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Readers' Choice Awards 2015: The winners

Published Feb 2, 2016 | dpreview staff

Readers' Choice Awards 2015: The Winners

At the end of last year we asked you to vote for the best cameras and lenses of 2015. Across two rounds of voting DPReview readers did just that, selecting the top overall photography products of 2015. It was no easy feat, as 2015 brought huge advancements in stills and video technology, but with thousands of votes tallied it's time to declare a winner. See how the votes stacked up.

Tags: 2015-readers-poll, awards

Gear in this story


Sony Alpha 7R II	Nikon D7200
797 I own it 1266 I want it 133 I had it Discuss in the forums	412 I own it 208 I want it 43 I had it Discuss in the forums

Olympus OM-D E-M5 II
530 I own it 337 I want it 57 I had it Discuss in the forums

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Nikon D7200 Digital SLR Camera w AF-S 60mm Micro Lens Bundle	In stock	$1,693.90	Shop now
Nikon D7200 Digital SLR Camera w AF-S Nikkor 50mm F1.4G Lens Bundle	In stock	$1,543.90	Shop now
Nikon D7200 Digital SLR Camera w Nikkor DX 35mm F1.8G and Nikkor 85mm F1.8G Lens Bundle	In stock	$1,770.85	Shop now
Nikon D7200 DSLR Camera w 70-200 F2.8 VR II Lens Bundle	In stock	$3,193.90	Shop now
Nikon D7200 DSLR Camera w AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm F1.8G Lens Bundle	In stock	$1,293.90	Shop now
Nikon D7200 DSLR Camera w Nikkor 10-24 F3.5-4.5G Lens Bundle	In stock	$1,993.90	Shop now

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Comments

Total comments: 61

Wow DPR fam, you mean that a community-based poll isn't an objective, scientifically verified research design that will inform me of what is truly the best camera that deserves an award??? How deceived I am! Woe is I, the lonely, uneducated internet wanderer who does not know any better. Shame on DPR for releasing such subjectively marred garbage.

hue

0 upvotes

are you ok?

2 upvotes

In my estimation, ANY people's choice award is questionable. Have the people voting actually tested all of that equipment?

Or are they voting for their favorite brand? Or the "coolest" camera?

Even if they closely studied the previous articles, such as Best High End Cameras, their votes might make sense. But I suspect that many simply vote based on less logical criteria.

Comment edited 9 seconds after posting

8 upvotes

The true test is the volume sales comparison. Put the money where your mouth is

0 upvotes

Volume sales? If something is marketed well and sells well?....So I guess McDonalds is the best restaurant right?

If you look at the Peoples Choice award as being both owned by people and or desired by people - that's somewhat valuable information. Then add in sales perhaps to get a complete picture....but again all of this is only a guide to help people chose what works best for them.

If there was only 1 best camera...there would only be ONE CAMERA. But price and features and competition between brands give all of us wonderful choice.

Be happy!

2 upvotes

For these top 3 cameras, only Olympus has a vast and mature lens lineup.
Sony has 3 maybe 4 decent lenses (all of them prime) and Nikon DX lenses are cheaply made and got less than desirable optics.
On the other hand Olympus Pro and some of the Panasonic lenses are solid and very hi-end in all the aspects.

5 upvotes

It only really matters if you actually want to purchase a vast and mature lens lineup. The lenses you don't buy, don't really matter if you have the ones that work for you. I use Canon FD and Sony lenses on my A7 and FD, OM, and Zuiko lenses on Olympus. It all depends what you are looking for. Personally, I think I could be very happy with just a couple of Batis and Sony primes on an A7rii and a couple of zooms on a forthcoming E-M2, but it matters little (as does the lens lineup) if one can't afford to have it all--and few people can. Those that can may choose to buy the lenses they really want and the bodies that match them. Polycameraism. It ain't marriage.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

You must be very new to DSLR - Nikon and Canon have the largest lens collections bar none - you don't have to limit yourself to the Nikon DX line - only your money and your desirability are the limits - vast array of third party lenses also available including the Zeiss Otuses - arguably the best in business.

