It was really windy and unusually cold.
Now, after a couple of months from the CN mirrorless announcement , it seems to be becoming clear that it would have to be a race between Canon vs Sony. At this point we can safely say the Panasonic Leica alliance seem to be failing(because of their stupid over pricing strategy). The Panasonic S1 price was leaked by Sanei news here a week ago and it was sadly mistranslated in the West.
Photo Rumors and Mirrorless rumors both posted wrongly translated the Sankei news article on Panasonic S1 report.
Mirrorless Rumors said ," Sankei believes Panasonic S1R price is above $4,000+", which Sankei never said in the original Japanese article.
Sankei said they believe the S1(not the R) would cost more than 4.5 k USD or 525000 yen. So the S1R might be even more expensive.
That said , Panasonic and Sankei news both have said that the S1 is not an entry level camera, it is a pro level hybrid camera, while the R is a still dedicated version of the S1.
In other words, they are saying the S1R is the fullframe G9, the S1 is the FF version of the GH5 and not the lower version of the S1R.
Even so, I was quite disappointed and decided not to get the new Pany regardless of the video quality or sensor quality of the S1R.
I've heard that the new Canon EOS R H or whatever called will have a 75mm plus high resolution sensor and it will cost 4000 US or a bit less. The new sensor has about 15 stops of usable DR and much more sophisticated new version of DP-AF(better video tracking Af). This new sensor will be fabricated at their new CMOS plant Canon has just completed in North Kanto region of Japan. And this new sensor plant is newer than any of these Sony plants , with 45nm process tech, so it is much more advanced than the best Sony semiconductor plant for CMOS fabrication(although both are still much more primitive than the new Intel fab or even the old 14nm Micron plant in Mid West).
I think Nikon bodies will always more expensive than the same class Canon or Sony bodies because they have no in house sensor and battery tech.
But ironically enough, Nikon will be able to get unlimited access to more advanced 45nm sensor process tech from TPSCO because they do not have their own sensor plant.
Maybe Sony will be the only one using the older 65nm or even 90nm process tech in the next few years.
Why m43 is doomed 37(updated 5):
There are many problems in the m43 world right now, and although Panasonic promises to stay there, trying to regain their lost share with a vengeance, chances are they just ignore the market altogether for a few years and then they will suddenly call it quits, just like Nikon did to their N1 system.
Still, many of us think Panasonic will be fine since they have a highly profitable niche market in Video and they are the kind of customers that will be able to spend over 3k on a body every couple of years or so. So we do not need to really worry about Panasonic at least their L mount system......
Even the m43 as a video or hybrid system may be fine and may even grow a bit over the next 2 years or so(due to the Tokyo Olympics thing). And it is also one of Panasonic's core focuses. So it is maybe really wrong to say m43 is doomed now.
The real question here now may be : m43 as a stills camera system will survive? Or will Olympus survive as a pure stills camera company without a large sensor format?
The real serous problem for Olympus now is that most of their M4/3 customers didn't select the M4/3 system for "best possible image quality ", or " best possible high ISO or base ISO DR."
Many of them just use it as a second or third camera system that is small enough to fit into their normal work bag with a decent laptop or a tablet. In my case my Panasonic is my third system but I use it exclusively for video.
Sure some of these people chose m43 as their main system, but many of them chose it because they wanted the smaller size and weight, the unique feature set, the more reasonable cost, and the "very good image quality" which was good enough for their needs. Had they wanted "best possible image quality", then they would have selected something else with a larger sensor. These people were not fools , they knew exactly what they were buying into , and still they chose m43. And I think those people saw the EM5 class of cameras as the most balanced body for that system, and some of them prefer even smaller bodies like the GM5 or the GX7.
IOW, they are not the type of customers to easily drop over 3 k on a camera body, so the margin is quite small in this market.
