Hey, it’s Jay P. here from The Slanted Lens. I’ve got Dejaneau here with me today. We’re going to look at two APS-C sensor cameras, the a6700 from Sony and the R7 from Canon. One of these cameras has better video specs, I think. One has better still specs. One of them is probably a little better autofocus. Let’s figure out which one it is. So stay tuned and check out this comparison!
Both of these cameras are APS-C sensors so they’re on the same level playing field. They have a crop factor, Canon 1.6 and 1.5 for Sony. I think Sony wins out on that one slightly. Megapixels are a big thing these days. Canon’s are 32.5 megapixel on APS-C sensor and Sony is at 26 megapixels on an APS-C sensor. So the Canon is slightly ahead. Let’s see if that quality shows up to the quality tests. These cameras are priced just under $1,400. Both have 14 bit.
When we look at image quality, we’ve got to talk about megapixels, the Canon is a 32.5 and the Sony is a 26 megapixel camera. So looking at color, we should see a little better color rendition, we should see a little more detail in the Canon. So with our Spyder Checkr here, I sample the Spyder Checkr. I process these so that they are the exact same color balance. And you can just see exactly how the sensor handles the color. They are very close, very, very close. But the sensor, using that Spyder Checkr got them very close with regards to color. But now if we look at detail, if you just look at her eye, and it is so sharp in both these cameras. The focus looks like it’s critically focused in the Canon camera on her right eye and on the Sony on her left. But look at the detail difference. Now there’s a different crop factor here. The Canon has 1.6 and the Sony has a 1.5. Which means we have 50mm lenses on both of these. Which means the Canon is punched in just slightly more. About five millimeters, not a lot. But just a bit more than the Sony. But look at the detail in each of these cameras. Beautifully sharp, gorgeous images. If I look at something like the button on her shirt, which is, you see the texture of the material around the button. The texture in that on the Canon is a little better. And I don’t know if it’s just because it’s enlarged slightly more, and I think that’s part of it. But it just seems like there is just a little more detail there, just a little bit. I mean they’re so close to each other. I would find this really hard to say which one of these is a winner when it comes to picture quality. Color wise the Sony is a little more neutral. The Canon is a little more yellowish. You can certainly see that in the greens in the background. The dress color is very nice. If you look at the Spyder checkr here. The Spyder Checkr, the color is a little more vibrant on the Canon than it is on the Sony. Sony is a little more subdued. But sometimes I feel like the Canon color is starting to become a little, a little bit saturated looking. But very close together, these two cameras are extremely close. So there’s the image quality test. The Canon did show slight more detail. But the Sony was right in there. I put that as a tie.
Let’s talk about ergonomics, because ergonomics is an area where these cameras are very different. The Sony is a small platform. It’s 1.1 pounds with the card and the battery. Whereas the Canon is a little heavier. It’s 1.3 pounds with the card and the battery. The Canon is more of a traditional mirrorless camera. The Sony is that smaller form factor. It almost harkens back to the days of the point and shoot. I mean, obviously larger than that, but it’s that square small format. You would choose the Sony because you like that small platform. My little finger kind of gets lost on that camera down here on the bottom. Whereas on the Canon, I have a spot for it just barely, just barely on the Canon. We have the new roll wheel on the back of the Sony which is really, it has been needed for a long time. That roll wheel to control camera settings is on the back. You access that with your thumb, which is really nice. We don’t have that roll wheel in the same way. We do have a joystick. We don’t have a joystick on the Sony but we do have a joystick on the Canon. That joystick is surrounded by a wheel that will roll and give us camera controls. But I found it kind of hard to get to that joystick down inside that wheel on the back. They combined those two together. I felt like for me that was kind of a little bit difficult and I had to get my thumb way over here in front of my eye to be able to access it. And it made it a little difficult to be able to use. I wish it had a scroll wheel off to the side to the right on the Canon. So now, if I’m with the Canon, I can get my thumb on it. But I had to reach way over to that joystick and the roll wheel. I do like the joystick. I wish we had that on the Sony.
