Dan De Lion wrote:
-----
The reviews are starting to come in for the Nikon D850. To quote from Photographyblog: "Offering a compelling balance of size and speed, the Nikon D850 is the best all-round DSLR camera that we've ever had the pleasure of reviewing. This is really the one camera that can do it all, from landscapes to action, reportage to weddings, the D850 handles it all with aplomb." I anticipate the three usual responses: 1)we don't have enough information, 2)there's no such thing as the world's best camera, 3)mirrorless cameras rock. What other bodies would you nominate for world's best?
-----
----- br br The reviews are starting to come in f... (
show quote)
There are many reasons why we have multiple brands and models of products. Simply put, they meet different needs. There really is no one "world's best". There is only what is best for each user. Life is full of little trade-offs!
The Nikon D850 is TOTALLY drool-worthy for certain applications. However, it would be total overkill for most of what I do, and, like all dSLRs, frustrating for much of the rest.
I need a camera designed to do equal parts still photography and filmmaking style video production. It has to be small, light, very portable, and very rugged. My Lumix GH4 fits that role nicely. Were I buying today, I would get a GH5.
Many folks who do work similar to mine are already calling the GH5 their "camera of the year 2017." Check out Hugh Brownstone's video (for Three Blind Men and an Elephant Productions) on YouTube, to learn why videographers like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17gIXA4iKIE He's a documentary filmmaker who has produced many episodes with it. He WAS a Sony user, prior to the GH5.
Hybrid photography — much of what I do — combines stills, video, text, graphics, narration, art, animation, and music into creations that live on the Internet and corporate Intranets, on TV, or in theaters. Mine is mostly training content for eLearning, event documentaries, dramatic short films, product photography, copy work, and restoration.
When >95% of one's work will never be printed, but live as 4K or 1080P web videos, or as stills in 8.5x11 PDF documents, a big, heavy, high resolution, expensive dSLR is just unwarranted. I'm comfortable with high resolution prints from the GH4 up to 15x10 inches. Most content even looks good up to 40x30 when viewed at a distance equal to the print's diagonal dimension.
However, if I were doing landscapes, point-of-purchase displays, and other huge prints *all the time,* the D850 would make perfect sense. But to tie up that much money, bulk, and weight in gear that would be ideal for me only a few percent of the time is just irrational. Were I to need it, I would rent it.