Mirrorless Year in Review 2014

It’s the last day of 2014, and we’re about to embark on what is hopefully an excellent 2015.  The mirrorless market has been surging when it comes to realizing fully developed gear, while the actual consumer market for the devices has been somewhat tepid as the overall photography market declines.  Still, I think there’s reason to be optimistic if you’ve invested in a mirrorless system, as it’s the one category that has shown steady sales (or even mild growth) while the rest of the camera industry seems to be in somewhat of a freefall. I’m going to go over the major mirrorless systems and look at this year as a whole, plus I’ll have some thoughts on the future of the industry and each of these systems.

From a site perspective, 2014 was fairly busy for me: I wrote 25 in-depth reviews of cameras, lenses and accessories this year. For the first time, I provided full coverage of Photokina 2014 in Cologne, Germany, which was my first trade show I attended as part of the press.  That plus nearly 40 additional articles kept me busy. It was an exciting year, and I hope to bring you an even broader array of reviews and articles this year.  Anyway, thanks for coming!  Now, let’s dive in. Links go to the Admiring Light review or article about those products highlighted.

The Market Goes Enthusiast

Sony A7 II
Sony a7 II

The biggest development this year was the expansion of the enthusiast and professional grade lineups for all the major mirrorless players.  This began last year and continued throughout 2014.  While there were plenty of consumer-grade releases as well, everyone filled out the high-end a fair bit.  Additionally, nearly everyone now has phase-detect autofocus in their cameras, making mirrorless a viable option for many types of moving subjects.

Sony expanded their outstanding a7 lineup with the 12 Megapixel a7s, which features perhaps the best low-light performance of any 35mm format or smaller camera ever made.  They also upgraded the original a7 with the a7 II, adding better ergonomics, better build quality and 5-axis in-body image stabilization – a first for a full-frame camera.  I have the a7 II in my hands for the next week, so look for a full review on that camera soon.  Sony also looked to expand enthusiast offerings in the APS-C space and did so aggressively with the excellent a6000.  The a6000 packs a huge amount of features and an excellent 24 megapixel sensor into a small and surprisingly affordable camera.  The a6000 is my vote for best value camera of 2014.

Sony also expanded the lens lineup to cater a bit more to professionals.  The pro-grade FE 70-200mm f/4 OSS and FE 16-35mm f/4 OSS (which I’ll be reviewing for the next week as well) highlighted the additions.  Sony also announced (but has yet to release) high-end lenses such as a 35mm f/1.4, 90mm f/2.8 Macro and 28mm f/2.0.  Zeiss (without Sony) also released the manual focus Loxia line of lenses for the E-mount.  Sony seems fully committed to the enthusiast market, and this can only be good for the industry as a whole.

The Fujifilm X-T1 with battery grip VG-XT1 and the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2
The Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2

After experimenting a bit with the consumer arena in late 2013, Fujifilm realized their bread and butter was the enthusiast market and focused wholly on that segment.  The biggest splash was made by the Fujifilm X-T1, replacing the X-Pro 1 as the new flagship of the X-Series.  The X-T1 packed a huge host of features into a ruggedly built weather-sealed body with amazing external controls and the best electronic viewfinder on the market.  I fell in love with the camera immediately and it has become my primary body for my personal shooting. They also gave the camera a massive firmware update this month that added 27 new features including an electronic shutter capable of 1/32,000 second shooting.

On the lens side of things, Fuji added the incredible 56mm f/1.2, which has quickly become one of my favorite lenses of all time.  They also released their 10-24mm ultra-wide zoom as well as two new weather sealed lenses: an 18-135mm super zoom and the long-awaited 50-140mm f/2.8 OIS, which is a truly exceptional optic.  Zeiss also released their Touit 50mm f/2.8 Macro for both Fuji X and Sony E mount cameras.  In all, Fuji has really fleshed out their system in 2014, and with the 16mm f/1.4, 16-55 f/2.8, 90mm f/2.0 and 140-400mm super telephoto on the horizon, that trend looks to continue in 2015.  The wildcard?  Will the X-Pro 1 ever get replaced?

Micro 4/3 had a somewhat quiet year for the majority of 2014.  Panasonic released the excellent 4K capable GH4, but the remainder of the year only refreshes of existing cameras, with the E-M10 from Olympus being a somewhat bargain version of the E-M5, and the new E-PL7 and Panasonic GM5 that were announced at Photokina adding a handful of features over their predecessors.  My favorite camera out of the two manufacturers was the 4/3 sensor compact Panasonic LX100, which was released a few months ago.

The Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron on the Olympus OM-D E-M5, with the included metal hood
The Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron

On the lens side, however, there were certainly some very nice developments.  Olympus released the tiny and very good 25mm f/1.8, adding a fast normal to go with the excellent 45mm f/1.8.  Panasonic released two Leica branded lenses: the very good 15mm f/1.7 and the truly amazing 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron.  The Nocticron is one of the finest lenses in pure optical quality that I have ever had the pleasure of using. If this is the direction Panasonic is going with Micro 4/3, then there is a lot to be excited about for the future.  Olympus also released their long-awaited pro-grade telephoto zoom, the excellent 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro. They’ve got two more Pro grade lenses in the wings for 2015 with a 300mm f/4 and 7-14mm f/2.8 both set to be released in this coming year.

