Hi,
I am quite positive about Hasselblad and Fuji. Hasselblad probably realized their future lies in 44x33 mm and I would think that is what their focus it. They say that they are selling 6-8 times more than a few years ago.
Fuji's strategy makes a lot of sense. They were the premium maker of APS-C systems and they choose to go into 44x33 instead of 24x36 as an upgrade path. They make excellent lenses, designed for 44x33 mm. Optimizing for 44x33 mm is a key point. During 2017 there were a lot of reports on misfocusing and alignment issues. But it seems that Fuji actually makes some of the best lenses ever made. So I hope that Fuji improves consistency of lens building and irons out software glitches.
I would agree that 2018 is an interesting year for Canon. They make great lenses, and they have invested a lot in rational manufacture. I don't think Sony can match Canon's lens quality and Sony has a dismal reputation on consistency. Lens Rentals has just tested Canon's 85/1.4 and it clearly outperforms the Sony 85/1.4GM, but the 85/1.4GM varies all over the place and comes in at a very high cost.
Canon has new 0.18 micron technology in place, the new technology is used by the X1DII and the 5DIV. I would suggest we will see some new systems with greatly improved DR at base ISO coming from Canon.
Sony has made some real gain with A9 and the A7rIII. I would expect some new higher resolution sensor. A great advantage with Sony is the wide variety of lenses usable with the A# series. Zeiss makes the Loxia and Batis lines for the Sony. Personally, I am most interested into Voigtlander 60/2.0 Apo Lanthar.
With Phase One, I don't know. I don't think cameras in the 20+k$US sphere are very interesting. Also, I think that 44x33mm makes a lot of sense, once you design sensors around it. So, I think Phase One does a lot of good stuff, but not at prices I am willing to afford. So, I am not really interested.
Nikon seems to have some problems. Thom Hogan discusses those issues a lot. The D850 is obviously great news, but I don't think that a single high end model is something a camera maker can survive on. The D500 makes a lot of sense and that would also apply to Canon's 7DII. These cameras give professional frame rates with extended range. A wildlife photographer told me, I will never get a full frame, I cannot even fill the viewfinder on APS-C. Something to it...
In the long term, I think the camera business is going into mirrorless. SLR was invented in order to provide "what you see is what you get" view finding. Now, we can use the sensor for that. Sure, EVF will evolve over the years.
There are unsung heroes of the digital revolution. One of those unsung heroes is Anders Torger who developed Lumariver Profile Designer and it's open source sibling "DCamProf". Now we can make scientifically correct colour profiles for both DCP and ICC based systems.
I would also call some attention to a number of guys posting now and then contributing to our understanding of base technology:
- Jim Kasson who writes a dozen articles about his findings on photo equipment and shares all his information at zero costs. A great guy!
- Jack Hogan, who educates his dog about the technology of photography during his many strolls in the green forrests. He also shares the experience for free.
- Bart van der Wolf used to work as a customer support engineer for a company formerly called Kodak. He still offers a lot of good advice, absolutely free.
- Andrew Rodney, the Digital Dog als comes to mind.
- Iliah Borg is a great source of information.
- I would also include Steve Hendrix into this list. He always gives good advice, without the marketing hyperbole.
But, we also have an endless number of contributors to these forums, thanks for sharing your experience and please continue in 2018.
Not least, I would like to thank the team at LuminousLandscape for keeping LuLa alive and posting many new articles and videos. I have been most impressed by the videos with Charlie Cramer.
Best regards
Erik
I just published a rantatorial on what my predictions are for 2018 in the photography field that we love so much. You can read it HERE