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- [00:00]
A
This week's episode is sponsored by Leica.
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B
You're listening to the B and H photography podcast. For 50 years, B& H has been the professional source for photography, video, audio and more. For your favorite gear news and reviews, visit us atb&h.com or download the B and H app to your iPhone or Android device. Now here's your host, Derek Fassbender.
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C
Welcome listeners. I'm Derek Fassmeder, host of the B and H Photography Podcast.
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A
And I'm Jill Waterman, the podcast Senior Creative Producer.
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B
And I'm Mike Weinstein, the show's Technical Producer and Audio engineer.
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C
In case you don't already know, 2025 marks 10 years since we started the B and H Photography Podcast, making Today's show our 10th annual Gear of the Year episode. Now, a lot of cameras have come down the pike since that very first recap, along with a veritable rollercoaster of marketing strategies and photographic trends. This year, the recent trend for the digicam look and old fashioned point and shoots continues to grow in popularity, no doubt fueled by user generated camera reviews on YouTube and TikTok. We're starting off the show with a look back in time to when digital point and shoots were losing ground to the ubiquitous camera phone. Which leads into our theory about how the current digicam trend is simply nostalgia for mid aughts frivolity. After that lighthearted banter, we'll launch into our main discussion about this year's crop of shiny new cameras from 10 leading manufacturers grouped by brand. Finally, for listeners in search of the latest options when traveling with gear, we'll end the show with a few favorite new releases that offer a step up in comfort and ease of use. To guide us through these bright and shiny picks for 2025 photo gear and to get a sense of how consumers are reacting to these cameras in real life, we welcome Kevin Rickard, BH Photos Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting, to the show for the fifth year running. Wow Kevin, I think it's time we give you some official B and H podcast swag. If only we had some. But in all seriousness, it's Kevin's job to collaborate with camera and lens manufacturers to create curriculum for training BH's world renowned sales staff. He really knows his stuff. Born and raised in New York, Kevin is an intrepid street photographer, an avid traveler and a devoted baseball fan with 23 years of experience in electronic retail, the last 11 of which have been spent here at Bhattan. Kevin Rickert, welcome to the show.
- [02:29]
D
Thank You, Derek. It's a pleasure to be back here. I can't believe it's been 11 years here. Time does fly. There's a lot of cameras that have come out since I started, but the world keeps on spinning. And here we are, another year.
- [02:41]
C
Here we are, another year. This is becoming your time of year. It's like you own December here at the podcast.
- [02:47]
D
It's always an experience to come in here, go over what has happened in the past 12 months or so.
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B
So it's a good experience.
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D
It's a great experience. Great experience.
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B
Okay, there you go.
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D
Great experience. Great experience.
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C
We look forward and I know all the listeners as much as we. We say we don't like to talk about gear, but when it comes out, we all love to talk about gear. We love to argue, we love to get in these deep conversations about what matters, what doesn't matter, what is going to change the game. We love hating on the term game changer. But over these past 11 years, I mean, you've seen everything in terms of marketing directions, specific niche products, and obviously trends. So I'm going to kick it over to you, Kevin. Where is the place? Where do we start in 20? Where are we at with gear now?
- [03:31]
D
It's an interesting time frame because you still have a lot of brands focusing on the vloggers, so that's still an important target for these manufacturers. Then you do have that path for your high resolution cameras. You do have your path for your more hybrid cameras for those who are doing photo and video. Most recent releases indicate that. And then you have something interesting in a resurgence in the point and shoot cameras that I mentioned last year, it's become fever pitch now. And that's because things go viral and you can't really control that. And that drives what the customer is looking for. When we get a phone call or customer comes into the store or reaches out via chat, they're looking for certain cameras to give them a certain look. And that is interesting to see because some of These cameras are 2018, 2019, and they're older and a lot of manufacturers may even produce them in the same amount of numbers that were pre pandemic. So it's very interesting to see. And that's been the conversation for us salespeople, you know, walking around and you see, hey, what camera? And they look, oh, it's the Canon power shot. This is what they're looking for. And it becomes almost like a broken record. But we cannot really control what customers are going to ask for.
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B
Kevin, quick question for you. Theories as to why these manufacturers haven't designed new versions of these 2018 cameras, that seems crazy. That's now eight years.
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C
They want outdated.
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B
Yeah, but like they can do a facsimile, or is it no, like the demand drives the supply. If they're demanding 2018 cameras, we're going to keep those supply chains open. We'll sell them 2018 cameras. We don't care.
- [05:19]
D
It's pardon. Course, if you remember how 2018, 2019 was back before B and H. At my prior job, every January during ces, I would look at the list of the cameras that came out and anybody could do this. If they go to certain websites with like camera timelines, you'll see January of 2010, how many point shoot cameras were released? Canon had a bunch, had all their power shots. Nikon had their cool picks. Sony had their cyber shots. Every brand was pushing their point and shoots. I remember just being, oh, it's a new elf camera. Yeah. Time goes by. Smartphones become more ubiquitous. Better image quality coming from smartphones. Ease of use of just. I could just upload it to Instagram or whatever. Everybody's buying smartphones. The other, the cameras du jour, what happens? Camera manufacturers, all right, we have to go to larger sensors. One inch sensors happen now you have your RX1 hundreds. Canon had the G3, G7Xs, things like that.
- [06:24]
B
Those are one inch.
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D
Yeah, one inch. Just to give you better image quality, better low light performance. But what happened was that bottom of those smaller sensor point and shoot cameras, no one's really buying these because people have smartphones now. So let's slow down production on them. Let's release only two or three a year. Here we are, 2018, 2019 up, 2020, pandemic happened. Supply chain issues. Manufacturers are just like, no one's buying these. Why should we keep this going then? What happens a few years ago, cameras
- [06:57]
B
go viral 15 years later? that point, at that point, you can actually say that that's actual real nostalgia for mid aughts, frivolity, fun. I mean, that's 15 years. Yeah, that's a long time. 1975 to 1990 is also 15 years.
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C
I mean, you have a generational swing like with everything else. You see 90s fashion. Did we ever think like mom and dad jeans were going to actually be in style after the 90s? No.
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B
I mean, I did.
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D
Everything comes back around.
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C
Everything. And I think, Mike, to your question, I think it goes against the ethos of just a brand in general. You're always looking forward, you're Looking and you're pumping so much money and time and effort into R and D to take us forward.
- [07:40]
B
Except for a couple of companies that come to mind.
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C
Fuji, if I were to say that if there were companies, that's like, okay, our thing is nostalgia. Our thing is our, our looking forward is. Looking back is like your camp snap. Like we're going to take disposable cameras and make that. But at the end of the day, you're relying on a trend and it's kind of like, all right, we're playing with a little bit of money, maybe we're going to invest 80% in our future, but we got a little overage. Let's kind of play with the trend market and see what's out there. Because you have serious professionals out there who need the top gear. They need it to constantly advance. It's almost like this two tiered listening of brands. Brands are listening to their bread and butter users, they're listening to their professionals, they're listening to their ambassadors and the people that they work with to say, what is this camera? Where does this camera need to go? What do we need? What do we rely upon? What technology needs to get better. But then they are also listening to the trends and saying, okay, well we don't need to go out and reinvent these cameras because the Internet's already made them successful. So why pump money, resource marketing dollars into something that is.
- [08:48]
B
Yeah, I would caveat that and say some brands, okay, that would be Fuji, that would be om systems with the om3 and canon. And Canon is also doing retro cameras. Well, they're not, I don't think they're not letting stuff.
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C
They're not going to turn away. If social media is calling for the old point and shoot aesthetic or that whole trend to come back, I don't think they'll turn it away. You're turning away your largest pusher of free marketing, which is the Internet.
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B
That's why a camera from 2018 is still being stocked. It's mind blowing to me. Yeah.
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A
With that in mind, let's dive into this list and start looking at the specific cameras.
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C
The list is going to keep us grounded.
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A
Yeah.
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C
Directions.
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B
Jill's going to keep us grounded.
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D
Here we are.
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A
We're going to start out with the Canon R50V.
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D
All right, so with the R50, what's been going on? And I alluded to this in the beginning, most brands have that focus on the trend of people who are looking for vlogging. So these are the people who are posting their videos on TikTok, Instagram, their own site, microblogs. So this is made for the content creator. The V kind of gives it away for vlogging or video. It is a nice little mirrorless camera. It has your 4K6C for those who want to do slow motion, but it's cropped, it's very user friendly. It's a slightly redesigned body compared to the R50, but it makes it more video centric. You'll see this trend a lot when manufacturers that they take a existing camera model and make it more vlogger centric because they have a slightly different use case such as, but not limited to retained screens, tally lights, so you can understand that it's recording at a quick glance. Better microphones, so on and so forth. Also has like the close up mode for people who are doing unboxings or showing off their makeup, things like that.
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C
I call it influencer mode. Like I'm showing something. Yeah, that's something that's relevant though. It is today's creator economy number one.
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B
Yeah.
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C
And I think for content creators across the board, whether you're a content creator or whether you're a professional who is leveraging content creation, because there is a difference. It makes it so much easier.
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D
The presentation mode, what it does is basically when it comes down to auto focus, like it knows that you're putting something in front. So if you put like a, you know, hot dog. Sure. If you put a hot dog in front, the camera will focus on that and then once it moves away, it goes back to your face instead of just hunting, which is a problem with some of these cameras prior to that feature. A lot of these are quality of life improvements for people who are more vlogging centric.
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B
One man band.
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D
Yes.
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B
No focus puller. And they're doing these one, two step focus. Here's a product, here's my face, Here's a product, here's my face. And that's the mode that we're talking about.
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C
We have people use it all the time doing stuff with virtual presentations for B and H where you have guests come on and they want to show the gear. You're doing it virtually. You need to be able to have the camera switch focus and recognize that. So yeah, I think it's totally useful.
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A
So let's go to the other end of the spectrum with Canon and talk about the R6 Mark III.
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D
The R6 Mark III is one of the biggest releases from Canon this year. This is a little bit of an upgrade in terms of resolution. It's 32 and a half full frame sensor on this one. It does one of my favorite features which is open gate. It does it as a 7K 30P. There's your high speed 4K. For those who are looking to do slow motion, this is a great jump. Especially since there's some brands that are really honing down to Open gate which makes it easier for those content creators to record once and then change the aspect ratio in post. I wish more things have it. The R6 Mark III is a great hybrid camera. Yeah. Because you have your photo resolution there. For those who need to do photos, you have your video resolution, video features. So it allows you to be firmly planted for both realms. So you can see people who are doing like event photography, maybe landscapes who are doing both. A hybrid of photo and video. This is great for them. Especially coming from original R6. Yeah, it's a speed demon too. 40 frames per second raw light video. It says here light means like Pepsi.
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B
Okay. It's raw ish.
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D
It's easier for computers to manage, especially if you have your older one, so it's less of a drain.
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C
I think that fits into the ethos of camera brands in general, providing not only a multitude of options, but you're allowing people to grow into a camera, which I think is awesome. It used to be you had a prosumer model and then you had a professional model and there was very little overlap just in like the basic settings. But now you can buy a prosumer model that has enough headspace to allow you to grow into more professional settings and things that you wouldn't normally use when you're starting your photography journey. But as you learn and grow, you'll start to use them more and you're starting to see a lot of latitude in the settings and the capabilities of lower level cameras that are allowing you to up your game without fully investing and moving up to a way more expensive system.
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B
That's a good observation. Yeah. The range of the capabilities can cover both of these domains. Sometimes the pressure on non professional.
