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| Image: GMVozd via Getty Images |
We’re quickly nearing the end of the year, and that means you may have seen a slate of articles from the DPReview staff discussing some of the equipment we enjoyed using most this year as part of our Gear of the Year series.
We’re taking a moment to recognize the column, as we started writing it in 2015, which means we’ve officially been doing it for ten years.* Not every format we try out ends up working, and many that survive will evolve into something else over time, so it’s worth celebrating the ones that have stuck around largely the same as when they debuted.
It’s a format we enjoy writing, as it lets us focus on the gear that we emotionally connected with, instead of what was technically best (not that those are always entirely separate categories). It also allows us to give our thoughts on products beyond just cameras and lenses. Batteries, cloud photo management services and camera bags have all been chosen by various staff members throughout the years.
To mark the anniversary, editor Richard Butler has very kindly gone back through the archives, finding each Gear of the Year article and tagging them as such. That means you can now find them all in one place if you want to, for example, see what the DPReview staff’s favorite gadgets were in 2018. We can’t promise that every pick stands the test of time, but they were genuinely felt reflections when they were written. We look forward to discussing our favorite gear with you for another decade.
* Technically 2015 to 2025 inclusive is 11 years, but we skipped Gear of the Year in 2022.
We’ve put all of the Gear of the Year articles below, so feel free to peruse them.
2025 marks ten years of us writing our Gear of the Year series.
This monster of a camera made medium format photography approachable and, well, fun.
This fast zoom was a joy to use and comes from a company that’s been consistently putting out great lenses.
Not all Gear of the Year needs to be hardware.
In a year of impressive cameras, there’s one that stuck in Richard’s head, both for the experience and the results.
Managing Editor Dale Baskin picked the Canon EOS R5 II as his Gear of the Year, but it wasn’t an easy choice. Find out why he chose it and what the competition was.
Richard’s Gear of the Year explicitly isn’t the best camera he used this year, but it’s one he feels strongly about, nonetheless.
To prepare for a job that requires carrying around a lot of cameras, editor Mitchell Clark bought a big bag. It’s worked out well.
You can’t be a photographer without taking photos, but after the birth of his son, DPReview’s newest editor, Eric Limer, gives much more thought to sharing them. And that, he explains, is why Google Photos is his choice for Gear of the Year.
The Leica Q3 is expensive, has a fixed lens and struggles with some ergonomic issues, but it’s also the most fun Senior Editor Shaminder Dulai had with any camera all year. He explains why this rangefinder-style camera is his personal gear of the year.
The Sigma 14mm F1.4 Art was impressive enough to win our Best Prime Lens award for 2023. Managing Editor Dale Baskin explains why he chose it as his personal gear of the year as well, taking it to the subarctic for some aurora borealis photography.
We’ve already given the Nikon Z8 a Gold award and selected it as our Product of the Year, but it’s the events surrounding the way we covered it that made it stand out for our Technical Editor, Richard Butler.
Chris and Jordan recently spent a delightful afternoon sharing their list of the year’s best and worst camera gear. Now that their hangovers have worn off, they’ve prepared a more sober reflection on their choices.
It’s that magical time of the year when Chris and Jordan look back on the year’s best and worst releases of photo and video gear. Tradition dictates a drinking game, and this year it’s a doozy…
Chris Niccolls, the host of DPReviewTV, reviews a different lens or camera every week. Look closely though, and you’ll see the same piece of gear make an appearance in almost every episode. It’s the Wotancraft Pilot 10L shoulder bag, and it’s Chris’ pick for Gear of the Year, 2021.
Senior Editor Barnaby Britton is a fan of extreme low-light imaging – something that the Nikon Z9 makes easy. Click through to learn more about why the Z9 is his favorite camera of 2021.
In this article, DPRTV’s hard-working videographer, Jordan Drake, explains why the shiny golden Apple M1 iMac was his favorite piece of gear of 2021.
Of all the gear released in 2021, it was Kolari’s EF-RF Variable ND Mount Adapter that proved to be News Editor Gannon Burgett’s favorite piece of equipment.
Editor Dale Baskin picked the Sony 14mm F1.8 GM as his favorite gear of 2021 after using it for a week in Arches National Park. Find out why he thinks it’s the Goldilocks of wide angle lenses, and see some great photos of the American southwest along the way.
Attempting a road trip in the middle of a pandemic offers plenty of opportunities for things to go awry. Good thing the Sony a9 II proved to be about as reliable as the vehicle it was traveling in.
Tamron’s 70-180mm F2.8 is a high-quality telephoto lens for Sony E-mount that won’t break your back or the bank. Read about why it’s been one of Dan’s personal favorites this year.
