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B&H Photography Podcast

2024 Photo Gear of the Year with Kevin Rickert

B&H Photography Podcast

Jill Waterman

Podcast, Photography, Arts, Visual Arts, Bh, Photo

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2024

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Well, 2024 has certainly come and gone in a flash, meaning it’s time once again for us to reflect on new photo offerings in our annual Cameras of the Year episode, now renamed Photo Gear of the Year. Featured in our discussion are new releases from Canon, FUJIFILM, Leica, Mint, Nikon, OM SYSTEM, Panasonic, Ricoh Pentax, and Sony.

In the words of our recurring guest, Kevin Rickert, B&H’s Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting, “Everything old is new again” at least when it comes to this year’s most sought-after camera releases. A penchant for pocketable, fixed lens cameras led us to organize our camera offerings by type rather than in an alphabetical laundry list. Along with debating the current craze for “the digicam look,” we consider whether manufacturers will respond to consumers’ increasing appetite for midrange point and shoots.

After the break, we shift to the newest crop of flagship cameras that are built for speed, while also discussing notable updates to other new releases. We also shed light on the essential role served by firmware updates, both in trimming a new camera’s time to market and allowing you to get more out of the camera you already have. As Kevin points out, “It's an important part of having a camera. Much like if you have a car, you need to get oil changes.”

We wrap things up with some predictions for 2025, including Kevin’s hopes for a continued resurgence of point and shoot models, plus some intriguing new photo accessories that caught his eye this year. Stay to the end to learn about the inventive new Fjordan camera control for the iPhone, recently acquired by Leica.

Guest: Kevin Rickert

Episode Timeline

2:30: Kevin Rickert’s role as a B&H sales trainer for photography and lighting.

9:34: What camera stood out the most this year: FUJIFILM X100VI

18:02: Ricoh GR III HDF / Ricoh GR IIIx

20:00: Nostalgia for midrange point and shoots and the digicam look

29:36: Leica D-Lux 8

31:42: Leica Q3 43

35:52: Fujifilm X-T50 (a baby Fujifilm X-T5)
37:30: Fujifilm X-M5

41:54: Pentax 17

48:52: Mint Camera Rollei 35AF

 

51:17: Episode break

 

52:22: Canon EOS R1
55:50: Sony a1 II

59:31: OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark II
1:02:35: Nikon Z6 III
1:05:48: Canon EOS R5 Mark II

1:14:40: Leica SL III

1:17:55: FUJIFILM GFX 100 SII

1:20:31: Nikon Z 50 II

1:21:28: Sony ZV-E10 II

1:23:19: Panasonic Lumix S9

1:27:19: Kevin’s predictions for 2025

1:33:36: Peakto Image Management Software

1:35:06: Capture One 16.5 with Match Look

1:35:49: Fjordan iPhone camera grip

 

Guest Bio:

Kevin Rickert is B&H Photo’s Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting. It’s Kevin’s job to keep in touch with camera and lens manufacturers and get details about all the latest releases and updates. His role is to make sure the world-renowned B&H staff has all the information to answer your who, what, why, and other questions that you may ask, so they can satisfy all your wants and needs.

Born and raised in New York, Kevin is an intrepid street photographer, an avid traveler, and a baseball fan with 22 years in electronic retail, the last 10 of which have been spent as a sales trainer at B&H.

 

Stay Connected:

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This week's episode is sponsored by Lyca.

0:03.2

You're listening to the B&H Photography Podcast.

0:06.2

For 50 years, B&H has been the professional source for photography, video, audio, and more.

0:12.4

For your favorite gear, news, and reviews, visit us at B&H.com or download the B&H app to your iPhone or Android device.

0:19.9

Now here's your host, Alan White's.

0:24.0

Greetings and welcome to the B&H Photography Podcast. My name is Alan White's. And I'm Jill Waterman.

0:30.7

And as always, our audio engineer Mike Weinstein will no doubt be chiming with a question

0:35.2

or two of his own along the way. While December's pale light and chilly breezes can limit great photo ops, at least when

0:42.1

it comes to the Northern Hemisphere, this time of the year we get just thinking about presenting

0:46.3

our annual photo gear of the year show now in its ninth edition.

0:50.5

And by the way, I happen to notice that copies of our first three gear of the year shows

0:55.0

recently sold on eBay for $7,000. If you have copies, keep them in a cool, dark place because

1:01.0

they're getting hotter than crypto coins. Trust me on this one. Anyway, this year we're taking a novel

1:06.8

approach. We're going to ditch the A to Z laundry list in favor of a more dynamic flow of notable

1:12.0

cameras from 2024 based on the buzz generated by you, the consumer, and grouped by general

1:19.0

camera type. We're hoping this structure will allow you to better compare the features offered

1:23.8

by various brands when considering available options for upgrading your gear.

1:32.6

Additionally, we're starting to show with a little peek behind the scenes in the life of a B&H sales trainer and the role he plays in helping sales team members to better serve our customers.

1:37.5

Finally, for those of you who are curious about what the future may bring, at the end of the

1:41.9

show, we'll bring some photo gear predictions for 2025. For informed insights about all of the above, we welcome as our recurring guest, Kevin Rickert,

1:51.8

B&H Photo Senior Sales Trainer for Photography and Lighting. It's Kevin's job to collaborate

1:57.0

with camera and lens manufacturers to create curriculum for training B&H's

...

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