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D
Yeah. Because if you're full steam ahead photographer and then two years down the road you're like maybe I should dabble in video. You don't have to worry about getting another video camera and going out on a trip and having two cameras with you because you want to do photo and video. The hybrid cameras have changed the game a lot in the past few years. Especially if you look at the cameras that are released this year. R6 Mark III, A7V, the Z6 III and also the S1 from Panasonic, those cameras were called entry level full frame cameras, but they're not entry level anymore. They're basically great all rounders for the people who don't know what path they can go on yet without sacrificing a feature, so on and so forth from the other models.
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A
So to wrap up the Canon segment, let's talk about the third camera in the Canon Trinity, the PowerShot V1.
- [14:58]
D
All right, the Canon PowerShot V1 is a camera that I hoped would have calmed people down from the whole G7X3 hubbub that's been, I wouldn't say plaguing us, but it feels like whenever I walk past a salesperson, I look at them and they just shake their head and say G7X Mark III again, because that's all that people are asking for. So I was hoping that Canon was going to release something that could be the spiritual successor to that. But once it has a V, it's a vlogging camera. So it's missing a lot of those features that people are searching for in the G7X Mark III and also the other cameras like the 740 HS and there's a 360 HSA which was announced this year as well, which are going back to those digicam looks. So with that said, this is a vlogging camera. It has an interesting sensor size. It's slightly larger than a 1 inch sensor based on the number here. It's 1.4 inch CMOS sensor, has a 16 to 50 millimeter lens on there, so it's flexible. There's 4K60 with a little bit of a crop there, has a built in ND filter which is great. So this is based on someone who may want something smaller than the R50V that exists, but with the PowerShot name. We were all hoping for something to take the heat off the G7X mark 3. But since this doesn't have a. A built in flash to get that MySpace early Facebook look when we recommend it to customers, we were figuring out that, oh, they don't want this, they want that flash, they want that hot flash in your face.
- [16:37]
B
How is the PowerShot V1 selling?
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D
The thing is, we would recommend it and people are like, no, I want the G7X Mark III. And then we go, why do you want the G7X Mark III? Oh, I saw a video online and it says the G7X Mark III is the best camera for what I need to do. And you look at the photos and you're just like, oh, that's what you're trying to do, you could get there with any camera. It's like, no, this person said it's the best camera out there and you can't give any pushback.
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B
And we love our customers and they're always right.
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D
Yeah, they're always right. It's funny because when the G7X Mark III came out, it didn't get the notoriety then, but now that's the camera that people want. Every day, hundreds of people call up for that camera.
- [17:18]
A
That's crazy.
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C
The market's there. I mean, and let's not just put all the weight on the trends. There are still a lot of older users that I see personally who have had this camera and they like it because it's comfortable. And it's a generation that doesn't just upgrade when the newest thing comes out. It's reliable, they last forever and you want to use something that you're comfortable using. So there is, there still is, I'd argue, a market for, I mean, I started on a PowerShot and it was a great system. Every time it was upgraded it was a good upgrade. It was always solid. And I think there's some longevity to it because of that history there. And the trend kind of takes all the weight that we love to give to TikTok and Instagram.
- [18:03]
B
We got to do an episode of my first camera.
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C
Oh yeah.
- [18:06]
B
And Derek, just quickly, do you remember your first?
- [18:08]
C
Oh, totally, yeah. Well, a hot pink Kodak Pizzazz 110 film camera.
- [18:14]
B
That was when you were like 35 or so.
- [18:16]
C
That was last year.
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A
So on that note, let's move on to the next brand on our list. Fujifilm.
- [18:26]
C
Perfect segue.
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D
With Fujifilm this year you've had really good releases. So the X half. The X half was an interesting camera. It uses a vertical 1 inch sensor. So this is a half frame digital camera, which basically means your images are going to be perfect for posting to Instagram because it's the same aspect ratio. I thought this camera was fun. It got a little bit of heat on it because the pricing. Is it priced too high? Probably. Is it a fun camera that makes photo taking fun again? Yes, I had it for a little bit. I went to a few baseball games with it in my pocket. Very easy to shoot with. It's very small. You can do diptychs with it, do the film simulations as Fuji does. It's a built in flash, so if you want to get that look, you can. It's a nice little pocket camera that is made to make photography fun. And I Think it did a great job of having the feel of a real film camera without feeling too much of a digital camera. I could see this being one of those cameras that two years down the road, three years down the road, someone's gonna make it go viral and then we're gonna have to deal with people trying to find the ex half from 2025 all over again. It's like you should have bought the camera when we recommended it to you.
- [19:44]
B
Maybe people should stock up.
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C
I will sell mine to you for $4,000.
- [19:48]
D
There you go. Right now you have a camera too, right, Derek?
- [19:51]
C
I have it. Now look, full disclosure, I'm a Fujifilm creator. I think I'm a pretty brand agnostic person. I think he hit the nail on the head in terms of price, which with tariffs, everything going on right now, that's a nuanced conversation. When you use the camera for what it' it is super fun. And I will say it is surprisingly way better image quality than you would think. I think a lot of people are throwing around the term toy camera and I've taken some images on it and been shocked at how good the image quality is and the resolution and you're kind of expecting this really degraded, smaller resolution image that falls apart. And I actually have four prints from the X half in an 11 by 13 coffee table book that I just made and, and they look beautiful and indistinguishable from other work shot on the X series and the gfx. Now you guys can argue about that all you want, but the proof is on the paper and I think it is. It's a fun camera when you use it, how it's been designed and manufactured to be used.
- [20:55]
D
Yeah, I was afraid when it was launched that it will feel too much like a toy camera, but it doesn't. It has a little bit of heft to it and I'm like, oh, this is better than I thought it was. You've used a film simulation mode, right?
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C
Yes.
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D
How was that for you?
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C
I love it. I mean, especially now when I think we're getting further and further away from editing and wanting to be stuck for hours in post processing uploading, all of that. And I think the immediacy of our generation wants to upload immediately, but we also still. And I think we will always love that filtered or retro Y kind of look. I actually love the retro filters more than the film simulations on the xf and I use them more than I use the film simulations, which is crazy. I never thought that. But I think when you're again leaning into what the DNA of the camera is. It's made to be. You know, let me throw the expired green mode on. And yes, the image quality is going to be way more degraded, but that's the look I'm going for. And I think if you're in the right market and that's what you want, this is right in your sweet spot.
- [22:03]
D
What I like about it too is since it shoots only jpeg, if you shoot the JPEG like film, if you mess up on this, that's what it is. Granted you could take five shots of the same thing over and over again. It makes it a little bit like, all right, it's film photography without spending another $30 on developments.
- [22:20]
B
Right. Psychologically, it gets you into that place of this is what it is. Let's get this right. There's not a lot of latitude. I don't want to mess with the computer. I want it here, I want it now. It's got the frame advance lever. I mean everything about the tactile design of this sort of psychologically reinfor fact that this is sort of the JPEG analog of a small film camera from back in the 60s and 70s.
- [22:46]
C
Since you mentioned the film advance lever, that is one thing. I would love it to have a winder in there or something.
- [22:52]
B
Yeah, the spring.
- [22:54]
C
Oh man, it's the best. And I think if you're gonna go in like, go in all the way.
- [22:59]
A
So Fuji has a lot of releases out this year. Let's move on to one of their other new cameras.
- [23:05]
D
The other camera I purchased this year, the X E5. The reason why I bought this camera was because this time last year I decided let me just dabble in Fujifilm just to see how it's like. I loved it. Released a 23 millimeter lens with that, which is a pancake. I do like pancakes, both for lenses and food. With that said, it's a 40 megapixel APS C sensor as most the X series have your X trans on there, so you have that different color rendition. And Fujifilm keeps it very straightforward. You have your 40 megapixel cameras, you have your 26 megapixel cameras. It's basically the same size of an X100 but interchangeable lens which gives flexibility. I told myself I wasn't going to buy into another lens system since I have so many Sony lenses, but I travel a lot. I wanted something smaller when things weren't too serious. And this has a nice film simulation dial. You can do your custom Fujifilm recipes On there, snappy autofocus, 6K video. It's very good, well rounder. I didn't want anything too crazy but I wanted something small, good image quality and something fun. And I think Fujifilm does a great job of making cameras fun.
- [24:19]
B
By the way, is this noticeably smaller and lighter than any of the Sony cameras that you have?
- [24:23]
D
Oh yeah, it's smaller than my A7IV so it's more manageable. Usually when I travel with my Sony I have the 35 to 150 Tamron lens on there and that's a big boy.
- [24:33]
C
I think they've done a great job. Fujifilm with also seeing the demand in like the X100 series and all the little point and shoots and now you introduce. So like the X E5, it's very comparable to an X100 with the ability of having that removable lens. So it's like, oh hey all you people out there who have been trying to get your hands on an X100 for the past five plus years, here's a system that's very similar. It's going to check a lot of the same boxes and by the way, you can put different lenses on it.
- [25:06]
B
But no one mentioned it by name so they don't care.
- [25:10]
C
Yeah, yeah. Some influencer has to make a video saying that.
- [25:13]
D
Yeah, I mean, I think Fujifilm doesn't need the viralness because they're already past that point in which everybody knows about them. So people will always come in asking about a Fujifilm camera. Like the XT33 came out. Yeah, everybody already knows.
- [25:28]
C
Yeah, it's funny too. I think a lot of the brands have to thank Fujifilm for that whole TikTok point and shoot thing going viral. It was like, well, they couldn't get their hands on an X100 so where did they start going? And I think a lot of that kind of spawned out into other cameras and it's like, oh well now we're going to go. And then someone is like, oh hey, I picked up this power shot and I can do the same things as this. And it was cool to kind of see everything starts spreading out to other systems and people were trying to. I think that's also had some role to play in the point and shoot trend that we've been talking about.
- [26:04]
A
Kevin brought up the X T33 so I thought we should talk a little bit more about that camera.
- [26:11]
D
This is good entry point into the Fujifilm ecosystem. It's a 26 megapixel APS C X trans sensor. Does your 6K video also has a film simulation dial on there. So easy to use, easy for someone to go through the system. Interchangeable lenses on there. So if someone doesn't need 40 megapixels and just wants 26, which is still a very good amount, this allows them to dive right in and it becomes one of those cameras that you know will probably take the heat off of all the other cameras that are out there, especially from Fujifilm. So people could kind of like choose your own path, which I think is good. And I know some people are saying Fujifilm cameras are not in stock. Brands have become smarter with how they produce items. They're not going to produce thousands and thousands of cameras and have thousands of them sit on the shelf because no one bought them because the variability of that camera has waned. So now cameras produce closer to what they need to sell. So they can sell them at the price that they need to be and not worry about two black Fridays from now having them go on sale for half price. Fujifilm is not the only brand that does that. A lot of brands have been focusing on making the productions more efficient per se. Another camera that came out this year from Fujifilm that should be mentioned is a camera that I thought I was going to buy, but I'm like oh, I don't have that money. The GFX100RF. A GFX medium format camera from Fujifilm that is rangefinder style, travel friendly, small, light, built in lens. It's 100 megapixels so you know you get your resolution there. It's a 28 millimeter equivalent lens, has a cool aspect ratio dial on there. It's really well designed camera. Once I first saw it I'm like that's the camera that's going on my wish list. But my wallet was like no, you can't do that. One of my favorite things There has a 4 stop ND filter leaf shutter. This is the pro travel camera. If you're not gonna get a liker, I would get one of these if it was cheaper.
- [28:17]
B
Kevin, can you quickly talk about leaf versus curtain shutter?
- [28:21]
D
Yeah, it's about speed with leaf shutters. Since they open and close within the lens. It enables you to basically do sync at any speed.
- [28:28]
B
So that's the advantage. That's what we're talking about, flash sync.
- [28:31]
D
Yeah, you get built in higher sync speeds.
