What (fav) cam manufacturer in late 2024?

[Andrew Reid]

Favourite COMPANY or favourite cameras? From a personal point of view favourite company is definitely Sigma... Family run, different, innovative, the best of all the companies at modern lenses, and best bang for buck too on those. The Fp-L may not be the best all-round mirrorless camera... this would be the Sony a1 or a Nikon Z8... But they're a proper thinking-man's camera company and embolic of what makes Japan so special when it comes to their family run companies. Sigma behaves the opposite of American anything-for-profit evil entities.

Their APS-C primes are lovely on a Fuji body, and much better bang for buck than your Sony GM primes for example or Canon RF.

In terms of favourite tools by one company overall - if I had to pick just one or two then these would be by Sony, the a7 IV bang for buck is very good, Sony a1 and a9 III are all-rounders with faultless capabilities in every area - there's very little you can't do armed with one of these Sony bodies... In fact ever since the a7r II and a7s II they have been on a very good incremental improvement path, starting with ergonomic improvements, then colour, but really in every single area of a camera spec they have not put many a foot wrong. Favourite company though? Not a chance. I don't agree with their hugely inflated prices on lenses and the higher-end bodies, I don't care for any of the top brands in terms of companies - not Sony, not Canon, they are a corporate shadow of their former selves in terms of philosophy and company culture.

Fuji would be second to Sigma for me as a company - their strategy is unique and there's nothing better in medium format, APS-C or compact cameras than what they're providing in 2024... X100 VI, GFX 100 II, X-H2 - wow what a trio that is...in terms of the ULTIMATE power, feature-set and specs the GFX 100 II is better than anything, even Sony a1 II.

Third favourite company would be Atomos... haha only kidding.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Honorable mention to DJI - because they are thinking kinda outside the box. And choose to grow in unexplored markets.

They started with drones, and snowballed the market - except in some niche sectors, they crushed everyone else.

Second marlet tried was cine, with the DJI Ronin 4D - which I think is the most innovative camera of the decade. A lot of completely new stuff there - the LIDAR Af with the depth map for manual focus, the wheel control, the 4 axis gimbal. Not so great in ergo, but was an amazing achievement. This path they not suceed, but was a ambitious 1st try.

And the Osmo Pocket 3 - almost everyone that tries it falls in love (including me). Amazingly easy to operate (my wife is using it to make social media videos for her clients, she knows NOTHING about filming, and the videos come out very good), very good stabilization, and the image quality is like 80% of my X-S20. The only camera that I ever used in auto ISO - its metering is VERY good. And in a very unusual and compact form factor, a REAL pocket cam. 

There are rumors that they will enter the traditional camera market - I have my doubts, since all the markets already established that they entered they have no (the Ronin 4D) or ok success (action cams and gimbals). They rise on unexplored paths - and I guess that if they make a camera, would be breaking some molds.

(albeit I suspect that the 1st breaking mold camera should be - or MUST be, to be a success - the 1 inch "half-frame" Fuji)

[MrSMW]

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Sigma

Yup. They were my favourite for primes, but I preferred various recent Tamron's for zoom stuff, notably my current trinity of 20-40, 28-75 and 70-180. 

But this year, Sigma moved the game on with their 28-45 f1.8 and 28-105 2.8 and all that's 'missing' for me with them right now is a longer sibling to that 28-45.

I've said it before and will say it again, - if they make something like a 45-90 or 50-100, also f1.8 and internal zoom, I'm done!

As it is, I'm getting the 28-45 and 28-105 for next season as they just make complete sense for my needs.

Plus, yes, I also love their philosophy and family run nature. 

[PannySVHS]

Panasonic, if they bring out a S9II with mechanical shutter, evf and hotshoe plus full hdmi for 1499, a GXX with a GH5II inside for 849, a S2H with FF 60p and internal ND for 2999, a GM6 with 10bit 150mbit 4k up to 30p and 100mbit HD up to 60p for 799. The latter would be a beautiful bonus, though a very beautiful one indeed.