This list might surprise you. It surprised me, anyway. It includes a whole bunch of cameras I still think of as being like, well, new(ish) but when you check the dates it turns out they’ve been around longer than we think.
2020: Cameras that feel current but have been around for SIX YEARS
This is a short list because we’re going back a few years now, and I think there are a few of cameras that might surprise you. Here are two – the Nikon Z6 II and Z7 II. Now the Z6 II is stuck in a bit of a limbo because the newer Z6 III and Z5 II are simply better, but the Nikon Z7 II is still on sale and still the cheapest way to get 45MP in a modern mirrorless camera. If all you want is. resolution, you don’t need the Nikon Z8 or Nikon Z9. It’s also worth mentioning the Sony A7S III, an evolution of older models that is itself now quite old. I think this one is dead, to be honest, especially now that it’s been recycled into the much cheaper Sony ZV-E1.
2021: Five years old? This can’t be true!
But it is true. The awesome Nikon Z9, with its 45MP sensor, insane burst speeds and fully electronic shutter is now five years old. Incredible, right? That’s not all. This was the year that also saw the launch of the Canon EOS R3, the camera that wanted to be the EOS R1 but got there first, and Nikon’s retro-styled Z fc, still on sale today.
2022: Are theses cameras really this old?
Yes they are. The Canon EOS R10 and EOS R5 C (is this still a valid concept?) may not be much of a surprise, but the Fujifilm X-H2, X-H2S and X-T5 surely are? We think of these cameras as being launched yesterday, but they are now FOUR YEARS old. And the Leica M11? Yes, that was 2022 too, and Canon’s flagship APS- C mirrorless EOS R7. Yes, four years old.
2023: Todays chart-toppers arrive THREE years ago
This list includes the Canon EOS R50, which may be better/different in some way than to R100 or R10 but nobody really knows, the cheap EOS R100, Fujifilm’s quite modern-feeling mainstream X-S20 hybrid camera, the Nikon Z8, the Nikon Zf, the Sony A6700 (yes, it really is three years old), the Sony A7C II and A7C R, the Sony A9 III (do we still care about global shutters?) and the decent but plasticky Canon EOS R8. Oh, and the Panasonic Lumix G9 II that’s as big as a full frame camera and costs too much. All round, 2023 was a busy year that’s left us a lot of cameras we’re still buying today.
2024: No, this can’t be right. Two years?
Two years indeed. It feels like the Canon EOS R5 II, Fujifilm X-M5 and Nikon Z6 III arrived yesterday, not two years ago. True, it does feel as if the Fujifilm X-T50, Sony A1 II, Nikon Z50 II and EOS R1 did arrive a little while back, and it seems like the Lumix S9 has now been around for, like, forever, but it’s actually still quite a recent addition. The Lumix S5 II and S5 IIx feel quite old too, but they’re not. It’s strange how perceptions can vary across different brands.
2025: Just last year, but it seems longer
In a strange temporal twist, while cameras that launched years ago seem like they arrived yesterday, cameras that did actually arrive yesterday feel as if they’ve been around for ever. 2025 brought us the OM System OM-3, the Fujifilm X-E5 (really, just last year?), the Lumix S1 II and S1R II and the Canon EOS R6 III. There were other cameras besides, including the Fujifilm X-T30 III, the Leica M EV1 and Sony A7 V, cameras which were launched only last year but already seem part of the digital camera landscape.
2026: The thinnest year yet for camera launches
So what have we got so far in 2026? The video-focused Canon EOS R6 V (so is this really a repurposed EOS R6 III?), the Leica SL3-P (a bit/lot like the Lumix S1R II – ahem) and the Sony 7 A7R VI, another even-more-powerful do-everything leviathan from Sony. We are going to get a new OM System rangefinder-style camera on September 9, though, and this could be the only really definitively new camera of 2026. And if we do this same article as this five years from now, it might be the only one we remember.