- [28:34]
B
How has that sold this fixed lens medium format camera?
- [28:37]
D
It was good. It said when you go to the higher price of course drops off. But people are buying this.
- [28:41]
B
Derek, do you have One of those.
- [28:43]
C
I do not. I did the launch video for B H on this camera and I will say I instantly wanted one. It's like the GFX system in the X100 had a baby. And it's not all hype. It's a beautiful, beautiful camera. And the GFX system, I mean, I love, love, love the entire system. But having it in a more compact four medium format, form factor, I think it checks all the boxes for me.
- [29:09]
B
Yeah, you look like you were having fun during that video at least.
- [29:12]
C
Oh, totally. No, I mean, it's a fun. It's a fun camera to go out there. And I think, you know, for everybody who wants to go out there and get wrapped up in the old 2 megapixel point and shoot trend, there's a lot of people that appreciate really good quality images and images that hold up without even being pixel peepers. I mean, when you get into the Leica Hasselblad Fujifilm and you're really looking at the resolution and really how it resolves and how it holds together these images, it's a different level of appreciation.
- [29:45]
B
Fuji does go fully retro sometimes and they even make film cameras still. Is that right?
- [29:49]
D
Yeah, they do the Instax series, which is probably the bread and butter. They have so many different flavors of that.
- [29:55]
B
What do you mean by bread and bird?
- [29:56]
D
That a good portion of their entire
- [29:58]
B
sales comes from the insects.
- [29:59]
D
That is a good portion of what they make their money off of.
- [30:02]
B
Wow.
- [30:02]
D
Because think about it, you go to any CVS or.
- [30:05]
B
Oh, right, right.
- [30:06]
D
They're going to have that film and then they're not the only camera that uses that film. But it is fun. I liked the Instax series. You have it in square, mini, wide, and it came out with the Evo series, which I like in theory because for someone who takes photos on just a regular Instax, that's an instant in time that I'm not gonna get back again. Since this is a hybrid digital film camera, you could kind of reprint those images and have the same image and give it to different people, which is great for like a event like a wedding and such like that. You do have like 10 lens effects. You have film effects on there. I do like the Evo series. I do like the insect series because whenever you will go to a party and have one, you just, oh, here's a picture. They just look really good too. They don't fade. I have a few at my desk downstairs that I printed from an insects printer. Colors are great and it works with the smartphones as well.
- [30:55]
B
Is it related to a Polaroid process at all?
- [30:58]
D
I believe Fujifilm Instax uses the same process because it is instant film. And it also says, like, don't put this in your mouth. Which you shouldn't put them in your mouth anyway.
- [31:05]
B
You have to shake it like a Polaroid picture.
- [31:07]
D
You should not shake it. You should never shake.
- [31:09]
C
Not have to shake it anymore. The technology's changed.
- [31:11]
D
Never should shake.
- [31:12]
B
It's a song that says, as you should, though.
- [31:13]
D
Outcast.
- [31:14]
B
That's right.
- [31:15]
C
I love seeing the standalone printers too. I think that's been kind of a cool direction that we've gone with the instant printing of. You can take an image on a better quality camera and then print it so it holds up better. But you still. Because it's going through an Instax printer, you're still getting that nostalgic look and feel.
- [31:36]
B
Yeah, whenever I go to parties, I'm always holding the printer, you know, just waiting for someone to feed me their. Their card and print out stuff for them.
- [31:43]
D
And on that note, it's kind of important for people to understand I've fallen to this. Not fallen. It's not a trap, but I guess it is a trap. When you realize you have to buy ink but print your photos. It makes things a little bit more tangible and it's a different excitement level. I've been trying to go through my travel photos and, like, print them out and be like, oh, this is different. It's a different experience than just seeing it on the screen.
- [32:05]
B
Interesting. Just conceptual, sort of psychological kind of trick. Our last guest said that when she takes pictures now, she sort of decides, like, at that moment, is this image worthy of hanging on a wall? And that really sort of vetted out what is throwaway.
- [32:24]
A
It helps her with deciding what to photograph.
- [32:27]
B
Right. For me, it was a brand new way of sort of conceptualizing photography at that moment of whether or not this would ever hang on a wall. I mean, like, if I was running that algorithm in my head, I probably wouldn't take any pictures.
- [32:42]
A
But also, you're not.
- [32:43]
B
I'm not a professional photographer.
- [32:45]
A
And, you know, you're not at a party snapping pictures of all your friends.
- [32:51]
B
That's right. I'm holding a printer.
- [32:53]
D
You're a printer holder. You got it.
- [32:55]
C
Look. That's a. It's a very real role of the people who just want to have fun. And photography has been so immersed in our culture and subculture that it's no longer just for photographers. It's for people who Just love and appreciate having photos of themselves, their friends, their memories. And I think that's where a lot of these cameras really hit the mark, is they're selling to those people. And then there's always the whole ecosystem conversation of you never know who's going to be like, you know what, I really like doing this. I would love to take this up one day. And I've seen so many people transition from regular 9 to 5 job, not even photography related to, hey, let me try it and maybe do a gig on the side. I'm really interested in photo. And a lot of these conversations start because you have the friend who's always the one taking pictures when you're out with your friends and then they kind of are like, wow, well, you take really nice pictures and it kind of evolves from there. And when you have a system that is, okay, well we have an instax here. I like this brand, I'm going to stay with this brand. Or you have a point and shoot, you have a power shot and you're like, okay, well I love my Canon powershot. Let me see what they offer. Now that I'm taking photography more serious, I think it's awesome.
- [34:07]
A
Yeah. So talked about the Fuji GFX100 and now let's segue to the next medium format, Hasselblad.
- [34:18]
D
So Hasselblad came out with a new camera this year during late summer. The X2D2 100C which at 100, you guessed it, that's 100 megapixels right there. It uses a backside illuminated CMOS sensor. So that's 50 roughly. More light gathering, has your image stabilization inside of it 10 stop they say, which is very, very good. And the major thing that I would say with medium format cameras is that traditionally they would be a little bit sluggish when it comes down to autofocus. So with this camera it has phase detection, autofocus, and thanks to their good friends at dji, you have lidar for autofocus. So it's a quicker, snappier, responsive, active type of autofocus versus passive. You get more resolution with quicker speed as well.
- [35:10]
A
So is this the first time that lidar has been used for autofocus in Hasselblad?
- [35:15]
C
Yes, a friend of mine who's shot Hasselblad Leica gfx. Everything under the sun swears by this camera as far as the colors are concerned for the lidar in particular. And this is a photographer who's not just some hobbyist, worked for Disney for, you know, decade and a half and accomplished photographer says the lidar. He's like, I can take a photo in pitch darkness and nail it. And he said the success rate of the autofocus is ridiculous. That it's like pop off frame after frame and it's just every image is hitting. So something to be said about that.
- [35:59]
B
Yeah.
- [35:59]
A
Sounds like a game changer.
- [36:01]
D
Maybe we'll have more lidar and cameras down the road.
- [36:04]
C
Yeah.
- [36:04]
B
By the way, did I Hear you correctly? 50% Light gathering improvements with the BSI sensor, Is that a typical number?
- [36:11]
D
Yeah. Really?
- [36:12]
B
That much gain? Okay. That's incredible.
- [36:13]
D
50%.
- [36:14]
B
Yeah. That's a lot. Who's buying these Hasselblad cameras?
- [36:16]
D
People with deep pockets.
- [36:17]
A
Even more specific in terms of photography use factor.
- [36:21]
B
Yeah.
- [36:22]
C
I mean look, it's commercial. Commercial photographers sell out.
- [36:25]
D
Commercial photographers, people in your studio fashion, people who are doing reproduction of art is one thing that normally happens with medium format cameras.
- [36:35]
A
Whereas with the Fuji medium format, you said it has some application for travel uses.
- [36:40]
D
Yes.
- [36:40]
A
This one not so much.
- [36:41]
D
I mean you could because it is a mirrorless camera. But once the GFX100RF came out, it was just like, all right, I don't want to go with the GFX100II and the S2. I just want something compact, one lens and you just go through the crop modes. That's that camera. It's another option in their landscape. The Hasselblad is people who've had a Hasselblad camera in the past are more likely to get another Hasselblad camera. And the design ethos of the Hasselblad cameras are just perfect.
- [37:09]
B
They look nice.
- [37:10]
D
Something about Scandinavia.
- [37:11]
C
I mean, I used to shoot the X1D and have some experience with that. And I think Even with the X2D2, you look at the more robust IBIS. You're not putting IBIS in a medium format camera unless you intend to get it out of the studio. So I think even with going back to the X1D, it was like you wanted a medium format that had legs, that could go out into the street, that could get into the hands of people who are traveling. And I think these medium format systems are a lot more capable of getting away from these scenarios that we always kind of relegated them to just the studio, just the commercial, just the really high end photographers. And they are more mobile.
- [37:54]
B
Yeah. You know that 10 stop embody stabilization. That's sort of surprising to me because, you know, I've always been aware of the fact that the larger the sensor, the more difficult it might be to arrange stabilization. Are these technologies that I'm seeing, the lidar and the 10 body, are these DJI's prowess that I'm seeing in this camera? I don't see 10 stops in other cameras.
- [38:15]
D
Yeah, I've seen 8.5 and some 10 is the most that I could think off top of my head. The LIDAR definitely is a DJI thing because it's on their drones. So that technology that.
- [38:25]
B
But drones on stabilization, that's the name of the game right there.
- [38:27]
D
Yeah. Because you're flying.
- [38:28]
B
Right. So I'm thinking they picked up at least two big technological gains from this DJI collaboration.
- [38:35]
D
Yeah, it's been helping them out there.
- [38:38]
B
Very cool.
- [38:39]
A
So moving on and moving up in the price range, the next brand on our list is Leica. Let's dive into that.
- [38:48]
D
Let's start with an interesting one. The Leica MEV1, which was announced in October. This is the first Leica M camera that has an integrated evf. It's a rangefinder style, but it has an evf.
- [39:02]
B
So it's not a rangefinder anymore.
- [39:04]
D
Yeah, exactly. This is your same technology. So you have your 60 megapixel full frame sensor in there. Could take all your Leica glass if you have that 64 gigs of internal memory. This is a little bit interesting. So it gets rid of that whole rangefinder prism and it's just an evf, which is a little bit interesting for a pure brand like Leica. But it helps change the game a little bit. Maybe it'll have more people think about doing it at the price of almost $9,000 in the same form factor, but a little bit different with a fixed lens. You have the Q3 monochrome, which was announced in September, if I recall. This is a 60 megapixel once again. But this is a black and white monochrome sensor. So you have very, very good detail. There's a 28 millimeter lens attached to that. So this is a great street photography camera with that focal length. It has your contrast detection af, which it's not hybrid or phase or lidar, but it does the job for a lot of people.
- [40:02]
C
Can I just jump on the price thing real quick? Yeah, I know. That was one of the things that I saw online with the introduction of the MEV1. Yes. And that was the thing. Everyone's like, wow, $9,000 similar to the X half. You know, whether it's a $800 camera that you think is too much or a $9,000 camera that you think is too much, you're just not the right market. I'm not out here saying that a McLaren is priced too much. I'm not the right market for a McLaren. So I think a lot of times we listen to the Internet and it's like, wow, this is. All the comments are on the price and it's like, can we just talk about the merits of the camera for the people who are actually in the range of like, yes, I would go out there and I would spend $9,000 for this camera. Let them debate the merits.
- [40:47]
B
The problem is that Fuji with its high resolution cameras offers a similar McLaren performance at like a Mercedes price. And that might be the difference. McLaren outperforms all cars, but the Leica may not outperform at the equivalent.