On the Sony we have around three buttons that you can program. The Canon has slightly more. And that allows you to be able to program those buttons to be able to do exactly what you want them to do. When it comes to ergonomics I think that you really are making a decision about weight and travel-ability, if that’s a word. If you want a very small platform, kind of a street photography, small thing to travel with, that gives you a great image, then you would go with the a6700. If you’re okay with a little larger camera, that gives you just a bigger grip in your hand, and it makes it more like the cameras that you’re used to when it comes to mirrorless cameras, then you’d probably use the Canon. For me, I have always kind of struggled a little bit with the a6000 series. But I’ve used it enough now that it feels comfortable in my hand. And it’s easy to move around. And the lenses are starting to match the form factor. You don’t get these huge lenses. Even though we have this big 50mm on here, it’s still not bad. Sony makes a small 50mm that is an APS-C sensor for this camera. And Canon also has a smaller 50mm, inexpensive 50mm that is not this huge thing. It’s an f/1.8. And that gives you a smaller 50mm to be able to use it. And it’s more like the ergonomics of the camera. I’m starting to lean towards that smaller camera. Maybe it’s just because of size and weight. When it comes to ergonomics, I think you really have to make this decision based on what you like. I’m not going to declare a winner here because I don’t know exactly what you like.
When it comes to memory card slots. The Canon has two slots, SD card slots, and the Sony only has one. So Canon definitely wins out when it comes to memory card slots.
When it comes to the monitor they’re very different. The Canon has a 1,620,000 dot screen, whereas the Sony has a three inch 1,030,000 dot screen. So the Canon is a much, much more detailed screen. You see better detail on that camera. And you certainly see that when you use it. Both these cameras have articulating screens that slide out. Canon calls it a free angle tilting. It also has touchscreen. Sony calls it an articulating touchscreen. But they both flip out and become touchscreens that you can use if you’re vlogging for any kind of video application. So it’s definitely a tie. They both have great screens that pop out.
When it comes to viewfinder resolution these two cameras are almost exactly the same. But there’s some things about them that are kind of different. They both have, I think EVF resolution is super important. I want to look through an EVF so I can see exactly what I’m doing, especially in sunlight situations. It just gives me a much better look at the image that I’m getting or the video I’m getting. But the resolution is very similar. The Canon has a 2,360,000 dot whereas the Sony has 2,359,000 dots. So they’re extremely similar. They both have great clear EVFs, beautiful picture inside. But accessing them is the area that’s kind of difficult. Canon is very traditional and has that larger eye cap, very easy to look through. I’m left eyed so I’m always looking over my left eye. Whereas the Sony has a small little EVF in the corner. And you got to really push your face in there. And you got to find that. You got to line yourself up with that little small EVF. And that makes it more difficult to be able to access the EVF and to be able to use it. So when it comes to EVF, they’re equal when it comes to resolution. But I think the ease of use and accessibility is a little easier on the Canon.
Nowadays when it comes to cameras most people are concerned about autofocus. So let’s take a look at the autofocus stills test with these two cameras. Autofocus, I think, is the coup de grace, the test of tests when it comes to stills cameras. If you can get a beautiful picture and you get images in focus, that’s really what we’re after. When I compare these two cameras it is really interesting because Canon used to always exceed and excel Sony. But I feel like Sony now with that AI engine has really moved beyond Canon. Just, they really have. It’s moved beyond Canon. If I’m looking through these images and I’m getting between about three out of focus out of around 38ish or 39. And I’m getting three that are kind of iffy on the Canon. So three out of focus and three kind of iffy. Meaning critically probably close enough to say that it’s fine. On the Sony we shot 34 images and it was spot on in every single one. So there’s a few less images, but it did not struggle. That transition kind of area between knees up, from full body to knees up to a head and shoulders, cameras struggle in that area. I don’t know why that is and Canon did, that’s where it struggled. That’s where we lost the three images. But the Sony was spot on every single one. When I say spot on, I’m talking spot on. They are just really tack sharp all the way through. It’s pretty incredible to see. When it comes to autofocus the Sony definitely outperformed the Canon. But when I say that, I mean if you shoot 39 images and 35 of them are in focus 36 of them critically in, you know, or 34 of them are critically in focus. You know, that’s still a pretty incredible camera. There you have it. The Sony edged out the Canon. You know, I wouldn’t say slightly. I think it was significant. But the Canon still had a strong showing. We lost more frames on the Canon. We lost frames on the Canon. We did not lose any frames on the Sony. So Sony wins when it comes to autofocus stills test.