3 upvotes

@mais51 3rd party lenses are available for all the cameras (eg Voigtlander for m4/3). And expensive and heavy Nikon FX lenses doesn't make sense on a cheap and light DX body. I was talking about factory specific DX lineup. for example if you want a wide zoom for a D7200 , you can only get the seven years old 10-24. On the other hand, with Micro 4/3 you have the option of Oly 9-18, Oly 7-14 PRO, and Pany 7-14.

0 upvotes

And today we have new premium lenses announced. Yay! Competition is good all around.

1 upvote

@Davud
Nikon DX cameras can use ALL Nikon lenses - there is no reason for you just sticking to the DX lenses. When I was shooting DX the two DX lens I had were the kit lens AFS 18-70DX and latter AFS 16-85DX, every other lenses are FX - My AFS 24/120 F4 was permanently fixed to the D300s.

The Micro 4/3 crop factor is 2 therefore your 9-18 is equivalent to a 18-36 FX, 7-14 = 14-28FX - not so wide after all. On the other hand Nikon 10-24 is equivalent to a 15-36 FX so now we are only 1mm behind.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 5 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Nikon also make a premium AFS 12-24 F4 DX (18-36 FX equivalent)
I bought this lens second-hand - use it sometimes on my D300s but prefer the 16/85 and latter 24/120F4

0 upvotes

What D7200 is cheap??? And light??? Maybe compared to the mega FF Slrs but its heavy and expensive for a crop camera. FF lenses are more out of place on a D3xxx D5xxx cam

0 upvotes

I wonder how many Sony cams will be on the sidelines of the Super Bowl?

1 upvote

I also wonder what percentage of photographers get to shoot at the Superbowl.

18 upvotes

none, because Sony doesn't have $7000 cameras and $10.000 ++ lenses at the moment.

Comment edited 9 seconds after posting

5 upvotes

I wonder how many people care? Other than those trying (sometimes desperately) to prove a point.

20 upvotes

None indeed - Sony isn't ready for it and won't be for long because of the very, very, very poor lens lineup.

Nor is Sony present at any big sports event.
It also doesn't have any trucks with loads of glass and cameras in case of emergency like Canon and Nikon come up with.

This is were your NPS / CPS membership comes in handy.

Sony is and will probably always be a consumer brand.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 7 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

I am so glad you all totally got my point :-P

I clearly said "what percentage of photographers", funny how you both interpreted that as "percentage of Sony photographers" to suit your point.

0 upvotes

Thousands of ex Canon shooters are using their Canon lenses on Sony bodies because Canon sensors suck.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1658/24699077641_efd577a17e_b.jpg

The highest rated Canon DSLR is in 25th place (5DS).

1 upvote

Oh, you mean we all were supposed to vote on the best camera of the year based on our plans to professionally shoot a single annual sporting event. Dang! I missed that memo.

2 upvotes

Joe Ogiba, the Canon at 25th place with 8.6% of the votes is also probably not the body Canon photographers will choose to shoot the superbowl.

2 upvotes

C'mon guys, we all know that Canon's 5D Mark VI WCM (with coffee maker) was first... (In otherwords long love the cognitive dissonance)...

0 upvotes

The godly cameras typically sit in the super-top spot: in the place 0 (zero). Because there is no point in comparing them to the mere mortal cameras. But I personally prefer Canon 5D Mark VIII for the included ice maker and the built-in whisky flask. Taking pictures never was that pleasurable.

2 upvotes

I only take pictures with my camera because there's no whisky in it. Until this feature becomes available, the usefulness of cameras is rather limted, IMHO.

0 upvotes

http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Sony-Cyber-shot-DSC-RX1R-II-sensor-review-Take-two/Measurements-Excellent-low-noise-levels

2 upvotes

It's a great camera and I want to buy one, but what does this have to do with anything?

10 upvotes

Recount!!! Canon 5D/S should have won!!!

4 upvotes

A7Rii--36%
5D/S--8.6%
There, I recounted for you.

16 upvotes

It is a 4 year old camera with an updated sensor.
But this year, D5mk4 will be a very good and promising candidate!!!

1 upvote

A 4 year old camera with an updated sensor..... of 50,2Mpx and two Digic 6 processors vs. 22Mpx and one Digic 5 procesor. Right, same old camera with an updated sensor. Indeed.

0 upvotes

This is impossible!!!

1 upvote

No option for the Voigtländer 15/4.5 v3, no write in option...
What, no kick-back's form the others?

