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DPReview Annual Awards: The best photography gear of 2025
The 2025 DPReview Annual Awards
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After careful consideration, healthy debate and a few heated arguments, we're proud to announce the winners of the 2025 DPReview Annual Awards.
While innovation in the camera industry is often a gradual process, the steady pace of advancement has yielded a diverse range of cameras and lenses this year. We've seen the expected upgrades to mainstream camera models, but also an array of fascinating niche offerings. On the lens side of things, the big camera makers continue to expand and strengthen their mirrorless-mount lineups, while emerging Chinese manufacturers push to challenge them on both price and quality.
Which is to say, it's been a difficult year to pick winners. But a fun one, too. Let us guide you through the products that stood out to us as award-worthy this year.
Best Zoom Lens
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Shortlist:
- OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro
- Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8
- Sigma 17-40mm F1.8 DC | Art
- Sony FE 50-150mm F2 GM
Honorable mention: Sigma 17-40mm F1.8 DC | Art
Like our favorite zoom lens from last year, Sigma's 17-40mm F1.8 DC helps push APS-C systems forward, letting you achieve the same depth of field that you would with a venerable F2.8 full frame lens. Despite its super-fast minimum aperture, it's a reasonable size, weight and price, and unlike Sigma's 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art from 2013, modern cameras are fully capable of focusing with it, so you won't have to second-guess taking it out with you. We're also delighted to see that it has a physical aperture ring (or control ring on the RF mount version) and weather sealing, and that it's coming to a range of mounts, so (almost) any APS-C shooter can pick one up if it matches their shooting style.
Winner: Sony FE 50-150mm F2 GM
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Sony has been releasing some impressive lenses in the past few years, but few have been as attention-grabbing as the 50-150mm F2 GM. The combination of wide, constant aperture and telephoto zoom range isn't something we've seen before, at least not with this degree of optical quality. The result is sharp images with impressive levels of background separation, taken with a lens that doesn't ask you to give up the versatility of a zoom or to break your back carrying it around. Of course, something has to give; it's eye-wateringly expensive, but we're still excited to see what's possible at the highest end of optical engineering.
Best Prime Lens
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Shortlist:
- Canon RF 45mm F1.2 STM
- Sigma 200mm F2 DG OS Sports
- Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG II Art
- Viltrox AF 85mm F1.4 Pro FE
Honorable mention: Canon RF 45mm F1.2 STM
The Canon 45mm F1.2 STM isn't a great lens. In some regards, it's not radically different from what Nikon did last year with its 35mm and 50mm F1.4 lenses that cost around the same amount but are both sharper. But for Canon users, the ability to get their hands on a very fast normal prime for a sensible amount of money is groundbreaking. It's worth acknowledging that part of what makes it seem so special is that Canon limits what other options are available, but, like the 50mm F1.8 in the DSLR era, it allows a large number of Canon users to explore more of what their camera can do.
Winner: Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG II Art
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Sigma wasn't the only company to introduce a 35mm F1.2 lens this year, and the Nikon version appears to have the edge in terms of optical performance. But the Sigma is 25% shorter, 30% lighter and 45% less expensive and, for us, that makes up for the differences in bokeh rendering.
A super-fast 35mm isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, but if it's a focal length you like, it's a fabulous option to be able to turn to. It's been a great year for lenses, but ambitious lenses like the Sigma 35mm F1.2 II stand out.
Best Compact Camera
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Shortlist:
Honorable mention: Fujifilm GFX100RF
The GFX100RF is such an audacious camera that it'd be hard not to give it kudos here. It's designed to be an everyday camera that's as compact as possible... while still being immaculately built and containing a 100MP medium format sensor. In good light, you can get stunning image quality with it (though you'll struggle a bit in lower light thanks to the lack of stabilization and relatively slow fixed lens), but that's not all the big sensor is for. The camera also encourages you to play with your frame, giving you direct controls over aspect ratio and digital zoom, which can dramatically alter the image, at the cost of absolute image quality. Sure, it makes a lot of compromises in the name of size and weight, despite still being relatively large and heavy, but it's such a singular offering that we can't help but appreciate it.
