Dear Santa...

AP’s Technical Editor Andy Westlake puts together a wishlist for the new cameras and features we’d love to see appear in 2019

In last year’s Christmas issue, we thought it would be fun to publish our hopes and predictions about what camera companies might introduce in 2018. We carefully studied trends and timelines, and worked out which new models appeared to be due from each manufacturer, and when. We then thought hard about the features we’d like to see in each, and diligently put forward our predictions. At the time we were pretty confident we’d see the majority of the listed cameras appear in one form or another, although a few were deliberately speculative. So how did we do? Well, it turns out that we were almost completely wrong! Looking back on last year’s article, of the 13 models we predicted, only four appeared. Of these, the Panasonic Lumix GX9 turned out to be more like an upgraded GX80 than an improved GX8, while the Lumix TZ200 simply went for a bigger viewfinder and a longer zoom range, rather than the more enthusiast-friendly design we’d hoped for. Likewise, Sony opted for a considerably longer zoom range in the Sony RX100 VI, and did little to improve its much- criticised handling. The only prediction we came close to getting right was the Sony Alpha 7 III, but given that the Alpha 7R III had just appeared, this wasn’t exactly a Nostradamus-level achievement.

With a success rate of less than 8%, most rational human beings would call it a day. But undaunted, here I am, at it again. I’m not going to parrot last year’s predictions, although I’ll be surprised if some of those don’t finally appear in 2019, including the Canon EOS 7D Mark III, Fujifilm X100V, Nikon D760 and Olympus OM- D E- M5 Mark III. But this time around I’m skewing the emphasis more towards concepts I’d like to see, rather than those I genuinely expect to be produced.