Camera
Field review: Panasonic S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 Macro OIS
Introduction
The Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. is a moderately sized, moderately far-reaching and optically stabilized telephoto zoom lens for full-frame or APS-C L-mount cameras.
Aimed at wildlife, sports, aircraft and vehicle photography as well as portraiture, it helps you tightly frame more distant subjects when you can’t get up close on foot. It also offers impressive close-focusing capabilities, and so can serve double-duty for light macro use.
Available from April 2021, it carries list price of $1249.
Key specifications:
- Focal length: 70-300mm (105-450mm with Leica T/TL/CL bodies or APS-C crop)
- Aperture range: F4.5 wide / F5.6 tele – F22
- Stabilization: Yes, Panasonic Optical Image Stabilizer
- Filter thread: 77mm
- Close focus: 0.54m (21.3″) wide / 0.74m (29.1″) tele
- Maximum magnification: 0.5x (tele)
- Diaphragm blades: 11
- Hood: Included
- Weight: 790g (1.74 lb)
- Optical construction: 17 elements in 11 groups (2 ED, 1 UED, 1 UHR)
 |
| ISO 640 | 1/1250 sec | F5.6 | 300mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
70-300mm F4.5-5.6 lenses are fairly commonplace in the SLR world, but this is nevertheless only the second such lens to be specifically designed for use with a full-frame mirrorless camera. (The first being Sony’s FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G for the competing Sony E-mount, and Fujifilm has recently released a 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 R for its X-mount APS-C cameras.)
As such, there are no direct rivals for L-mount cameras from Panasonic or either of its L-mount Alliance partners, Leica and Sigma. The nearest L-mount equivalents would be the significantly brighter, bulkier and far more expensive Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280 mm F2.8–4 or the moderately larger, heavier and more telephoto Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS.
Wildlife and sports shooters in particular may find the Sigma to be a more attractive option, however. Not only will it bring more distant subjects even closer, it also carries a list price that’s about $300 less than the Panasonic. The tradeoff is that it’s a little less bright, and so may push you to higher sensitivities or longer shutter speeds.
 |
| ISO 640 | 1/80 sec | F14 | 219mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
Handling
The Panasonic S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 is just a little larger than we’d expect of a full-frame lens with its focal length and aperture ranges, but nevertheless also a bit lighter.
Its barrel diameter is identical to that of the Sony FE 70-300MM we mentioned previously, and 5mm (0.2in) smaller in diameter than the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM for Canon EF-mount DSLRs. It’s a bit longer than both, though. The Canon is about 5mm (0.2in) shorter, and the Sony is about 4.5mm shorter.
 |
 |
| Barrel diameter and weight are about what we’d expect for a lens of this type, but the length at 70mm is a bit longer than is typical for a 70-300mm zoom of this kind. The lens extends when zoomed. | |
Restricting ourselves just to the less-direct alternatives on the L-mount, however, it’s a good bit smaller than the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS, which is a full 49.2mm (2.0 in) longer. The aforementioned Leica 90-280mm, meanwhile, is the biggest of the bunch, at a full 3.5 inches longer.
At the same time, it’s also a little less hefty than its nearest competitors. It’s 64g (2.3 oz) lighter than Sony’s E-mount equivalent and a worthwhile 260g (0.6 lb) less than Canon’s EF-mount lens, which both carry broadly similar list pricing and target customers. It’s also a full 370g (13.1 oz) lighter than the L-mount Sigma, and weighs less than half as much as the high-end Leica, which is a whopping 920g (2.0 lb) heavier.
 |
Although its outer barrel is predominantly constructed from polycarbonate, the lens nevertheless has a very rugged build and a nice, high-quality feel. It’s certainly a notch above the quality of typical 70-300mm zooms around the $500-600 mark, but doesn’t approach the build of higher-end optics like Canon L-series or Sony G Master lenses.
Balance is very good with larger bodies like the Panasonic S1R that we used for gallery shooting around our Seattle HQ, but is still pleasant with smaller bodies like the Panasonic S5 used by the DPReview TV team in Calgary, Alberta.
 |
| We found good balance on smaller bodies like the S5, and great with larger ones like this S1R. |
Both the zoom and focus rings are pretty light and not significantly dampened. The focus ring has the softer feel of the pair, while the zoom ring has a bit more tension. On the side of the barrel there are four switches, providing for (top to bottom) focus range limiter, focus mode, optical image stabilizer and zoom lock controls.
