The Best of Photokina 2016

Hundreds of products were launched at Photokina this year. These are our favorites.

COLOGNE—Photokina served as a launchpad for products that ran the gamut this year, including retro chic instant cameras, a new mirrorless medium format system, GoPro's first drone, and Nikon's entry into the action cam market. But not everything that's announced qualifies for our best of list. Read on for our favorite new wares.

Best Camera: Fujifilm GFX 50SWithout a doubt, the star of the show is the Fujifilm GFX 50S, a medium format mirrorless camera that's set to ship next year. The 51MP mirrorless body is about the same size as a full-frame SLR, with a sensor that's much larger in surface area. Both its rear LCD and removable viewfinder can tilt in various directions when coupled with an optional adapter, a plus for photographers working from angles close to the ground or for framing a shot in a tight area. Pricing has not yet been set, but Fujifilm hopes to sell the camera, bundled with a standard-angle lens, for "way under" $10,000.

Best Mirrorless Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark IIYes, the GFX 50S is mirrorless, but its medium format sensor puts it in a very high-end class. Mere mortals are more likely to buy the OM-D E-M1 Mark II. It's a big step forward for Micro Four Thirds and for Olympus, delivering the fastest shooting rate with subject tracking out there—up to 18fps—and a mode in which it can shoot at 60fps with fixed focus and exposure. And yes, it does that in full resolution, Raw, or JPG format. It ships in 2017, but pricing hasn't yet been set.

Best SLR: Sony Alpha 99 IIHigh resolution? Yep. High frame rate? Yep. The Alpha 99 II is the first full-frame SLR that Sony has released in some time, but it's a huge upgrade over the Alpha 99. It captures images at 42MP resolution at up to 12fps with full tracking thanks to a hybrid system that includes a dedicated phase detect focus sensor and on-sensor phase detect pixels. Add 4K video, a really crisp EVF, and an 8fps mode that minimizes finder blackout when shooting in burst mode, and Sony has a camera that will make action shooters quite happy. It ships in November and is priced at $3,199 as a body only.

Best Compact Camera: Panasonic DMC-LX10Panasonic walks away with this one, simply because there aren't a lot of other pocket cameras debuting at the show. It's a dwindling market at the low end of the cost spectrum, but high-end models like the LX10, which features a 20MP 1-inch sensor and an 24-72mm f/1.4-2.8 zoom lens, are more and more plentiful. Sony has dominated our reviews and ratings for this type of camera since the release of the groundbreaking RX100, so any additional competition in the space is a welcome thing for consumers. The LX10 ships in November and is priced around $799.

Best Action Cam: Nikon KeyMission 360First teased at CES, the KeyMission 360 is the premium model in Nikon's new line of small video cameras. It's a dual-lens model that's dedicated to 360-degree video capture. The KM360's neatest trick is that it stitches the 4K footage together in camera, so you won't have to spend time converting it on a computer before editing. There is one sticking point, though—the KeyMission 360 can record spherical footage only; there's no way to utilize a single lens and use it as a more traditional 16:9 camcorder. It's priced at $499.95 and will ship in October.

Best Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm f1.2 PROStandard angle, wide aperture, sign me up. Micro Four Thirds shooters have long had to deal with the lack of autofocus lenses with ultra-fast f-stops. Full-frame cameras with 50mm f/1.4 lenses are able to blur backgrounds more significantly when framing up similar shots. But you'll be able to get quite close to the look of a full-frame fast 50mm lens with the 25mm f1.2 PRO from Olympus. It's on the bulky side, but offers full weather sealing, a manual focus clutch, and optics that Olympus promises will capture images that are crisp from edge to edge, even when shooting at f/1.2. The lens ships in October for $1,199.99.

Best Drone: GoPro KarmaI didn't get a chance to actually fly the Karma, which is on display to the public for the first time here at Photokina, but PCMag's Tom Brant took it up in the air at a press event in California. The drone has a folding design and can easily fit into a backpack, a big plus for GoPro owners who are used to packing a light kit and going to out-of-the-way places to capture footage. The biggest barrier to its success in the market may be the price—at $799 without a camera, it has some pretty formidable competition from DJI models with built-in cameras. But the Karma wins on portability, and a remote control with a built-in display means that you don't have to make sure that your phone battery is charged to fly it.

Source: The Best of Photokina 2016