Product of the Year 2023: the results
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The final round of voting has closed, and it’s time to reveal the winner of our annual Reader’s Choice Awards! Beginning in December, DPReview readers picked their favorite cameras, zoom lenses and prime lenses released in 2023. The winners of the first round of voting were then pitted against each other for the title of Product of the Year. Take a look and see which products came out on top.
Honorable mention: Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G
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The Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G may not have won our Reader’s Choice survey for Best Zoom Lens of 2023, but when put up against the best of the best, it surged forward into the third place position in this year’s survey, earning it an honorable mention. It’s easy to see the attraction of this lens: those extra four millimeters at the wide end make it much more versatile than a standard 24-70mm zoom, and its compact size makes it a great walkaround lens for applications ranging from landscape to travel.
Of course, those extra millimeters only matter if image quality is up to snuff, and the 20-70mm F4 G delivers where it counts. It’s very sharp wide open, produces pleasing bokeh, and does a good job of controlling flare. Even videographers have reason to consider this lens: it’s possible to combine Sony’s Active SteadyShot and breathing compensation features and still maintain a roughly 24mm field of view. Between its zoom range, size, performance and price, it’s easy to understand why so many readers voted for the Sony FE 20mm F4 G.
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Honorable mention: Nikon Zf
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Readers have been clamoring for years for a new full-frame retro camera from Nikon. How do we know? Because every time we covered a retro camera from another company, we could always depend on the Nikon faithful to jump into the comments thread and ask when Nikon would deliver one.
Well, they finally went and did it with the Nikon Zf, and apparently, it is what you wanted because it received the second-highest vote count in our Reader’s Choice Product of the Year survey. The Zf’s design is an homage to Nikon’s FM2 and F3 SLRs from the early 1980s, but despite looking like an aged film camera, it ticks off all the essential boxes on a modern enthusiast camera’s spec sheet. It would be a solid choice from a price/performance perspective, but that’s not what makes this camera special. Instead, it’s the nostalgia factor: the experience of using it, the joy of carrying it around your neck, or even just holding it and admiring it for what it is. The fact that it’s incredibly competitive in its class is a bonus. Nikon users have waited a long time for this camera, but it turns out the wait was worth it.
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Winner: Nikon Z8
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The winner of our 2023 Reader’s Choice Product of the Year award goes to the Nikon Z8, which ran away with 53.8% of the total vote to win by an overwhelming margin. It probably shouldn’t surprise us: in 2021, the Z8’s big brother, the Z9, won the same award by similarly impressive numbers. The only problem? The Z9’s large, dual grip body and $5500 price point made it impractical for most enthusiasts. Well, Nikon solved that problem with the Z8.
Make no mistake – the Z8 is a product built to meet the needs of pro users, and it can do just about anything the Z9 can, but at a price more within reach of dedicated enthusiasts. It offers the same 46MP Stacked CMOS sensor, high-speed burst rates, pre-burst options and video specs found on the Z9, but in a smaller body that’s more sensible for many photographers. In many ways, the Z8 is the spiritual successor to the Nikon D850, one of the greatest – if not the greatest – DSLR ever made, yet it outperforms the D850 in almost every way. We have little doubt that the Z8 will be considered a classic, and it’s easy to understand why our readers chose it as their Product of the Year.
As always, thanks to everyone who voted in our polls. We appreciate your participation and couldn’t do any of this without you!
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This article comes from DP Review and can be read on the original site.