- [41:07]
C
But there's a Leica craftsmanship and brand that they've built based on decades and decades and decades of precision and they have built themselves up to this standard. And it's not like you're taking a bargain basement brand that is just all of a sudden rolling out a high end camera that's really priced. This is nothing new for Leica. I don't know why we're still having a conversation about a $9,000 Leica regardless of what it offers.
- [41:37]
B
Partially agree.
- [41:38]
D
Yeah, it's one of those things like, you're right. People who are coming in asking for a Leica normally are not blinking at the price. And it's very hard to sell someone who comes in and they say, I want to buy a Leica. And if you tell them you could get similar performance from the Fujifilm or this camera, they want the Leica and you're doing them a disservice. You could let them know about other options and just how people are would sell. But if someone just sell the pink Cadillac basically or don't pop their balloon, you know, it's just like. And Leica shooters are Leica shooters. They know that their cameras are on the upper echelon in pricing and they want to be part of that community. A Leica community.
- [42:25]
B
Does Leica do themselves a disservice by pricing the SL3 reporter at a premium of $1,500 for the grayed out red dot? Is it worth the 1500 for the gray dot?
- [42:36]
D
Red dot with the reporter. I think when people come out with special edition colors and such like that, it's always gonna be a premium price. People always. It's in green. I like that. I'm go for that.
- [42:48]
B
The people are crazy. And the camera companies know this and they're exploiting the Insanity of people.
- [42:52]
D
Here's a good example. Does anybody remember was it 15, 10 years ago when Hasselblad paired up with Sony and was just like, we're gonna put wood paneling on the same cameras that are. Yeah, like the lunar and stuff like that. And people just say, I want that camera. It's like, you know, I could get the same camera, same performance. And they're like, no, I want this special edition camera. People love special editions.
- [43:13]
B
Okay.
- [43:13]
C
Yeah. Fujifilm did it with the X100VI, the limited edition with the badging and the numbering, and people were clamoring for it. People want exclusive.
- [43:23]
A
Did we talk about the SL3s?
- [43:25]
D
No, we did not.
- [43:26]
A
That's the regular edition.
- [43:28]
D
That's normal folk camera at a modest almost 55,700 there. The SL3S is not 60 megapixel, but 24 megapixel full frame sensor. It's more for video applications. If you could think about that in Leica realm, because you can do your open gate internal recording on there. It has 6K recording. It has stabilization not at 10 stops, but at 5 stops. It basically is once again that choice for someone. Do you need 60 megapixels? No, you want to be more video centric and hybrid. The SL3s may be for you. And then you had the reporter which we just mentioned, which is basically the same thing as the SL3, but it has scratch resistant finish Aramid, which is like a very hard material. I've seen phone cases made out of that, which is really cool. It's almost like Kevlar in a way. This is also 16 megapixels, but the major thing has an olive green finish. And once again, people like things in different colors. They want to stand out in the crowd.
- [44:26]
A
On that note, maybe this is a good time to segue to a break.
- [44:30]
C
This is a great time to segue for a break. So why don't you turn around and see what you have in your gear cabinet. And when we get back, we're going to dive back into what 2025 offered the industry at large in terms of gear in a little bit.
- [44:47]
A
Stay tuned. The Leica M EV1 camera encapsulates the essence of Leica's philosophy, embodying timeless aesthetics, craftsmanship, and exceptional image quality. Leica's newest MEV1 honors this legacy with a classic design.
- [45:02]
D
And now it adds an electronic viewfinder
- [45:04]
A
to marry the classical with the latest tech.
- [45:07]
D
The new EVF features live view exposure
- [45:09]
A
preview that displays every nuance from brightness to image framing in Real time. Whether you're working with ultra wide angle
- [45:17]
D
or telephoto lenses or creative photo filters,
- [45:20]
A
maintain complete control over your composition without taking your eye away from the camera. The Leica M EV1 builds on the foundation of the M11, featuring the same 60 megapixel BSI CMOS full frame sensor with triple resolution technology that provides precise
- [45:37]
D
color rendering, remarkable detail and a high
- [45:39]
A
dynamic range to lend images that unmistakable Leica look.
- [45:43]
C
And we are back. Now, before the break, we were talking about gear, and guess what we're going to be talking about after the break? More gear, of course. Kevin Rickert is with us, B&H's very own and he knows the gear. And Mike and I are here with Jill. Actually. Jill, you're the traffic cop. You gotta keep us all in order. Yeah, Mike and I are the jaywalkers. Yeah, we're the jaywalkers and Kevin is the traffic light that just knows everything about all this gear we're talking about. But no great conversation here. We're talking specs, we're talking releases, and we're also diving into what is going on in the world of trends and what is shaping the flow of gear. So, Kevin, we left off on Leica. Where are we picking back up?
- [46:27]
D
We're picking up with Nikon. So Nikon this year has a full slate of good releases for their Z mount line. And one thing popped out immediately. They had an acquisition of Red not long ago and they released their first cinema centric camera, which is the Nikon ZR, which is a 6K cinema camera. It is the mix of the Red technology that they acquired and Nikon putting it together in a good stew, letting it simmer for a few months, and then they release this, a really nice compact body. Not to go too deep into the video specs, because video heads will be able to speak to this a little bit better. But it is interesting. In the realm of just the ecosystem of Nikon, who traditionally isn't a cinema centric company, there's a stereotype that exists that if we ever see somebody walk into the store with a hat and a photo vest, nine times out of ten they're a Nikon shooter because they do wildlife. And also with Nikon too. Years ago, I remember people would come up to the kiosk and ask us, do you have the camera without video, the Nikon df? So a lot of people within the Nikon ecosystem were kind of video adverse. But nowadays they're trying to pull in people to the cinema line because of the acquisition of Red. And I think that is really interesting for a brand to change how they're perceived and they do a great job of it. With this release you have like 15 plus stops of dynamic range. This is a interesting release for Nikon. It's just like a great thing to see what track that Nikon will go down in the future with other cameras.
- [48:13]
C
Yeah, this is another pairing. It's like that Dji Hasselblad pairing with Nikon in red. It was one of those pairings that you're like, wow, I can't wait to see what comes. And you really hope that it's going to be something that's for the better. We hate to get our hopes up and then see it like, ah. And everything I've heard and everything I've seen, they've delivered in a big way. I mean this acquisition has been something that's worked out in my opinion for both brands. I mean, it's exciting to see and I think as we get to a place where still photographers is more of a hybrid thing now, it's very hard pressed to find a working professional, still only photographer where that isn't at least dabbling in video and kind of blurring those lines between cinema level video and consumer or prosumer video. We're getting there. Like, I think that's a cool path to be heading down.
- [49:07]
D
Definitely is. And also looking at the price of this camera price really good. People thought it would be priced a little bit higher, but it was not. And I think that is going to help draw a lot more people in. If I was more video centric, I'd be like, maybe. But then again, that's another camera system that I have to buy and then all that stuff happens. But with that said, every brand at this point has that line for you to go down. We all know that Canon has a line, hey, you want to go a little bit cinema heavy with their EOS R series cameras. They have that. Sony obviously has that. Panasonic obviously has that. Nikon never really had that. Now they do. So they're going to be, I could say, a force to reckon with in that video space.
- [49:51]
C
Yeah, definitely.
- [49:52]
A
So in terms of the other new releases from nikon, there's the Z5 II
- [49:58]
D
which is a good entry level camera for the Z mount series. So this is the Successor to the z5, which was one of the first cameras. I'm not going to have two card slots in the mirrorless line. So this has a 24 megapixel sensor, modest resolution there. That's typically the Standard. This one's about speed. So it has better processing speed, your subject recognition on there. There's color presets, which Nikon is trying to do. This kind of goes back to what Fujifilm started with their film simulations. Now Fujifilm is the only brand that makes film. So they could use film presets that are named after their film. Other brands cannot do that. So what these brands are doing are giving you film looks now. So you could preload in there. And that's becoming your way to kind of skirt that. And you'll see that in a lot of cameras going forward that if you want to have that film simulation look, you can load your own.
- [50:51]
B
I'm surprised that they haven't licensed the Kodak trade name for some of these presets.
- [50:55]
D
Kodak's a tricky situation because of the zombie brand thing.
- [50:59]
B
What do you mean?
- [51:00]
D
Which Kodak? Eastman Alaris. Who do you go to?
- [51:05]
B
Oh, I see. Who owns it?
- [51:07]
D
Who owns it? Okay.
- [51:09]
C
It's a complicated web.
- [51:11]
B
Who owns a trademark? Gotcha, Mike.
- [51:13]
C
We'll have to dive into that. We'll do it.
- [51:16]
B
Those are overtime. Those for premium subscribers.
- [51:18]
C
Yeah, those are overtime conversations.
- [51:20]
B
Sign up for that conversation.
- [51:22]
C
Sign up for Mike's Patreon.
- [51:25]
D
Yeah, but that's a rabbit hole go down about the zombie brands.
- [51:27]
B
Zombie brands, Interesting.
- [51:29]
D
There was an article yesterday, I think in DP Review about zombie brands. And it's something that happens a lot because a lot of people want those inexpensive point and shoots and they see Minolta or Kodak and you're just like, you know, that's not really Kodak and Minolta. That's someone else.
- [51:44]
A
Interesting. So back to Nikon. The Z6 III came out in the middle of 2024, but Nikon released a firmware update for this camera in August of this year and that caught a lot of buzz. So Kevin, what's your take on that?
- [52:00]
D
Nikon has been doing a great job with their firmware updates, adding new features in there. Better performance is always the thing. You always do bug fixes on that. You always add new features for video or photo. When it comes to recognition or capabilities, firmware updates are important. And what people normally do is some people have a built in firmware Friday in which the first Friday of the month, they update the firmware on their camera or cameras. It's a good rhythm to get, just like backing up your photos, which is
- [52:27]
B
important, but it's also like a brand loyalty. I mean, the amount of goodwill that Nikon gets for releasing firmwares, that basically Transform the camera into almost a new version is quite high. The work that the company is providing to their customers who aren't buying new cameras, new sales, but just providing support for the existing customer base is an important thing to consider. And no one does it, I think, as successfully as Nikon does.
- [52:52]
D
Nikon has been doing a great job with it. A lot of this has come from Fujifilm's Kaizen mantra that they had when they came out with firmware updates. That's what they wanted to focus on. They would put out the camera and have good firmware updates.
- [53:04]
B
What's the word you used?
- [53:05]
D
Kaizen. More firmwares to impart more features to the camera as opposed to, like, bug fixes. And now Nikon does a good job of it. Sony does a good job of it. If they don't brick your camera, sorry, Sony.
- [53:18]
B
And this guy's a Sony, I am.
- [53:20]
D
Can't do the firmware update because they had to pull it. It's bricking cameras for the mom. Most part, brands have been doing a great job of putting out a camera, being like, you'll get more features down the road. And some brands actually tell you upon release that there'll be a new firmware that gives you newer things. Like, for example, I have the ZF from Nikon, and they had the new film simulations that you could add to it. They added film Grain, which sounds like it's competing with somebody there.
- [53:46]
B
It reminds me of releasing beta video games. I mean, it's come to that we're at that stage where these things are really computers with lenses on them.
- [53:54]
D
They are computers.
- [53:55]
C
Yeah.
- [53:55]
B
And the analogy is pretty apt. They release cameras as soon as they can. Just get them out there, get it, you know, and with the promise that they can update the entire operating system so that it works better in the
- [54:08]
C
future, they can bring Kaizen back, bring that business philosophy back.
- [54:12]
B
What does Kaizen actually mean?
