The Best Cameras, Apps & Tech of 2023

The 9th Annual Gear of the Year Awards, presented by Tyler Stalman & Jordan Drake of @PetaPixel
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00:00:00 - Start
00:04:12 - Best Tech Product
00:10:55 - Best App
00:18:32 - Best Photo Camera
00:27:45 - Best Hybrid Camera
00:31:36 - Best Video Camera
00:38:31 - Best Podcast
00:42:31 - Best Movie
00:48:22 - Best Book
00:54:57 - Best Videogame
01:01:55 - Camera Industry Update

[@baldrati]

Best Tech Product: iPhone 15 Pro (Tyler) and Vb99 Mini V Mount battery (Jordan) Best App: Black Magic app (Jordan) and Adobe Photoshop Generative Fill (Tyler) Best Photo Camera: Leica Q3 (Jordan) and Fuji GFX 100S2 (Tyler) Best Hybrid Camera: Lumix S52 (Tyler) and Nikon Z8 (Jordan) Best Video Camera: Ronin 4D 8K (Jordan) and Komodo X (Tyler) Best Podcast: 'The Rest is History' (Tyler) and 'The Big Picture' podcast (Jordan) Best Movie: 'Past Lives' (Jordan) and 'Blackberry' (Tyler) Best Book: 'Generations' by Jean Twenge (Tyler) and 'Opposable Thumbs' by Matt Singer (Jordan) Best Videogame: 'Tears of the Kingdom' (Jordan) and 'Spider-Man 2' (Tyler)

[@nazukeoya]

I watched Past Lives on recommendation from Jordan & Chris, and it was fantastic...I teared up a lot. What I love most about the movie is how realistic it is. Everyone thinks love stories have a happy ending, but very often they don't in the real world.

[@loganwebb5449]

Yay! Jordan on the show. Looking forward to listening! Happy New Year Tyler!

[@kingsamvisuals]

Totk got me hooked on the switch. S5ii is my camera of the year.

[@stalman]

I really WANTS to love totk, I just wasn’t made for open world games

[@AdamSzarmack]

Your podcasts are excellent Tyler. Just recently realized you even had a podcast and I listened to 3 of them in the last two days!

[@TristanLaughton]

Glad to hear that you've enjoyed using the LUMIX S5ii, it's been my go to camera all year. Really can't wait to see what LUMIX and the rest of the camera industry has in store for 2024. Great work as always, Tyler!

[@ptrcksln]

Enjoying those more in depth conversations. 👍🏻 great episode.

[@mikegarcia8079]

Tyler-I’m totally down with a complete guide to family photos! Great idea.

[@kernzilla]

Seriously been looking fwd to this all year lol. Thanks guys for such great content and keep up the GREAT WORK FELLAS! 👏👏

[@stalman]

It’s definitely my favorite tradition, thanks for hanging out!

[@Reno_T]

New year podcast tradition continues 😀 Another cool episode guys !

[@DonaldHawk]

My waitlist on the Q3 finally came in.

[@Colms2005]

Hi I have a Q3 and I believe that the lens is an actual manual lens when it is taken off auto. I understand that other lenses such as Nikon Z lenses are fly by wire when in manual mode but not the Q3.

[@Rashadmcka]

Happy New year!

[@linjasonlin]

The most genuine podcast I've heard in 2023. Love it

[@canucklehead28]

Happy New Year!

[@kadragepictures]

wow I really was inspired by the same thing, family photos and friends...just really having images that mean something to you vs images that are made for profit, I mean both are different, but it is a nice inspiration to find meaning and purpose of photography if you get lost along the way, thanks for reminding me again, I will definitely make more of them and don't make it to a "professional shooting" but more having good images that are always on my phone

[@steveschnetzler5471]

Cool looking camera clamp, I look forward to it.

[@allisonfreed]

I would love a video on not just a "workflow" or setup for family and friends everyday life photos, but how to balance being the defacto photographer and actual participant in these events like you touched on a bit here. This is a thing I struggle with constantly. As the professional photographer of the group I want to capture and share those moments with the people in my life, and I do enjoying doing that but I also want to be present and not turn every vacation or holiday into me being absorbed with the photos. Plus I know how much better non-phone photos can be but dragging my R6 along to a friends birthday feels cumbersome and then culling and editing makes it feel like work, especially when those are often situations where people want the photos immediate and don't want to wait on me to turn them around.

[@markamd1]

Hey Tyler! Love your content and your love for for photography! Do you live in Calgary? I live right right by Millenium Park in Calgary, across the military barracks!

[@andreasbulowhansen9413]

Nice b roll of my city Copenhagen ❤

[@SCINEMACREW]

Small Rig Rc60B lights & Sirui Sniper Set are my Top Tech Releases this year (both revolutionary in positive ways)

[@SCINEMACREW]

Also the small rig v mount batteries are a honourable mention

[@mstrathmore]

Loved this, thanks folks. I agree with so many points, but more importantly I also bought a book (Generations - I’m Gen X, so let’s see what ills I have). Tonight we’re watching “BlackBerry” (I lived through that era when working at Nokia), and I was really amused to hear Jordan grew up in Strathmore - my Surname ( In Kenya I’m a university and in the UK, bottled water…). Like Tyler, my most important (not best) photos are all about family and experiences: a good reminder. Happy New Year folks and thanks for what you do.