The problem is that the system or more precisely the middle class small sized m43 bodies that most of m43 users seem to prefer pretty much plateaued five years ago. Yes, there are better M4/3 cameras available since 2013, but they are only slightly better in terms of image quality for stills and they are all relatively big for a m43. If you need blazing fast frame rates, then you upgraded to an EM1 II or a G9. If you needed really great 4K video, then you probably upgraded to a GH5 or GH5s. But if you just wanted much better image quality than say the EM5MK2 or G85, it wasn't available as both Olympus and Panasonic have refused to put the latest sensor into their smaller more middle class bodies. They always hold back their best sensors only to their highend bodies , just like Canon did in the last round of FF war.
If you chose the latest highend models, you could get slightly better image quality even now , but it came at a high price and involves larger and heavier cameras that is actually bigger than some of the latest and best FF bodies from Sony, Nikon and Panasonic itself.
So many M4/3 users just aren't upgrading. Their older cameras are still working fine, and are still meeting their needs, so they feel no need to replace them with newer models.
Hey I mean if you are OK with a 16m or a 20mp camera and you do not need the speed of the EM1MK2 or the video of the GH5, then why do you even consider buying another similar m43 body from Olympus or Panasonic ? And this is the exact problem the m43 duo has suddenly got since about 2013.
Their current situation is a bit similar to that of Canon guys' since Canon has been also holding back their best sensors to only their most expensive models since about 2013.
Just like Canon in their FF field, with the 'the best sensor holding back' stupid marketing strategy,it has become harder for the duo to attract new users as Sony,Canon and especially Fuji have been rapidly expanding their own crop sensor MILC systems with some pretty good cameras in the same space.
I am sure as even we could see this coming long time ago, Panasonic saw this coming, and decided to add full frame to their product offerings. This should help Panasonic in the near term, as they will have new bodies and lenses to market to people who want "best possible image quality in both stills and video." And their cameras are actually really industry leading in terms of pure reliability and feature set.
Olympus decides not to follow Pana's path, since their situation is totally different than Panasonic's. Their imaging division only exists to provide technology for their medical devices, and so they don't seem to mind losing money on it. They don't feel a full frame product is necessary to get this technology they need.
And moreover, some of the industry analysts here in Japan think Olympus is just too small or weak to compete against stronger competitors who now have the advantage on them because they had such a long head start. The last time they tried to compete head to head against Canon, Nikon and Sony.... it just didn't work out well for them. (Four Thirds).
So Olympus seems to be pretty much boxed in. They can only offer more features, but they cannot offer significantly better image quality without going to a much larger sensor. Their customers are quite satisfied already and not really very demanding. As I emphasize this many times (since it is important) their customers are not the type of customers to easily spend over 3 k on a camera kit, so the margin is quite small there if they'll continue to chase their current market..
So if they decide to work within the tiny niche of the current small sensored relatively small bodied system camera market and try to keep pleasing (actually milking)their CURRENT customers, then the only one real solution left for them now is to revisit the things that attracted their current customers to M4/3 in the first place , as the above mentioned Japanese analysts group pointed out.
They basically said:
Stop trying to get marginally better image quality and stop adding more art filters and little used toy-camera-like features , and instead focus on building better, smaller, lighter cameras that truly offer more value. Put more emphasis on building better and smaller f/1.8 lenses than creating more f/1.2 PRO lenses(there are nothing pro about these).
It is very important to understand who your customer is, and serve that specific customer better..... rather than trying to wrestle with the 800 pound gorillas on their home field.
What they meant by their home field is not just FF but conservative FF with many boring dials and physical buttons. They are not saying do not go FF, but just do not do the conservative old school FF that Canon Nikon have been doing for years.
Instead , they should try more 21st century minded smart FF system in addition to their already very matured m43 system. In this way, with a FF line, they can focus on designing m43 as small as it can be. I think I agree with them on almost all points they've raised up here.
