The Online Photographer

One of the best cameras of the year was the Leica M10, and it vied hard for TOP's top award.

I've had an ambiguous relationship with Leica products over the years, but it's really only due to the fact that I persist in seeing Leica as a cameramaker, albeit a unique and different one, rather than as an object of either worship or derision. I've been accused of being a Leica lover (I think I coined the term "Leicaphilia" way back in 1992, or at least I made it more widespread), and of being a Leica hater. Such judgements usually reflect more about the accusers than about me. I stopped reviewing Leica cameras after I wrote a two-part review of the Leica M8 when it was new. It was a half-decent camera that a few people still like, but it was a bit of a Frankenstein, a replicant, and had some egregious flaws. An okay first try, but just not a terribly good camera, all things considered. The pent-up desire for a digital rangefinder and for the zombie resurrection of the fabled M was so great at the time that fanatics frantically climbed all over me and grabbed just about any stick that was handy to beat me with. Even in retrospect, though, I still stand by that review. I think I got it just about right...at least, if you, too, are able to consider Leica as just a cameramaker.

In investigating it, I suspect that, after continual improvements, Leica has now gotten the "digital M" just right. Boiled down, the M10 is the size right and has found the just-right mix of simplicity and functionality. Short of using it, which I haven't, I think it's fair to guess that if you're a fan—if Leica is your "party"—then this is the M that might be the biggest yes for you. Le pur sang.

But alas, given its somewhat pedestrian full-frame sensor (which DxO Labs says equals only the very best APS-C sensors) coupled with a breathtakingly high price, I just can't bring myself to give it the trophy, if I'm being my hard-headed self. Even if our award is just for fun and carries no particular weight. Even if the Leica faithful are head over heels about it. And even though, frankly, they are not wrong.

Kitchen patrol?
2017 was not a stellar year for all-new introductions, at least compared to 2016, which saw things like the Hasselblad and Fuji medium-format cameras and the Sigma Quattros. About the only significant new cameras for our typical readers were the Pentax KP (yet another awkward name—in U.S. army slang, "KP" means "kitchen police" or "kitchen patrol," i.e., menial duty peeling potatoes or washing pots) and the Panasonic G9. Other very fine and much refined but (like the Leica M10) essentially derivative designs were the Nikon D850 and Fuji X-T2, either of which could wear the mantle—if not for originality, then for overall excellence and superlative "greater than the sum of their improvements" functionality.

Of those, the Pentax KP is the camera of greatest note, and the one that is sliding undetected under most peoples' radar. On paper it's not the most feature-laden, and it has taken some hits for not being bestest and mostest in certain areas, meaning, it lacks the check-boxes that tend to reassure fastidious but insecure shoppers. On the other hand, it's the K-1 lite, and our readers love the K-1; it's geared toward amateurs and enthusiasts who shoot in a more of an art-photographer manner rather than a pro-photographer manner; and it steps neatly into Pentax's longstanding tradition of having about the best and most sensible handling and control layouts. And as you can see from the picture, it's weatherproof, too. The 20–40mm seen in the illustration would be a splendid little lens for it, and it would be particularly sweet with the small primes Pentax is known for, such as the wonderful 35mm Macro that is still one of my favorites among the digital lenses I've used. (Although I used it as a normal, not as a macro.) It's true that it doesn't offer every little thing the competition offers, but it's a distinctive camera that offers things the competition doesn't, too. My advice on this one: don't let yourself be put off by the off-putting bits of the reviews. For the right photographer this could be much the right camera.

The winner please
Drum roll...and now for TOP's Camera of the Year 2017:

Way, way back at the dawn of the autofocus era (yeppers, sonny boys, that's how far I go back) I was told something that turned out to be very true. When a camera is popular enough that it spawns a family of variations, it signals an especially successful design. This applies to products outside of photography, too: consider that if Toyota's Prius brand were an entirely separate entity all on its own, it would rank high among the world's carmakers.

Nothing has illustrated the principle better in our field in recent years that the outstanding success of the Sony A7 series. It quickly multiplied to three variants, each targeted to different types of users, then began begetting generations as problems and consumer desires were were addressed. Sony has a nice habit of doing its best to put all its latest technology into new products unstintingly up and down the lineup as it becomes feasible, but now the line has gotten a new member as the superfast A9 takes direct aim at professionals—the A9 could be thought of as the "A7III" except that an essential quality of the middle-of-the-road A7 and A7II models is reasonable cost. (The A7II is only $1,298 right now, well under many APS-C and even Micro 4/3 models.) Good for Sony for not ending that tradition.

The A7R enticed many photographers into its corner on arrival (buyers and admirers), and it only got better with the much revamped and improved A7RII. The new A7RIII is not only the best A7 model yet, at least for generalist stills photographers, it's arguably the best general-purpose stills camera Sony has ever made. Ten frames per second, 42.4 megapixels, an "overkill" pixel-shift mode for super-high resolution architectural, still-life, and copy shooting, excellent eye-focus tracking for portraiture, USB-C for tethering and 4K HDR video—and of course that it's a superlative landscape, nature, and general-purpose camera goes without saying.

