Top-of-the-line image-making equipment for the pros made a splash at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. This is the gear pro photographers will be drooling for this year.
Every company in the image-making category at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) showed off impressive new pro-level gear. At the same time, there was little in the way of new entry-level photography gear. That’s because many consumers are trading traditional point-and-shoots or entry-level cameras for impressive offerings right on cellphones.
But as a professional photographer, I was excited to get my hands on the latest and greatest from the industry’s top companies. Here are five new pieces of pro photography gear that I’d sell a kidney for in 2020 (and might need to in order to afford them).
Canon EOS-1D X Mark III Camera
The latest flagship DSLR from Canon is an impressive pro workhorse. This big, burly camera can shoot at 20 frames per second in Live View, with a continuous burst of over 1,000 images. That can capture a lot of action! The camera also offers sharper images with less noise, an even better autofocus system, 4K 60fps video, and so much more.
If you’re not a pro user, you might laugh at the only 20.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor. The reality is that it’s the perfect sensor size to capture impressive, crystal-clear images. Lesser cameras with bigger megapixel sensors in the 35mm format are mostly about marketing hype over usable image quality.
The Canon EOS-1D X Mark III will be available in February 2020 and set you back $6,499.
Nikkor 120-300mm f/2.8E FL ED SR VR Lens
Sports, wildlife, and portrait photographers are more than a little excited about the latest professional super-telephoto lens from Nikon. This new F-mount, full-frame Nikon DSLR lens has a massive zoom range of 120-300 mm at a constant super-fast f/2.8 aperture.
On top of those impressive specs, this new lens also has built-in stabilization that’s good for the equivalent of four stops of light. This all equates to being able to capture sharp images of faraway action, even in low-light situations, and even handheld.
This lens is also completely weather-sealed and designed to handle the abuses of shooting sports and wildlife action out in the field. This lens is not small or light, however. It’s 12 inches long, 5.1 inches wide, and weighs a whopping 7.2 pounds. Don’t forget the monopod!
The big Nikkor 120-300 F/2.8E FL ED SR VR lens will be available in February 2020 for $9,500.
Zero Zero Robotics V-Coptr Falcon Drone
The V-Coptr Falcon, be Zero Zero Robotics, is the world’s first consumer bicopter drone. The V-shaped dual-rotor design is very different than the quad-rotor design we’re used to with photography drones.
The big advantage of this new design is efficiency. The V-Coptr Falcon can fly up to 50 minutes on a single charge. For comparison, the industry-leader DJI Mavic Pro quadcopter only has a 27-minute flight time.
You can order your own V-Coptr Falcon drone today for $999, with deliveries starting in February 2020.
If you’re looking for something smaller and less expensive, stay tuned. Zero Zero showed off the Project D 249g micro-drone concept, also with 50-minute flight time capabilities and two-rotor design, at CES.
Seagate One Touch SSD Sam Larson Edition Harddrive
The Seagate One Touch SSD Sam Larson edition packs the latest solid-state harddrive tech into a tiny little portable package adorned with some awesome artwork. The drive comes in 500GB and 1TB sizes and is the ultimate way to store your valuable images and files while on the go.
The Sam Larson Edition Seagate One Touch SSD harddrive will start shipping soon and cost around $85 for the 500GB and $165 for the 1TB model.
Peak Design Carbon Travel Tripod
We got our hands on an early sample of the truly innovative Peak Design Carbon Travel Tripod last summer. You can read our first impressions here: “Peak Design Travel Tripod Lives Up to the Hype: Review.”
This tripod is crazy-light, at only 2.81 pounds, and crazy-small, with a collapsed size of only 15.4 x 3.125 inches. It’s also extremely versatile, designed for professional use, and quick and easy to deploy. One of my favorite features is the small built-in smartphone tripod mount.
The Peak Design Carbon Travel tripod was a massive Kickstarter success. While the Kickstarter backers will be getting their tripods soon, we’ll have to wait until March to buy one for ourselves. The carbon tripod will set you back $600.
