Canon, Sony top EISA awards; Nikon and Olympus in hot pursuit

Each year, the European Imaging and Sound Association comes together to vote on its annual EISA awards. A wide range of categories are covered, including everything from in-car electronics to mobile devices. Photo products are in the mix, and while we don't typically cover industry awards, EISA's photo awards are a little more illuminating than most. That's because they're voted on by EISA member magazines from across most of Western Europe, and a little of Eastern Europe as well. The wide geographic range and the fact that the member magazines are mostly owned by publishers that--other than their EISA affiliation--are unrelated would seem likely to cancel out any bias, such as a particular country's preference for one brand over another. Each country's photo press is represented by only one EISA member magazine, and so each country gets only one vote.

So... which companies did particularly well this year? Canon and Sony took the most awards, with three apiece. Hot on their heels were Nikon and Olympus, with two awards each. Several other companies each netted a single award for a standout product.

In full, the list of 2012 / 13 EISA Photo Award winners is as follows, and we've included links to our reviews and previews (and those of our sister site, SLRgear.com, for the lenses) so you can see how our own assessments of each product compares to those of the EISA members:

• Single-lens reflex cameras

  • European Camera 2012-2013: Nikon D800

  • European Professional Camera 2012-2013: Nikon D4

  • European Advanced SLR Camera 2012-2013: Canon EOS 5D Mark III

  • European SLR Camera 2012-2013: Sony Alpha SLT-A57

• Mirrorless cameras

  • European Professional Compact System Camera 2012-2013: Fujifilm X-Pro1

  • European Advanced Compact System Camera 2012-2013: Samsung NX20

  • European Compact System Camera 2012-2013: Olympus OM-D E-M5

• Fixed-lens cameras

  • European Advanced Compact Camera 2012-2013: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100

  • European Compact Camera 2012-2013: Canon PowerShot G1 X

  • European All Weather Camera 2012-2013: Olympus TOUGH TG-1 iHS

  • European Travel Camera 2012-2013: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V

• Lenses

  • European Lens 2012-2013: Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD

  • European Compact System Lens 2012-2013: Panasonic LUMIX G X Vario 12-35mm F2.8 ASPH.

  • European Macro Lens 2012-2013: Sigma APO Macro 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM

• Other

  • European Photo Printer 2012-2013: Canon PIXMA Pro-1

  • European Photo Software 2012-2013: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4

Curious which publications voted for these products? EISA's member photo magazines include:

• Amateur Photographer (United Kingdom)

• Chasseur d'Images (France)

• Focus (Netherlands)

• Foto (Sweden)

• Foto & Video (Russia)

• Foto-Kurier (Poland)

• Fotografi (Norway)

• FotoMagazin (Germany)

• FOTOobjektiv (Austria)

• FotoVideo (Czech Republic)

• FotoVideo Magazin (Hungary)

• Kamera-lehti (Finland)

• PhotoNet (Greece)

• Shoot (Belgium)

• Super Foto Digital (Portugal and Spain)

• Tutti Fotografi (Italy)

• Zoom (Denmark)

What do you think of the award winners--any products you feel are missing from the list? Share your thoughts in the comments below...