And Sony really gets high marks for stepping up its lens program, something it received criticism for in the past. The A7RIII would be mainly frustrating if there were no lenses capable of exploiting its abilities. Those lenses exist now, and many of them are getting very high marks from reviewers.

In a year of "Mark X" iterations and refinements of existing models and no truly compelling new models to sweep the field (the G9 being still too new to know), the Sony A7RIII in our opinion noses ahead of formidable rivals at the finish line as the best all-around high-end camera released this year.

The Editors

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Arg: "I thought KP meant 'keep peeling!'"

Mike replies: Maybe it means "keeper pictures."

Stephen Scharf (partial comment): "In my view, for a camera to be in considered for 'Camera of the Year,' it has to be in the calendar year in which the camera actually goes into production becomes availble for sale. Neither the Hassy X1D or Fujifilm GFX 50S can be considered 2016 cameras because, while they were announced in 2016, they were very much still in development, and did not ship for sale until 2017. This means they are 2017 cameras, not 2016 cameras. I also find it your choice ironic given that you just posted the week before last how very few cameras are being made today that allowed photographers to do 'good work' rather than meeting manufacturer's sales goals. Yet, your choice falls exactly into the latter category. For me, the answer is clear: The Fujifilm GFX50S is easily the Camera of the Year for 2017 because of how much ground it broke, the paradigms it rewrote, and the magnitude of impact it had on the camera industry and photographic community as a whole."

[For the complete text of "partial comments," please see the Comments section. —Ed.]

Ken Tanaka: "Good choice, Mike. Perhaps the only logical choice. As I’ve noted in a recent comment, the Sony A7R Mark III has completely taken my breath away, even after having used the A7R camera line since its first model. It truly represents the kind of incremental design and engineering refinement that’s brought it extremely close to perfection in my book. And the Sony FE lens line has left me wanting for nothing as of this year. It’s also appropriate to give an honorable mention the Leica M10. Yup, it’s probably about as good a digital photographic fountain pen as Leica can make the M line, and it will likely be my final M. But while it is not my most frequently used camera I am delighted to have it and I do very much enjoy using it when practical. I would not characterize myself as a Leica 'fan boy' but I do very much appreciate the refinements that Leica has made to this camera to reach the M10. It's the only truly hand-crafted digital camera. Silly? A little clunky? Uber-costly? Absolutely. But lovely to use. My own honorable mentions would absolutely include Fujifilm’s GFX 50S. It represents a bold but very thoughtful initiative by Fujifilm to expand their line. It may not be as stylish of a design as Hasselblad's equally bold new H1D but it's a better, more usable, and more versatile camera and system than the H1D."

Kodachromeguy: "Mike, I agree with you that Pentax is the understated gem in the world of a hundred models of wiz-bang digital cameras that all sort of do the same thing. But my pick for No. 1 is the Leica M10 for three reasons: 1.) The shape of the M body is familiar and comfortable—just like an M3 from 1954. 2.) It is different and simpler than the standard super-featured cluttered digital camera. 3.) The photographers on DPReview despise it, and when the crowd hates or loves something, it is usually wise to do/buy exactly the opposite."

FraserGJB: "I worked as a KP—Kitchen Porter—every weekend for a couple of years. Rinsing plates and loading-up the dishwasher in a hotel restaurant, listening to cheap piped-in execrable covers of contemporary hit songs. Steam, sauce concentrates and bright lights. The horror."

Mike replies: It's not every kitchen porter who can quote Kurtz.  :-)

Eric Brody: "I like your choice for 'camera of the year.' I actually own one along with some of the slightly bulky but optically superb new lenses. In the digital era, I am a former Nikon full frame then Fuji APS-C shooter who is enjoying the return to full frame. After my experience with the Fuji, I fell in love with the EVF and all it can do and grew to dislike the mirror with its need to focus-adjust lenses. The image quality and detail of the A7RIII are not to be believed.

"I got great results from my X-T2. It is hard to distinguish differences in small prints between the Fuji and the Sony but I’m happy. The menus are complex but with the customizable menus and buttons I’ve almost got it fully set up after only two weeks.

"I rented, loved, and almost bought the GFX 50S but when I did the math around size and cost, and realized I could have almost two Sony (or Nikon D850) bodies for the cost of one GFX, I made my decision. I agree with Stephen Scharf that the GFX is a strong candidate. The GFX is remarkable for image quality, handling, for its size, and overall operational feel. I also realize that it is a medium format 'bargain.' But comparing it to the obscene prices of the Phase One and full-sized Hasselblad cameras is irrelevant in my view.

"I hate to mention money, but financially everything is relative to one's own situation. I’m better off than most and worse off than some, definitely not a 1%-er. I’m jealous of those who seem to be able to afford and who also seem to buy each new high-end camera. I am certain some are jealous of me to be able to afford the gear that I do have. The Sony and Nikon seem to hit a spot where the image quality-price equation is right…for me. I can use the Sony for the landscape and nature where my true photographic heart lies, and also for my busy three-year-old grandson. Not many cameras can do as many things as well as the Sony."