- [54:14]
C
So Kaizen is basically continuous improvement. So the old Fujifilm Kaizen philosophy was, we can release a firmware update for an older camera so that people who have the older camera can benefit without buying the newer system. So we can update your old system via firmware update. And one of the big things with Fujifilm was always, well, if I buy a camera that comes out one year, and then they release a new film simulation a year later, well, that camera's not going to have it. So for consumer, it was like, well, why can't we get that new film simulation that came out a year after the camera that we bought with a firmware Update the Kaizen. So Fujifilm announced they were getting more away from the Kaizen philosophy. And I think some brands have kind of embraced it more than others. But look at where we work, B and H, where it was always, we're gonna educate you if you come in the store because we want an educated consumer. And even if you took that knowledge and went to another retailer, still we're gonna educate you when you came back the next time. And I think this philosophy of, of building customers for life, you know, we do it at B and H through education. We educate our customers and we have multiple channels for educating our customers and taking care of them. And I think that's something that permeates into the soul of a customer and a consumer, that you're going to be more responsive to a brand that is looking out for you and not just making you a sales piece.
- [55:36]
D
Yeah, it's not the same as it used to be, but I think it's good that they did have that because now other brands are like, like, we'll do the same thing and just put out meaningful firmware updates down the road. And you could actually look forward to them. Almost like how some people look forward to smartphone updates. Like, oh, the new one's coming out. It's going to give me this look. I want this feature as opposed to just like, well, when you do this, the camera shuts down inadvertently. It's under the bug fixes. It gives you more features to look forward to, which is always fun. It's like getting almost a new camera.
- [56:08]
A
So on that note, maybe we should move on to a new brand. Next on the list is OM Systems.
- [56:14]
D
They came out with two good releases this year. So you had the OM3, which is almost taking the features from like the OM1 and trickling it down to the OM3. So it's a 20 megapixel stacked BSI Live MOS sensor, micro four thirds, obviously, which is great for people who have been longtime photographers of wildlife and sports who have coming from like a Nikon or Canon and still want that performance but in a smaller size because, you know, as you get older, you may not be able to hold things the same way. Also it's easier to travel with because your 300 millimeter lens could be 150 because of the crop factor of two times. So it is great for that. And OM does not skimp when it comes to speed. And also the features that you have in there, it's IP53. Not a lot of cameras are actually IP rated, which is a big thing you have your 4K video recording up to 60p, have very good stabilization. I think this one's 6.5 stops on there. You have like the high res shot mode that they do. They have the live ND for people doing like astrophotography with the composite modes. This is really good for people who just want to get out there. And I think OM does a great job putting that with like the OM3 which is a nice little retro design. OM and Olympus always had that retro look, but they do an excellent job of making it very high tech. They were one of the first ones, if I recall, to do like quote unquote AI to recognize certain scenes.
- [57:39]
B
Like Japanese trains.
- [57:40]
D
Exactly.
- [57:41]
B
By the way, the OM3, I know that they went very hard on the retro look. Did in your estimation, did that impact sales performance? Were people like, oh, was there a viral Fuji X100 kind of thing with it?
- [57:55]
D
It doesn't go viral unless somebody goes out there. And I don't think no one has.
- [58:00]
C
Mike, make it happen.
- [58:00]
D
Yeah, Mike, I can do it.
- [58:02]
C
They are, they are sexy cameras. They're very nice. They're smaller. I love the form factor and there's something about that system that the people who shoot it really, really, really love it.
- [58:13]
B
Well, a friend of the show, John Harris is a big fan of the OM system cameras, carries one with him every day.
- [58:18]
D
It's perfect for that. You know people who just want to get started in it. You have the OM5 Mark II which is a 20 megapixel, not stacked, it's just normal micro 4/3 sensor on there, still has your stabilization, still is IP53 rated. This is just your entry point, if you would, to that ecosystem that OM has built up in the past few years. I can't say bad things about them. It's one of my favorite brands out there even though I don't own one. But I know they fill a need for a lot of people and people come up with great results with them. Then they have great lenses too. It's one of those brands that you're going to be like you're a stalwart in this industry. Keep it coming.
- [58:54]
C
Yeah, yeah. They fly under the radar a lot. But I think you're right, Kevin. It's a very clean system. It's very sound I guess would be the right word. They hit the marks, they appeal to their user base. They make improvements as needed. They don't go crazy. I feel like everything is a very intentional decision based on who their user is, which at the end of the day. That's what we want. We want brands to pay attention for what the user base wants.
- [59:19]
B
That's a good way of summing it up. Yeah, I. I think it's very deliberative in their releases.
- [59:23]
A
Yeah. Next on the list, Panasonic came out with three new models this year.
- [59:28]
D
Yes, they came out and they paired two together. So you had the next generation of their one series. So you have the S1 R2 and the S12 with a little side one which is S12E. And the way I like to explain that is like the E is almost like economical maybe because it is pared back in some sense of features compared to the S1 2. But this uses the same philosophy as other brands that they give you the high resolution model which you'll find in the S1 R2. So 44.3 megapixels. And it's a smaller design too. That was one of my gripes with the original S1s, is that they were so big. It was like, this is mirrorless camera, but why is it so much bigger than the other mirrorless cameras out there? So they made it much smaller, lighter. The S1 R2 does 8K30 or 4K120 has open gate, which I love. Any brand that does open gate gets a thumbs up in my book. You have phase detection autofocus, which is what Panasonic Lumix needed to do in their cameras to get more on the same playing field as the other brands. Then if someone doesn't need all that resolution, you have the S1 2 series. Those are 24 megapixels. The S12 is partially stacked, the S12e is not partially stacked. That gives you a little bit of a speed boost, which helps you with things like shearing from a rolling shutter, things like that. Both of those have open gate, but at different specs. Eight stops of ibis. It's a system that doesn't get the love that it does. I think having open gate is one thing. Having the backing of being in the L mount alliance with Leica and Sigma helps them out a lot too. There's a lot of lenses to choose from. It's like whenever there's a new Sigma lens, it's going to come out for E mount and L mount so you can use on your Panasonic cameras. And the Panasonic lenses are great too. I think now since they're coming with a smaller size, it's to grab more people to go there, especially people already independent sonic ecosystem. Maybe from a micro 4/3 camera. Or who don't want to follow the same path as a Sony user, Canon user, Nikon user, so on and so forth. Especially since they have a video in their DNA as well.
- [61:47]
C
Most underrated system out. I don't know if that's a hot take or not, but Panasonic is the if you know, you know, brand where I know people who have been creating serious, serious, serious cinema level video for years and are just kind of like, you know what? We don't need the hype. We don't need to be constantly talked about and be in messaging boards and all this. Like, they're happy. It's kind of one of those things where like keep all the hype beasts over there while we enjoy a system that is really great and continues to get better.
- [62:15]
D
There are some dedicated Lumix users in the company and they are flag carriers. They tout that brand. They're like, I love this stuff. At this point in time, there's no brand that is bad. And some of people get like, oh, you shoot.
- [62:28]
C
It's like, no, everyone's making great cameras.
- [62:31]
D
It's so overblown. And not every brand does the smartest thing. I mean, it's like sports teams. Not every team does the right thing during the off season. It's just going to be one of those things. So you like it or you don't and you wait for the next one. Well, the next season. But at least with this it's a little bit easier to get into. It's less disappointment.
- [62:50]
B
Just to be clear, these S1 2 cameras, did I hear you say that they were smaller and lighter than the S1? Yeah, the version one series.
- [62:58]
D
Yeah.
- [62:58]
B
Okay.
- [62:59]
D
They trimmed some fat off of them, which is, which is good because they
- [63:02]
B
were kind of big. Yeah.
- [63:04]
D
Massive. I would say so.
- [63:07]
C
The S12 is APS C, the S1, R2 full frame.
- [63:13]
D
They're all full frame.
- [63:14]
C
They're all full frame, yeah.
- [63:15]
D
Okay. You have three paths. You have S1, R2, which is your higher resolution one. Then you have the S1, which is going to be your partially stacked sensor so a little bit quicker. Then you have your S1 2e, which is not partially stacked but still 24 megapixel full frame. It's like they didn't put all the bells and whistles in that one. I can't think of a brand that has done it this way because normally, like this is your high resolution model, this is your video centric model and this is your mid range model for your hybrid shooter. If you're stuck in between Panasonic basically it's like we're going to take some features that you may not need and put them in the E model. Actually a different field but smartphones like you know how Apple has the 16e that's the more economical price iPhone. It's almost like that. E for economically priced I guess is the way I think about it.
- [64:06]
C
Okay, see that's where I always get caught up in the weeds is on all that stuff. That's why it's great we have Kevin here to trim through all that fat. It's like you know you have somewhere. It's like okay, they look similar on paper but when you get down to the nitty gritty and splitting hairs there's maybe like with the Sony's is a great example where it's like okay, do I go a 7s, a 7r? And it's like well are you doing video? Are you doing stills? What is your need?
- [64:30]
A
Well before we get to Sony there's a couple of other brands to talk about. Next on the list is ricoh with
- [64:37]
D
the GR4, the new gem of street photographers out there. Yeah, so the snap distance has always been a great feature in The Ricoh cameras. 28 millimeters. Whenever I see 28 millimeters on a fixed lens I'm like I know who you're going for there. It's APS C, it's around 25 megapixels. It has the six stop stabilization side of it. 53 gigabytes of built in memory. Once again adding built in memory to a camera which is great. And it has like those simulation mode that people do. I, I wouldn't say it's boutique but it's one of those cameras that has its following. Oh yeah, it's niche, it's niche. People know Rico but it's one of those brands like if you know, you know and if you see someone with
- [65:23]
B
a gr I think onliners know this camera.
- [65:26]
C
Yeah, this camera. Just to put it in perspective, I, I have a buddy who's a street photographer and he has Fujifilm X system. Went and picked up a GR because he wanted something that was a little more pocketable. And I just went out shooting with him not too long ago and he's like I only bring the Rico out. He's now affectionately known as Uncle Rico because it's the only camera he brings out. So I think for that market of people, you know, he takes gig work here and there, not a professional. But for your street photographers, for your everyday travel, for your people who are Just like hey I work in the city. I like having a camera to slip easily into my pocket. Cause I think we've stretched the meaning of everyday carry into like. Well if I have really big pockets I can fit this in my pocket. And the GR truly is you could have normal fitting pants and put it in your pants pocket.
- [66:17]
B
But what's the difference between the original gr which I owned and then sold and the four we have stabilization.
- [66:22]
D
They redesigned the lens which was already
- [66:24]
B
extremely sharp and they have built in memory. Okay. But they kept the fundamental because I gotta say the way this camera operates is my favorite of any camera I've ever used and I've used at least three. This was my favorite one, that snap focus, just the lever, the weight, the menu system, just so good.
- [66:45]
C
It's got the color profiles that everyone loves now. Really nice image quality on this. Yeah, it's a really again it's a sound system. It's super. This is compact like this. You can actually say compact and you don't have to caveat it.
- [67:00]
D
Yeah, yeah.
- [67:01]
B
And you're right, it does fit into like a Levi's 500. One front pocket drink to fit.
- [67:05]
C
It fits in skinny jeans no matter
- [67:08]
B
what the 501 front, that's the standard fly.
- [67:13]
C
Yeah. Not the chapstick pocket.
- [67:15]
B
Not the chapstick pocket. Regular front.
- [67:17]
C
Not the chapstick pocket.
- [67:17]
B
Regular front. Five on front.
- [67:19]
A
Moving on. Sigma has a new camera. And talk about niche.
- [67:24]
D
All right, so we're talking about the Sigma bf which means beautiful foolishness.
- [67:29]
C
Not Sigma boyfriend.
- [67:30]
D
Not Sigma boyfriend. It's Sigma beautiful foolishness which comes from a Japanese poet.
- [67:35]
B
Oh yeah, I know.
