Currently when looking for a full-frame mirrorless camera in the 2K-4K €/$ price range, the competition is among these models: the Sony A7III and its more expensive sister Sony A7RIII, recent Canon EOS R and new Nikon Z6 and pricier Nikon Z7 models. See our overviews of new Canon system in this article and of Nikon in this article.
We will compare here the characteristics of all of these cameras in a side-by-side table so that it is easier to pick up which is the best for anyone's need.
In the following table, only the differences among these models are reported, leaving out characteristics that are available in all models and secondary features.
First three models are around the 2500 €/$ (VAT included) price range, while Sony A7RIII and Nikon Z7 are in a more expensive range of 3500-4000 €/$ range.
Values for a characteristic that are below average or worst are marked in red, while above average are marked in green.
| Sony A7III | Nikon Z6 | Canon EOS R | Sony A7RIII | Nikon Z7 | |
| Launch price (€, $ without VAT) | 2300 € 2000 $ | 2500 € 2000 $ | 2600 € 2300 $ | 3500 € 3200 $ | 3950 € 3400 $ |
| N° of native mount lenses | ≈90 | 3 (9 in 2019) | 4 | ≈90 | 3 (9 in 2019) |
| Weight | 650 | 675 | 660 | 657 | 657 |
| DPReview rating | 8.9 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 9.0 | 8.9 |
| Sensor | |||||
| Pixels (M) | 24 | 24 | 30 | 42 | 46 |
| Stabilization | YES | YES | NO | YES | YES |
| DxO color depth | 25.0 | 25.3 | 24.5 | 26.0 | 26.3 |
| DxO dynamic range | 14.7 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 14.7 | 14.6 |
| DxO low light ISO | 3730 | 3299 | 2742 | 3523 | 2668 |
| Performance | |||||
| Focus points | 693 | 273 | 5655 | 399 | 493 |
| Burst rate with AF | 10 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 9 |
| Battery life (shots) | 710 | 310 | 370 | 650 | 330 |
| Viewfinder & LCD | |||||
| Viewfinder Magnification | 0.78 | 0.80 | 0.76 | 0.78 | 0.80 |
| Viewfinder Points | 2.36 | 3.69 | 3.69 | 3.69 | 3.69 |
| LCD pixel (M) | 0.92 | 2.10 | 2.10 | 1.44 | 2.10 |
| LCD Tiltable | tilt&swivel | tilt&swivel | fully articulable | tilt&swivel | tilt&swivel |
| Video | |||||
| Max rate @ HD (fps) | 120 | 120 | 60 | 120 | 120 |
| Crop factor @ 4K | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Video output | 4:2:2 8 bit | 4:2:2 10 bit | 4:2:2 10 bit | 4:2:2 8 bit | 4:2:2 10 bit |
| Other functions | |||||
| Timelapse | YES(*) | YES | YES | YES(*) | YES |
| Dual card slot | YES | NO | NO | YES | NO |
(*) with firmware v3 to be released in Spring 2019
Some quick suggestions:
- for action/sport shooting, the best features/price ratio is of Sony A7III.
- For video, Canon is the worst, it suffers from strong crop factor at 4K, missing high frame rates at Full HD and missing sensor stabilization. Nikon Z6 is very good for video (and quite better than Nikon Z7), Sony A7III is also very good.
- Nikon(s) and Canon models, being the first full-frame mirrorless models with the new mount, start with very few native lenses that can fully exploit new system capabilities, so maybe they are not yet the best choice if starting now from scratch.
Detailed characteristics of all these models together with links to most interesting reviews are available in LightPoint Camera Database: Sony A7III, Nikon Z6, Canon EOS R, Sony A7RIII, Nikon Z7.
Article updated on 14th and 20th March 2019 with new DxO data on sensors and upcoming firmware v3 for Sony.
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