Some of us photographers, particularly those of us who create content of any description, have worked our way through a lot of cameras, both owned and tested. One photographer has used nearly 90 cameras since 2016, and decided to rank them all.
This is, of course, one man's opinion. If your camera is ranked last but you love it, it makes no difference whatsoever. But the idea of ranking all the cameras you've tried is an interesting one. After seeing this video, I went through a lot of the cameras I've used over the last decade or so, and made a mental note of the ones that I liked and then why. This is more valuable than it might seem at first. Here's how.
Once you have a shortlist of some of your favorite cameras, and you have picked apart why exactly they are on your list, see if you can identify any similarities. For example, two cameras that jumped to my mind right away were the Fujifilm GFX 100 and the Leica M10 (linked to the M10-R for reference). These cameras are completely different systems, for completely different purposes, but they are each undoubtedly in my top 5. One is a mammoth, medium format system, weighing a lot and rewarding a slow working style. The other is a rangefinder camera that's full frame, but light and easy to have on your person. So, where are the similarities for me? The shooting experience. With both cameras, I enjoyed taking pictures and I loved the results. The whole process felt closer to photography as a passion than many other, highly capable cameras I have used. To me, some cameras feel like workhorses that do the job I want, and some feel like paintbrushes.
What would your top 5 cameras be that you have used in the last 5 to 10 years?
Sweet mercy, that's some high praise for Fuji at the upper end of Mattias' ranking. Given my relatively short list of cameras to compare over the past 5 or so years,
9. Nikon D5300
8. Sony a6000
7. Sony a7ii
6. Fuji X-T30
5. Sony a7RII
4. Sony a6100
3. Fuji X100V
2. Sony a7III
1. Fuji X-T4
6-4 are difficult to disentangle, and are ranked mostly due to my experience with the lenses I had available, how suited they were to the bodies, and less about absolute performance/experience of the camera itself.
Third place: Nikon Df. Its sensor is wonderful, it's the same as in the (big) D4. I am patiently waiting to get a used (small) Df. Note on the video: After all, when you see these pictures, you also realise again: gear does not (always) matter. There are some beautiful photos!
Canon 6D, 5DsR, 40D, R6, 7D. In that order.
from nikon d5500, d750, d3300 , canon r5
In order of preference but not necessarily use. Epson R-D1, S, X, Fuji X-E3, X100, Canon 5D, Fuji GFX50R, Nikon Z7
According to my Lightroom Classic metadata I have apparently used 145 cameras since 2004 - yes really. I am NOT going to rank them in order. :-)
Whatever was my newest camera at the time was always my favourite - which would be why I used it. That would be a Leica SL2 right now.
Lucky, by chance how many of them did you own?
Ah ha! Caught out! I used to edit a camera magazine so got my hands on many cameras for a few weeks to test out. But I whilst I have owned probably 50 or so, I only keep three or four at a time.
Lucky, wish i had your job
I bet that was difficult work.He had to learn a new system. Find a camera's weakness and strong points. Get motivated enough to go out and shoot it multiple times over multiple days. It would be easy to run out of interesting ways to test and then have to write about each one.
Sony A1, Fujifilm X-Pro2, Canon 5D Classic, Nikon D300s, Olympus OM-1
Sometimes I'm tempted to get a used Leica CL but been waiting to see what the rumored CL2 will be.
What I would love to see is a Fujifilm GFX camera designed like the X100 series.
Seriously? He's been "doing" photography since 2016 and has used 89 different cameras! Why post this?
why not?! just for the images i enjoyed this video. The ranking is his own. He clearly had some fun and tried a lot of different cameras. and that's it. That's what the video shows. Why the resentment?
If someone uses 89 camera's in 5 years, het can never have get used to one.
so this whole video is nonsence
it's one person's opinion. why does it bother you?
Not sure i understand what you mean
Albeit i have used too many cameras to list, but here is a short list of mine
1. Leica SL Typ. 2929
2. Nikon d5
3. My nikon D4
4. Nikon d850
5. Olympus em1x
5. Nikon d780
6. My nikon d600
7. Canon eos 1dxmkl
8. Panosonic gh5
9. Em1mkll
10. 7dmkl
And in last place, even beating out a nikon d100 is the canon eos 1300d/a.k.a t6 rebel
89 cameras in five years? Seriously? This should be watched only for comedic entertainment. 89 cameras in FIVE years! Think about the type of personality that would engage in that kind of behavior. And think about the usefulness of those kinds of subjective assessments. LOL.
I mean, Mattias has got a camera review youtube channel.. not sure why it's surprising to people.
I’m happy to say that in the past 10 years I have used only five cameras. They’re hard to rank because each is so different. By “birthdate”: Rolleiflex 3.5 e2, Nikkormat EL, Nikon D90, Fuji X10, Fuji XT1. I can’t comprehend 89 cameras in 5 years, it feels wasteful to me. That’s more than one per month. It’s much better to really know your equipment.