- [67:36]
D
But what's striking about this, this is machined from one piece of aluminum meaning they can only make as the last I heard was nine a day. Which is very, very tough. But not everybody is going to buy this. People who are design heads, people who like, you know, as they call quote unquote Apple aesthetic, very clean. It almost matches a new iOS. But with that said it is a 26 megapixel full frame sensor, backside eliminated. It's unibody which is very Apple esque because Apple did that with the MacBooks years ago with one piece of aluminum.
- [68:16]
B
I'm looking at a picture of this BF and I gotta say it is beautiful. It does look like a solid chunk of aluminum. It looks like something from a retro future. Different timeline than what we're on right now.
- [68:31]
D
It does almost teenage engineering look I would say.
- [68:34]
B
Yeah, teenage engineering. They know what they're doing when it Comes to a certain design aesthetic and the Sigma has achieved that. Is it only in this gray color or they have the black?
- [68:43]
D
They have black too.
- [68:44]
B
Okay. Wow.
- [68:46]
D
Yeah, it's a very good looking camera. You could assume how the ergonomics are. It's not the easiest to hold, but. But this is for someone who definitely wants a statement piece, whether it be on their shelf or in their hands as they walk through the middle of New York City. But the photo aspect of it, you have access to all the L mount lenses. Because this is an L mount camera, you have 230 gigs of memory inside of it. The buttons are like haptic, so they kind of move around in your hand. You can feel the vibrations. Has color modes in there. Kind of like how the FP had them on there. Yeah. This is a very interesting camera. And Sigma has changed their design language to indicate a new stage in their evolution.
- [69:35]
B
I mean, Sigma's always had very inventive design aesthetics. I'm thinking of the. They were like Z shaped.
- [69:43]
D
Yeah. The Quattro, the sd.
- [69:45]
B
Yeah.
- [69:45]
D
The Quattros I believe you're talking about. Those are interesting.
- [69:48]
B
Very, very interesting. I think they had a Foveon sensor.
- [69:52]
D
Yes.
- [69:52]
B
Has Sigma abandoned that effort?
- [69:54]
D
No, they're still plugging away at making that work for them, but when they scale up to a full frame, they're having a little bit of issues. So they're still trying my side checked, which is good because it's an interesting concept.
- [70:07]
B
I mean, if they get the specs in normal range, that would be a real big leap over the current technology. I remember some of the Foveon and images that I saw, they just looked better than what the CMOS sensors could do with the Bayer array.
- [70:22]
D
Yeah. It'll be good to have that option on the field once Sigma figures out scaling on that one.
- [70:29]
B
Okay.
- [70:30]
D
All right. So with that said. Anything to say, Derek, about the bf, Would you buy that? Would you put on your shelf?
- [70:37]
C
I'll say this. Most polarizing camera of the year, in my opinion. Whether that's good or bad, it divided the Internet. It stirred the Internet up, and it provided a lot of good conversation, which I think is a good thing. I think we needed a shake up and I'm excited to see if more companies take that direction. As far as simplicity is concerned. We talked about the whole retro trend. Maybe we see a trend focused on minimalism and simplicity.
- [71:09]
D
I like minimalism.
- [71:11]
C
Same.
- [71:12]
B
I'm a maximalist guy. But it's okay. We can live together.
- [71:16]
C
Mike wants all the bells, buttons, whistles.
- [71:18]
A
Okay. Back to the list after Sigma comes Sony. Where do you want to start with that?
- [71:25]
D
Let's start with something that may fit in the same mindset they released in July out of nowhere. The RX1 R3. This one took me by surprise. I didn't think this was going to happen because RX1 R2 was kind of forgotten about. I remember when it came out.
- [71:44]
B
When did it come out to two? Yeah.
- [71:46]
D
I want to say that was five years ago. Five years ago. It's like, it's during like the pandemic. With that said, this came out in July. It's the same sensor that you'll find in the other high resolution Sony. So 61 megapixels BSI sensor. It's paired with a 35 millimeter F2 lens, which is a very good lens. The Zeisson Arc T Star has an AI processing unit that exists on some of the. Most of the newer Sony cameras, has your hybrid autofocus on there real time tracking your 4k. But you said the bf was a polarizing camera. I felt like this almost had like a polarizing situation because a lot of people like, why is it priced so high? It's not a Leica camera. If I'm going to spend a bunch of money, I might as well get a Q3.
- [72:28]
B
If there's one thing that I remember about this camera's release was people complaining about the price.
- [72:33]
C
Yeah, shocker. People would complain about the price if we started handing out free cameras.
- [72:38]
D
It's one of the things that's just like, all right already, it's, it's. We know it could have been priced less. Yeah. Probably everything in 2025 could be probably priced less.
- [72:46]
B
Of course, it does beg the question what Sony hopes to achieve with this camera. Taking into account the various Leicas and Fujifilm cameras that sort of fill this particular niche. Like the Sony RX1 has always been like this sort of luxury kind of branded product, but it's in the middle of these other name brands that just seem to be on that tip, like a bit harder. So a bit confusing. But I mean it's always good to have like a flagship luxury product.
- [73:18]
D
It's one of the few times it's like, who is this for? Is it for the Sony head who doesn't want to get a Leica?
- [73:24]
B
Yes.
- [73:25]
D
Or is it for the person who wants a smaller version of their A7 R5 or R4?
- [73:32]
B
But it's not an interchangeable lens camera.
- [73:34]
D
Exactly.
- [73:35]
C
It's like maybe it's another brand user who wants a Travel camera. If there's one thing that Sony has done exceptionally well in their point and shoot and smaller form factor cameras, it's providing a bang up professional camera in a form factor that is manageable to carry around. You know, the RX1R, the RX100, these are cameras that you get good professional quality user experience out of it.
- [74:06]
B
The Leica fixed lens cameras, those were the Q series.
- [74:10]
D
The Q series, the Q3, Q2.
- [74:12]
B
And what was the price on those? I think those were a little bit higher.
- [74:15]
D
Yeah, those are a little bit higher.
- [74:16]
C
Yeah, like 5,6000.
- [74:17]
B
This one's 5000. This RX1 R3.
- [74:21]
C
I mean, I feel like just in general, $5,000 is not a crazy amount for a camera in this day and age. I know people will argue with me,
- [74:28]
B
but I'm gonna argue with you.
- [74:29]
C
Five, six thousand dollars. There's enough offerings out there where it's not completely a crazy thought to spend that much on a camera.
- [74:37]
B
What's the price on The Q?
- [74:38]
D
It's 6735.
- [74:41]
B
So it's 1700 bucks less.
- [74:42]
C
How much for a snakeskin Lenny Kravitz edition though?
- [74:45]
B
True.
- [74:46]
D
Yeah, true. But there was people who, when this was launched, like, if I'm gonna spend that amount of money, what stops you from getting it a 7C R and just putting a 35 millimeter lens on that and be like, I have my travel camera now. Maybe it's like me, who doesn't want to get into a whole ecosystem of lenses if they're coming from a different system.
- [75:09]
B
Well, look, you had this momentary impetus to purchase the Fujifilm version of this.
- [75:15]
D
More, more or less the opposite way.
- [75:16]
B
Yeah, well, it's a, it's a fixed lens, 35 millimeter equivalent fixed lens camera, about the same price. It didn't occur to you to buy this one though?
- [75:25]
D
No.
- [75:25]
B
Oh, because of the 100 megapixel medium format, things different. So it's a little bit apples and oranges, but slightly not.
- [75:32]
D
Yeah, it's an interesting thing. And what I will say is that the RX1 series of Sony cameras did have a following and there was people who were just like, I want to get a new one. And for a while was like, is Sony going to do it? And then eventually out of nowhere, oh really? That camera. And it's good that they actually integrated the EVF to it instead of the pop up. But it was a surprise to a lot of people. And I think the price also was like if it had a 4000, even if it was like $200 less. Wouldn't have the same issue with prices
- [76:04]
B
when it eclipses that five. Yeah, it does. It enters into a whole new universe.
- [76:09]
D
It's weird.
- [76:10]
C
It sings in a different way.
- [76:11]
B
Yeah. Okay, so Kevin, we have these other Sony cameras.
- [76:16]
C
We did have the Release of the fx3a, the fx2. I know a lot of times, Kevin, we see releases that are more of. It's like the hardware version of a firmware update. It's like, okay, it's the newer version, but they only changed a couple things. Is that where we're at with these two releases or was there something a little more substantive on these releases?
- [76:36]
D
Sony announced the FX3A back in May, which it's the same heart of the FX3 that came before. But it's not the first time Sony has done this. Sony has done this with the A7R3 and they came up with the A version. Then they also did with the A7R4 and they had an A version and those are just part swaps. They had higher resolution screens and I believe they changed the USB port on that to be a little bit quicker. They did announce In May the FX2, which is an interesting piece because who is this for? It is once again more cinema related, so can't really speak to it as other people, but it's a 33 megapixel full frame sensor which is the same one you'll see on the A7 4 and the newly released A7V which we'll go into in just a bit. So it's kind of in that hybrid category. But instead of a photo camera that does some video, this is like a video camera that does some photo. But it was an interesting camera. It felt like most of the Sony fans were looking for an Update to the fx3. Who is going to buy this? Who is this really for? It is a nice size, but a photographer is not really going to use this form factor more. So as someone who's more in the video space, but I could see some people in the video space being like, I'm not going to purchase an effect 2, I'm just going to wait for the FX3 II and put all my money in that basket.
- [78:02]
C
Interesting.
- [78:03]
D
It's an interesting camera. I thought it was like, what did he do here?
- [78:07]
B
Well, it has a dynamic active AI based stabilization feature which is extremely important.
- [78:15]
C
Which brings us to the A7V which was just recently announced and you know, we talked about higher priced cameras and this one is on what I think is the lower end, under 3,000 and this is for the hybrid shooter out there. I think it's something that was intended for content creators. Right. But it is every bit a capable workhorse camera, right?
- [78:37]
D
Yeah, I would say so. So Sony was the last one to put out something in this range.
- [78:45]
B
So what do you mean by this range?
- [78:47]
D
Mid entry. The mid. The mid range to hybrid one the
- [78:50]
B
last one this year.
- [78:50]
D
That's one I think from everybody, right?
- [78:52]
B
It was released like a couple weeks ago, right?
- [78:54]
D
Exactly. Canon had the R6 III last year. We had the Z6 III, Panasonic S1 2. So Sony was kind of wait and see. I was kind of curious to see what Sony would do because everybody in the rumor mill was like, it's going to be this way, it's gonna be that way, it's gonna be this way. And the hate that this camera has gotten online is kind of funny. I don't understand people. Sony's not gonna change anything dramatically year to year. They haven't done that historically because he had the A7, 24 megapixels, A7II, 24 megapixels, A 7 III, 24 megapixels, A Seven IV, 33 megapixels. And that could change because you get a too close to the R and you don't want to cannibalize your own cameras.
- [79:35]
B
When did the A7 IV come out?
- [79:36]
D
That was, I think 2022.
- [79:38]
B
Oh wow.
- [79:38]
D
Roughly 2022 if I'm thinking. Because I bought mine then. So there's a lot of people who are just like, oh, I need to upgrade. I have the four, let me go to the five. It depends what you're doing. I don't think people need to upgrade every single time a brand comes out with the next predecessor. With that said, I was curious about what Sony was going to do. So I was hoping that it would be a partially stacked sensor, which they did because that's what everybody else besides Canon put out there.
- [80:03]
B
That's for speed.