This approach may or may not work well, but doing nothing will definitely not work. Too many of m43 guys seem to be happy with their five year old cameras. Olympus needs to give those people a better reason to upgrade
Their current customers didn't want to best possible sensor level IQ in 2009, and a great many of them still don't want it today. They are basically size conscious old hipster kind of people, and they are hard people to please. They are pretty stingy cheap kind of people, so just focusing on them and try to milk them as much as they can does not work.
That is why, I really think they should at least try their version of unique FF system, with Panasonic and Leica , or with Sony, it does not really matter but at least try it as soon as possible. They have nothing to lose here.
They should try to find a bit more profitable market than the current stingy old guys dominating m43 market. They need a younger generation market. In order to do that , I think they must go either FF or more computational m43 approach. I think they should listen to the rich young Asian art school students market....actually it is a big market and they really want to get a dedicated camera for their art work. But most of them say there is no camera for them.
Then what are the main issues of the current dedicated cameras for them?
They say:
1 it is too awkward to use : too many levers , too many buttons and too many dials.
2 the back LCD is too small, they want a big and clear display like the one on the Google Pixel 3.
3 they demand one button FaceBook upload feature , and I also think it is really necessary for most of us as we are all connected to the other part of the world now. Even my old almost 70 years old father loves his Android phones and prefer the touch based UI to the old school 1950's style typical camera U.I. that many of those old gear heads at DPR or LL prefer.
4 some level of in-camera image edit-ability , at least a nice sophisticated in-camera RAW conversion program is needed....
5 much better current smartphone level touch interface.
6 more efficient easy video record-ability. For them video is a tool to document their academic life and art. Actually, it is the case for me too.
Olympus should target those rich young boys instead of never-stop- complaining old and stingy tiny camera lovers. The current m43 users are , as I already described them above, very stingy and always complaining, so even if they will have to trade the current m43 market for the new rich young student FF market, it will not be a big loss.
I mean the old bald headed hipsters will not help sustain the camera industry but those rich young Asian boys will.
In conclusion: Olympus should develop a truly 21st century minded FF camera with a huge touch screen for the rich young Asian art students market.
And at the same time, try to go back to its origin-- the tiny but really well built m43 cameras like the EM5 series used to be . And develop lenses needed to make the EM5 series like body or even better Pen F kind of body really shine. E.g., the f1.8/f1.7 small but sharp primes and sharp and compact f4 or 3.2 zooms. I think they should also consider a manual focus prime line like the Loxia for our E mount system.
Unlike many grumpy faced 100 percent m43 users, I think Olympus (of course Pana too) still have a quite huge chance winning over the CN duo in FF market since none of these 2 big players understand how to design a real 21st century minded touch based camera menu system. The smartphone gen artists do not need too many ugly levers , dials and buttons on their cameras. I think it is now easier than ever before to do it all right since the Zeiss ZX1 has just showed them how to make a real 21st century U.I. and menu system.
I think they can do it as one of their main businesses is designing medical and accounting software programs for banks and hospitals. It is not too late.
UPDATE : Now , Olympus has officially registered the long rumored EM1MK2 replacement camera that they call "true pro camera".
I think what they meant by true pro is something like a true sports and wildlife camera for rich amatures who do not question anything but just pay 3k or more for a tiny sensored expensive camera just because it is big and super fast.
I think everybody in this class of camera market knows how much smaller the m43 sensor is compared to the sensor of the other systems and thus it is much cheaper than so-called FF or APS-C sensor. And not many people will be able to justify the price Olympus will ask for this body. It is rumored to be over 3k US, some even say it may cost more than 4k USD.
If the 4k price is right, then it would be even more expensive than the A9(the best sports and wildlife camera our money can buy). So we think it is a very bad value........in any mean.
I am sure it is a great camera in terms of speed, reach, AF,overall usability and body quality, but the tiny 43 sensor will hurt it seriously, we all know that even before its official launch.
It will be faster than the Fuji X-T3 ,but by how much?
It will be cheaper than the upcoming D6, but how much cheaper?
It will be much more tough than anything else out there , but how much more durable ?
