Cameras just like the Fujifilm X100VI have pushed the retro look into the highlight, however simply how stylish is that old-school look? A just lately revealed listing of product design award winners has retro-inspired cameras outnumbering the high-end shooters.
The IF Design Award winners, introduced earlier this month, is basically dominated by retro-styled cameras just like the Fujifilm X100VI and Pentax 17, but additionally contains cameras just like the Sony A9 III, Canon EOS R1, Nikon Z6 III and even the DJI Osmo Pocket 3.
The IF Design Awards is an annual contest that goals to acknowledge excellence in product design, amongst different design classes. The listing of annual winners at all times contains quite a lot of completely different cameras, and 2025 is not any exception.
To be thought-about, the cameras have to launch inside a sure timeframe, which excludes older fashions from the earnings. Entries into the competition are paid, which regularly means smaller manufacturers aren’t within the working for the awards.
Fujifilm
Fujifilm garnered eight of the sixteen awarded stills cameras on the listing – a key participant within the retro digicam design craze and one of many key causes that the retro design outnumbers different cameras within the awards.
Each the unique Fujifilm X100VI and the ninetieth anniversary restricted version is on the listing, together with the X-M5 and the X-T50. The moment movie cameras Instax Extensive 400, Mini 99 and Mini LiPlay additionally earned design awards, together with the ninetieth anniversary version of the Instax Mini Evo (the Instax Mini Hyperlink 3 printer scooped an award as effectively). The medium format Fujifilm GFX 100S II additionally earned an IF Design Award for 2025.
However past precise merchandise, Fujifilm’s Movie Simulations additionally earned an IF Design Award for the second yr in a row. These have now been round for 20 years, however 2024 introduced introductions just like the Reala Ace shade profile and the devoted Movie Simulation dial on the X-T50.
Fujifilm’s listing of winners for the 2025 awards additionally contains the Fujinon GF 500mm f/5.6 LM OIS WR and XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR II.
Canon
Canon’s flagship EOS R1 garnered an IF Design Award for 2025. The 2024 launch embodies Canon’s top-of-the-line action-oriented options, together with a quick autofocus and 40fps burst, together with usability options like eye management and weather-sealing.
However Canon’s high-end mannequin geared in direction of excessive decision additionally earned honors. The Canon EOS R5 Mark II can also be on the listing of 2025 winners, with its 45MP sensor, 8K video, eye management and predictive autofocus.
For lenses, the Canon RF 10-20mm f/4 L IS STM and RF 24-105mm f/2.8 L IS USM Z additionally earned honors.
Canon additionally gained an IF Gold Award – the best honor within the competitors – however for the gear that manufactures sensors and semiconductors quite than for a digicam itself. The Canon AX07 earned the gold for maximizing effectivity and lowering energy and water consumption together with the “playful geometry of this design.”
Sony
For Sony, the high-end A9 III is the model’s solely stills digicam on the listing, with the Sony PXW-Z200 camcorder and Burano interchangeable lens cinema digicam additionally earned design awards. The Sony A9 III’s distinctive characteristic is its world shutter, which not solely helps remove distortion however allows flash images past conventional flash sync limits.
Nikon
The only Nikon digicam on the IF Design Awards listing for 2025 is the Nikon Z6 III. The third iteration within the Z6 sequence brings some of the high-end efficiency of the Z8 and Z9 right into a mid-tier digicam with a cheaper price and smaller physique dimension. The digicam’s IF Award web page notes the Z6 II’s high-speed taking pictures and 6K 60p RAW video.
Panasonic
Each Panasonic’s high-end full-frame digicam and budget-minded fashions have made the 2025 IF Design Award listing. The newly launched Panasonic Lumix S1R II is acknowledged for the options crammed inside a nonetheless pretty compact physique. The award additionally notes the battery grip with a structure that “creates a way of unity” with the digicam itself.
The Panasonic Lumix S9 additionally took an award, however one that appears at not simply the digicam. As a substitute, the S9’s award is predicated on how the digicam, the equipment lens, and the Lumix Lab construct a brand new expertise for on a regular basis customers that take pleasure in sharing photos on social media. The award notes the digicam’s compact design and the customized colours enabled within the app.
The Panasonic Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro additionally obtained an IF Design Award.
Video and drones
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 arguably has probably the most uncommon design for a digicam, however the gimbal-camera machine earned an IF Design Award for its secure video setup and the flexibility tho simply change from horizontal to vertical.
The Blackmagic Pyxis 6K earned the Gold Award for its mixture of compact, customizable design and worth. The award organizers stated that the digicam “has revolutionized and democratized the cinema digicam market by producing a Hollywood-grade digicam at a low worth.”
The HooverAir X1 Professional and Professional Max drones, together with a controller designed for use with one hand or two, additionally earned honors within the annual contest. (As famous above, the Sony PXW-Z200 camcorder and Burano interchangeable lens cinema digicam additionally earned awards.)
View the full listing of award winners on the IF Design Award web site.
You might also like
Browse the finest retro cameras or the finest mirrorless cameras.