Dale’s favorite camera this year is one of the most interesting and distinctive mirrorless ILCs on the market – the ultra-traditional, rangefinder-styled Fujifilm X-Pro 3.
Technical Editor Richard Butler’s pick was the unusual lens that gave him the opportunity to try something new. The Canon RF 800mm F11’s unique combination of telephoto reach, affordability and light weight will likely enable even more people to do the same.
In a year when social distancing became a way of life overnight, Senior Editor Barney Britton maintained a small sense of connection via the Fujifilm X100V.
Here’s the lens that got Science Editor Rishi Sanyal to finally step away from his obsession with wide-angle portraits: the Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM.
Editor Dale Baskin chose the wide angle Laowa 15mm F2 Zero-D lens as his favorite gear of the year. In his opinion, it provides a great balance of size, price and optical performance. He’s still on the hunt for the perfect photo of the northern lights.
A bring-everywhere flying smartphone camera is the best $400 you can spend on a piece of gear this year, says editor Dan Bracaglia. Which is why he’s picked the DJI Mavic Mini as his gear of the year.
Senior Editor Barney Britton’s second Gear of the Year pick is the lens that changed his perspective on what a ‘nifty fifty’ could be.
The compact form factor, fast and versatile lens, and pop-up viewfinder made Canon’s PowerShot G5 X II an easy pick for DPReview editor Jeff Keller’s favorite camera of the year.
The arrival of an EF-M version has given Technical Editor Richard Butler even more opportunities to shoot with the Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN. It’s the fifth time he’s picked an APS-C product.
After nearly a decade of using Apple phones, Managing Editor Allison Johnson jumped ship and became the happy owner of a Pixel device. But the iPhone 11 might just tempt her back.
Over months of using Sigma’s 45mm F2.8 Contemporary lens, Reviews Editor Carey Rose rediscovers that there’s so much more to a lens than speed and sharpness.
Senior Editor Barney Britton’s first choice for Gear of the Year is a camera that he has carried with him more than any other in 2019 (not including his phone) – the Ricoh GR III.
The DJI Ronin-S may not be as instantly recognizable as some other products from 2018, but Editor Dale Baskin explains why he picked this production tool as his 2018 Gear of the Year – and why he chose it to shoot a documentary film.
DPR’s Managing Editor Allison Johnson captured a trip to San Francisco the way most millennials do: on her phone. The surprising ease with which she was able to share her photos across platforms using Google Photos makes it her pick.
The Panasonic GX9 isn’t the best or least expensive camera that Reviews Editor Carey Rose tested this year. But its combination of features, form factor and image quality make it an enjoyable camera to use – and his pick for this year.
The Nikon P1000 is a bit of an oddity, but the unique shooting opportunities it makes possible are why it’s Editor Jeff Keller’s pick this year.
Editor Dan Bracaglia’s pick is the lens that he’s recommended more than any other in 2018 – and the one he feels Sony’s mirrorless system desperately needed.
Senior Editor Barney Britton’s pick this year is the camera that he describes as “close to perfect” for the kind of photography he does.
Technical Editor Richard Butler’s pick helped him capture his favorite images of the past 12 months: all 17,100 of them. Specifically, two series of 8MP images. Shot at a rate of 23.97 frames per second.
Whether it’s a trip to the beach for some snorkeling or scrambling up a 10,000 ft volcano, the Olympus Tough TG-5 proved to be a great travel companion for Jeff. That’s why it’s his 2017 Gear of the Year.
2017 has been a pretty good year for lenses, but the one that had the biggest impact for editor Dale Baskin was the Sigma 14mm F1.8 prime, a lens that lets him capture big sky and magic light.
The Sony a9 is the brand’s first truly refined mirrorless camera, in this writer’s opinion.
Even though (or perhaps because) 2017 has seen the release of some of the most impressive cameras he’s ever used, Richard has ducked the difficult decisions and made an unexpected choice for his Gear of the Year. But, as always, he’s going to argue his point.
Lightweight, great optics, affordable – with Sony’s FE 85mm F1.8, you don’t have to just pick two of those features. For Carey Rose, who’s already an 85mm fan, it strikes a perfect balance.
In the first part of Barney’s Gear of the Year article, he wrote about the camera he’s used most in 2017 – the Leica M10. In Part 2, he’s writing about a camera that he’s barely even touched. Read on to find out why the D850 made his list for best gear of 2017 regardless.
They say seeing is believing, and that’s exactly what happened when one DPR staffer took the Google Pixel 2 out for an afternoon shooting under challenging conditions.
