The Pilgrim’s 2015 Best Gear Awards

Well it’s that time of year again, the Holiday Season!  Soon to be followed by a lot of new products being released in January!  For now it is a tradition that I chime in on my favorite products of the current year.  You guys know that I’m a died in the wool Fuji guy, but I see a lot of products students and friends are using and I test a fair number of products myself.  Some folks enjoy my ramblings, and then, you don’t have to read any further if you don’t want to!

So, here goes:

The BEST DSLR for the money?  The Nikon D750.   This is one of the best thought out products to come from Nikon in a long time.  Just the right amount of resolution, good build quality, and it makes a fantastic image.  The price is right too!

The BEST All Around DSLR.  The Canon 5D Mark III.  When I worked for Nikon this camera gave us fits!  It is a well built picture making machine and I can’t tell you how many great images I’ve seen made with it the hands of a skilled photographer.  It’s not cheap, but worth every penny.

The BEST APS-C DSLRs, The Nikon D7200 and the Canon 7D Mark II.  The APS-C sensor has proven itself a very worthy competitor to the full frame cameras with the advantage of smaller body size and higher pixel density!  Pixel Density?  Think about it,  if you put 24 million pixels on a full frame sensor and then put the same 24 million pixel on the small APS-C sensor, the pixel must be smaller and tighter packed on the APS-C sensor, thus higher resolution.  An APS-C  sensor with 24 mega pixels has the equivalent resolution of a 36 mega pixel full frame camera!  Surprised?  It’s true and it works!!!!  But doesn’t Full Frame hold a low noise at High ISO advantage?  Not nearly as much a they used to!!!

The TOP PRO DSLRs for the sports shooters and photojournalists.    Easy one here, the Nikon D4s and the Canon EOS-1D X .  Both are fast, capable, and built like tanks!  If you abuse and use your cameras severely, these are the ones for you!!!!!  Built to last and keep shooting under the most extreme cicumstances!

The BEST HI RESOLUTION DSLR?  The Nikon D810.  I’m not bragging, but I was one of the very first people in America to see and shoot the D800. long before it was known to exist.  I thought then, and I still think now, why?  Does the D800 series of cameras make phenomenal images, you bet!  Do we need that many mega pixels?  Very, very, very few of us  do.  For them this is a godsend, for the rest of us it introduces more trouble than it’s worth.  Does that mean the D810 is not a great camera?  Not at all.  But if you buy one, be prepared to have to do everything as close to perfect as possible, it is demanding, but if you do, wow,  it is spectacular!  The new Canon 51 mega pixel?Just multiply what I just said by a factor of 2!!!!

The BEST HIGH END MIRROR-LESS Camera System?  Well, the Fuji X System of course and the X System lenses   The Fuji X-T1 and it’s associated pieces have e changed my photographic life!  A second place finisher would be the Olympus OM-D1 camera and it’s system! Both of these cameras are smaller, lighter, well made and make exceptional images.

THE BEST MIRROR-LESS CAMERA FOR VIDEO.  The Panasonic L:mix G4!  This is a camera rmakes spectacular video, 4K, sweet, beautiful video, and it’s reasonably priced!

The BEST COMPACT CARRY CAMERAS?  The Fuji X100T & the Fuji X30!  O.K. I simply picked my two favorite!  I know there are lots of very good, small, easy to carry, travel and all occasion cameras out there.  But I do love both of these, and they will make images indistinguishable from the big boys, if you treat them right!

SOME TOP LENSES:  My pick for the Best wide angle zoom is the new Canon EF 11-24 f 4 L, a suburb optic with a tremendous range!  The best Mid Range Zoom?  the Fuji XF 16-55 f 2.8 R LM WR.  The best new Super Long Telephoto Zoom?  the Nikon 200-500 f 5.6 E ED VR lens, great range and tack sharp!  Finally, the Best new LEGENDARY Lens, The Fuji New Fuji 90mm F 2 R LM WR lens is simply the finest lens I’ve ever shot,  I only have one thing I don’t like about it, my wife keeps complaining about rolling over in bed against it!!!!

SOME MORE TOP LENSES:  The BEST TELEPHOTO ZOOMS?  The Fuji 50-140mm f 2.8 R LS OIS WR.  The sharpest 70-20-o0 equivalent I’ve ever shot and with the best OIS I’ve ever seen!  I can actually shoot at 200mm equiv. at 1/8th of a second and get tack sharp results!  The Olympus Zuiko ED 40-150mm f 2.8.  The two best Super zooms are the Fuji 18-135 and the Sony 24-200 f 3.5-6.3.  The Fuji is tack sharp, and the Sony is sharp enough, but a much needed lens for that, lens poor, system!!!

…..and finally my new favorite small backpack.  The Tamrac Anvil Slim 11.

Well, there goes my 2015 picks, hope you like them!

Blessings,

the pilgrim