Leica 24mm lens on a Leica M8 so 35mm field of view.
What do the camera manufacturers have planned for us in 2025. Real cameras are becoming a niche market. Everyone has a smart phone it seems and with computational photography producing an image with software more like what people want then what they actually photographed, real cameras are selling less and less.
Because of this to maintain profitability camera manufacturers are having to move up market. A basic Fuji will set you back £800 without a lens, the little Nikon Z30 £700 at current prices. Add to these a kit zoom your knocking on the door of £1000 to get started. That gets you a pretty good smartphone that can do it all, including editing and posting to social media. For those of us with traditional cameras, let’s not forget, a computer, tablet, storage, editing software is all needed. What we call real photography costs a lot of money. For those of you into good old film photography, the price now of film and developing is eye watering.
Now Canon have released the R1 I expect this tech to trickle down, they don’t want to be seem getting left behind.
Fuji have carved themselves a very successful corner of the market, they own DX format; with fairly lacklustre offerings in the lens departments from Canon and Nikon in this area. I expect this year, Fuji will be spending there efforts trying to fulfil the orders for the new X100. I was tempted myself.
I am waiting for Nikon’s 35mm f/1.2 S lens, though I already own a Nikor 35mm AIS lens, the 35mm f/1.8 S lens and the Leica M 1.4 35mm. It seems I just cannot get enough of fast 35mm lens.
My purchasing is likely to be limited to just one lens this year, and it will be either the 85mm f/1.2 S or the 135mm f/1.8 S Plena.
The question a lot of people are asking is what will Nikon do with the Z7 and the Z9. The Z6III out performs the Z7 but is a lower megapixel count, while the Z8 matches the megapixels and completely outguns the Z7 in every way. It may be worth Nikon dropping this model. Some have said make it a high megapixel slow studio or landscape camera, 70 – 80 MP. That would be an interesting choice but would make it a limited product. At those kind of megapixels defraction sets in at around f/7.6, going much more then 50MP then your likely better off going medium format and Fuji again show there winning strategy of splitting there cameras between DX and Medium format.