It will have outstanding AF that may even beat the current best AF system used in the D5, but will it be able to be also beat the future A9MK2 and D6? I strongly doubt it.
I think most of people will have hard time justifying the price or just perplexed by its price , since the current best crop camera Fuji X-T3 costs only 1300 US dollars.
Olympus is obviously choosing the bigger, faster and more expensive sports camera market as their final battle field.
And this was exactly what they did in the end of the original D-SLR 43 era, to kill that system.
It seems like they never get what most of their customers want and ask us camera shops to tell them to.
They need to focus on the EM5 line not the bigger than the EM1 line. They seriously need a loud wake up call.
UPDATE2:Many Canon Nikon guys automatically assume that Sigma will always reverse-engineer to provide some lenses for the new CN systems.
Of course Sigma has the cameras and sure doing many tear- down stuffs just like LensRentals does. But it's questionable if they are going to reverse-engineer to provide lenses for RF and Z mount. After all, Sigma never bothered to offer any of their mirrorless lenses in Canon EF-M mount or in Nikon One mount even though EOS M is quite popular in Japan and Asia. Sigma offers 5 APS-C mirrorless lenses available in both E-mount and m4/3 mount, but not EF-M. Sigma also has 11 full frame E-mount lenses, and none of those are available in EF-M mount either.
Also remember that Sigma is now part of the L-mount alliance with Panasonic and Leica, and they will be making their own L-mount body. Sigma has confirmed that they will offer all their existing E-mount lenses in L-mount , plus some additional mirrroless only designs for the L mount platform.
This means the L mount team will have many lenses in a matter of a very short time, maybe even at the very launch they may have a quite respectable set of lenses.
And Tamron has also announced they would provide some of their D-SLR lenses for both the E and the L mount system soon. By contrast, they deliberately or not ignore the CN quite obviously in the last announcement here.
I think they've just calculated how much money they need to reverse-engineer the mount protocols and actually design lenses for the RF and the Z system and compared that money to how much money they may be able to earn if they try it and probably concluded it would not be worth the effort and investment.
In case of Canon R ,they may still try since it is officially a closed mount system but Canon will not sue them even if they reverse-engineer to provide some lenses in the Canon mount.
They know it from the DSLR era. But Nikon will definitely sue them and in order to do it easily they have incorporated the dual serial interfaces into their new mount design.
Sigma has lost a serious amount of money from the court trial against Nikon. And now they are really bitter to Nikon.
Sigma has repeatedly told us," unless Nikon decides to open up their mount architecture and legally license it to us, we will never try it again. We did not lose the case(Nikon lawsuit against Sigma) , but it costed us a lot of money to fight against Nikon at the court."
Cosina said similar thing a several times in 2017,
So I guess the Nikon Z may get the least thirdparty support and that may hurt them big time in sells.
Many DSLR guys automatically think the CN domination of the DSLR camera world will repeat itself again and again.
But the mirrorless game is a completely different ball game than the DSLR one, and their DSLR success story does not guarantee anything any position for them in the new mirrorless game. I think they may end up to be very small players with just 4 or 5 percent market share respectively, or the smallest players in the ILC business. They are not willing to change anything but still arrogantly believing their name alone is more than special enough to sell their very lackluster cameras. And many people never realize this but Nikon is the smallest company in the ILC industry with the least support from the major third party lens and software companies.
UPDATE3:Now we all know the Panasonic fullframe attempt is going to be a fail, as they miss-set the price too high to place it outside of the normal first time FF buyer's market.
The S1 not the R will cost more than 4k USD according to Sankei news article(not the wrongly translated English version of it that Photorumors posted a few days back).
The news paper article clearly says the S1 is not an entry level camera like the A7MK3(which is arguably also not)or the Nikon Z6 or the Canon R. It has just low resolution sensor in order to optimize its video or hybrid part of game.
Basically, according to Sankei, it will be a fullframe version of the GH5s, thus expensive , much more so than the Sony A7MK3 , the Canon EOS R and the Nikon Z6.
