How Good Is Nikon Z 6/Z 7 Eye AF and Can it Compare with Canon and Sony?

Nikon Z

Jared Polin analyses the eye AF of the Nikon Z 6 (added via firmware update) in this 27 minutes video.

The Nikon Z 6’s Eye AF performance is compared with Canon and Soy full frame mirrorless systems (i.e. EOS R and Sony a7III)

The first video is the full review, the second one (4 min) shows only the side-by-side comparison with Canon and Sony.

Side-by-side comparison:

In Japan the Sony a7 III Outsells All Competitors Put Together

Sony A7 Iii

Latest BCN retail data shows an interesting picture of the full frame mirrorless market in Japan.

If you have a look at the image on top, you’ll see that the Canon EOS RP had a very good start when it was launched, and then started to sell less. The graph also shows that in Japan the Sony a7 III sells better than all its competitor put together. In other words, in April 2019 there were more Sony a7 III sold than the sum of sold Canon EOS R, Canon EOS RP and Nikon Z6 cameras.

Still, professional photographers and news photographer prefer Canon and Nikon cameras. Apparently, even Leica doesn’t mind using pictures shot with a Nikon.

Leica’s “Tank Man” Photo Wasn’t Shot With A Leica But With A Nikon

Tank Man

You might have heard about the outcry that a Leica promotional video caused in China.

The short flick published by Leica (see below) shows a news photographer covering the protests around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. The promotional video shows the photographer hiding and running from policemen and then taking the iconic picture of “Tank Man”. At the end the Leica logo in shown. But it seems there was no Leica camera involved.

As renowned German newspaper Der Spiegel reports, none of the photographers covering the protests and the crackdown were using a Leica. Jeff Widener (AP), Charlie Cole (Newsweek), Stuart Franklin (Magnum) and Arthur Tsang (Reuters) have confirmed to Der Spiegel that they used Nikon cameras and not Leicas.

And here is the Leica promotional video:

All this mess caused the term “Leica” to get banned in China, which is weird since Leica partners with Huawei. Reuters reports that people searching for the term “Leica” in China receive warnings that they are violating laws.

Btw, Der Spiegel‘s article about the Leica video is titled “Real Photographers use Nikon” :-)

World Press Photo 2019 Winners Used Canon and Nikon, A Few Fuji, Sony and Leica Insignificant

World Press Photo

World Press Photo is likely the most prestigious photojournalism contest. This year’s winner have been announced (nr. 1 is Crying Girl at the Border), and along with them information about the gear they used.

Spanish site Photolari collected all metadata and published some interesting statistics about the photographic gear used at World Press Photo 2019. These statistics show a few interesting things. Let’s first see the ranking:

World Press Photo 2019 brands:

  1. Canon 46.4%
  2. Nikon 36.6%
  3. Fujifilm 10.5%
  4. Sony 2.6%
  5. Leica 2.6%

No surprise Canon and Nikon rank first (last year Nikon was 1st and Canon 2nd). The ranking shows that Sony still has a hard time with professional photographers, being used by a meagre 2.6%. Even Fujifilm does better with a respectable 10.5%. No surprise either that almost no one uses Leica.

Mirrorless is taking over, isn’t it? Let’s see the camera system ranking:

  1. DSLR 71.1%
  2. Compact cameras 8.9%
  3. Mirrorless 4.4%
  4. Unknown system 15.5%

As expected, full frame system dominate with 73.3%, followed by APS-C with 11.1% (does this figure contain the 10.5% Fuji cams?) , 15.5% are unknown sensor size.

Among the most used cameras we find the usual suspects (in this order): Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and Mark III, Nikon D5, Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Nikon D850, Canon EOS 6D, and then more Canon’s and Nikon’s and some Fuji’s. Only one persone used a Sony a7R II and another one a Leica Q.

Is there something to add?

[via Photolari]

Canon EOS RP Ranks Before Sony a7III in Map Camera’s March Ranking

Canon Eos Rp Best Mirrorless

The Canon EOS RP, the company’s first full frame mirrorless camera, already ranks pretty good in Japan, according to Map Camera (large camera retailer in Japan).

The Canon EOS RP ranks ahead the Sony a7 III. First ranked is the Ricoh III GR. This is a good result given the short time the EOS RP is available on the market.

Map Camera’s ranking:

  1. Ricoh III GR 
  2. Canon EOS RP
  3. Sony a7 III
  4. Sony a6400 
  5. Fujifilm X-T30 
  6. Olympus TG-5 
  7. Nikon Z 6 
  8. Canon EOS R 
  9. Canon IXY 200 
  10. Panasonic LUMIX DC-G9 

It seems Canon has another, more inexpensive full frame mirrorless camera on their agenda.