Top 5 SLR cameras of 2015 | Articles | Photo, video, optics

We present to your atten­tion a selec­tion of the most inter­est­ing SLR cam­eras released in 2015. In this arti­cle, we will tell you about the most inter­est­ing new prod­ucts of this year, regard­less of the cam­era cat­e­go­ry, its cost and brand. The selec­tion includes cam­eras that have impor­tant inno­va­tions in their cat­e­go­ry, inter­est­ing tech­nolo­gies, cam­eras that rep­re­sent the “peo­ple’s brand” and those that set a new bar.

It is worth not­ing that 2015 was rich in pre­mieres in the world of SLR cam­eras. Many lines have received decent devel­op­ment, new series of cam­eras have appeared, and old cam­eras have come out in a new shell. And now about every­thing in more detail.

Canon EOS 750D and 760D

The first ama­teur cam­eras that changed the 18-megapix­el matrix to 24. 750D and 760D are a wor­thy evo­lu­tion­ary devel­op­ment of Canon’s ama­teur line with the new Dig­ic 6 proces­sor. In this rat­ing, we decid­ed to note 2 cam­eras at once, in one posi­tion. We did­n’t do it by acci­dent. Canon gave them the same basic spec­i­fi­ca­tions:

• CMOS sen­sor, 24 megapix­els (APS‑C)
• Dig­ic 6 proces­sor
• Sen­si­tiv­i­ty ISO 100 — 12800, extend­ed mode up to 25600
• Focus­ing on 19 cross sen­sors
• Shut­ter speed range 1/4000 — 30 s
• Con­tin­u­ous shoot­ing 5 fps

But Canon made an unusu­al move by mak­ing the 750D more aimed at ama­teur pho­tog­ra­phers and the 760D at more advanced users, adding a work­ing screen on top and an addi­tion­al con­trol ring, which is nec­es­sary for the com­fort of pho­tog­ra­phers who use non-auto modes more often. As a result, we have one fill­ing and 2 cam­eras that will suit both those who want to shoot in the “auto” mode and those who move on.

Why was ranked

Unusu­al deci­sion by Canon to release 2 dif­fer­ent cam­eras with the same stuff, which makes the cam­era inter­est­ing for both ama­teurs and those who are seri­ous­ly into pho­tog­ra­phy. Also, the cam­eras were award­ed a place in the TOP‑5 in terms of the com­bi­na­tion of char­ac­ter­is­tics that allow you to take decent pho­tos and expand the bound­aries of ama­teur cam­eras.

For whom

For every­one: from those who took a SLR cam­era for the first time — 750D, to those who are already tak­ing a step towards pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phy — 760D.

Read our Canon EOS 750D and 760D review.

Nikon D5500

An excel­lent light­weight (only 470 g) SLR cam­era from Nikon with a 24 megapix­el res­o­lu­tion matrix. Although the Nikon D5500 is an evo­lu­tion­ary devel­op­ment of the D5x00 series, it still made a tech­no­log­i­cal break­through. The main fea­ture of this cam­era is the touch screen! Yes! Nikon did it!

We also want to note its amaz­ing bal­ance. Name­ly, a good res­o­lu­tion of the matrix, an excel­lent ser­i­al shoot­ing speed of 5 fps for its lev­el, the abil­i­ty to record video at 1920x1080 60 fps, a fast Expeed 4 proces­sor, 39 aut­o­fo­cus points, excel­lent work­ing ISO from 100 to 3200 (do not take into account for­mal num­bers). And the price — for this cam­era, it is very attrac­tive to a large audi­ence, which will make it “folk”.

Why was ranked

Touch screen, amaz­ing ergonom­ics and val­ue for mon­ey.

For whom

The cam­era is suit­able for most pho­tog­ra­phers: ama­teurs, as well as those who begin their pro­fes­sion­al jour­ney in pho­tog­ra­phy. With its weight, bal­ance and price, the cam­era will seri­ous­ly com­pete with both pow­er­ful mir­ror­less cam­eras and all ama­teur-lev­el SLR cam­eras. And in almost all respects, the Nikon D5500 will be bet­ter.

Pentax K‑3 II

A good cam­era, prov­ing that not only Nikon and Canon can make good SLRs. The cam­era is posi­tioned as “for trav­el”, and, accord­ing­ly, it is made tak­ing into account the fact that it will always be there in any con­di­tions.