Winner: Ricoh GR IV
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If we had an award for consistency, the GR series would be a contender for first place. Throughout the years, Ricoh has released new versions of its beloved street photography camera, making small changes each time and introducing new tech to keep it competitive. The GR IV is no exception to that, with a bigger battery, refined controls that let you change your most important settings one-handed and a sensor and lens combo that provides image quality unmatched by any other truly pocketable cameras. It's not perfect, but if you want a camera with a big sensor that you can carry around with you anywhere, there are few better options.
Best Entry-Level or Mid-Range Camera
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Shortlist:
Honorable mention: Canon PowerShot V1
PowerShot may be one of the longest-running brands in digital photography, but the PowerShot V1 is Canon's first high-end vlogging compact. Built around a Type 1.4 sensor, similar to the G1 series, with a wide 16-50mm equiv. F2.8-4 lens, its announcement garnered significant attention. The V1 unashamedly prioritizes vlogging, delivering excellent 4K video and features like a built-in 3EV ND filter and Canon's C-Log3. Its controls aren't optimized for photography, making it more of a point-and-shoot than an enthusiast's compact, but it produces excellent images, and its ultra-wide-angle lens offers creative possibilities not found in other compacts, provided you don't expect it to handle like the G series.
Winner: Fujifilm X-T30 III
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As its name implies, the Fujifilm X-T30 III is an iterative upgrade to a camera that was, itself, an iterative upgrade, and it maintains its position as the least expensive SLR-shaped model in Fujifilm's lineup. The camera features Fujifilm's newest processor, subject recognition autofocus, and 4K/60p video, but a highlight is the dedicated Film Simulation dial. Putting one of Fujifilm's most popular features front and center, with direct hardware control, makes a lot of sense on an entry-level model. It offers a fun, creative way to engage with the camera, particularly for budding photographers experimenting with their own film recipes, at an accessible price. It also serves as a great small camera for travel or as a backup body for established Fujifilm users.
Best Enthusiast Camera
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Shortlist:
Honorable mention: Canon EOS R6 Mark III
The EOS R6 III feels like an ambitious camera, in the sense that it seems like Canon was trying to match each of its competitors spec-for-spec. And while we're still working on fully testing it, we've seen enough to know that it's one of the most capable hybrid cameras out there, with its 33MP sensor providing great image quality and burst rates, while still being quick enough to offer open gate and full-width high-framerate 4K. Paired with Canon's excellent autofocus system, it's a camera that can handle almost anything you throw at it, at a price that's similar to its competitors.
Winner: Nikon Z5II
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The Nikon Z5II is a testament to just how spoiled we are when it comes to cameras these days. Ostensibly, it's Nikon's budget full frame option, and there are clear benefits to more upscale models. But in reality, it asks you to give up very little. It has IBIS, excellent ergonomics and controls, dual card slots, AI-derived subject recognition for autofocus, decent burst rates and preburst capture, good video specs... we could continue, but you get the point. Despite being launched as the fifth cheapest full frame mirrorless camera ever, we suspect most enthusiast photographers would have difficulty finding a situation in which the Z5II limits them. And in a year where seemingly everything got more expensive, we really have to appreciate a budget option that's only stingy with its compromises.
Best High-End Camera
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Shortlist:
Honorable mention: Sony a1 II
From the wrong angle, the Sony a1 Mark II can look like an overpriced EOS R5 II or Z8 competitor, but stand pitch-side with one and it's much more apparent that it's an EOS R1 and Z9 rival. Along with the lower-res, global shutter a9 III, this is an expression of the most advanced camera Sony can currently build. Which is to say that it's one of the most advanced cameras anyone can currently build. It's a camera that feels almost foolproof in its ability to support you when you need to get the shot. And if you're someone committed to, and familiar with, the Sony system, it's the best camera you can buy.
Winner: Hasselblad X2D II 100C
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Fujifilm and Hasselblad revitalized the idea of medium format digital, with the introduction of 44x33mm sensored mirrorless cameras, back in 2016. But whereas Fujifilm's GFX system has increasingly stretched to video, Hasselblad has focused on photography.
The X2D II is built around HDR photography, delivering files that work as standard JPEGs on older equipment but with more lifelike rendering of light on newer, HDR displays, including the panel on the back of the camera. It also becomes the first XCD camera to offer continuous AF, backed by a LiDAR-based AF system borrowed from parent company DJI. It also benefits from a price cut during a period of inflation and trade disputes. The lenses are still quite expensive, but medium format is again looking thrilling like a proper two-horse race.
