The time from April 2009 to April 2010 arbitrarily marked one of the most extraordinary periods in the history of imaging products. This becomes apparent when you look at the gear and software that won this year’s TIPA awards, which were announced yesterday.TIPA consists of editors of 28 member photo magazines from the United States, Europe, Canada and South Africa. The members got together for the TIPA General Assembly earlier this month in New York City and voted the products that they, in their collective expert opinions, felt were the most award-worthy in 40 categories.From the Leica M9 (Best Prestige Camera) to the Kodak Playsport (Best Mobile Imaging Device) to Adobe Photoshop CS5 (Best Photo Software), the awards give some truly innovative technology its due. They even created a special award for The Impossible Project, which is bringing Polaroid instant film back from the dead and discontinued, and added Best Compact System Camera Advanced and Best Compact System Camera Entry Level.There have been times when I’ve felt that TIPA may have, in some cases, missed the mark. Not this time. There were a few surprises—such as the groundbreaking Canon T2i, which is positioned by Canon as an entry-level model, winning (and deserving) the Best DSLR Advanced honors.Canon walked away with the most awards, five. Let’s take a look at some of the winners…
- Best DSLR, Professional: Nikon D3s
- Best DSLR, Advanced: Canon T2i
- Best DSLR, Expert: Canon EOS 7D
- Best DSLR, Entry Level: Pentax K-x
- Best Prestige Camera: Leica M9
- Best Medium Format D-System: Hasselblad H4D-40
- Best Expert Compact Camera: Canon PowerShot G11
- Best Superzoom Camera: Fujifilm FinePix HS10
- Best Compact Camera: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V
- Best Compact System Camera, Advanced: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2
- Best Compact System Camera, Entry Level: Olympus Pen E-PL1
- Best Rugged Compact Camera: Casio Exilim EX-G1
- Best Mobile Imaging Device: Kodak Playsport
- Best Professional Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
- Best Expert Lens: Sony 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM
- Best Entry-Level Lens: Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM
- Best Photo Bag: Vanguard Up-Rise series
- Best Photo Software: Adobe Photoshop CS5
