It feels like just yesterday I was talking to Chris at the Camera Store in Calgary downtown. Today he is bringing us a showdown, on behalf of DPReview, between the 3 powerhouses of the mirrorless industry, Canon, Sony and Nikon.
I still feel the Sony a7RIII is more camera than I will ever need. At 42 MP with 10 FPS burst, I can print large for my clients and ensure I never miss a shot. This of course, all while having the incredible dynamic range of a full frame sensor and the luxury of uncompressed RAW files. However, just 3 years later, the industry is pumping out class leading monsters.
Any one of the 3 cameras in the title above will absolutely crush any content you might throw at them. Whether you shoot video or stills, these jack of all trade bodies are masters of all. The specs for the 3 bodies are as follows (full credit DPReview):
Sony A1
- 50MP ‘stacked’ full-frame CMOS sensor
- 30 fps burst shooting with electronic shutter (lossy compressed Raw/JPEG only)
- 8K/30p video recording with Log and 4K Raw video out over HDMI
- 1/400 sec flash sync with mechanical shutter (1/200 sec with electronic shutter)
- 9.44M-dot OLED electronic viewfinder with 0.9x magnification
- 3.0″ tilting touchscreen with 1.44M-dot resolution
- Full-size HDMI port, headphone / mic ports, USB-C port with 10 Gb/s transfer speeds, ethernet port
- Dual UHS-II / CFexpress Type A card slots
- CIPA rated to 530 shots with rear LCD (430 through the viewfinder)
- Weather-sealed body
- 737g (1.62 lb)
Canon R3
- 24MP Stacked CMOS Dual Pixel AF sensor
- 30 fps E-shutter (w/ full 14-bit Raw)
- 5.69M-dot EVF with Eye Control AF
- No EVF blackout in e-shutter mode
- OVF simulation mode that exploits HDR viewfinder
- E-shutter with flash sync up to 1/180 sec
- Truer-to-life PQ HDR capture as 10-bit HEIF files
- Dual Pixel AF with improved subject recognition
- AF rated as working down to -7.5EV (with F1.2 lens)
- CFexpress Type B and UHS-II SD slots
- DCI or UHD 4K video at up to 120p, oversampled up to 60p
- Raw video or 10-bit C-Log3 video capture
- Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication
Nikon Z9
- 45.44MP full-frame ‘stacked’ CMOS sensor
- 20fps raw/30fps JPG/120 FPS at 11MP burst shooting
- Blackout-Free Real Live Viewfinder
- 8k 30p/4k 60p/1080 120p 10 bit internal video recording in H.264, H.265
- 1/200 flash sync speed
- EVF: 1.27-cm/0.5-in., approx. 3690k-dot (Quad VGA) OLED
- AI-Based Subject Detection and Tracking
- 3.2″ 4-Axis Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- Dual Slot: CFexpress Type B / XQD
- Vertical Grip, 2x CFexpress Type B Slots
- 5 GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GNSS
- HDMI Out, TRS Stereo Headset In, TRS Stereo Mic In/Out, USBC-C, RJ45, Nikon 10-pin In, PC Sync Socket
Check out the video for the full rundown. As always, when it comes to gear you are the one who has to ultimately weigh the benefits and drawbacks based on your needs. However, as I have said above, you really can’t go wrong with any of the choices above.