Did you see that the Nikon D300 is PopPhoto's Camera of the Year?

Question

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4857/the-camera-of-the-year-2007.html

Last month, they explained:

In the past, we presented this award in the December issue. But this year, our print production deadlines are too early for us to be absolutely certain that we have already tested the product deserving what we believe is the highest honor in this field

If you recall, last year they stuck to the December issue, even though they had not done a full lab test on three other possible contenders. My comments were:

Then again, this is the same magazine that put the Sony Alpha 100 dead last in this comparison named it the camera of the year in the previous issue! (In a follow-up to this seeming error, Pop Photo published the explanation that only the D80 and the Sony had been tested by the end-of-year deadline for choosing the Camera of the Year. Sony won on the strength of low price and built-in image stabilization. The other 3 that beat Sony in shoot-out were not tested until after the Camera of the Year was selected, because they were not yet available.

Antoni, see http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4825/camera-of-the-year-2007.html for the contenders, which included the a700.

Good question, Vance. I guess for the average PopPhoto reader??? Surely not for a professional shooter, except as a backup, eh?

Vienna, PopPhoto's Camera of the Year last year was the Sony a100.

Answer 1

Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 1971 was the Chevrolet Vega...

Answer 2

Not that the D300 isn't a great camera, but ratings from magazines like Popular Photo (and Shutterbug, American Photo, etc.) can be on the questionable side, considering how beholden the magazines are to their advertisers.

Sure, some of that has to do with the fact that camera and lens manufacturers are only going to send the absolute best gear for testing, but the objectivity of the process comes into question when flaws like the serious autofocus problems that the Canon 1D Mark III has suffered don't get mentioned quickly.

And they're considering their audience, too, which accounts for the Nikon D3 and Canon 1D/1Ds Mark IIIs not making the final list. The average reader isn't going to go out and drop thousands on a body - so figure there's an unstated "For Our Readers" at the end of the Camera of the Year.

Answer 3

No not till you pointed it out.

Lets put it into perpective: look at what they called the cam of the year last year ----

http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/3440/the-camera-of-the-year-2006.html

The D300 is awesome, what does that make the A100 (lol)

EDIT: i think you have covered what I meant the long way around.........their cameraof the year award is sillyness unless they test every new camera released. Lets see if they make new claims in the new year?? the D300 is a beast no doubt about it -------- maybe in Feb they will say they never tested the D3 or A700?

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Answer 4

Wow, so soon after release? Anyway, I'd love to have a D300. If I can afford it (at the moment I can't) It'll be my next camera. Why?

I shoot so much different stuff. For sports, its killer with the new autofocus engine and 8 fps (like a machine gun) ;-) Then it has so much compatability and destroys color fringes as if by magic.

Thats not to mention good noise performance on a pretty high-res sensor.

Sigh...

Answer 5

Camera of the Year for whom?