The dark horse this year was Samsung, and they put in a huge showing at Photokina this year with the release of their NX1 mirrorless camera.  This is a big camera in the mirrorless world, fitting in similar in size to most small DSLRs, but it packs seriously impressive punch, including the ability to track motion while firing off an astounding 15 frame per second burst.  I handled the NX1 at Photokina and found it to be supremely impressive, even picking it as my ‘best in show’ after the event.  Samsung also added a fast telephoto zoom, releasing a 50-150mm f/2.8 in a compact and very well-built body.  Samsung has quietly built a very impressive lens lineup, including a very wide aperture 16-50mm f/2-2.8 standard zoom and an 85mm f/1.4 portrait prime.  I haven’t had a chance to review the NX1 yet, but I hope to do so in the near future.

Continue: What to expect in 2015

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Comments

5 responses to “Mirrorless Year in Review 2014”

  1. Darren Avatar

    Thanks for this summary Jordan. I’ve enjoyed your no-nonsense reviews and you were part of the reason I recently sold my Nikon gear for Fuji. I’m loving the small form factor of the mirrorless cameras and I’m really looking forward to your in-depth review of the Sony A7II. I may be going this direction at some point if Fuji doesn’t up the megapixels for larger landscape prints.

    Keep up the great work!

  2. […] of 2014 and our favourite images of the year at olafphotoblog / Mirrorless Year in Review 2014 at admiringlight / 2014: A quick Review at daveyoungfotografia / Fujifilm Camera Remote at johncaz / Chasing the […]

  3. Gery Avatar
    Gery

    Very nice Summary, Jordan. I’m really interested to see Samsung’s development.
    Jordan, I wanted to have a system where you can have a serious body and lenses, and a second compact, pocketable body with a pancake prime. Until right now, I can only see Panasonic as the manufacturer thanks to their GF6. What do you think?

  4. Ralph Porter Avatar
    Ralph Porter

    Jordan thank you much for the reviews and your view on photography, image quality, technology and digital photography today and where it may go. You avoid hyping and bashing gear and present you opinions as an engineer and photographer, the use in the real world approach is appreciated.

    I am hopeful now that you have tested the Sony A7 Mark II that you will share your impressions and perhaps campare your A7 II experience with the Fugifilm XT1 that I believe you shoot personally. I’m a photographer, enthusiast not a working pro and have worked mostly with median format 120 and 35 mm film gear before getting a digital camera. My current rig bought in 2007 is a now aging Canon 1Ds Mark II and a few L lenses. It makes great photographs even today and the color rendition can sometimes be amazing. I have used it a lot, it equalled the quality of my Hasselblad V system, but since buying a Sony NEX6 a couple years ago for my wife the big Canon has only been used when the weather sealing was needed. I’m selling the Canon gear, the little Sony and my old rangefinder lens are making some great images together, but I want more. Hence my interest in the new A7 II and the Fugi XT1 (still wish Fugi would make a X Pro 2). Playing with them at the store isn’t living and shooting with them, they both impress the hell out of me. That’s where your experiences could be invaluable! As an older guy I much prefer manual knob twisting to menu scrolling and the little Fugi has sort of won me over from that perspective, I do wish both Sony and Fugi had stayed with the rangefinder form factor instead of adding an EVF hump to the top plate but I can live with that. Oh, I do print but rarely larger than 13×19 so the higher pixel count might be nice with the A7 but I’m not convinced it necessary based on experience with both the big Canon or little NEX.

    Thanks very much.

    1. Jordan Steele Avatar

      My A7 II review is forthcoming, hopefully in the next few days if I can find some time to write. As a bit of a preview, I was extremely impressed with the body. The thing I love about the X-T1 is how it simply feels wonderful in the hand and it is great to shoot with: excellent controls and that beautiful EVF. The A7 II is a huge upgrade to the A7 in terms of ergonomics, and it makes a big difference. Image quality is a small step up on the A7 II over the Fuji, though it won’t present itself for most shooting, until you start printing large. Both cameras are awesome. I have no plans to switch over to Sony as my main kit (I already have, use and very much enjoy a nice Sony APS-C kit with the a6000), but I liked the A7 II enough that I am likely to purchase one for myself to use as a sort of digital Canon FD camera, since I have a fairly full lineup of excellent small FD lenses to use on it.

      At 13×19″ you won’t see much difference between the two cameras in output, so it’s really down to the lenses you want and your personal preferences. Fuji has the more complete (and smaller size) lens lineup, with great native fast glass. The FE lenses are really good, but quite expensive and larger….but if you adapt a lot of lenses, then the A7 II is going to be the better platform for that, with the FF sensor giving you the original field of view and the in-body IS adding stabilization to those lenses.

      As one who switched to mirrorless from a 1Ds II, I can say that both the X-T1 and A7 II have superior image quality overall to the 1Ds II. The X-T1 has the same resolution but better dynamic range and slightly better low light performance. The A7 II is a step up from the 1Ds II in all regards.

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