As 2017 winds down (yeah, we’re shocked too) it’s a great time to reflect on the past year. Over the coming week’s we’ll revisit some personal favorite cameras and lenses that we encountered this year, and what made them stand out.
After talking herself out of buying one for years, DPR homepage editor Allison Johnson finally picked up a Fujifilm Instax mini Neo 90 this year – and it hasn’t left her side since. Read more
This lens was just too good to pass up as a Gear of the Year nominee, so our resident landscape shooter Chris decided to add the Canon 16-35mm F2.8L III to his list of picks. Read more
A childhood of flying $20 RC helicopters didn’t prepare DPR staffer Dan Bracaglia for the challenges of flying a drone, but that’s part of the reason why the DJI Mavic Pro is his gear of the year pick. Read more
The Nikon D500 has been one of our favorite cameras since it was released earlier this year. Find out why after a challenging video shoot, the D500 made Barney’s pick for Gear of the Year. Read more
The release of some supremely capable cameras left reviews editor Richard with some tough choices to make for his Gear of the Year pick. Against stiff competition, he’s gone for the Fujifilm X-T2, the camera that most surprised him this year. Read more
There were plenty of amazing cameras and lenses to choose from this year, but DPR staffer Chris Williams chose the F-stop Tilopa as his gear of the year. Read more
Continuing our ‘Gear of the Year’ series, staffer Sam Spencer discusses a lens that has made a significant visual contribution to the site this year – the latest Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro. Read more
DPR staffer Carey Rose didn’t take to the Canon G9 X right away, but after some time using it he’s learned to embrace the minimalist controls and loves the portability of Canon’s handy little 1″ compact. Read more
Wenmei’s Gear of the Year is a lens that forces her to step outside of her comfort zone and focus (softly or not) on the creative aspect of her photography. When she’s capturing a quiet moment or special connection, she finds herself reaching for the Lensbaby 56mm f/1.6 portrait lens. Read more
Allison’s Gear of the Year is a camera that’s been able to accompany her almost everywhere she’s travelled this year, whether floating down rivers or just putting up with the rough-and-tumble of Florida’s theme parks. Whether or not it’s ‘the best,’ the Olympus Tough TG-4 ended up being the camera she had with her. Read more
Richard Butler’s choice of Gear of the Year isn’t a product launched this year (our choices of best products of the year were recognized in the DPReview.com Awards), instead it’s the one that’s prompted him to work on his photography. So what’s so special about the Fujifilm 56mm F1.2 APD?
A sucker for 35mm, DPR Editor Barney Britton found himself drawn to 2013’s Sony RX1 and R for all of the obvious reasons, but shooting with them left him cold. But just when he was about to give up hope on seeing an improved replacement, the RX1R II arrived. Find out why it’s pick for Gear of the Year. Read more
Historically an SLR shooter who has used his fair share of mirrorless cameras, DPR editor Dale Baskin found the NX1 to be most impressive when he reviewed it. The camera may have looked like a moon at first, but over the course of his time with it the NX1 proved to indeed be a space station. Find out why it’s his Gear of the Year pick, despite a recent disturbance in The Force. Read more
Continuing our 2015 series of articles highlighting staff favorites of the past year, DPR studio manager Samuel Spencer takes a look back, yet simultaneously forward, at instant photography and the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-1 instant printer, and the experiences he had with it while shooting his sister’s wedding last March. Read more
DPReview’s newest staff member finds surprise and delight in the Fujifilm X-A2, the least expensive model in Fuji’s interchangeable-lens camera lineup. While its build quality can’t compete with his X100’s, the X-A2 proves itself with a large sensor, sharp kit lens and features that elevate it beyond its entry-level class. Read more
Kicking off our 2015 series of articles highlighting some staff favorites of the past year, DPR editor Dan Bracaglia writes about his experience with the Nikon D750. But this is less a story about his favorite piece of gear from the last 365 days, and more about a photographer and system owner holding out several years for the perfect camera. Read more
Our DPREVIEW Tribute:
After nearly 25 years of operation, DPReview closed on 10 April 2023. This difficult decision was part of the annual operating plan review that parent company, Amazon, shared earlier this year.
Over the course of 25 years, DP Review built up a reputation as being one of the most informative places to go for information about that new camera or lens you’re after. DP Review began as an independent reviews site based in the UK in 1998, the brainchild of Philip and Joanna Askey, but it was eventually purchased by Amazon in 2007 and relocated over to Seattle in the USA in 2010.
Cheers DPReview – thanks for the great work and content that guided photographers, videographers and techno junkies the world over!