2024 DPReview Innovation Award
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Shortlist:
- AI Masking (based on local models)
- Fujifilm X half [Read this before commenting]
- Godox iT32 / X5
- Sigma BF
Honorable mention: Godox iT32/X5 modular flash system
After a fast prime lens, one of the best ways to get more light into your camera is to provide your own. However, the cost and complexity of flash photography can prompt beginners to focus their attention on 'available light' shooting.
Until recently, you would, at the very least, need to buy a remote flash and some kind of controller. This could easily mean hundreds of dollars for two strobes or a flash head and commander unit, if you wanted to use your brand's TTL flash metering system. Then having to spend a similar amount again if you shoot with more than one brand of camera.
Godox has solved all these issues: an affordable modular flash system where a single flash head can attach to one of six brand-specific on-camera bases. Those hot-shoe bases can work as a wireless trigger, so you can get off-camera lighting with just an iT32 flash and X5 transmitter set.
It builds on the work Godox has been doing in recent years, where it's made its on-camera flashes wirelessly compatible with one another, regardless of which brand each was programmed to work with. But, whereas you previously needed two flashguns if you had two systems, now you just need two ∼$20 X5 transmitters.
The iT32 has a rechargeable internal battery, so there's no faffing around with handfuls of half-dead AA batteries, removing yet another hurdle to taking control of your light.
Godox iT32 Mini Flash at B&H Godox X5 Wireless Flash Trigger at B&H
Winner: Sigma BF
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Whatever you think of it – and we suspect part of that will come down to whether you've had a chance to really use one – the Sigma BF is a remarkably innovative camera. Don't let the re-use of the sensor from the six-year-old fp model fool you.
Because, while it's true that the Sigma BF is based around a very familiar sensor, it's also one of the most radical cameras to have been launched since the earliest days of digital. Look past the Braun-esque minimalism of the body and you'll find a genuine attempt to create a UI for modern digital photography. Sigma has clearly looked at which aspects of photography need to be easily accessible and which don't matter, rather than just adding a handful more menu items with each iteration. It's not going to appear on any sidelines or movie sets, but if you just want to take photos, it's refreshingly focused.
Then there's the use of control points that give artificial haptic feedback: making them feel like pressable buttons despite being fixed (think of the implications for weather sealing). But, above all of this, there's the implementation of true HDR photography using a format that people can actually access: the same JPEGs-with-gain-map approach that Google has adopted for its Pixel phones. This last feature alone would have got the BF onto the shortlist, but it's the combination of so much original thinking that takes the prize.
Product of the Year
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Shortlist:
Honorable mention: Sigma 17-40mm F1.8 DC | Art
We've always appreciated the work that Sigma's done to let APS-C shooters get the most out of their cameras and, for a long time, the high point of that was the company's madly ambitious 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art from 2013. It was a huge step up compared to an F2.8 zoom, but without being an unreasonable size or price. There was just the slight downside that DSLRs had tremendous difficulty focusing it, especially with off-center AF points. We weren't surprised when it developed a second career as an adapted lens for video on mirrorless cameras.
Twelve years later, and mirrorless is well enough established for Sigma to release a successor: the 17-40mm F1.8 DC Art, an updated version that stretches a touch wider, reaches a little further without spoiling the original concept. It's still sensibly small, still usably light and still aggressively priced (it's appreciably less expensive, in real terms, than the original). The difference is, it focuses really well on every format Sigma's been allowed to release it for, so Fujifilm, Sony and Canon APS-C users suddenly get the option to expand their cameras' capabilities.
Winner: Nikon Z5II
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This year has seen the release of some excellent mid-price full-framers, with the Panasonic S1 II and Canon EOS R6 III both raising the level of what can be expected from cameras in their class. But it's the more humble Nikon Z5II that stood out to us more because, while it's not quite as fast as the more expensive models and can't match them for video specs, it comes surprisingly close.
The Z5II, launched for $1700 and now selling for less than that, outperforms the Z6 II, which was Nikon's mid-range model until late last year. Unlike its predecessor, it's adept at both stills and video shooting and, unlike Canon's EOS R8, it offers in-body image stabilization. The ergonomics and handling are transposed almost directly from Nikon's other models, and there are no blatant segmentation plays such as imposing a smaller battery. With Nikon's latest AF system, it's a hugely capable all-rounder and, as we said in our review: very few of us truly need anything more.
