Under the hood, things are even more interesting. Subtle, yet welcomed design tweaks abound with improved buttons, reconfigured control dials, a brighter and sharper EVF, and a new tilt-swivel LCD - all while maintaining weather-sealing. We also saw the Panasonic GX8 come out with the highest resolution Four Thirds sensor yet, and Sony's popular RX10 all-in-one got the Mark II treatment as well, adding in higher-res 4K video capabilities, for instance. Both Olympus and Pentax, with the E-M5 II and K-3 II, respectively, debuted with innovative and impressive in-camera high-resolution shooting modes. We saw the introduction of the Canon 5DS and 5DS R cameras sporting massive 50-megapixel full-frame sensors. One of the major characteristics of this segment in 2015 was a resurgence, in a way, of the 'megapixel race,' or at least an emphasis on higher resolution capabilities for stills and/or video. Rather, each offers significant and welcomed feature improvements, performance boosts, and all around new features and technologies that culminate with thoroughly impressive, high-performance cameras for serious photographers.

Despite the 'II' moniker on most our favorites in this category, there's more to these cameras than a simple refresh. For the enthusiast and professional camera market, it was, in a number of cases, the year of the 'Mark II' - many of the new models in this segment came as upgrades to previous models and built upon or improved a previous camera.

Nikon best camera 2015 35 mp