When it comes to continuous shooting, the Canon edges out the Sony. It has 15 frames per second. Whereas the Sony does 11. Sony does 11 either in electronic or in mechanical. But you can get a faster shutter speed in the electronic. Get up to 1/8,000th of a second. Whereas the Canon, it will do 15 frames a second, but up to 30 frames a second. But of course it’s going to start to buffer. It’s interesting as we shot with these, the Sony buffered out much faster than the Canon did. We were able to shoot more images with the Canon. Whereas the Sony was starting to buffer, even when we’re shooting 30 or 40 images. The Sony was buffering almost immediately. We couldn’t get through 40 images before it was buffering. At about 25 images it would start to buffer. Whereas the Canon would do those 40 images without any problem. So there’s the difference. I think when it comes to frames per second Canon definitely wins.
Well the autofocus on the a6700 certainly beat out the R7 when it came to stills. Let’s take a look now at video. When it comes to autofocus in video mode. I looked at both these cameras and I see, as she walks towards me, the Canon kind of falls out a little bit in the middle. When she turns her head around it kind of searches for a split second. It actually feels kind of organic. But it is not as spot on as the Sony. So in some ways I think the Canon, it doesn’t feel too mechanical. But the Sony is spot on when it comes to the focus all the way through. It stays with her even when she turns her head. We see it loses it just a little bit. It is interesting. This video, they’re both shot at 4300 because it’s mixed light in here in this situation. I’m seeing the exposures were set very similar. But the Canon footage is just a little contrasty. It’s a little heavy. The color seems a little saturated. So it just in that way feels a little heavy. So as far as autofocus goes in video mode, I think the autofocus on the Sony a6700 is better. So there in video, they were much closer in video. The a6700, when she would turn around, it stayed with her and missed it just a little bit. The R7 probably a little bit more. You know, they both felt very organic to me. I thought they looked excellent. I’m going to say they’re a tie. No, I’m going to actually say the Sony edged out the R7 just barely.
The R7 does do an H.265 4:2:2 10bit and it does an H.264 4:2:0 8bit. Whereas the Sony does an XAVC HS and 4:2:2 10bit or 4:2:0 8bit and XAVC S, XAVC SI in 10bit. And you get 4k at 24 frames, 30 and 60 frames a second. The Sony will give you 120 frames a second. But with a significant crop. It’s a 1.58 crop. But it will give you 120 frames a second. So when it comes to video specs between these two cameras, the Sony definitely wins out.
Neither of these cameras have any kind of recording limits, which is wonderful to see in a camera at this price range. Both these cameras have the ability to shoot log. On the Canon, you got the C-log 3 and on the Sony you got S-log 3. The Sony does have the ability to load LUTs. Loading LUTs that you can use to show what the light will look like in a preview mode on the back of the screen. Or you can actually bake the LUT in if you want to speed up your workflow. And put a LUT on your video footage and take it directly in the workflow. That’s something that can the R7 does not have. So when it comes to video workflow, definitely the Sony wins.
Both these cameras have a signal they’ll put out to an external recorder. The Canon R7 does have some restrictions. The Sony is a much more open platform so the a6700 definitely wins when it comes to external recording.
Both these cameras have that small micro HDMI output.
So let’s take a look at image stabilization between these two cameras. So both these cameras have stabilization. I’ve got this turned on here as I run this footage. It’s on my rig. So I have both cameras on the same rig. So I’m walking the same. So you’re looking at exactly the same footage shot at the same time. And it’s interesting because the steady shot normal on the a6700 is pretty jumpy, pretty bouncy. Just the standard on the R7 is much smoother. It’s just a much smoother look. And I went to the extreme. Steady-shot extreme on the Sony and it’s much better. This crop in like 1.1 or just a slight crop. But look at the difference there. That’s compared to the Canon regular. I did not do an extreme on the Canon. I felt like these two cameras came into kind of the same playing field when the Sony was on extreme and the Canon was just on regular. And I thought the Canon on regular was very nice, was very usable, beautiful and smooth. But on the Sony you definitely had to go to the extreme to get it to look as nice as the Canon did. So when it comes to in body stabilization, the Canon is definitely winning. There’s no doubt about it. So there you have it. The Canon definitely won when it came to image stabilization. It did not have to go into the extreme stabilization to match the extreme on the Sony. So the Canon won.