- [80:04]
D
Yes, exactly. It allows them to have something close to a fully stacked sensor, which Sony has in the A1 series with a lower price. So it's kind of the in between, which was a logical step for Sony. It does have a built in AI unit into the processor now, which is a first for Sony. It used to be a separate chip, now it's built into the actual processor which allows for better performance overall. So you're going to get better battery life on this camera. This is a smarter unit in general, keeps the same autofocus points that's usually going to Stay standard for quite a while. Still going to have the AI subject recognition now gave you a 4K60, which is a little bit of a bump there. You still have your little S log three, your Cinetone. Off the top of my head, I think it's an improvement when it comes to stabilization at 7.5 stops. And they added things like the pre capture, which has become a feature that has existed in other brands as well. So for the split second you hold that shutter down, it's going to take some photos so I could get the right shot, especially if you're doing wildlife and Sports.
- [81:00]
B
So the $2900 question is, would you upgrade?
- [81:03]
D
No. When it's all said, and then I'm going into Lightroom, it's still up 33 megapixels file. So there's nothing in here that makes me say, I need to jump to the next one.
- [81:11]
B
Gotcha.
- [81:12]
C
Now, if you're from another system, is this a good entry point into the Sony ecosystem?
- [81:18]
D
Where in the system are you coming from? Because what I always tell people, you date your cameras, marry your lenses, and if you're gonna divorce, it's gonna cost you a lot. So I normally tell people, don't change your system unless there's something on that other side, because grass is always greener on the other side. And a lot of people do that jump and then, like, have regrets. So I tell people, if you're a Canon shooter, stick with Canon. Canon has great cameras. If you're with Sony, stick with Sony. There's always going to be something that will address that issue down the road.
- [81:53]
C
What if you're an A6000 series shooter who wants to move up and start doing more content creation? Is this a jump that would be recommended?
- [82:01]
D
It depends on what they're trying to look for. Because you have so many options from Sony if they're coming from an A6000 or a smaller. An APS C model from 2000.
- [82:10]
B
What about the 6700?
- [82:12]
D
6700, if they want to go full frame, it's more like, what features do you want to get from this camera? Are you shooting something that you need a partially stacked sensor? Because if not, they may be able to get an A7IV or maybe a ZVE E1, which is almost the same thing.
- [82:30]
B
Right.
- [82:30]
C
Sony's out here. Like, no matter what you do, no matter what you want to do, we got you.
- [82:34]
D
Yeah.
- [82:35]
C
You get in where you fit in.
- [82:37]
B
Yeah.
- [82:37]
D
They have the path for you. No matter what. If you want to do vlogging, you have this camera. If you want to just have a photo camera, you have this one. You want high res, you got this one. If you want a fixed lens, expensive camera, you got that one.
- [82:46]
B
If you want to have a camera that looks cool on your shelf though, that's when you turn it to Sigma. The Sony's just don't look that cool.
- [82:53]
D
And if you want it around your neck, a Leica, right? But I think with that said, there's always an option. And I think for people who have had an older Sony, let's say an A7 III, they may be like, maybe it's time to upgrade because it's just like it's a little bit older as you're going from 24 megapixels to 33. So that's an improvement there. You'd be having your AI autofocus just
- [83:16]
B
quickly, this AI autofocus focused stuff, Canon has it, Sony now has it. Do you see any real world improvements? Is it something like the lidar in terms of like transformational technologies?
- [83:28]
D
LIDAR is just distance. It's working like a. Or like, like the sonar, Remember that Polaroid sonar?
- [83:34]
A
Right.
- [83:34]
B
I can see in the dark, it's active.
- [83:36]
D
That's helpful for hitting in the dark. But with like any camera that has AI and I say that loosely.
- [83:41]
B
Well, it's a buzzword, it's a marketing. But it's. In some ways they're using object recognition to keep stuff in focus. As stuff moves in front of it but doesn't get off that target, it sort of locks on because it knows what it is. Sort of. And that's what we're talking about with the AI autofocus machine learning.
- [83:58]
D
So it's like, oh, I know this is a person. I know the person's back is facing the other way and once they turn around, I know where the eye should be. So it gets easier to switch and you have a higher success rate with that. And it does help.
- [84:10]
B
It helps.
- [84:11]
D
It's better than just like, like floating around being. Is that a dog? Is that not a dog? I don't know. And it's one of those things. It's like, I know how this body is, I know where the head should be, I know where the eyes should be. And I'm going to lock onto that without guessing because I've seen a thousand dogs in my life and I know where it should go. So yeah, it's a thing that needs to exist. It's not generative AI. It's a different type of AI. I usually like to use the term machine learning.
- [84:32]
B
Machine learning, yeah.
- [84:33]
D
I thought about it for a second when the 875 was announced. I was like, the price is kind of high compared to the predecessor. But the Predecessor launched at 24. And also this has a partially stacked sensor, so that's going to kind of drive the price up a little bit. So I'm like, you know what, the pricing isn't as bad as I thought it was. I kind of had like almost a thousand dollar difference. But it really isn't. When it's all said and done, is it for everybody? Probably not. You just have to understand what the features you need and what camera has that and that will decide what path you want to go on. I don't need any of this, really. It does have two USB ports, which is nice, but I only use one, so it's not for everybody. Okay, we'll qualify you here at B H to make sure you go down the right path. That's what we're here for. Call us up.
- [85:16]
C
No leading you astray.
- [85:17]
D
Exactly.
- [85:18]
A
Okay, so we're done with cameras. But Kevin, you have a short list of accessories that have helped you with travel throughout the past year. What are they?
- [85:28]
D
You know me as someone who actively travels throughout the year, I always try to figure out things that make my life a little bit easier. So basically this past year I went to many different places. Quick little jaunt to la, I went to Taiwan, I went to Houston, I went to Vienna, Greece, New Orleans, Baltimore. Got some places off my list. But with that said, I was trying to come out with a more travelable workflow. And a lot of brands now since they have USB C, you just plug in your camera to an iPad because that has USB C and you can access your photos that way. So I tried that. But the problem is with travel, you're constantly. You need to go take pictures here. So I never had the time to actually actively do it. So that's something I'm trying to get into with better travel ecosystem. Especially for those customers who always call up and say, hey, I want to back up my information on the go. What do I do? And I usually tell them the answer is right in front of you. So there's a lot of options on the table that do that.
- [86:33]
B
Do they have by the way, like a. Just a plug and play external hard drive where you don't need an operating system?
- [86:38]
D
There is one brand that does those, but it's like the price of those is so much. I think the easiest way to do that is we all have an Operating system in our pocket socket. Right. So brands like Lexar have tiny little hubs that you could plug into your phone. Sometimes you have to feed a power, but they have like little SSDs on there and you could plug a memory card reader into that and just get your stuff from the memory card to that little hard drive. And that hard drive could go to a computer or to an iPad. If you want to edit in Lightroom or capture one, you can do that on the go. So that's a little neat thing there. I'm going to dive into that. It's just hard to change your workflow when you have it already set up right now.
- [87:16]
B
Do you just bring it on a laptop with you?
- [87:18]
D
No, I just use an iPad Pro. But I don't worry about backing up on the field because I just have multiple memory cards and just like part one of the trip, part two of the trip and swap it like that. I just wait till I get home, throw it on my computer. But I know there's a lot of need for people who want to download on the go for a lot of things. Always look at the bag industry. Peak Design came out with some newer things. Peak Design officially put out their roller cases, which are very cool design. It opens like swing open, you could call it, and it allows you better access, which I felt was cool.
- [87:52]
B
What's this model?
- [87:53]
D
It's the Peak Design Roller Pro Carry On.
- [87:56]
B
Okay.
- [87:57]
D
Yeah. It has a Peak design aesthetic with some cool quality of life features. Like basically the way it opens is really interesting, which I like.
- [88:05]
B
Carry On. We're implying that this is the size an airline Carry On.
- [88:09]
D
Correct. Most manufacturers try to make sure that Carry on fits the international standards for Carry on because they'll be in a lot of trouble if you bought a Carry on size one and it didn't fit. But always double check your airlines before you go on to them because there's some that are a little bit smaller.
- [88:24]
B
Caveat Empor.
- [88:25]
D
They also came out with newer Peak Design Pro tripods as well. For those who are tripod centric. Need to use tripods for video and such like that. Granted, they're not travel sized. They do have a light version, but I think they improved on what their first versions were and now you have different choices depending on what you want to do. I like the Peak Design tripod because it fits my bag when I need to have a tripod. And the problem with tripods too, in my experience is like sometimes I'm like, oh, I'm going to need a tripod and eventually don't use it at all. And I don't want to have that gear tax of just having something heavier than normal. It's one of those things. It's like, yes, it's good to have to bring on your trip, but it's better to need it and not have it.
- [89:04]
B
Derek, when's the last time you used a tripod on the street?
- [89:06]
C
I actually just used one the other day, but it was because I had to create content.
- [89:13]
B
Oh.
- [89:13]
C
But I don't normally use a tripod.
- [89:16]
B
Okay.
- [89:17]
C
I hate carrying anything around, but time and place, sometimes you need it.
- [89:21]
B
What was the content that you were needing to create? Just curious.
- [89:24]
C
I was actually doing some content for camera bags.
- [89:28]
D
Oh.
- [89:29]
C
So I had to film some detail shots. And tripod. Greatest thing is to stabilize it. And when you're manually focusing, I had to get the fine detail on the bag. So tripod is it.
- [89:41]
D
It's a good tool that every photographer should have. Even a small.
- [89:44]
C
You gotta have a good one. Yeah, you gotta have a good one. You gotta have a small one.
- [89:47]
B
Was that video or stills, Derek?
- [89:49]
C
For both video and stills.
- [89:50]
B
Gotcha. Okay, nice.
- [89:52]
C
But for precision work, Right. For those of you out there doing E. Com product, sometimes it's better to go old school. Manually focus. Trust your eye, not the technology. And make sure you're stabilizing your camera as good as possible. And like you said, you gotta have a good tripod.
- [90:08]
B
And for video, it's almost compulsory to do manual focus.
- [90:12]
C
Totally.
- [90:13]
A
So are there any other photo accessories that caught your eye?
- [90:16]
D
This year in the flash category, Godox did something interesting with their it32. It's an interesting system because the bottom, the hot shoe, is interchangeable by brand. So if you're someone who has many different brands or two brands to deal with. For me, I have Sony and Fujifilm. I could get the IT32 and then I could get two modules that go on the bottom. For either Fujifilm or Sony, I could just swap it out magnetically. So I could have one flash with two different hot shoes depending on what camera I put it on there. It also works as a trigger. So this is interesting compared to, like the multi shoes that, say, Westcott had that it did most of the other brands except Sony. This is like you're swapping out the bottom. So this is something that I haven't seen in recent memory. So it's a little interesting feature there. And I've seen a lot of people get into like the smaller flashes that exist. I know Godox has a few Viltrox has a few. There's Q flash, I believe. So that's a interesting change to things because I don't see a lot of people buying speed lights anymore.
- [91:20]
B
Right.
- [91:20]
D
Like the full size ones. But I do see people having. Because you may have a film camera and like a pocket camera and they don't want too big of a flash for travel. Yeah. So they get like these little small ones that have become more ubiquitous nowadays, I think.
- [91:32]
B
Yeah. With LED technology that's improved and you can have a really small source with a lot of punch.
- [91:38]
C
Before we wrap up, can we revisit that craze for buying up old point and shoots that we discussed at the top of the show?
- [91:43]
D
When it comes down to like, like let's say trends. This is a good culmination of everything that's happened in the past year. We have this whole rush to the digicam look. Right.
- [91:54]
B
Okay, digicam look. What are we referring to there?
