Lackluster New Cameras?

What do the Nikon Z6II, the Pentax K-1II, the OM System OM-5 and the Canon 5D Mark IV have in common?

They were all lambasted for being lackluster updates of their predecessors.

So are camera makers trying to sell you minor upgrades for big money or is there another side to the story?

Read the article or watch on YouTube to find out.

The „New Camera Model” Dilemma

Fifty years ago, it was a testament to a product’s quality and overall design when it remained in production unchanged for a long period.

Take the Nikon F3 for example. Released in 1980, this professional SLR remained in production until 2001. When Nikon finally retired the model after 21 years, at least 750.000 bodies had been sold.

But with digital photography, consumer perception changed drastically: When manufacturer A releases fewer models than manufacturer B, it seems to be common internet wisdom that A is “dead”, in serious trouble or at least running out of ideas. Manufacturers are therefore more or less forced to release new products, even though the old ones are still perfectly fine.

Diminishing Returns

To make things even worse, manufacturers are dealing with the problem of diminishing returns when it comes to camera development.

In order to improve a camera like the Nikon D5, for example, an exorbitant amount of money for development is needed, with no guarantee that the improvements will be significant enough to convince new buyers.

So even if the engineers manage to improve an already near-perfect model, the new camera will not really be all that different.

That is exactly what happened in case of the Nikon D6: Like the D5, it still is a lighting-fast camera, it still has incredible high ISO performance and it still is indestructible. On top of that, the autofocus was improved significantly, but no one really took note of that, as the D5 was already practically infallible.

It is important to understand that major breakthroughs in physical engineering are far less likely to happen and if they do happen, they often go relatively unnoticed.

Always keep the Pareto-principle in mind: An improvement of 20% requires 80% of total development resources and is neither needed nor noticed by 80% of all users.

The “New Software” Dilemma

We photographers are used to receiving free firmware updates for our cameras. In general, we are not willing to pay for firmware updates even if they introduce new features.

Because of that, manufacturers only have three options:

Option 1:
Pricing their cameras higher to cover the costs of future updates. You’ll see this strategy usually with higher-end cameras.

Option 2:
Cutting production costs. I personally would not appreciate this course of action, as there is always some sort of trade-off in terms of build quality.

Option 3:
Producing a model in smaller quantities, and after the batch is sold, releasing a practically identical model but with improved software.

Every manufacturer has a different approach, which can also vary from camera to camera in their line-up. It is just important to not get disgruntled when a seemingly minor update requires you to purchase a new camera.

Conclusion

The "New Camera" and "New Software" dilemmas are fundamentally manufacturer concerns, not consumer concerns. So why should we even think about those?

First and foremost, it helps us to see through the hype that surrounds every camera release. It always sounds like the new model is now fundamentally different, and of course, manufacturers have to do that. But in reality, even breakthrough technologies offer only very limited practical benefits as our cameras are already highly capable.

Second, it helps us to avoid frustration when it looks like our favorite camera manufacturer released a seemingly lackluster new model. Because in reality, they have already designed a camera years ago that is so good that there was only very little to improve.

Third, it helps us to focus on the most important task: Truly mastering the camera we already own and advancing our photography skills.

That is how I stopped worrying and learned to love my camera.