Since you’ll probably need the focus mode control more frequently than the rest, there’s a small bump next to it that provides a great tactile reference, helping ensure your fingertip has found the correct switch without removing your eye from the viewfinder.
 |
| A lens hood is included in the product bundle. |
As for the optical image stabilization system, for which Panasonic claims a 5.5-stop corrective effect, we found it to be quite effective, helping both to combat blur from camera shake at lower shutter speeds, and also to stabilize the electronic viewfinder view for a smooth, steady preview. Both are important given the fairly powerful maximum telephoto on offer.
 |
| The 77mm filter thread is larger than average, which will cost a bit more when buying filters. |
Up front, there’s a larger-than-typical 77mm filter thread, and the Panasonic 70-300mm is also comprehensively weather-sealed, with a total of seven seals providing for both dust and splash resistance. It’s also freeze resistant to -14°F (-10°C), as our heavily snowbound and deep-frozen Canadian team can attest.
Compared to…
| Panasonic S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 Macro OIS | Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | C | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (MSRP) | $1249 | $949 |
| Optical construction | 17 elements, 11 groups | 22 elements, 16 groups |
| Aperture blades | 11 | 9 |
| Stabilized / mfr rating | Yes (5.5 stops) | Yes (4 stops) |
| Weather sealed | Yes | Yes, mount-gasket only |
| Minimum focus distance / max magnification | 0.54 m (1.77″) / 0.50x | 1.60 m (5.25″) / 0.24x |
| Diameter x Length (no hood) |
84mm x 148mm (3.31″ x 5.83″) | 86mm x 197.2mm (3.38″ x 7.76″) |
| Filter size | 77mm | 67mm |
| Weight | 790g (1.75lb) | 1160g (2.56lb) |
Autofocus and focus breathing
Autofocus is provided by a very fast linear-drive AF motor which is both silent and very swift. With a full-rack AF time of about two seconds, or just 1.1 seconds with the focus range limiter active and significantly faster for the smaller adjustments typical of real-world use, it’s definitely up to the tasks of wildlife or sports shooting.
 |
| ISO 100 | 1/3200 sec | F4.8 | 87mm | Panasonic S5 Photo by Chris Niccolls |
The focus limiter is a pretty standard option on a telephoto zoom like this, and one that’s definitely worth having, especially because of this lens’ insanely close minimum focusing distance. It locks the focus range to a minimum of 3m (9.8 ft) when active.
That close focusing, incidentally, gives this lens a pretty decent macro ability, for a telephoto zoom. You can get physically closest to your subject at wide-angle, with a minimum focusing distance of 0.54m (1.77 ft). For the highest magnification ratio, though, switch to telephoto instead. Here, a minimum focusing distance of 0.74m (2.43 ft) is enough to garner a 1:2 (0.5x) maximum magnification.
 |
 |
| You can get pretty close at wide-angle (left), but moving just 20cm further from your subject and switching to telephoto (right) will get you an even better 1:2 macro. Both images at ISO 100 with Panasonic S5. | |
Video shooters will be pleased to hear that as well as autofocus drive being essentially silent, focus breathing is minimal, with just a slight hint at 70mm that largely goes away as you zoom in towards the 300mm telephoto. Our only mild disappointment on the video front is that the lens uses a focus mode switch on the side of the barrel, rather than a push/pull focus clutch found on some Panasonic lenses.
Image quality
Image quality for the Panasonic 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 is generally very good; bokeh is pleasing, there’s good resistance to distortion and flare, and aberrations are as well-controlled as we’d expect on a lens of this type. We did find some copy variation in terms of sharpness, however. While both copies we tested had great sharpness at wide-angle, one of the two was noticeably better at the telephoto end of the zoom range. Sample variation in telezooms is extremely common (potentially more so in early production runs), but it’s something to look out for.
Sharpness
At wide angle, the 70-300mm is quite sharp even when shooting at F5.6, and the plane of focus is pretty flat. Stopping down to F8 does improve detail just a little, but you’ll only notice that difference at large print sizes or when viewing 1:1.
 |
| One of our two copies of the Panasonic 70-300mm was plenty sharp wide-open at full telephoto. ISO 640 | 1/1250 sec | F5.6 | 300mm Photo by Dale Baskin |
That performance holds true as you zoom in to around 200mm, but beyond that point, we noticed on one of our copies that things weren’t so pleasing. We found it to be pretty soft at 300mm, while our other copy was as sharp as we would expect from a lens of this type and at this price point.
 |
| ISO 320 | 1/250 sec | F7.1 | 74mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
We found on our less-impressive copy we could work around the softness a bit by stopping down to F8, but this isn’t the brightest lens to start off with. Having to stop down even further will push you towards longer shutter speeds or higher sensitivities, further trading away potential image quality in the process. The main takeaway? Do some quick testing if you choose this lens for yourself, and make sure you’re satisfied with your copy.
