EISA declared this years’ best photographic gear. In the category “advanced compact system camera“, the winner is the Fujifilm X-T1 (now $300 off if purchased in with vertical grip), while the best CSC lens is the Fujinon 56mm f/1.2.
Now you’ll think: “Cool, the X-T1 beats the Sony A7r!” No, also the Sony A7r is the best camera of the year, but in the “professional compact system camera” category. Don’t ask me what makes the A7r more professional than the X-T1 (which is just “advanced”).
I suppose that there have to be many categories, so that all brands have a reason to celebrate. In fact, there are prizes for Fuji, Sony, Panasonic, Olmypus, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Samsung (“best connected camera!”), Tamron, Sigma… check the list of winners here. It’s a scandal that they forgot to give an award also to Casio, maybe for the Casio Exilim EX-G1 12.1 MP in the category “best underwater camera” .
But hey, nevertheless, congratulation Fujifilm. At least you won a prize for a camera AND for a lens. That speaks for the system as a whole… and makes it really professional 😉 .
Now, if you want to have a bit of fun, invent your own category and declare the winner. Or, vice versa, declare the worst gear of the year.
36 Responses
Haha, you said it all, got nothing to add.
‘Best’, professional camera, but definately worst professional system: Sony A7.
How can a camera that has only 4 lenses be ‘best professional’….
And what is available from Sony/Zeiss is not even very professional – sigh.
Not that I disagree with you, but aren’t there 5 “FE” lenses? Also, from what I can gather, Sony believes that the “E” lenses with APS-C coverage, as well as the A-mount lenses, usable via the LA-EA4 adapter, all make up the α7 system. That’s certainly the impression they give in the α7 brochure:
http://discover.store.sony.com/pdf/Sony_a7_series_Brochure.pdf
Because the Sonys are full-frame. And, like it or not, that seems to be the criteria by which most of these bodies set the separation line between professional and amateur/enthusiast.
When the X-Pro1 launched there were only three Fujifilm lenses
available, and for me it was still a brilliant camera. The 35mm and the
60mm (I didn’t buy the 18mm) are still the lenses I use more than
anything else.
I have since bought quite a few more Fuijifilm lenses as they’ve become available, and initially I used adapters to make use of my existing lens collection. However, being honest with myself, I could almost certainly been able to do 95% of the work I’ve done with the X-Pro1 using only the three Fujifilm lenses available at the outset.
There is much more coverage in terms of focal lengths with the lenses available for the Sony A7 than there was for the X-Pro1 at launch. I’m sure a photographer would be able to make good use of the existing lenses for the Sony A7, and there are lots of adapters available for other brands of lenses.
I would never buy the A7, but that’s more down to my tastes than anything else.
There are too many awards here, too conveniently spaced out among the brands, not to make this journalist skeptical. ADAC, the big German car-magazine publisher and car-culture booster here in Germany, just got busted for rigging its awards to parcel them out carefully among Germany’s big-three carmakers, and it’s hard not to be cynical that something like this is going on with any award-giver that is too close to the industry it is supposed to be scrutinizing.
Everyone gets a participation trophy.
I wonder if this is like the J.D. Power quality awards, in which winners have to pay a fee to use the award in advertising? If so, it makes sense to have a lot of categories: more awards = more money.
Re the 56, I have one and it’s a good lens (other than the noisy autofocus that seems to be endemic to Fuji fixed-focal-length lenses) but I’d be hard-pressed to say it’s the best compact-system lens introduced in 2014-2015. I’m sure different EISA voters choose differently, and probably few of them have the resources to compare all the candidates in every category, so the results wind up being somewhat arbitrary…
I don’t know. I reviewed nearly 20 CSC lenses this past year from three different mounts (X, E and m4/3) and I’d put the 56/1.2 right up there. For me it’d be between that and the Panasonic Leica 42.5/1.2. Do you know how hard it is to design an f/1.2 lens that is this sharp throughout the frame?
I am guessing the sony has better IQ with high ISO than the fuji…the X-T1 is good up to ISO 6400…that is good enough for me…but the sony…I do not have it but I have seen reviews that show the sony at ISO 52,000 or somewhere around there and the IQ is very good…but as others have pointed out …sony lacks quality lenses…and yes even the zeiss lenses are just OK…I had a sony system and got rid of it because of lack of quality glass……my thoughts are shoot with what makes you happy…the X-T1 makes me happy…so does my E-M1…my Nikon 1 v1 and my Holga and Diane film toy cameras…I don’t put much stock in awards…but I do take notice when a camera or system is rated poorly…and then again with a grain of salt…I have been criticized for using the Nikon 1 v1…and then when I show the images people are pleasantly surprised…I am not shooting billboards…but I can make a nice detailed 20×16…enjoy what you have people
The ISO king is the Sony A7S the other A7 models are comparable to the X-Trans II for ISO performance.
Yeah keep telling yourself that 😉
Actually, I have a friend who has both an X-Pro 1 and a A7, and the A7 is better at base ISO; whereas, the X-Pro 1 is considerably better at high ISO. That said, both cameras are very good.
I am tempted, from time to time, by the A7, but every time I renounce because of:
– the total lack of lenses (just a shame)
– the super loud shutter
I declare the XT-1 to be “Real Photographer’s Camera of The Century”
BAMM!! Hey, sue me.
You know why… sony A7r is a FX sensor camera so is professional
Its easy to win when you are the only nominee in your category.
Some other Full frame mirror less cameras?
ohhh sure… Leica!
I’m really sad that Nikon don’t meet this category
Sony RX1???
It’s 2014 now.
Ah yes, the A7r, “Shutter Shake Queen of the Year”, with the ergonomics
of a 2×4!
What?? European Connected Camera 2014-2015…. I think they thought out this prize, so that even Samsung gets a prize.
And that the Canon 1200D got a prize says everythink about this award….
will the a6000/a5100 sensor make it into the next XA-1 (i.e. X-A2)?
And now, the hotly contended ‘Most ridiculous polishing of inexpensive metal by a Portuguese Chap” award goes to….
What?
Leica T
I wonder what would happen if I made a video of me polishing my X100 for 46 minutes, thus outpolishing the T by more than a minute… Would that make the Leica T technically obsolete? If Leica was Fujifilm, customers would then be able to just send in their cameras for an additional 5 minutes of polishing, free of course, just to ensure 100% customer satisfaction. But Leica is Leica and anything under 1200€, and be it a lens cap, would cheapen the brand, so that definitely wouldn’t be an option for them…
HA? Stupid.
I found it in US famous company
Fujifilm X-T1 16 MP Compact System Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 Lens
http://j.mp/1BFqVUK
I don’t know about the 56mm lens, but whoever made the video showing on the EISA site deserves a prize. Cringe!
Hey Patrick, just FYI you say “prices” and “price” when I think you’re looking for “prizes” and “prize”. Damn autocorrect?
oh pardon…
Damn Europeans. 😛
Fuji makes nice cameras for sure, but non the less eisa awards has become nothing but a joke. Everybody wins!
If someone doesn’t fit in to win they simply create a new category so the poor brand can win too.
But who got the “Best Fuji Camera” award? I hope Fuji got it…
On that Andvanced/Professional Compact System Camera “dispute”
2012-2013 the “European Professional Compact System Camera” award went to the X-Pro1…so we know what they regard to be “professional”
However…why “compact” system camera?
I would have said the Pentax Q would fit that profile much better lol..it’s a compact (with a VERY compact sensor indeed) that allows for the change of lenses… 😉