Nikon Z8 named camera of the year (but Sony, Canon and Fujifilm all win awards)

Nikon Z8
(Image credit: Nikon)

The Nikon Z8 has won the Camera of the Year trophy at the EISA Awards – presided over by the Expert Imaging & Sound Association. 

It marks the second time that a Nikon camera has won the award in recent years, with the Nikon Z6 picking up the gong in 2020. Notably, while Sony and Fujifilm have both won EISA Camera of the Year Awards, Canon never has. 

The award comes at a fortuitous time for the Nikon Z8, which has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately following two product recalls over manufacturing issues. 

While Nikon took home the most prestigious prize, it was Sony that had the heaviest trunkful of trophies after picking up five awards: Advanced Full-Frame Camera for the Sony A7R V and Content Creator Camera for the Sony ZV-E1, with the Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G winning Lens of the Year, the Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM getting Standard Prime Lens, and the Sony Xperia 1 V taking Multimedia Smartphone.

For Canon's part, it scored the Full-Frame Camera Award for the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, Best Buy Camera for the Canon EOS R8, and Telephoto Lens for the Canon RF 135mm f/1.8 L IS USM

Here's the full list of winners in the Photography category. To see all the winners across all groups, head to the EISA Awards website

The Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G won the EISA Lens of the Year Award (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

Canon
Canon EOS R6 Mark II – Full-Frame Camera
Canon EOS R8 – Best Buy Camera
Canon RF 135mm f/1.8 L IS USM – Telephoto Lens

Fujifilm
Fujifilm X-H2 – APS-C Camera

Nikon
Nikon Z8 – Camera of the Year
Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 S – Portrait Lens
Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S – Super-Telephoto Lens

OM System
OM System M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS Pro – Macro Lens

Panasonic
Panasonic Lumix S5 IIX – Video Camera

Sigma
Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sport – Super-Telephoto Zoom Lens

Sony
Sony A7R V – Advanced Full-Frame Camera
Sony ZV-E1– Content Creator Camera
Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G – Lens of the Year
Sony FE 50mm f/1.4 GM – Standard Prime Lens
Sony Xperia 1 V – Multimedia Smartphone

Tamron
Tamron 20-40mm f/2.8 Di III VXD – Wideangle Zoom Lens
Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD – Telephoto Zoom Lens

Is the Z8 really the best mirrorless camera? Check out the best Nikon cameras to see how they stack up to the best Sony cameras and the best Canon cameras!

James Artaius
Editor

James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.