Vignetting and distortion
 |
| There’s really not much vignetting to speak of beyond the 70mm wide-angle. ISO 1000 | 1/400 sec | F10 | 96mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
Good news here: The Panasonic 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 exhibits only minimal distortion. It also controls vignetting pretty well. It’s slightly noticeable but easily corrected at the lens’ 70mm wide-angle, and almost nonexistent by the time you reach its 300mm telephoto.
Bokeh
Another strength of the 70-300mm is its pleasing bokeh. That’s achieved thanks to an 11-bladed aperture, and you can expect nice, round bokeh balls not only when shooting wide open, but even if you stop down a little. Look closely and you’ll notice just a little polygonality by F8, but less than you’d expect with a more typical nine-bladed aperture. The ‘cat’s eye’ effect, which turns the balls into ellipses towards the corners, is present as you’d expect on a lens like this, but pretty well controlled.
 |
| ISO 400 | 1/400 sec | F5.6 | 144mm | Panasonic S5 Photo by Chris Niccolls |
There’s also no sign of onion rings in the specular highlights, which can often cause lenses’ bokeh to look busy and distracting with a noticeable pattern of concentric circles inside the bokeh balls. Really, the only slight shortcoming we noted is that there’s a noticeable soap bubble effect, where the outer periphery of the bokeh balls are a little brighter than their centers.
Flare, ghosting and sunstars
Panasonic tells us that it specifically engineered the 70-300mm to achieve better sunstars, which is interesting given that’s not typically something one expects or even looks for in a telephoto. And while they’re not amazing, they’re certainly present and look reasonably good to us.
 |
| ISO 1000 | 1/500 sec | F22 | 71mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
With the bundled lens hood mounted, the lens has good resistance to flare. Even without it or when shooting directly into the sun, only minor ghosting appears towards the far opposite side of the frame, and it’s very well controlled. We didn’t notice any washing out from flare, and contrast remains strong.
Lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration (fringing)
 |
| ISO 100 | 1/1600 sec | F7.1 | 71mm | Panasonic S5 Photo by Chris Niccolls |
Lateral chromatic aberration (LaCA), which often shows up as colored fringing along high-contrast edges near the edges of the frame, are well-controlled on the Panasonic 70-300mm; this is easy to correct in post anyway, but as you can see from the above image with no CA reduction, it’s not a problem. As we would expect for this type of lens, there’s basically no longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA), which would show up as green or magenta fringing behind and in front of the plane of focus at wider apertures.
Conclusion
| What we like | What we don’t |
|---|---|
|
|
We found a lot to like in the Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S., but a relatively high price tag nevertheless makes it a lens where you need to manage your expectations. A list price of $1249 puts it in roughly the same league as some Canon L or Sony G glass on other mounts, but it’s not quite in the same class in terms of its build or optical performance.
 |
| ISO 500 | 1/125 sec | F4.5 | 70mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
But that list price doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. From launch, Panasonic is offering a steep discount that brings the cost down to a more reasonable $1000, putting it roughly midway between consumer glass and higher-end offerings on other mounts. And that seems about right, as that’s where we see it fitting, both optically and physically.
It pairs beautifully with Panasonic’s L-mount bodies, and has a solid, quality feel in-hand. And it’s capable of great image quality across much of its zoom range, though we do have a slight concern about sample variation, particularly regarding sharpness at the telephoto end.
 |
| ISO 3200 | 1/100 sec | F5.5 | 245mm | Panasonic S1R Photo by Dale Baskin |
Tell yourself that you’re paying less at retail than for high-end rivals and still getting full weather-sealing, great autofocus performance, good macro capabilities and pretty gorgeous bokeh, though, and it feels like a much better value than that list price might otherwise suggest.
But if what you care about most are value and zoom range, you might consider the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS instead. It’s a little less bright and noticeably bulkier, but it’ll also give you even more telephoto reach while still saving you just a little cash over its Panasonic rival.
DPReview TV review
See what our team at DPReview TV has to say about the Panasonic 70-300mm F4.5-5.6.
