PetaPixel came up with their “full-frame power rankings” on a recent podcast. For a group that has been accused of being not-entirely-Nikon-supportive, the list seriously contradicts that:
- Nikon Z8
- Sony A7V
- Canon R6 III
- Sony A7R VI
- Nikon Z5II
- Canon R5 II
- Lumix S1 II
- Nikon D850
- Nikon Z5IIC
- Nikon Zf
Say what? 50% Nikons? A DSLR in the midst of mirrorless?
I’m really surprised that this list didn’t generate more commentary. Particularly because of #7 thru 10. More importantly, #1, #4, and #6 are all “money no limit” types of cameras, basically the top of the prosumer line (or bottom of the pro line if you prefer). It seems clear that top-of-the-line cameras belong on the list, in some order (I’d have suggested the same order, though perhaps not the same exact positions). But the others? Can those be the right ones?
The thing that really isn’t being talked about is how “value” impacts that list. In particular you see that in the Z5II and Z5IIC sitting among all the mid-range offerings (A7V, R6 III, S1 II).
Perhaps it’s worthwhile taking a moment to consider which cameras could have made it into the list (Petapixel left out the highest priced, action-oriented pro cameras, so I’m going to, as well). I’m going to stick with mirrorless bottom to top prosumer here:
- Canon (5-7) — FP, R5 II, R6 III, R6 V, R8 II (plus older R6 II and R8 still available)
- Leica (7 ) — M11-D, M11-P, M11-Mono, EV-1, SL3-S, SL3-P, SL3 Reporter
- Nikon (7-8) — Zf, ZR, Z5II, Z5IIC, Z6III, Z7II, Z8 (plus older Z6II)
- Panasonic (6) — S9, S1 II, S1 IIE, S1R II, S5 II, S5 IIX
- Sigma (2) — Fp L, BF
- Sony (6-9) — A7 V, A7C II, A7CR, A7R VI, A7S III, ZV-E1 (plus older A7 III, A7 IV, A7R V)
Looked at different way, Petapixel picked 71% of Nikon’s lineup, 40% of Canon’s, 33% of Sony’s, 17% of Panasonic’s, and 0% of Leica’s and Sigma's current full frame choices. That looks a bit like a Nikon rout to me.
Of course, all the PetaPixel list really is some personal reflections numerized. Here’s the reason why that sort of thing becomes important to consider: AI models are being constantly trained, and more and new material from a source the AI companies consider reliable suddenly starts to inform future AI chats.
When the podcast first aired, I asked Claude the top-ten question and it came back with: Tier 1(heavyweights) #1 Canon R5 II, #2 Sony A7R VI, and #3 Nikon Z8; Tier 2 (sweet spot) #4 Canon R6 III, #5 Sony A7 V, #6 Nikon Z6III, #7 Panasonic S1R II, #8 Panasonic S1 II; Tier 3 (value) Nikon Z5II, Sony A7CII, Sony A7CR, Panasonic S5 IIX, Nikon Zf, Canon R8.
The R8 (no II) in that list indicates that Claude hasn’t caught up with the latest camera announcements. However, when Claude does catch up with more recent postings via its retraining, it’s answer is likely to change, particularly if it manages to scrape Petapixel along the way. The thing I’m seeing, though, is that most of the AI models are clinging to strange sources at the moment. When I ask an AI about where it sourced a photographic assertion, I tend to see sites listed that really aren’t known for their photographic expertise. If this isn’t fixed long term, the reliability of an AI answer will be just as bad as Google’s search answers these days.