The S1R will be the more still focused model like the G9, thus it will not be more expensive than the more video focused S1.
It makes sense logically, but many people having waited this long to choose their first serious mirrorless system do not think like that, to them 24mp means cheap or should be cheap or affordable. Affordable is a relative term, but I think not many people call 4.5k US camera an affordable or a good value camera.
Many MILC diehards think being innovative justifies camera makers to pricing a bit higher than the rivals, and arguably Sony could do it successfully for the last 4 years or so, and many people think Panasonic is also a very innovative company when it comes to hybrid camera tech.....
Sure they and Samsung having been the most innovative camera manufactures for over a decade , but has it led their camera business to any serious commercial success?
Obviously not. The being innovative part allow does not guarantee them to be successful.
Then you might ask why Sony could get away with the "pricing everything above equivalent Canon Nikon camera" strategy? Well there are two obvious reasons for that:
1 at the time there was no rival cameras from CN to the Sony third gen A7X and A9. So they could price it a bit higher than they should have been with a real competitor from CN.
So as CN released their new A7R and A7 competitors, Sony readjusted the A7MK3 and A7R3 pricing , now I can get a new A7MK3 for just 178000 yen which is roughly 1570US....so I bought it again. The A7R3 is about 248000 yen now which is roughly equal to 2180 USD.....at that price , the A7R3 and A7MK3 are really a bargain deal.
2 lucky enough for them though , Sony is not Panasonic, they've never made any real home appliance such as rice cooker , coffee machine, home bar, etc, these are the things Panasonic has been making for years to make most of their main income. Most of people considered Sony as a serious camera brand especially in this digital age since they have always been one of those top cinema and TV camera makers, and their main business is PlayStation and insurance , so people do not have much aversion towards the image of Sony as a camera company. But many of us do have prejudice against Panasonic as a still or ILC camera company.
Basically, Sankei is saying Panasonic has failed repeatedly in their 20 years of digital camera business history since they 've never understood what their true pricing power is , or brand power recognition is in the stills camera market. So they always overpriced everything and shot themselves in the foot every time they try something new.
Also the newspaper thinks there are not enough rooms for all the 6 major FF players in the so called high-end ILC market.
There may be 4 but not 6........this means some one or two companies will have to die or give up FF, and they think it will be Panasonic.
And another big point they have made is the current FF boom is just a bubble and will not last long.
I fully agreed , and most of rational people already with a decent FF camera will agree that the latest and greatest body with the best looking spec sheet won't attract us much any more, it is all about a great set of lenses by this point, and I do not know if the A7R4 will sell as well as the R2 or the R3, the progress advancement in one or two generations is too small to justify paying over 3k USD for a body.
I think this is why the current best selling FF body is the A7R2 and used A9........not the latest and greatest.
Hey be logical , if you can get a A7MK3 for around 1500 including the tax, then why do you need to spend 1 k or more for a bit better performance for the A7R3? let alone for a much more expensive Z7?
For me , the 42mp sensor alone worth the price, but most of people do not think like that, and this is why the best selling NEW ILC cameras are all those so called entry level low resolution bodies. The main stream market do not want 40 or more mp. We are too obsessed with corner resolution and tiny bit better print quality, so we must play the chasing the best sensor available now game , and we are kind of self-brainwashing what we actually want is what we need, so we think we need the best, but the rest of more logically thinking market do not chase that, instead they look for the best value body for their comfortable budget zone.
Panasonic could not get that and about to place their new FF attempts out side of the budget range of most people(who are interested in a new system).
And their FF will most likely fail means that they may have to just terminate the m43 system development project and focus 100 percent on the new FF system.
Also, the series of stupid comments they made about their new policies and how their new systems compared to the old system hurt their reputation as a system camera manufacture.
They used to say they would release a 8k camera in the m43 mount by the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
But now, they've been emphasizing that plan would be technologically impossible, and that was the main technological issue that forced them to go FF, etc.