Season’s greetings! We’ve almost reached the end of 2024, and as is our custom, the DPReview team would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Festivus, and Happy Holiday to all. We’re incredibly grateful you’ve stuck with us for yet another orbit around the sun.
2024 was an important year for DPReview symbolically. One year ago today, on December 25, 2023, we celebrated the site’s 25th anniversary. For the past 12 months, we’ve been looking back at some of the moments and milestones from that past quarter century. We couldn’t have reached this point without your support.
2024 has also been an important chapter for DPReview as a business. Many of you know we’ve been going through a period of rebuilding. Every person at DPReview, including many folks behind the scenes, has poured their heart and soul into this effort. Why? Because at a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it.
The hard work is paying off. You might recall that a couple of months ago, we advertised some new editorial roles on the site, and I’m thrilled to report that we’ll have a couple of new faces joining the team early next year.
“At a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it.”
A huge factor in that success has been our community. Whether you’re a regular in the forums or just pop in to comment under the occasional article, we’re grateful for your contributions. Our forums are a goldmine of information, crowd-sourced from knowledgeable people for over 25 years. Our homepage may get a lot of attention, but the forums are where the magic happens: exchanging ideas, forming communities, and forging personal connections.
In fact, we’re planning to ramp up support for our online community in 2025. Remember those new staff members I mentioned? One of them will be focused on supporting our forums, including our team of volunteer moderators. This will be the first time we’ve had a person on our team dedicated to this task, and to be candid, it’s overdue.
Before you leave today, we’d love it if you’d take a moment to leave a comment and let us know what made 2024 at DPReview memorable for you. Or, if you’re feeling prophetic, please tell us what you’d like to see in the coming year.
From all of us at DPReview – the editors who craft the stories, the tech wizards who keep the lights on, and the business team who keep us on solid footing – we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season. We’re genuinely excited about what the future holds and look forward to having you by our side as we embark on the next 25 years.
2024 In Review
2024 is just about over, so we thought it’d be a good time to look back and identify some trends that started emerging or kept going strong throughout the year. This isn’t a recap of all the news that happened – we’ll be releasing one of those soon enough – but rather a broad look at the direction the industry is going, which may give us an idea of what to expect throughout 2025.
Global Shutter
 |
Photo: Richard Butler
It’s hard to say that global shutter was a trend in 2024; in terms of consumer mirrorless cameras, there was only one with the tech, the Sony a9 III. Given the benefits it brings, though – the ability to sync with full-power flash at almost any speed, the ability to shoot stills at 120fps, and to use shutter speeds up to 1/80,000 sec to capture the fastest subjects without any blur – we fully expect to see it come to more high-end sports / action cameras.
That’s not to say that the a9 III’s sensor is perfect. Compared to its rolling shutter counterparts, it takes a hit to absolute image quality with its 250 base ISO, which means it has about a stop more noise than most of its competitors.
However, if you need the performance a global shutter offers, it’s likely none of those caveats will be deal breakers. We just mention them to say that we don’t expect to see global shutters in cameras that are focused on image quality above all else, such as the Sony a7R series or a follow-up to the Nikon Z8 – at least not in 2025 or even 2026.
Physical color mode controls
 |
Photo: Mitchell Clark
This year, it felt like every other camera had a physical control for color modes. Fujifilm’s Film Simulation dial, included on the X-T50 and X-M5, feels like the obvious example, but it was far from the only one: Panasonic put a LUT button on the creator-focused S9 – and then gave its users the option to backport one onto other cameras – and Nikon included a button to bring up its Picture Control menu on the Z50II.
Physical color mode controls aren’t a brand-new thing. We saw one on the Olympus Pen-F in 2016. But this is the year they definitively became a trend.
Only time will tell if they stick around. Camera manufacturers will likely be paying very close attention to whether consumers actually value being able to easily change the look of their photos and videos using a physical button or dial. If it turns out they do, this year’s crop of cameras likely won’t be the last we see with a color mode control.
APS-C shooters have more options than ever
 |
Image: Sigma
2024 was the year that Canon and Nikon started allowing more and more third-party APS-C lenses onto their systems. At the beginning of the year, you only had a handful of options if you wanted a third-party autofocus lens for RF or Z-mount. Now, you have significantly more.
The change came from some of the usual suspects, as well as some smaller companies. Sigma and Tamron were the first to announce they’d be bringing their lenses to RF mount, but Samyang slid in under the wire with an announcement that it, too, would start producing lenses for the system.
Most of Sigma’s DC DN primes have been available on Z-mount since early 2023, but this year, we’ve seen a slew of autofocus primes become available for the system from brands like Siuri and Viltrox.
