This week on The PetaPixel Podcast, the team is joined by photographer David Imel and PetaPixel’s Jeremy Gray for a unique challenge: who can draft the best fantasy camera team? Based loosely on fantasy football rules, all five must create a dream team based on eight categories.

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The rules for this draft are based heavily on conventional fantasy football rules, except instead of player positions, drafters will need to fill the following categories:

• Mirrorless
• SLR/DSLR
• Rangefinder
• Medium Format
• Fixed Prime Lens (enthusiast+)
• Point and Shoot (zoom lens)
• Bridge Camera
• Bench/Wild Card

Cameras can be from any era, film or digital, and drafted cameras are entire lines, not individuals. For example, if someone drafts the Leica M11, they are drafting the entire Leica M series cameras. The same goes for the Nikon D5, as they would get all of Nikon’s high-end DSLRs starting with the D1. There are cameras that are standalone, of course, like the Nikon Z9.

There are some cameras that could be considered for multiple categories, such as the Mamiya 7 which is both medium format and a rangefinder. When drafted, a camera like that can be slotted into any of the appropriate positions that it would fall into by the drafter. For a fantasy football comparison, that would be like a Taysom Hill who is both a Tight End and a Quarterback.

During the draft, a drafter can fill any position they want in any order from the list of available cameras that has not yet been drafted. Once a camera has been drafted, it cannot be picked again by any other drafter. The Bench/Wild Card slot is any camera from any category and will just serve as a bench player, or bonus camera, for a team. In fantasy, bench positions are held usually as a backup for either a bye week or an injury, but for the purposes of this draft, they will just be for fun.

The draft order was randomly drawn and was determined to be David Imel, Chris Niccolls, Jaron Schneider, Jordan Drake, and then Jeremy Gray. The draft is snake-style.

The Results

We encourage you to watch the whole draft, but below are the results.

Click to view larger.

David Imel’s Team

Mirrorless – Fujifilm X-Pro Series SLR/DSLR – Nikon F Series Rangefinder – Hasselblad X-Pan/ Fujifilm TX-1 Medium Format – Mamiya 7 Fixed Prime Lens – Ricoh GR series Point and Shoot – Canon G7x Bridge Camera – Nikon P900 Bench/Wild Card – Pentax 67 Series

Chris Niccolls’ Team

Mirrorless – Fujifilm X-T Mainline Series SLR/DSLR – Nikon D800 Rangefinder – Nikon S Series Medium Format – Fujifilm GFX 100 Series Fixed Prime Lens – Contax T Series Point and Shoot – Panasonic LX10 Series Bridge Camera – Sony RX10 Series Bench/Wild Card – Nikon FE/M

Jaron Schneider’s Team

Mirrorless – Canon R5 Series SLR/DSLR – Canon 1D Series Rangefinder – Leica M Series Medium Format – Leica S Series Fixed Prime Lens- Nikon Ti series Point and Shoot- Olympus/OM TG Tough Bridge Camera – Nikon P1000 Bench/Wild Card – Ricoh GXR

Jordan Drake’s Team

Mirrorless – Nikon Z8 SLR/DSLR – Canon 5D Series Rangefinder – Epson RD1 Medium Format – Hasselblad 500 series Fixed Prime Lens – Leica Q Series Point and Shoot – Sony RX100 series Bridge Camera – Fujifilm XS-1 Bench/Wild Card – Panasonic GH Series

Jeremy Gray’s Team

Mirrorless – Sony a7R Series SLR/DSLR – Nikon D1-6 series Rangefinder – Olympus 35 RC Medium Format – Fujifilm GW690 Series Fixed Prime Lens – Fujifilm X100 Point and Shoot – Panasonic ZS Series Bridge Camera – Fujifilm Finepix S9000 Bench/Wild Card – iPhone Series

Vote on who you think has the best team on YouTube or leave a comment below with your vote! We’ll discuss the winner on the next episode of The PetaPixel Podcast.

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In This Episode

• 00:00 – Intro
• 11:55 – Affinity went the DaVinci Resolve route, and is now free
• 13:50 – Lightroom Classic’s updates are an example of what AI should be doing
• 17:08 – Sony is the first company to authenticate video files
• 19:35 – The LemurStrap is an innovative approach to camera carry
• 21:50 – A photographer has decided to make anamorphic M-mount lenses
• 24:44- Moment’s new line of ultra-light camera bags have some innovative design elements
• 29:07 – Feel good story of the week
• 32:49 – The Fantasy Camera Draft, feat. David Imel and Jeremy Gray