The annual Best & Worst show has become a TCSTV tradition, and is always among our most popular shows. 2017 was a fascinating, often confusing year for the photo and video industries, so Chris Niccolls and I debated our list (especially best stills camera of the year) constantly, leading up to the shoot. We decided there was no way for us to cover everything interesting this year, so we asked some of our fellow YouTubers and photo press to give their thoughts as well.
This article, and the video, are provided by our friends at The Camera Store, and their excellent TheCameraStoreTV YouTube Channel, which we highly recommend you subscribe to. While on YouTube, also check out our channel.
The Best & Worst Photo & Video Gear Of 2017
This video is brought to you by our friends at TheCameraStoreTV
We chose to record this year’s episode in The Camera Store, not so much for aesthetic reasons, but rather so we didn’t have to drag $100,000 of winning (and losing) camera equipment to another location. Our co-workers Nicole Santerre and Kaitlyn Kerr shot the episode on a pair of Panasonic GH5s.
We learned a valuable lesson this year, as we recorded our audio into a pair of RØDE Filmmaker Lav kits into our A-cam. However, we had multiple takes where the A-cam audio was dropped for a variety of reasons (AA batteries, loose cables). I was initially not going to run an external mic into the B-cam, just using internal audio for sound sync, but cooler heads prevailed and we attached a RØDE VideoMic Pro + to the B-cam as well. This audio saved me when I began editing the episode and realized we had several takes missing any audio from the lab mics. Sure, the audio is noticeably worse on those clips, but it sure beats the hell out of what the internal mics would have sounded like.
The Best & Worst episode is always a lot of fun to shoot and edit, and this year was no exception. There was a lot of great gear and trends in 2017, and we had a lot of difficulty putting together our Worst Of lists. Hopefully, that continues rolling into 2018, where we have a lot of fun stuff planned for TCSTV!
Related Videos
The Nikon D850 won our Best Camera of 2017 award, by a hair. Chris and I felt that this is the finest DSLR ever produced, and can handle nearly any photographic challenge.
The Sony a7R III was our runner-up, and a much better camera for stills/video hybrid shooters. It addresses nearly every advantage of DSLRs over mirrorless, and Sony’s huge improvements in their lens lineup will probably lead a lot of pros in this direction.
Chris and I are huge fans of the Fujifilm X-T2, and we were incredibly impressed with how much of that camera’s DNA Fuji was able to cram into the little X-T20. It’s a nearly perfect compact, midrange mirrorless camera!
The Panasonic GH5 was unquestionably our choice for Video Camera of 2017. The great in-body image stabilization combines with a spectacular EVF and 10-bit recording to make this the best blend of portability and professional features on the market!
Required Reading
Digital Photo and Digital Photo Pro reviewed two of 2017’s hottest new cameras, the Sony a7R III and the Nikon D850.