1 upvote

Not exactly surprising results considering you presented only a handful of options with some brands not represented at all. I thought the Pentax K3 II was the best APS-C of the year, funny enough that was not an option. How hard can it be to provide a range of options >7?!

10 upvotes

The K-3 II was included in one of the four polls of the first voting round. It got 6.8% of the votes and didn't make it to the second round. The first round included 36 cameras and 16 lenses, so a few more than a handful.

23 upvotes

What Revenant said.

8 upvotes

Ah, well, I only came across the last voting round then. My bad, I take everything back :)

2 upvotes

You can see Pentax cameras wining "real reviewers" contests, but when you leave the choise to the masses just the popular ones will come up.. and that doenst mean that are the best.. it just means that are the most popular at the moment... samething happen with the music industry, etc, etc..

3 upvotes

2015 was a boring year in terms of camera bodies. Will be interesting to see the same challenge results next year!

2 upvotes

If you are looking for revolutionary improvements, then you might have many boring years ahead for you.

Digital Imaging is now a very mature technology. Further improvements will be minor, and evolutionary. Five year old cameras can still win photo contests.

Most of us buy new cameras because we want them, and not because we need them.

5 upvotes

D500 is a revolutionary improvement. I believed so wil be the next sony E.

1 upvote

D500 is not a revolutionary improvement. Nikon put the AF system from their latest flagship FF camera in a pro-grade APS-C body, just like they did with the D300. It's the latest iteration of the same concept. A revolution, IMHO, should offer something truly new and unique, not just the latest and greatest example of current technology.

4 upvotes

-there was never a DSLR camera with edge to edge AF
-No DSLR to support -3ev for all AF points as well as -4ev ,
-first to have buffer not to worry about,
- one of the first DSLRs to shoot 4k video
- a very good new sensor(yes I've tried and compared)
-auto af fine tune
- other things you may calll minor, like OVF, bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi etc, etc

0 upvotes

Yes, those are all great improvements, but they are incremental improvements of technology already used in cameras. That's evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Just to clarify, I'm not critisizing the D500 here. I just think that 'revolutionary' is the wrong word to describe it.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

1 upvote

There were only a handful of candidates to choose from and no option for a write-in. No love for the 1st fixed lens 2000mm camera, Nikon P900?

1 upvote

I think they took the winners from each sub-category for this particular poll.

3 upvotes

The P900 was included in the first round, where it got 4.8% of the votes, so it didn't make it to the final round.

4 upvotes

Well, thanks, I was obviously late to the party. :)

0 upvotes

My third vote went to the D7200, for its exceptional dynamic range.

0 upvotes

If you see DXO sensor numbers, its rated as one of the top five dslr with the best DR, over several FF cameras. Most of reviews i have read dont talk about how good is the DR, and the room for shadows recovery.... this might be the right camera for my landscape/travel shooting.

4 upvotes

A refurbished d7200 at the end of this year could be consider very cheap, specially if we take into consideration that its one of Readers top choices.

1 upvote

I predict $899.

0 upvotes

you mean brand new or refurbished?
I saw ninkon rummors said it is 750 dolars refurbished

http://nikonrumors.com/2016/01/28/new-low-price-refurbished-nikon-d7200-now-769-99.aspx/

0 upvotes

Right now d7200 is $769.99 refurbished by Nikon U.S.A.

http://www.adorama.com/INKD7200R.html?emailprice=t&hotlink=t&svfor=5m&gclid=CLW11vSL2soCFc4YHwodEE0L9g

2 upvotes

In other news, DPR forum members also voted Big Mac their favorite food, Nike their favorite sneaker and Toyota Camry their favorite car.

11 upvotes

And your dream camera would be...?

1 upvote

Oxygen barely eked out nitrogen as their favorite breathable gas, though.

16 upvotes

Your comment would make sense if the a7RII was a populist camera, but it's not by a long shot. It would probably be the BMW i8 of the car world.

16 upvotes

The absence of the lenses in the line up of the best product is intriguing. But it is the way we voted, isn't it?

3 upvotes

I'm sure they'll be coming fast and furiously. :)

0 upvotes

well now with the announcement of the d500, nikon should update its ultra wide angle DX lenses (10-24mm). Something that shines with those beautiful sensor like the d7200.

4 upvotes

Total comments: 61

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