AP Awards 2023 - Professional Camera and Product of the Year 2023

Our Product of the Year 2023 has been selected from the winners of the kit awards in the AP Awards 2023! See the winner below…

It’s that time of year again, as the AP Awards 2023 are announced! As a weekly magazine Amateur Photographer tests more software and accessories than any other UK publication and our tests are widely respected around the world for their independence, quality and depth.

Consequently, the AP Awards, which have been an annual highlight in the photography calendar for over 40 years, are held in higher regard within the global camera industry than any other UK award.

The winner of Product of the Year 2023 has been selected from a broad range of products that are the most technologically advanced ever produced – we have been truly spoiled for choice when selecting our winner.

We described the winner as: “ridiculously impressive in almost every imaginable way, combining phenomenal image quality, extraordinary autofocus, and perhaps the best viewfinder and screen combination of any camera on the market.”

In a strong field that provided some very stiff competition this was not an easy decision, but in the end, the extraordinary capabilities of this camera make this our overall Product of the Year 2023. Find out more about it below

Product of the Year 2023

Sony Alpha A7R V

The Sony Alpha A7R V or Mark V, mid-testing by the AP review team. Photo credit: Andy Westlake

Sony’s high-resolution A7R-series cameras have become a firm favourite among professional and serious amateur photographers shooting subjects for which detail capture is paramount, such as portraits and landscapes. This fifth-generation model employs the same superb 61MP sensor as its predecessor, but almost every other aspect of its design has been improved. At £3999 body-only, it’s very expensive, but it turns out that you get what you pay for.

Core photographic specs include a standard sensitivity range of ISO 100-32,000; up to 10fps shooting with continuous AF; 693-point phase detection autofocus; and in-body image stabilisation rated for up to 8 stops of shake reduction. One really handy feature, given the sensor’s huge pixel count, is the ability to record raw files at 26MP or 15MP resolution. Video can be recorded in 8K at 24fps or 4K at 60fps, albeit with a 1.2x crop.

As with many other recent cameras, the A7R V boasts a sophisticated subject detection autofocus system, but here it’s powered by a new dedicated AI processing unit. It’s capable of recognising an unusually broad range of subjects, including humans, animals, birds, insects, cars, trains, and airplanes. It’s all very clever, and it works ridiculously well.

Sony Alpha A7R V – Refined design

Many aspects of the handing and operation have also been updated. It inherits the huge, highly detailed 9.44m-dot viewfinder previously seen in Sony’s Alpha 1 and A7S III. It also gains a new LCD design that combines tilting and fully articulating mechanisms, giving the best of both worlds. There are a few control layout updates brought over from the A7 IV, along with Sony’s latest touch interface and menu system.

As a result, the A7R V is a significant advance over its predecessor. It’s ridiculously impressive in almost every imaginable way, combining phenomenal image quality, extraordinary autofocus, and perhaps the best viewfinder and screen combination of any camera on the market. If your needs are tilted more towards image quality than speed, it has to be the best full-frame stills camera yet made.

This, ultimately, is what swayed us when it came to our awarding our biggest prize. The Fujifilm X-T5 provided stiff competition, offering a significant fraction of the capability for a much lower price. But in the end, the Sony Alpha A7R V’s extraordinary capabilities make it our overall Product of the Year.

Why we like it