Every year, the Phoblographer announces our Editor’s Choice awards right before Black Friday. And so this year, we’re doing even more than that. Of course, we’re announcing what we found to be the best gear within the past year. But we’re adding something that’s very needed within the photo industry. We’re calling them the inclusivity awards. So withour any further holdup, we invite you to explore the awards below.
The 2024 Editor’s Choice Awards
For 15 years, the Phoblographer has worked to test camera gear outside of the lab and in the places that photographers frequent. No bride wants to pixel peep and look at images of herself at 1,000%. Instead, she wants to see the wonderful moments. And we’ve embraced this philosophy since the start. Our test have been done in-house with our staff shooting their own product images, stating whether or not images were edited, and keeping in mind the things that photography needs to do to become better.
Here’s the best camera gear of 2024:
- Best Camera of 2024: Sony a1 II. While some may consider this to be a minor upgrade, the big part comes with the autofocus on people of color in low light. By far, it’s Sony’s best camera for this.
- Most Innovative Camera of 2024: Sony a9 III. The use of a global shutter allows images that have never been taken before to be possible when using a flash.
- Most Surprising Camera of 2024: Leica SL3. For years, the 60MP sensor supposedly made by Sony hasn’t had solid autofocus. But Leica made it capable of focusing on people of color in low light — something most brands don’t do with their cameras.
- The Best Vacation Lens: Tamron 28-300mm f4-7.1 Di III VC VXD. This is the only lens you’ll need. Stuff it in your camera bag and just go do whatever you want.
- Best Portrait Lens: Canon RF 135mm f1.8 L IS USM. With character, image stabilization, and beautiful image quality, this one is hard to beat.
- Best Affordable Lens: Nikon Z 35mm f1.4. Nikon has finally gotten back into embracing the idea of character in their lenses, even if we want them to lean even harder into it.
- Most Innovative Lens: Laowa 20mm f4 Tilt Shift. There aren’t too many tilt shift lenses around, but this one is really incredible.
- Best Workhorse Lens: Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L IS USM. Though it’s massive, it’s probably going to be the lens that so many people go for by default.
- Best Camera Bag: Compagnon Backpack Gen III. For years, brands told us that a leather and canvas backpack can’t be done because it’s too heavy. But Compagnon did it, and they did it right.
- Best for Artistry: WhiteWall Photo books. If you really want to make your own coffee table books, WhiteWall’s quality is nearly impossible to beat.
The 2024 Photo Book Awards
In 2024, the Phoblographer took the review of photo books a whole lot more seriously. Lots of websites claiming to be photography publications often forget about the artistic side of the whole thing and only focus on tech. And while many people see us mostly as a tech website, there are lots of folks who mostly see us as an arts-based website. In 2024, we reviewed five really standout photography books.
Here are the best photography books we reviewed in 2024:
- Sebastio Salgado Kuwait: This isn’t a new book, but it’s still an absolutely beautiful one.
- Vivian Maier: This book dives into just how lonely Maier was.
- Olga Karlovac Elsewhere: Olga is a queen when it comes to street photography and embracing motion blur to make dreamy images.
- Joel Meyerowitz A Question of Color: Many of the thoughts that Joel puts forward in this book can be applied to today’s world, but with a bit of modernization.
- Jamel Shabazz Albums: How cool is this book? Jamel took his albums and put them into a giant book.
The 2024 Inclusivity Awards
The Phoblographer has always been big on inclusivity. And this year, we’re giving away awards to brands specifically for the efforts that they’ve made in the past year for inclusivity.
- Sony: For the initiatives they’ve done with working with low vision photographers in the form of their Retinal Projection Camera kit. They also worked with us on a series called Alpha Vision, that put the spotlight on photographers with low vision. Additionally, the Sony a1 II has what they claim to be 30% better autofocus on people. This translates into better autofocus on people of color in low light.
- Leica: For autofocus on people of color in low light with the Leica SL3.
- Nikon: For autofocus on people of color in low light with the Nikon Z9 via firmware updates. We truly hope they bring this to the Z8.
- Harlowe: For the innovative work and leadership by Helena Bian. The brand formerly known as Hobolite makes LEDs attractive to working photographers through their ergonomics, excellent build quality, and the power that they’re able to output.