What Gear Are You Hoping To See in 2021?

With 2021 on the near horizon, and another 12 months of new gear to be released, what are you hoping to see specifically?

2020 was a bad year for almost everything. The almost is (in part) thanks to the influx of new and genuinely interesting and impressive camera gear. For photography nerds like myself, it really was one of the few silver linings on an otherwise torrid period of my life. So, as I see it, 2021 is likely to go one of two ways.

The first is that the brilliant new foundation of the Canon mirrorless bodies, the Sony video titans, a beautiful new modular Hasselblad, and a handful of staggeringly quick lenses, is built upon and expanded. The Canon line-up is still a touch sparse on native glass, so we could see some exciting additions, as well as, of course, the rumored new R body.

The second way is a sort of rest period. Large, cutting-edge projects like Canon, Sony, and Hasselblad (among others) have produced take years and a lot of resources to produce, which might mean some recovery is necessary. We may see a very quiet year, particularly with regards to camera bodies.

If I had one wish for gear in 2021, it would be the expansion of the range of medium format bodies, which hopefully by extension, brings down older generation GFX cameras, as well as earlier X system Hasselblads.

What are you hoping to see?

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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20 Comments

I am hoping to see a Fujifilm X-H2. I love their cameras but would like one that is a little more rugged with IBIS and higher megapixels. Fujifilm says they are still committed to the X-H line, but I am not convinced that they will actually release this camera. Am hopeful, though.

I wanted to write exactly that.

Give us cameras with native DNG.
I don't mind proprietary raw files but give us the OPTION of choosing DNG.

Sigma fp has native DNG

Sony GM lenses that match the optical quality of the most recent 135 1.8. A lens I have fallen in love with. Hoping for a 35, 50, and an 85 mk2.

YEEEEEAAAH! That be so nice! The Sony Lineup is weirdly missing the 35 and 50 GM. If they kept the character of the 24 and 85 while maintaining small size and all the nice features (Aperture Ring!) i would be stoked to get one of these...although, the Zeiss 35 1.4 is amazing still...

I note you down voted my comment; so I checked out your work. I cannot for the life of me work out why you need a single new piece of gear for the type of work you produce; let's be very clear, you *want* new gear.

I don't have any work posted here. They are pics of my wife and friends. Where did I say I "need" new gear? I down voted your comment because you 1. You have no profile or photos to share or add to this site or community which is a common behavior of people who troll these forums 2. You missed point of the article. If it had been called "How will new gear make you a better photographer", your point would have more validity 3. Your comment has a very negative tone. You could just say "None. I have all the gear I need to take amazing images" and leave it at that.

The headline is specifically "what new gear are you hoping to see in 2021?" Please, by all means tell me where there is an actual market gap?

My comment stands, if you cannot take spectacular images with already available gear (as of Dec 2020) then it's time to give it up.

Now, the quality, existence, or anything else to do with my work in no way alters the validity of my comment; and my comment equally applies to me. However, I'm now shooting in sub-tropical rainforest, so I need to upgrade to weather sealed gear (all of which has been available for years).

And since you made the point that I have no work on display here (who cares?); every last one of your snapsnots is utterly forgettable. I do wonder why (given you are only uploading snapshots) you feel you have the right to comment on what others are (or are not) uploading.

Back to the point, we have more resolution than we need, studio quality video, ultra-high speed, full-spectrum, all the lighting solutions you could need, amazing software for post, amazing large format printers and a huge range of mass produced and custom rags, and all of the historical processes are still available; precisely what currently unavailable gear is stopping your work from advancing beyond mediocre?

Sigma lenses for Canon RF mount

For Nikon:
Some crazy firmware updates that would make the Nikon Z6ii competitive with the AF tracking of the R6 and Sony A7Riv.

For Canon:
Sigma, Samyang or Tamron releasing sharp and lightweight primes for the RF mount, like 20mm 1.8 and 35mm 1.4.

For Sony:
The release of the promised 35mm 1.4 GM in a similar size to the 24mm GM and creamy bokeh. Also the release of the A7iv with a better LCD, real time tracking and an option for the shutter curtain to stay down when you change lenses so the sensor doesn't get dust.

I'm a hiker, not a biker, but for carrying a camera on your person ready-to-use but protected, nothing beats the Cotton Carrier chest mount harness. You can get accessory modules for lenses or an extra body.

I'm looking for a couple more lenses in the Nikon Z series lineup - Micro 105, 100-400 - and a high megapixel (Z8) camera. I'd like to see Nikon continue with the firmware updates as feasible.

A Sony A6700R - an APS-C camera with a much higher resolution sensor, IBIS, the new Sony menu system - the A6600 with the promise fulfilled.

I would like to see a new Micro-Four-Thirds sensor, 24MP, a new Panasonic successor to the G9!

Not a single thing.

Seriously, if you can't take amazing images with currently available gear the issue is you.

I don't think that's the point at all. Having a new piece of gear opens up possibilities that you may not already have.

Yeah, whatever you say - 'What gear are you hoping to see in 2021'

My point stands.

The last thing I want is a rest period. 2020 was in essence a rest period, Camera's announced but delayed for eight months, or postponed until 2021. That's a rest period, Announcements slated for March of 2021 are not soon enough for me. The camera I'm waiting for won't be released until Oct. 2021.