[@jim7953]

Hey Guys, I would like to see you guys talk about the best organizing your photos software. Love to see that and please talk about that.....😊

[@Scriptshepherd]

The problem with the Nikon Z8 as a hybrid is that it doesn't do dual-slot recording for video,.

[@samohara5187]

Love Jordan's pick for movie of the year. I 100% recommend checking Past Lives out.

[@thatjordandrake]

Masterpiece.

[@nazukeoya]

I'm still playing through Tears of the Kingdom myself, taking my time. I just unlocked all of the shrines and so I'm beating all of those before I continue the story. I may get all of the seeds before I continue on the story as well.

[@yu-ssulin1379]

Love your shares. Do you have any videos about the Blackmagic Camera App?

[@AndrewSacoman]

Loved the episode! Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the best and most complete games in the last 5+ years.

[@stalman]

I’ve heard that a lot, but I just know I’ll never have the time to take it on

[@AndrewSacoman]

It can absolutely absorb your day lol.

[@justincosplay]

Hope you can play Allan wake 2 so good

[@NorCal-yeti]

Man I absolutely love ❤️ Sony a7r5

[@LaMaaanta007]

As always, the video has the best color grading.

[@ts76751]

Wait a minute, did I hear correct Jordan saying that the new 8K ronin uses the canon r5c sensor?? Is that true?

[@rogermanning4353]

Jordan picking a Leica, that's PetaPixel money right there. Ha, Cheers!

[@stalman]

There’s nothing I wish for more than Jordan to have his grail cameras.

[@sureshmoolgavkar720]

In my previous comment, I should have mentioned the 1Tb internal storage of the Hasselblad X2D.

[@NotAnotherChannel_Channel]

Best Hybrid: Nikon Z8. Hands down.

[@superemesean5907]

Absolutely a lie! Nikon isn’t even in the discussion. Save the Nikons for swap meets and garage sales 😂

[@SamueleApperti]

@@superemesean5907you have to try it before say this stupid thing

[@SamueleApperti]

@@superemesean5907if you have tried the Z8 and you say it… that means you are far from been a good dp

[@SamueleApperti]

Amazing camera

[@karikaru]

Z8 is excellent but it's also $4k making it out of reach for the vast majority of us. The s5iix was on sale for under $2k. I think as low as 1800 this winter season. Is the z8 worth that much more? Sure to some people, but your average creator/low budget pro/enthusiast isn't dropping that kind of money on a body. The s5iix isn't just impressive for its performance, it's impressive for making that level of production capabilities accessible to your typical prosumer shooter.

[@MARZILLI]

How can you choose BEST hybrid of YEAR and NOT try the Nikon Z8? Come on Staleman…

[@stalman]

I haven’t even watched a video about the Z8, I just know nothing about it

[@Kiywii]

@@stalman it’d be interesting to see you pick it up for a video or two

[@heyheyhey520]

I would like Chris and Jordan to be actual friends to make my life have more hope.

[@thatjordandrake]

We're friends! My job would be unendurable if we weren't!

[@craigcarlson4022]

Jordan picks “Past Lives”?! I’ve hesitated to watch it…Who needs a reminder of lost love? But ok, i’ll reconsider it.

[@thatjordandrake]

The premise might sound depressing, but the film definitely isn't.

[@craigcarlson4022]

@@thatjordandrake Ok, we’ll check it out. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@steveschnetzler5471]

"self loathing is for 2024", what a thought to leave on.

[@sureshmoolgavkar720]

I have enjoyed watching Chris Nicolls and Jordan Drake for years. However, in a show like this one, it is incumbent upon the hosts to do their homework. Jordan chooses the Leica Q3 as his favorite photography camera and appears to be unaware of the one strike against it, the lack of internal memory (unlike its new M siblings)? Tyler picks the new GFX 100 as his favorite camera, but complains about the weight of medium format lenses? And Jordan does not even mention the Hasselblad X2D, which he reviewed about a year ago? With its dynamic range, color rendition, superb IBIS, lightweight XCD V lenses, flash sync up to 1/4000 second with some of these lenses, face detect autofocus with the recent firmware update, how was it not even mentioned as a compelling alternative to Fuji as a photography camera? I stopped watching at this point. How can we trust that these awards have been given after careful consideration? If the Hasselblad was discussed after I stopped watching, my apologies.

[@stalman]

Sorry to let you down! But I don’t think there’s much to “trust” in the opinions we’re giving. It’s just our favorite stuff that we used and not many people use literally every camera in a year

[@thatjordandrake]

The Hassie came out in 2022, and I didn't actually love it that much.

[@sureshmoolgavkar720]

Apologies, I appear to have touched a nerve. I know these are not comprehensive or comparative reviews. Tyler, you were complaining about the weight of the Fuji lenses. The new V lenses from Hasselblad clearly address that problem and therefore offer a compelling alternative at least for photography. For me, Hasselblad offers the best option for handheld medium-format photography. Anyway, don't take a curmudgeon like me too seriously. I like your channel. @@stalman

[@sureshmoolgavkar720]

You are right, of course, but many of the deficiencies were addressed in the latest firmware upgrade in 2023. I thought that the Hasselblad at least deserved a mention in light of Tyler's lament about the weight of the Fuji lenses. @@thatjordandrake

[@KissFilmNc]

Why making this so long 😅

[@stalman]

It’s how long the podcast has always been 🤗