What Are Your 2012 “Picks of the Year?”

The landing gear is down and 2012 is drawing to a close. And it's time for the first annual “Picks of the Year.”

We are asking our listeners and readers to contribute to our list of the best and most popular photography-related gear, hardware, software, news, tips, tricks, trends or people of the year by letting us know by letting us know what you think. This is an expansion of the “Picks of the Week” segment on the show, but on a much larger scale. What moved the needle this year? What took photography to the next level? What set the stage for 2013?

Here are a few quick highlights in our minds but remember, you are not limited to these suggestions.

  • Nikon D600
  • Nikon D800
  • Nikon D4
  • Canon 6D
  • Canon 5D Mark III
  • Samsung Galaxy Camera
  • iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII
  • Facebook's purchase of Instagram
  • The rise of Google+
  • Photoshop CS6
  • Lightroom 4
  • Aperture 3.3
  • 500px named one of Time magazine's “25 Best Blogs of 2012”
  • 35 cameras document Felix Baumgartner's space jump
  • The rise of mirrorless technology
  • Google acquires Nik software
  • SmugMug raises their prices
  • Curiosity takes photos on the surface of Mars

That barely scratches the surface. Help us compile the ultimate list of photography in 2012 by leaving a comment below or getting in touch with us on Twitter, FacebookGoogle+ and Reddit. Get creative, get personal and let us know who, what, when, why and how photography changed in 2012.

20 Comments

  1. D600 and D800 for full-frame price and stratospheric megapixels respectively. Photographing the surface of Mars FROM the surface of mars is also pretty spectacular.

  2. My pick of the year for 2012 for gear is the Nikon D800, for social networking as it pertains to photography my pick is the rise of Google+, and for software my pick is Lightroom 4.

  3. Nokia Lumia 920 kicks iphone’s camera ass, even without fake photos. Galaxy 3 camera, side to those other two, its not even worth being kicked.
    Photoshop 6 or those mighty cameras I’ll never get my hands on ( 🙁 ), are awesome, but 920 camera is a huge step forward, thus gets my pick of the year.

  4. A major product for 2012? MediaBytes, of course, and all that is available there. Check it out, folks!

  5. The Nikon D5100 (my new camera) and its intervalometer and time lapse video functions.
    Discovering 500px.com is a cool place to share my photos!
    Getting more use out of my Nik Software plugins especially HDR Efex Pro 2!!

    1. Greg – Agree with you on the D5100. Bought one early this year – love it! Great camera. Also share your thots on 500px. Great place to share.

  6. My pick isn’t hardware – it’s a region. The Arctic consistently produces stunning wildlife and landscape photography, from Polar Bears to icebergs to arctic tundra, I just can’t get enough. Both Alaska and Labrador have been mindblowing experiences in 2012.

  7. Photoshop CS6, for those of us who can’t get it right in camera! JUST KIDDING!!! LOL
    But CS6 is a kick *ss program. I’ll also have to go with the Canon Mark III and mirrorless technology so we can ALWAYS have a quality camera with us where ever we go!

  8. Absolutely the Nikon D600. It’s a killer piece of hardware. Also, the Square card reader. It has become practically ubiquitous and is a great tool for working photographers and small businesses of all kinds.

  9. I think some of the mirroless cameras made great strides this year like the Sony NEX-6 and the Olympus OM-D — these cameras are small, fast (9 fps), relatively inexpensive, good autofocus, and reasonably priced. I’m going to be picking up a NEX-6 after the holidays for my day-to-day travel camera.