There are still holes in the lineup for each brand, though – neither has a great telephoto option, and there aren’t any fast zoom Z-mount lenses – which is why we’d like to see this trend continue into 2025. If we’re really dreaming, maybe Canon and Nikon will allow more third-party full-frame glass, but we’ll save our fantasies for a different article.
The rise of smaller full-frame lenses
 |
Image: Sony
Speaking of full-frame glass, this year we’ve also seen a trend of smaller, lighter full-frame lenses. Panasonic’s 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 for L-mount is the most obvious example – the company says it’s the “smallest and lightest interchangeable zoom with autofocus for full-frame mirrorless cameras” – but Sony’s FE 24-50mm F2.8 is also a great, compact new lens that makes a ton of sense on smaller bodies like the a7CR.
Even the big lenses have been getting smaller – Sigma’s second-gen 24-70 F2.8 is 10% lighter than its predecessor, a difference that’ll definitely be noticeable in hour eight of shooting a wedding. Sony’s 85mm F1.4 GM II also boasts a 20% weight reduction compared to the original.
Again, this trend isn’t exactly new. We’ve seen a few lenses that have been largely defined by their size; Canon’s original RF 70-200mm F2.8 from 2019 and Sony’s 70-200mm F2.8 GM II from 2022 come to mind. But with further advances in optics and manufacturing techniques, we hope to see even more full-frame lenses come out that are smaller and lighter than the ones that came before… even if they still won’t be able to out-compact Fujifilm’s XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II.
The AI age
 |
Logos: Open AI, Midjourney, Meta, Stability.ai, Google
Pretty much every industry has had its own deluge of AI-related news in 2024, and photography is no exception. The continued proliferation of AI-generated images and text has sparked near-endless debates about what place, if any, the technology has in photography, with some people even taking the extreme position that the ubiquitous ability to generate images will destroy the art form altogether (assuming those comments too, aren’t AI-generated).
It’s not all existential doom and gloom, though, as some companies have used AI to try and improve the experience of photography rather than replace it. For instance, the new Canon EOS R1 and R5 II have Action Priority AF modes, which use machine learning-based algorithms to determine which subject to focus on during key moments in certain sports. It could be thought of as context recognition, rather than the subject recognition that’s become table stakes for most cameras. The EOS R1 and R5 II also have built-in AI-derived noise-reduction and upscaling functions, should you choose to use them.
AI-powered denoising and upscaling are also making their way into photo editing software, such as Lightroom or the apps from companies like Topaz Labs. And while Adobe has added plenty of generative AI features to Photoshop, we’ve also seen other AI-powered improvements, such as its distraction removal mode and Adobe Camera Raw’s new Adaptive profile and reflection removal feature.
However you feel about the technology, it’s almost certainly here to stay. The good news is that another facet of the AI trend this year has been companies working on improving transparency around AI, creating tools to prove a photo’s authenticity or show exactly how it’s been manipulated, either by AI or through more conventional means. The tech is far from ubiquitous, but it seems likely that we’ll see it spread to more and more platforms as AI becomes even more prevalent.
Have your say: Best gear of 2024
For the past few weeks, readers have been voting on their favorite cameras and lenses released in 2024. Now that the first round of voting is over, it’s time to reveal the winners.
Remember, though, it isn’t over just yet! Now it’s time to pick an overall winner. Make sure to cast your ballot for the 2024 Reader’s Choice Product of the Year – this one’s for all the bragging rights.
Best prime lens runner-up: Nikon Z 50mm F1.4
 |
First up is the 2024 runner-up for best prime lens, the Nikon Z 50mm F1.4, a fast prime that retails for less than Nikon’s own 50mm F1.8 S model. The tradeoff? Although it’s faster than the 50mm F1.8 S, it trades some of the clinical sharpness of that lens for more ‘character’, and you’ll likely see more vignetting and longitudinal chromatic aberration at some apertures. However, it gets you a fast prime at a popular focal length for under $500.
In our poll, the Z 50mm F1.4 barely edged out its sibling, the Nikon Z 35mm F1.4, effectively splitting the vote, suggesting that Nikon’s new F1.4 optics have struck a chord with enthusiast photographers.
Best prime lens winner: Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II
 |
The 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for the best prime lens goes to the Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II, the same lens we named as the best prime lens of the year in our 2024 DPReview Annual Awards. It’s not a fancy, exotic lens, but it’s a solid workhorse that gets the job done and delivers great image quality. It’s also lighter, sharper, and has faster and smoother focus than its predecessor. As we said in our Annual Awards announcement, the Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II delivers “consistent excellence you simply take for granted.”