They also said , 'The L alliance is like a real legal marriage. The previous arrangement [with Olympus] was more like we were just living together without any serious agreements' .
This sounds really disrespectful to the m43 users and I think this shows their true attitude towards the customers......this is why they keep failing.
To me, it looks like both Panasonic and Olympus do want to kill the m43 system by intentionally making the system less attractive to the majority of the system users.
They are definitely working against the strengths of the system, that is really stupid.
UPDATE4:After processing many underexposed images, I realized that there is really almost no noise advantage of Sony sensors over the same gen Canon ones in real world use. Sure there is a bit of color noise difference in the deep shadow area, it is there but the difference is really insignificant - an academic interest level, not really a glaring difference in real world images at all. After pushing the shadow 4 stops or more , both are extremely noisy and need many ways of software taming to make it at least usable. So sensor wise, the EOS R is not a bad choice, it is worse than the expensive Z7 or the A7R3 in some apps that require a lot of shadow pushing, but not any worse than the Z6 or the A7MK3. On top of that for astro or night time long exposure, the Canon R is actually better than all Sony with the infamous star eating RAW compression.
In fact, if I have to get one of these 3 EOS R, A7MK3 or Z6, I would definitely get the R for the higher resolution sensor.
For me anything less than 30mp is not interesting.
So the EOS R might not be a bad choice for many of us who already own a lot of Canon EF glass. Sony plus Metabones work too but the Metabones is not a really trusted brand, their adapters damage cameras and when you get any issue, neither Sony nor Metabones will fix it for you.
I had a serious communication and harmed mount issue on my A7R2 after using it with a Metabones 4 a several times.
I sent a few emails but they completely ignored it, never ever responded. After that, I decided never get anything from Metabones. I also sent emails asking how to fix the above issue, Sony asked me to send my camera in or visit nearest Sony service station in Fukuoka city and I visited their service center in central Fukuoka city, then the engineer I personally knew for a couple of years or so told me the damage was definitely caused by use of inappropriate not supported adapter, thus the warranty would not cover this repair case.
I was furious , but well it was the Metabones crap that broke my camera, so I had to accept the price they asked(almost 240 dollars or 29800yen).
After that, I have never used electronics adapter besides the Sigma MC11 ,which is officially supported by both Sony and Sigma. Now for those who want to use their EF mount glass on a mirrorless body, the EOS R may be a better choice since the EOS R system has a great 100 percent compatible Canon official adapter for their EF lenses and it is much cheaper than the Metabones(without any support).
And unlike the Nikon Z6, the Canon R has a normal SD card slot, it is great, I can share the cards I already own with my Sony, so I might get the R with the 35mm f1.8 Macro lens.
UPDATE5: Now we really realize that the used camera market is rapidly growing , I assume it is about 2 times bigger now than the new ILC market.
As I already said sensor level IQ has not been improving really much since about 2013, so most of people no longer need to chase the latest and greatest gear that is actually a tiny bit better in every aspect of usability /functionality, but with practically the same level of IQ.
Now the A7R2 is the best selling FF camera in most parts of the world market because it is now priced right, just right brand new. And if you look for a lightly used one, then it would be even cheaper at around 1500 US or less.
At this point , unless you need a super fast shooting camera ,or super long reach, or super sophisticated video , then why do you need more than that body? Sheer IQ wise nothing in the latest and greatest category beats it any way.
Every Japanese camera company seems to think just keep upping the average price of their cameras endlessly will eventually make up for the lost sells volume and that will eventually rectify their dying camera business.......
Well but people are not so obedient to their pricing rules, they are not stupid , they research what they need.
So basically, going FF will not help all of these 6 or 7 players, not everybody is interested in FF, many people do not buy a 4k USD camera, with a set of 8 grands primes.
Most of us now know the generation old body has the same IQ as the latest one, so why do we have to buy the Z7 or the A7R3 if we are only after the best possible IQ in FF?
