Gear of the Month | June 2024

Alright, alright. You [the camera industry] like releasing loads of cameras in quick succession making it difficult for us to choose. Yes, it’s been a busy couple of months—too much to cover everything in this single article—so we’ll be looking at the very top-line products to be released this month. We have camera releases from Nikon, Canon and Panasonic; a film camera from Pentax(?!) and lenses from Canon and Sigma.

Whatever next? Well, I suppose we’ll eagerly wait to see what comes over the next few months. But in the meantime, let’s look at all the releases from June.

This is one of the big ones. The release of the Nikon Z6 III was highly anticipated. To avoid the inevitable leaks that plague camera launches, Nikon took it into their own hands to “leak” the news itself with some exciting social media posts. Naturally, this brought the excitement to boiling point; after all, this was one of Nikon’s most anticipated cameras ever. 

So, what’s the hype about? The Z6 III aims to be the new gold standard of mid-range cameras; targeting enthusiasts and pros with the very best features and tech but at a more affordable price. It inherited the AF system and Expeed 7 speed from its Z8 and Z9 siblings, along with 6K RAW video in-camera, a newly designed bright high-res EVF and 120 fps burst speeds. Perhaps the biggest headline is the new “partially stacked CMOS sensor” packing 24.5 megapixels. It's this that drives most of its innovation, providing multiple high-speed processing circuits stacked in layers above and below the photosensitive layer of the sensor; it’s a world-first. The partial stack allows the Z6 III to get closer to the quality of its Z8/9 siblings while remaining in that mid-range price bracket. 

One other, perhaps unexpected camera launch came from Pentax - a film camera, no less. That’s right, we knew film was making an almighty comeback but we didn’t expect a new, modern film camera. And this one has a twist. This film camera is a half-frame 35mm film camera, using standard 35mm film but splitting each frame into two images. That means you’re getting 72 images instead of the standard 36 from a single roll. 

It’s quite a pretty camera as cameras go. Sure, there are countless unwanted second-hand cameras out there, all with their unique charms and foibles, inside and out. But this new camera has its own charm and a beautiful finish akin to all Pentax cameras. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, and it will make you work for your images e.g. there’s no AF or manual exposure. And of course, while film is more available now than it has been in years, it still is often out of stock, expensive and then you have to get it developed. But that’s film photography for you. It’s an interesting camera to release and we’ll be eager to see the photos people will take with it. 

The first prime lens of a new line of lenses for full-frame R mount cameras that are optimised for both photo and video shooting. What does that mean? It means that this lens has more video-centric features in addition to the standard stills features such as an always declicked aperture ring; allowing for smooth exposure adjustments without the judder of aperture changes on standard lenses. It also has minimal focus breathing, is fully autofocusing and features a rear filter holder.

Looking at this lens more generally, its features sort of speak for themselves. It has a wide and bridge f1.4 aperture that gives beautiful bokeh without loss of sharpness and it's impressively compact and lightweight. Now, this lens isn’t stabilised and while that’s a shame, its aperture combined with its compact nature means it shouldn't be an issue if shooting handheld.