Best zoom lens runner-up: Nikon Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR
 |
Placing in the runner-up position for best zoom lens is the Nikon Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR, which covers a huge range of focal lengths in a single lens. This lens remains relatively compact in its retracted state, making it an option for travel or a one-lens setup for general use. It’s even dust- and drip-resistant if you get caught in the rain on vacation.
Although the lens’ maximum aperture of F8 at the long end might seem a little restrictive, you can’t beat physics; however, Nikon’s Vibration Reduction technology – along with in-body image stabilization in many camera models – can assist at slower shutter speeds. It may not be as flashy as some of the faster zooms that were on the list, but the Nikon Z 28-400mm F4-8 VR provides a lot of versatility in a single lens, which is probably why it did so well in our poll.
Best zoom lens winner: Sony 28-70mm F2 GM
 |
The 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for best zoom lens goes to the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM. While it doesn’t go as wide as the popular 24-70mm zoom range, the FE 28-70mm proves it’s possible to maintain a relatively compact size while sporting a fast, F2 aperture, all with an internal focusing design. Its four linear motors even allow the FE 28-70mm F2 to focus when shooting at 120fps on Sony’s fastest camera.
We had a blast shooting this lens in 2024, so we appreciate why you collectively chose it as the top zoom lens of the year. If you’d like to see this lens in action, check out our video of Richard Butler using it to shoot portraits in New York City, along with a sample gallery that includes many of the portraits featured in the video. Congrats, Sony!
Best camera runner-up: Canon EOS R5 Mark II
 |
Grabbing the runner-up position for best camera is the Canon EOS R5 Mark II. It may deliver the same 45MP resolution as its predecessor, but just about everything else has changed.
The camera’s stacked sensor brings performance improvements to both stills and video, while Eye Control AF, Action Priority AF, and improved subject recognition AF are standout features that we hope to see percolate down to other Canon models. The R5 II also highlights Canon’s efforts to unify its mirrorless cameras with its Cinema EOS line, including codecs, gamma profiles, HDR video technology, and video tools. It’s hard to imagine many things this camera can’t do.
Best camera winner: Nikon Z6III
 |
The 2024 Reader’s Choice Award for best camera goes to the Nikon Z6III, making Nikon the People’s Choice winner in this category for the second year in a row.
The third generation of the Z6 series kicks things up a level. It features what Nikon calls a “Partially Stacked” sensor to deliver some of the benefits of a Stacked CMOS sensor but at a lower cost, delivering improved performance and autofocus while retaining the Z6’s reputation for excellent ergonomics. It also features significant video upgrades with higher quality output and a useful video tool set, reinforcing Nikon’s intent to be a player in the video market.
In our 2024 Annual Awards, the Z6III walked away with two trophies: Best Enthusiast Camera and our 2024 Product of the Year. It looks like it may be trying to make a clean sweep of the Reader’s Choice Awards as well.
Have your say – vote for Product of the Year!
 |
You helped determine the winners in the individual categories, so now’s the time to cast your vote in one last poll! Choose your favorite product from this list of winners and runners-up between now and Thursday, January 2nd. Watch for an announcement of the winning products shortly after the poll closes.
As always, thanks for casting your votes and being a part of our community throughout the year.
Please note that for the best experience, we recommend voting on our desktop site.
Poll Rules:
This poll is meant to be a bit of fun. It’s not sponsored, promoted, or paid for in any way, and DPReview doesn’t care how you vote. Our Reader’s polls are run on the basis of trust. As such, we ask that you only vote once from a single account.
-
Solar Energy3 years agoDLR testing the use of molten salt in a solar power plant in Portugal
-
Camera1 year agoDJI Air 3 vs. Mini 4 Pro: which compact drone is best?
-
world news1 year ago
Gulf, France aid Gaza, Russia evacuates citizens
-
Camera1 year agoSony a9 III: what you need to know
-
world news1 year ago
Strong majority of Americans support Israel-Hamas hostage deal
-
Camera4 years agoCharles ‘Chuck’ Geschke, co-founder of Adobe and inventor of the PDF, dies at 81
-
Solar Energy1 year agoGlencore eyes options on battery recycling project
-
Indian Defense3 years ago
Israeli Radar Company Signs MoU To Cooperate With India’s Alpha Design Technologies
