DSLR Reviews

Now that 2016 is done and dusted, we’ve had a chance to look back at all the cameras and lenses we reviewed this past year and have chosen ten of our absolute favorites. 

Yes, we’re posting our annual favorite cameras and lenses awards of 2018 with only a day left in January 2019, but that just means determining the best photo gear for last year was harder than usual. And it was, especially with the raft of exciting new full frame mirrorless cameras that hit the market in the second half of last year.

Buffs of infrared photography often go to great lengths to get the ethereal effects that define their images. Now that Kodak has served notice that their high-speed black and white IR film is on the endangered species list, there will be IR film shooters everywhere looking for a way to continue their exploration of that fascinating world. In the past year we have reviewed two Fuji...

The Sony A65 is a feature-reduced version of the company’s A77 model. It offers a nominal resolution of 24MP (just like the A77). The A65 uses Sony’s SLT system, which combines a semi-translucent mirror system and an electronic viewfinder. The semi-translucent mirror reflects a part of the light to the Phase Detection AF sensor, which is located in the penta-prism bulge on the top of the body and allows for very fast focusing. At the same time, the image sensor is able to generate a digital live preview for the LCD on the back or on the mini LCD screen of the ELV. Both monitor systems use high-resolution LCDs. The large monitor on the back offers 921,600 RGB dots; the AMOLED ELV offers 2.3 million dots for a brilliant and crisp image.

The new Sony A99 II is a DSLR-like Single-Lens Translucent (SLT) system with a fixed and translucent mirror system. It’s Sony’s first full-frame sensor SLT with an A-mount since the first A99, which was launched in 2012. The new camera features an electronic viewfinder system with high resolution (2.36 million RGB dots) and uses its mirror system for the AF sensor. It combines a standard AF system with a highly sophisticated image sensor AF system; it can use 79 AF areas on its dedicated AF sensor and 399 AF areas on the image sensor, resulting in very fast and reliable focusing. This combination is called “Hybrid Phase Detection AF.” The mirror system allows the user to work with an SLR-type focus system as well as a continuous live preview on the screen or electronic viewfinder.

The Sony A37 is an SLT system with a fixed and translucent mirror. Because of this setup it is able to produce a Live View image even while recording still images or shooting video. At the same time, the camera is able to use its Phase Detection AF system because the mirror reflects the image onto the AF sensor. This allows the use of the AF system even in continuous shooting mode. The camera offers a high-speed burst mode of up to 7 frames per second, which is a very high result for an entry-level system.

The NEX-6 offers an APS-C-sized CMOS sensor with 16MP resolution, the Sony NEX E-mount system, a large swivel screen on the back, a high-resolution electronic viewfinder, and a Wi-Fi module for wireless data transfer or remote control. This very small system camera uses a large mode dial on the top to set up exposure modes directly instead of using the menu on the screen (unlike other NEX cameras). Directly below this mode dial there is an additional dial to change image parameters. The photographer can use this second dial and the third dial (which encircles the cursor field) to change aperture and shutter speed settings directly, which makes it as comfortable to operate as an SLR system.