Community Voices: Crowning the Year’s Top Photography Equipment
The voting has concluded, and the photography community has spoken. DPReview’s 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards showcase the imaging products that genuinely resonated with photographers throughout the year. After enthusiasts cast their ballots for standout cameras and lenses debuted in 2025, the category winners advanced to a final showdown determining the ultimate Product of the Year.
Third Place: Sony FE 50-150mm F2 GM
Capturing 13.8% of the final vote tally, the Sony FE 50-150mm F2 GM claims the third-place podium position. This optic’s ascent to the top tier shouldn’t surprise industry observers, given its earlier triumph as Best Zoom Lens in the 2025 competition. The telephoto’s standout credentials—a luminous f/2 aperture paired with an expansive 50-150mm focal range—deliver exceptional subject separation and versatile compositional flexibility. Remarkably compact for its capabilities, this lens balances professional-grade performance with everyday portability. Industry insiders anticipate strong adoption rates, positioning it among Sony’s most sought-after optics for years ahead.
Pricing: $3,998 (Amazon, B&H Photo)
Runner-Up: Sony a7 V
The Sony a7 V secured second place with an impressive 19.5% voter support, particularly noteworthy considering its late-2025 announcement that nearly disqualified it from eligibility. This mirrorless body demonstrates meaningful evolutionary progress from its predecessor, featuring a redesigned 33-megapixel partially-stacked sensor with 14-bit color depth accessible even during aggressive 30fps burst sequences. Enhanced autofocus algorithms represent Sony’s most advanced tracking technology within the a7 series ecosystem. Additional highlights include pre-capture buffer functionality, substantially refined video engineering delivering 4K/60p reconstruction from 7K source material, and surprisingly robust dynamic range retention despite the sensor architecture. Photography professionals universally recognize this model as Sony’s upcoming flagship for enthusiast-level practitioners seeking production-ready capabilities.
Pricing: $2,898 (Amazon, Adorama, B&H Photo)
Champion: Nikon Z5II Claims Victory
Nikon’s Z5II emerges triumphant, marking the company’s third consecutive year dominating this prestigious recognition. Following 2023’s Z8 and 2024’s Z6III victories, Nikon continues demonstrating manufacturing excellence and market-responsive design philosophy. Most impressively, the Z5II executed a comprehensive awards sweep across multiple DPReview categories simultaneously. Beyond today’s readers’ choice accolade, it previously garnered Best Enthusiast Camera recognition in DPReview’s institutional awards and claimed the Best Camera title in this year’s readers’ balloting—an unprecedented trifecta.
The Z5II’s dominance stems primarily from exceptional value proposition rather than revolutionary specifications. The body delivers excellent optical and video performance, incorporates stabilization technology, deploys Nikon’s cutting-edge autofocus intelligence, and maintains the brand’s legendary ergonomic legacy. Most notably, Nikon priced it aggressively—low enough to prompt skepticism about potential compromises that simply don’t materialize. As DPReview’s comprehensive evaluation concluded: most photographers require nothing more.
Pricing: $1,596 (Amazon, Adorama, B&H Photo)
These selections reflect genuine community sentiment regarding 2025’s most accomplished imaging equipment, balancing innovation, performance, and practical value.