So what’s inside:

• Rugged com­pact water­proof hous­ing
• 24.35 megapix­el CMOS sen­sor
• The next gen­er­a­tion of Shake Reduc­tion
• Con­tin­u­ous shoot­ing 8.3 fps
• Fast and accu­rate aut­o­fo­cus SAFOX 11
• Unique opti­cal-mechan­i­cal smooth­ing fil­ter
• Full HD and 4K movie shoot­ing, man­u­al expo­sure set­tings

The main fea­ture of the Pen­tax K‑3 II is the Pix­el Shift Res­o­lu­tion Sys­tem tech­nol­o­gy. It allows you to shoot 4 pho­tos of the same scene, shift­ing the matrix by one pix­el when shoot­ing each new image, in order to syn­chro­nize it into one final image. The new sys­tem allows each pix­el to receive real data about each of the three basic col­ors, which can sig­nif­i­cant­ly increase image detail, real res­o­lu­tion, improve col­or tran­si­tions and the col­ors them­selves, espe­cial­ly at high ISOs.

Read our Pen­tax K‑3 II review.

Why was ranked

Inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy: Pix­el Shift Res­o­lu­tion Sys­tem.

For whom

Ide­al for advanced hob­by­ists and trav­el­ers. The cam­era allows you to take good tech­ni­cal pho­tos. Ide­al for trav­el and out­door pho­tog­ra­phy.

Nikon D7200

Fur­ther devel­op­ment of the D7x00 series. SLR cam­era from the semi-pro­fes­sion­al cat­e­go­ry. Anoth­er very bal­anced cam­era from Nikon. The D7200 has all the advan­tages of its pre­de­ces­sor, the D7100. The cam­era has a mag­ne­sium-plas­tic body, dust and mois­ture pro­tec­tion, con­tin­u­ous shoot­ing at 6 fps, video record­ing at 1920x1080 60 fps, and a shut­ter speed of up to 1/8000. Nikon D7200 received a new Expeed 4 proces­sor, extend­ed ISO up to 25600, soft­ware up to 102400. The cam­era also received more opti­mized pow­er con­sump­tion, which increased the frame mar­gin from 1 bat­tery by 300–350 and amount­ed to 1100 pho­tos.

Why was ranked

By the com­bi­na­tion of char­ac­ter­is­tics. A wor­thy con­tin­u­a­tion of semi-pro­fes­sion­al high-qual­i­ty pho­to­graph­ic equip­ment. In all respects, it has become a lit­tle bet­ter than its pre­de­ces­sor, due to which it has become inac­ces­si­ble in terms of its para­me­ters to oth­er cam­eras of the same seg­ment.

For whom

Nikon D7200 is suit­able for those who no longer shoot in auto mode, for advanced pho­tog­ra­phers and video­g­ra­phers, and also as a sec­ond cam­era for pro­fes­sion­als. The cam­era has a wide range of capa­bil­i­ties, with it you can do high-qual­i­ty work in any shoot­ing con­di­tions. Togeth­er with a good lens, the Nikon D7200 will be an excel­lent tool for both cre­ativ­i­ty and mon­ey mak­ing.

Canon EOS 5DS and 5DSR

Bomb 2015 from Canon. Great cam­eras with 50-megapix­el sen­sors, 5DSR for stu­dio pho­tog­ra­phy, 5DS for out­door shoot­ing. And again 2 cam­eras in one posi­tion from Canon. The only dif­fer­ence between the mod­els is that the Canon EOS 5DS has a low pass fil­ter, while the Canon 5DSR does not. These cam­eras are rather nar­row-pro­file, but in their seg­ment they are designed to squeeze out medi­um for­mat cam­eras, which they suc­cess­ful­ly cope with due to the equal qual­i­ty of pho­tos and 2–3 times low­er cost.

What makes these cam­eras new lead­ers in their seg­ment?

• New 50.6MP full-frame CMOS sen­sor
• Proces­sors Dual DIGIC 6 Image
• EOS Scene Detec­tion Sys­tem includ­ing 150,000-pixel RGB + IR meter­ing sen­sor
• 61-point aut­o­fo­cus includ­ing 41 cross-type points
• Improved mir­ror con­trol mech­a­nism, togeth­er with the shut­ter delay func­tion, helps to reduce cam­era shake and reduce the num­ber of blur­ry images.
• Anti-flick­er func­tion
• Built-in inter­val­ome­ter and Bulb mode
• Near­ly 100% scene cov­er­age Intel­li­gent Viewfind­er II

Why was ranked

For stun­ning cam­era per­for­mance for full-frame SLRs, includ­ing a record-break­ing 50 megapix­els. For chal­leng­ing the medi­um for­mat.

For whom

For pro­fes­sion­als.

It is interesting

Brikk has announced a Nikon Df kit with a Nikkor 14–24mm F2.8 lens. The set is fin­ished in 24 carat gold and tex­tured leather.

The nov­el­ty is still the same Nikon Df, but in a new shell. The cam­era is remark­able in that it has a very lim­it­ed edi­tion (only 77 copies) and, in fact, is a col­lec­tor’s item.

Why was ranked

Unique­ness.

For whom

For those whose bud­get exceeds the cost of the cam­era.