One thing, as a camera shop director , I have to agree with Hogan is that the FF boom is a bubble, and it will not last long.
And this endlessly upping price to compensate for the lost volume strategy will eventually hurt the market since it will lead most of people move away from the new camera market.
It will be just like the high end HiFi audio market in the late 90's. They must understand those extreme gearheads buying every single lens to test and sell , or chasing every single A7RX , Fuji GFX, etc, are extreme minority.... they will not sustain the market but the rich young artists and art school students market will.
UPDATE6: I think I must be honest with myself about my gear and choice of my stuffs.
Well, I thought the E mount system would be safer choice for most of us, but I realized that it and its favorable reputation now were all built on a fragile sand beach like the Miami beach, not on a solid stone based strong ground like that of the NYC or Shanghai.
It was really shocking to me or any one like me having spent more than 15k on Sony system, it has suddenly changed since the first Nikon and Canon FF mirrorless released.
And I believe the Z7 and the Z6 were not even their best efforts, they could have made it better, I mean the Z7 could have shared the Z6 AF(which seems much better than the Z7 AF). Canon also could have made the R better than it is now, but they have deliberately decided to make these as they are.
Still, many people are now moving to Nikon or Canon from Sony E mount, it is shocking to me, but true.
I never realized Sony's lead in this game is this susceptible to the trend changes.
To me what was most shocking was Jim Kasson, who seemed to really liked his Sony kits and tested many of his E mount lenses for free, moved back to Nikon as Nikon debuted the Z7.
Now he clearly says he prefers the Nikon over the Sony in every respect. How shocking is it?
It is really shocking since he is not a silly paid," easy to buy" kind of a lens tester, but he is a serious scientist who tests lenses for free at his site. So it was not a bit of money or free gear he got changed his mind , that kind of things cannot change his mind. He changed his mind because he tried the Z7 and Z6 and they worked better than his Sony for his needs.
Also, some of notable people who hang around at a various fora also moved to Nikon.
I never pay attention to any of those commercial reviewers , but Jim and some serious forum contributors and I really respect their opinions.
Anyway, I am also re-debating to sell two of my three A7R2 and one A7R3 to get a Z7 plus the 50mmf1.8S and the 35mm f1.8S. It may sound silly, but it is not really silly since the long term cost of the Nikon system seems much cheaper than that of the Sony system.
I mean my Sony system does not have anything like that cheap but super sharp 35mm and 50mm primes that Nikon offers, the Sigma Art is there too, but it is a overrated lens, and I dislike it very much(objectively a good lens , but I dislike the rendering of it). There is the FE35mm f1.4ZA for the Sony and a good copy of it is quite good........
But I am really scared to try another copy of Sony FE35mm f1.4ZA. I already tried 5 copies of it in 2016 and gave up on that lens.
My FE50mm f1.4ZA is a great lens, but it is a bit too big for a 50, especially as I do not need the speed of the f1.4 , the f1.8 Nikon S is fast enough for me.
I also heard that their new Z14-30mm f4S is a fantastic lens, much better than any Sony zoom in that range and it may be cheaper than the FE12-24mm f4G, which I owned and quite liked but hated the bulbous front lens design of it.
So I cannot help but my gut feeling tells me that the Nikon will be a bit cheaper and more practical system in the long run like Jim said in his 50mmS review.
I find the ergonomics of the Nikon better , at least for my hands. I've always thought as though the Sony engineers designed their A7 series specifically for tiny Asian girls, it is just too small for any adult person (IMHO). I always have to put an external grip or L plate or an grip Extender on my A7RX cameras.
The Z7 , on the other hand, feels perfect in my right hand without any silly L plate or Extender.
It's really comfortable to hold, easy to navigate , very fast in operation.
The AF is a bit worse than that of my A7MK3, but definitely better than the AF of my A7R2, and as good as my A7R3 AF, so it is no issue for me..........I am perfectly fine with the terrible AF of my R2 and original R.