- [91:58]
D
Like pictures that may not have the best quality with a little bit of high ISO noise in there, maybe a little blur, maybe a date stamp in the bottom. That's kind of the vibe. And it's kind of like with a little bit of a broad stroke here how millennials went towards film cameras. And it feels like Gen Z and like older Gen Alpha to some extent are going towards that simple digital camera look. And I think this is more of a reaction to the over processing that exists with smartphones.
- [92:35]
B
There you go.
- [92:36]
D
And with that said, people don't like how that looks because you go into, let's say a bar, you take a photograph and it's gonna go into night mode and makes everything look cool. It's not gonna use a flash. But conversely you have like the Canon Elf, it's gonna pop that flash. You may have like the red eye reduction mode, whatever.
- [92:54]
B
In some ways the over processing of the Apple and other Samsung phones that they do with the built in camera, it doesn't have the verisimilitude of these older. So your memories of the experience don't really mesh up with what the camera has rendered for you. And so people are looking for something that's a little more spontaneous, a little more raw and they could download an app for that and get that.
- [93:22]
D
Which is becoming popular too because you're seeing a lot of apps these days that are pushing non processed moment. Just came out with the new Pro camera app that removes the processing. You also have Adobe's Project Indigo which does that as well as. So you're having this reaction to I want my images to look more natural and imperfect than over perfect. And I think that's where all this whole digicam look is coming from. It's just like we don't want it to look overdone.
- [93:52]
B
Yeah, I didn't think about that. The reaction against I have a Google Pixel, it's so over processed. So I downloaded open camera and I can take pictures that bypass some of that stuff. Still looks a little bit too clean and too sharp and whatever.
- [94:07]
D
But yeah, it's a thing that I think there was a time period maybe a few years ago that people were like, oh, these pictures are way too sharp. Even with like mirrorless cameras. Like that's the thing with like with Sony cameras. People are like, oh, it looks too over processed. It looks too crisp, too clinical. Yeah. And it's just like they want their pictures to sing a certain song. And I get that. Then it was like let's shoot film and now it's like let's shoot with a 10 year old point and shoot camera. People love that. And I think maybe 2026 is a year that brands finally are like, we have to react to this.
- [94:42]
C
That's the Internet now. It's like come out with a 400 megapixel camera that has 40 stops of stabilization so I can throw filters on it and degrade the quality.
- [94:52]
D
Yeah, sometimes you got to talk to those people from the ledge a little bit like, you know, that's not what we're going to do here. I think 2026, hopefully a brand will come out with at least one point shoot camera with the flash that allows them to just feel like it did then because the technology is not lost
- [95:07]
B
for under a thousand bucks.
- [95:08]
D
For under 1000 bucks. Yes. Aim for five. Five is a sweet spot. I think people will easily pay 500 bucks for a camera. But I agree, granted.
- [95:16]
B
I don't know, we've had this discussion numerous times now. Where is the under $1,000 point and shoot camera? Yeah, it's still in 2018.
- [95:23]
D
Yeah, it's true. People are like talking about like the G7X Mark III. What people like, what's the alternative to that? And the alternative that was the RX100VII, which is not cheap. And I kind of feel bad when I hear people recommend that camera. I'm like, it's a great camera. The RX100 series was a great line of cameras and started this whole 1 inch sensor. But it is priced higher than I would say for someone who wants like a fly by night pocket camera and that's why, as I mentioned before, going to Japan and seeing, like, shelves and shelves of digicams instead of film cameras, I'm like, what's going on here? And then, lo and behold, everybody wants that.
- [96:01]
B
Is Digicam a brand name, by the way?
- [96:03]
D
No, it's just like Portmanteau or something like that. Digicam, which makes me feel. Think about candy cams, which means another thing. But, yeah, wait till. And it's just one of those things. It's a reaction to what's going on now.
- [96:15]
C
Pop culture.
- [96:16]
B
Oh, very cool. Okay, so it's the end of 2025, 2026. Kevin, where are you headed? What do you got planned? What's your itinerary?
- [96:24]
D
Well, one thing is I'm going to the Nordics in April, around my birthday.
- [96:32]
B
The Nordics. These are multiple countries within the Nordic regions.
- [96:35]
D
Yes. Because you can't say Scandinavia if you're going to Finland, because it's not a Scandinavian country.
- [96:39]
B
And you're going to Finland.
- [96:40]
D
I'm going to Finland.
- [96:40]
B
Wow.
- [96:41]
D
So Finland is a Baltic country. Is it truly Baltic?
- [96:45]
B
Because it's definitely not a Scandinavian. Scandinavia.
- [96:46]
D
It's not Scandinavia.
- [96:47]
B
We don't know what it is. Yeah, I think by itself, it's Finland.
- [96:49]
D
It's Finland. It's Finnish. So Helsinki, then flying over to Oslo. So two countries never been before. And then revisiting Stockholm and Copenhagen, which are two countries that I really like. So that is in April, so cold season. So I have to be prepared for that. The big one, which other photographers will get involved in, is in August. There was a total eclipse in Europe, starting from, I guess, Greenland down through Iceland and to Spain. So that's in mid August. If one wants to travel. That's something you would look into. But I am gonna go out to one of those countries.
- [97:25]
B
Which one?
- [97:25]
D
I can't say because I want better pricing on hotels.
- [97:28]
B
If you had your druthers. Have you been to Iceland?
- [97:30]
D
I have. Three times.
- [97:32]
B
Greenland. You have not been to Greenland?
- [97:34]
D
I have not been to Greenland. There's a nook. Nook?
- [97:37]
B
Yeah. That's one place.
- [97:38]
D
Yeah. That's the only place you could go to, basically. I would say for those. Pick your poison. Maybe Iceland is the one for some people to go, because if you miss the eclipse because of cloud cover or
- [97:50]
B
something, you're still on a different planet.
- [97:52]
D
Yeah, it's a different planet. And it's just a gorgeous place. It's a small place, too. So that's the thing. And then Spain, obviously, is very big and there's plenty of spaces in Spain for that. So maybe I gave a little tip to where I'm going with that. But yeah, it's one of those things. It's like that's a big thing. So that's what I have on paper so far. But there's probably going to be things that pop up every now and then because I have a big travel itch and we'll see where that takes me.
- [98:19]
B
Love it. Derek, where are you going in 2026?
- [98:23]
C
New York, baby.
- [98:24]
B
Oh, hell yeah.
- [98:25]
C
B and H. The B and H superstar.
- [98:27]
B
Nice.
- [98:27]
D
The event space maybe.
- [98:29]
C
The event space, yes.
- [98:30]
B
He's coming for a couple of photo walks too. I mean, this guy gets around.
- [98:33]
C
Photo walks. Look, you know, hey, I said it earlier. Free education at bh. We have our new event space in the store. Been going great. A lot of new program. It's open to everyone. It's free. You get educated, you get inspired. What better place to be?
- [98:48]
D
Nice plug there. Yeah. Dan, if you're done with that photo walk, you could go upstairs and talk to the world renowned sales staff and get your answers.
- [98:56]
B
But they won't necessarily talk to you. You're not usually on this floor.
- [99:00]
D
No. Ever. I hide.
- [99:02]
C
No, you gotta book him. You have to set a private reservation. Or just happen to catch him as he's walking through on his way from point A to point B one day. Yeah, I saw him on the street the other day. Ladies and gentlemen, it is possible he's a real person.
- [99:16]
D
I'm a real person.
- [99:17]
C
He is real.
- [99:17]
D
So is Derek. I see him sometimes behind the glass cube that exists on that event space corner. I'm like, there's Derek.
- [99:23]
C
I'm in the fishbowl.
- [99:24]
D
Yeah. Point at him. It's like, there he is.
- [99:28]
B
Yeah. No, I can attest to both. They're both actually real human beings. That's true. Not sure about myself, but Mike, he's
- [99:36]
C
probably the rarest to capture. Although I did spot him on the street the other day from my car heading into the parking lot in front of the car.
- [99:44]
D
What were we trying to do?
- [99:45]
B
No, I was. He stopped doing that. He stopped trying to.
- [99:50]
C
I was parking. He was walking to get some food, I think. So we are out there. You never know when you're going to see. Look, we saw J.R. smith walk by the event space the other day and he's just walking by like a regular person who just happens to be way taller than most people. But they're out there. I think that's another cool thing. If you ever find yourself in B&H, you never know who you're going to be in line next to. There's a lot of celebrities and athletes and actors and actresses that go into B and H for their everyday photo needs. I think it's awesome. Okay, on that note, I mean, this was an eventful year. What better way to close it out than by breaking everything down, stirring the pot a little bit for some, hopefully some more rousing conversation in 2026. Any predictions? Anything you guys want to see more of next year?
- [100:43]
D
I think for me, I want to see a brand or two or three or all of them come out with a solution so we don't have to worry about selling cameras from 2019. I think that's one thing. I think that'll help ease the load on a lot of people. I mean, you can't control what goes viral. That's unfortunate. Or that's the fun part of it, because you never know what's going to go viral. But with that said, I think manufacturers are aware of this situation and I hope to see a few brands release something that will kind of ease our salespeople's minds. Because when every other call is a G7X Mark III, call it, you can see them going crazy in the back of their brains, like, help us. I'm like, yeah, we'll get there.
- [101:33]
B
Now why are they saying that? Because it's out of stock.
- [101:36]
D
Yeah, it's backordered as of recording, so it's just hard to get. It's not the only camera, but that's the most apparent one.
- [101:44]
B
Eric, anything on your.
- [101:45]
C
Let's throw it out into the ether. Yeah, you know what, I'm gonna piggyback off of Kevin there. I would love to see a non polarizing consensus camera drop that. Everyone's like, you know what? This is it. It checks all the boxes. It doesn't leave any stone unturned.
- [102:03]
B
Brings about world peace.
- [102:04]
C
It fits the needle. It's not super niche, it's well priced and it's available to buy. That's what I want to throw out there.
- [102:14]
B
Quite a wish, Quite a wish.
- [102:17]
C
What about you, Mike? What do we.
- [102:19]
B
I'm looking for sloppier AI, you know, like 2021 style, you know, really loose limbs. Really, really sloppy because it's gotten pretty good and I don't like having to sort of second guess the stuff. So I want to turn up the slop.
- [102:37]
D
It's happened so quickly. Yeah, it has happened way too quick because someone did a comparison because it was only 2022 when we started doing so in three years we now have to question like, is that real?
- [102:51]
B
Yeah, I think Google has a really good camera phone renderer kind of thing and it just is not possible to tell in that respect. So I don't like that. I want the spaghetti arms, I want the 12 fingers. It was a fun time and it went by very quickly.
- [103:11]
D
It did, it did.
- [103:12]
B
Some good memories.
- [103:14]
C
Well, great conversation. A lot of gear talk, a lot of talk about trends and marketing approaches. And I think it's really exciting every year that we advance in technology because you just talked about it. Sometimes it's not about the technology, it's about you never know what trend is going to pop up or what's going to go viral. So huge thank you to Kevin Rickert again for joining us. Kevin, this has been great. It's. Look, there's a reason why you're on every year. You know your stuff and it also makes for a fun conversation.
- [103:47]
D
Absolutely, you're welcome guys, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
- [103:51]
C
Well, that is it. A huge thank you also to all of our listeners out there. We hope you enjoy, enjoy this end of year gear wrap up. And thank you again for joining us today. If you are a fan of the show but are not yet a subscriber, head on over to Apple podcasts, Spotify, B H's YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcasts and click subscribe. You can also find us on the Explorer blog where we post photos from our guests along with our show notes. I'm your host, Derek Fosbender. Jill Waterman is our creative producer. Episodes are recorded, mixed and edited by technical producer Mike Weinstein. And our executive producer is Richard Stevens. On behalf of us all, thank you so much for tuning in today.
- [104:34]
D
Thanks to Leica for sponsoring this week's episode.