I should consider. I admit that I need to looknig more closely at the more recent Pentax offerings. Even if I did have a K-5 for review I think I would still have chosen the A55 because of its innovative design.

It might make a difference if I could actually get a new digital SLR for review from Pentax. For the past few years it's been next to impossible to get a DSLR out of them. I keep getting P&S camera for review but no digital SLRs. I'm not judging Pentax because of this. It just makes it hard to keep them on the radar and stay current on how their cameras are performing.

As for light loss on the transparent mirror - I'm primarily a still photographer - a sports photographer. And I remember when my dream camera was the pellicle mirror Canon EOS 1N RS. Light loss be damned - that camera was the king for sports shooting back then!

Thanks for bringing up Pentax, though. I do want to get a K-5 for review. I'm going to send them an e-mail right now

[Class A]

Thanks for the post, Class A. Unfortunately, you're too late. I started this thread almost a month ago, asking for opinions on what cameras I should consider.

I'm sorry that I wasn't aware of this.

Even if I did have a K-5 for review I think I would still have chosen the A55 because of its innovative design.

Fair enough.

Thanks for bringing up Pentax, though. I do want to get a K-5 for review. I'm going to send them an e-mail right now

Good on ya! Hope you have some luck and am looking forward to hearing from your impressions if you can get one.

[Anbesol]

light loss is irrelevant as the viewfinder is an EVF. Its a simple ISO boost to compensate for exposure, instead of ISO 100, its equiv iso 133, etc. I think its pretty reasonable.

[Class A]

light loss is irrelevant as the viewfinder is an EVF.

The loss is relevant. As the mirror doesn't move out of the way while an image is taken, some (small) percentage of light (that is diverted to the AF module) is lost for forming an image on the sensor. This leads to slightly higher noise in the image.

Of course the SONY sensor has excellent low-noise performance so the images are still great. But if you use the same (or better?) sensor in a camera with a conventional mirror that moves out of the way then there is even less noise.

[OldClicker]

The loss is relevant. As the mirror doesn't move out of the way while an image is taken, some (small) percentage of light (that is diverted to the AF module) is lost for forming an image on the sensor. This leads to slightly higher noise in the image.

Of course the SONY sensor has excellent low-noise performance so the images are still great. But if you use the same (or better?) sensor in a camera with a conventional mirror that moves out of the way then there is even less noise.

Then again, the SLR has that mirror flopping around causing vibrations which leads to slightly less sharpness and has many more light surfaces involved which leads to slightly degraded AF functionality. Pick your poison or better; evaluate the entire package instead of cherry picking one probably insignificant point. - Terry