Also , to my surprise, the Nikon is a bit better in video department with the amazing 10bit 4k recording capability(externally).
For me the biggest pluses of the Nikon over my Sony system are :
1 much better body with a much better Manual Focus friendly EVF.
2 the video quality seems to be much better than that of my A7R3 and even the A7M3.
3 the LCD is much better , I can actually review my images on a bright sunny day outside, I cannot do it on my A7R3 LCD(I have to use the EVF to review the images I just shot with it).
4 Any of the Nikon S series lenses seem to be an incredible value , the 50mm S, the 24-70mm f4S , the 35mm f1.8S are all super sharp for their respective price class, and I think their lens lineup will grow very fast to become a much better one than that of the Sony FE system. I hope not but it seems to be the case.......
If there was a SD card version of the Z7, I would immediately add it and gradually move over to Nikon land.
But Nikon's choice of the card system is a big problem for me, I hate to buy XqD cards and the card reader for it.
I mean it's not a future proof card system. It will be replaced soon, I think Nikon should have gone with CF express plus SD for the Z system. If I buy many XQD cards and their next camera does not support it, then where will I be able to sell the junks?
I do not mind spending a big chunk of money on a lens but I do not like to spend more than 500 US on a set of memory cards which I can never sell here.
Hey, I have collected many many CF cards that I used use on my A900, D800E, D810 and 5DMK2, I think the sad fate of the XqD cards would be like the current CF's , It would be the next abandoned card format just like the CF, it would soon become a junk.
I think that's the real reason why I rejected the Nikon. Other wise, I would have already bought the Z7 and the Z6, those are, IMHO, better bodies than the respective Sony rivals.
I like Sony lenses but never like their E mount bodies(except the old NEX7). I kinda liked the A99 type of bodies but their mount was simply the wrong future-less one.
Personally, I might like the A99MK2 with the E mount , their A mount lenses are just terribly old.
That said , the A7MK3 is a bit better than anything before it in terms of body quality, over all speed and usability, so we can hope the next R series will be a bit better than the awkward R3 and R2...
But my gut feeling kind of tells me the E mount system may eventually be ending up like their Vaio series PC or the Nokia phones........and the Z and the R the iPhone and Galaxy of the dedicated camera world.
I mean just a few months after the sensational launch of the Canon R and the NikonZ , many notable Sony users like Jim Kasson have already moved back to their old home, as I already wrote it some where above.
And I am sure many will follow him(he is an influential person),
I saw many ex-Nikon haters already selling their Sony gear altogether at LL fora and some other local fora.
Even those raving about the Sony R3 now do not seem to be very happy about it and they now honestly voice it out as they have other choices.
Now I think it is too risky to buy any money- losing, low-resale- value E mount products like the Loxia line or some of the Batis line lenses like the 18 and the 25.
I also canceled my order on the 85mm GM(I thought get it back and replace my Batis 85 with it). I decided to buy my Batis 85mm f1.8 back from the person I sold it to.
And I am already selling two A7R2 and one A7R3 , just trying to get rid of all risky Sony products now.
I will keep two A7R2(I use them for my personal stuffs) and two A7MK3 and sell(I use it for video and event works)l the rest.
So it is a real shame the Z7 has XqD card slot.....
I may wait to see how good or bad (usability wise) the R4 will be and finally decide keep my Sony lenses intact or just get rid of all of these.
I know many of those notable forum people keep both Sony and Nikon or Canon gear, but I found it silly since I know I will not use both but just only one of these.
I had many brand kits over the last few years, but I found I rarely use my D-SLRs and m43 and got rid of them.
UPDATE7: Now I bought a EOS R and Nikon Z6 and comparing these and I will test these against my Sony A7MK3 soon. So I will be very busy testing lenses and cameras.
Also, the first week of the next week, Panasonic will announce the final specs and prices for the S1 and R.
We already know the price part, but we do not know the detailed specs just yet. So I will wait to see it.
But the saddest part of the Panasonic system is that it will not be available till next summer or so.
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