Best Cameras of 2023
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
The cameras of 2023, ranked by critic grade. Ten of the year's eleven reviews make the page, and the year belongs to flagship parts in smaller and cheaper bodies. Nikon put its entire flagship into a body a third smaller, Panasonic gave up on contrast autofocus, and DJI put a 1-inch sensor on a mechanical gimbal the size of a marker pen.
The Nikon Z8 is the year's one S: a 45.7MP stacked sensor, no mechanical shutter at all, 8K60 raw internal and pre-release capture, in a body two-thirds the size of the flagship it copies. Our critic says Nikon forgot to remove anything. The Panasonic Lumix S5 II follows, graded A, as the first Lumix with phase detection. The DJI Osmo Pocket 3, graded A, made vlogging cameras look silly. The Nikon Zf, Fujifilm X-S20 and Sony a9 III complete the A grades, the last carrying the first global shutter in a full-frame camera and the first honest bill for it.
The four B grades are about what was removed. The Canon EOS R8 reaches 1499 dollars by deleting stabilisation, the second card slot, the joystick and most of the battery. The Sony a6700 and Sony a7C II carry flagship autofocus, each held back by its viewfinder. The Canon EOS R50 has almost nowhere to go after the kit lens. A B here does not question sensor or autofocus, so weigh which deletion you can live with.
Nikon Z8Nikon put the entire Z9 into a body a third smaller and $1,500 cheaper, and forgot to remove anything.Read the review
Panasonic Lumix S5 IIPanasonic finally admitted contrast autofocus was a dead end, and the video camera it had been building all along came good.
DJI Osmo Pocket 3A one-inch sensor on a real mechanical gimbal, in something the size of a marker pen, and it made vlogging cameras look silly.
Nikon ZfRetro on the outside, the Z6 II's better self on the inside, and the first Nikon that felt like it was enjoying itself.
Fujifilm X-S20The Fujifilm for people who want the colours without the dials, and the best value in the range.
Sony a9 IIIThe first global shutter in a full-frame camera, and the first honest bill for what a global shutter costs.
Sony a6700Flagship autofocus for fourteen hundred dollars, in a body that still refuses to grow a decent viewfinder.
Canon EOS R8The R6 Mark II's sensor and autofocus in a body that gave up almost everything else to reach fifteen hundred dollars.
Sony a7C IIThe a7 IV's sensor and better autofocus in a body you will actually carry, seen through a viewfinder you will not enjoy.
Canon EOS R50A first camera with professional grade tracking, sold into a lens range that barely exists.