Alright, let’s take a look at the ISO test here. So we’re going to start at 400 ISO because usually up to 400 ISO they all look pretty good. Here’s 400 ISO. The Sony is a little cleaner as far as digital noise. Look at the Canon. This little, her eye and the eyebrow, that transition range there, that little shadow, the Sony picture just seems a little crisper to me. If we go to 800 ISO. We look at that same spot. We already start to see pretty good noise, pretty good trend. Starting to see noise in both these cameras a little bit. The Canon is slightly ahead of the Sony. Just a little more noise. A little more pronounced. If we go up to 1600 ISO, 1600, now you really start to see the noise. And you’re seeing it more in the Canon for sure. Sony’s a little more, a little cleaner. If we go up and look at the background back here, you see, just the digital noise is pretty pronounced on both of these cameras. Sony slightly ahead. If we go up to 3200 ISO, now we look at that area of her eye. And there is really strong digital noise. It’s the digital noise on these cameras. It’s just a little softer transition with the Sony. But they both are showing heavy, heavy digital noise. 6400 ISO always seems to get, at least it appears to me, to have banding at least in bridge. I see this banding on the Canon. There’s this vertical banding all through the highlights in the background. If you look at that background area, the digital noise is very similar. It’s very pronounced at 6400 ISO. In the shadows going into the eye, take a look at that there. It’s very, very similar. I feel like they’ve kind of come back together with regards to that 6400 ISO. Again, I’m seeing the banding now in both of them. At 12,800 ISO we see it both on the Canon and the Sony. Maybe the Canon slightly, slightly more noisy at 12,800 ISO. 25,600 ISO the color is shifting so much. We see that in the Spyder Checkr and see the digital noise now just looks pixelated. We see the vertical banding in both of them. More pronounced in the Canon. So just a really, when it comes to ISO on these two cameras, they are very, very similar. So in conclusion, I think the Sony edged out the Canon but just slightly, we’re talking about a hair. ISO sensitivity, these two cameras performed extremely close when it came to the ISO. Sometimes one was ahead a little bit. Sometimes the other. So when it comes to ISO sensitivity, the Sony edges out that Canon by a hair.
Let’s take a look at the dynamic range test. These are all shot in RAW. I take these images into raw and I try to give you as much dynamic range as possible. This is a normal image. Look at the dynamic range here. Look at the whites in the background. They both have great rendition of the shadows. We got great rendition in the whites in the background. The Sony’s holding those highlights in the background just a little bit better. If we go to minus one. Now it’s interesting, minus one is where cameras, digital cameras love. I shoot at minus two thirds all the time. So minus one. We’re getting better detail on those highlights in the background. We’re underexposing and it allows us to have better details in the background, but it hasn’t affected our color. Look at the Spyder Checkr, you get beautiful color rendition on both of these. We have no problems at minus one. If we go to minus two, the Sony is a little bit ahead. It’s giving us a little more detail. If we go blow this up, are we getting any kind of digital noise? Not really, they’re both very sharp. You got to look at the highlights in the eyes because as those highlights start to kind of posterize or start to become really contrasty. So we’ve got a minus three. And now you start to see it. You start to see the highlights start to become a little contrasty. We’re starting to see a little bit of digital noise. You certainly see it on the Sony. When you look into the shadows we’re starting to see just a little bit of digital noise as we’re pushing that three stops. But that’s three stops. I mean certainly it’s holding great information across the board but we’re losing detail. We’re getting digital noise in the shadows. It’s not quite as nice. See what happens at four stops. At minus four stops the Canon really struggled to focus. I had to guess. And look at this banding that you get with the Canon. It’s very, very prevalent. I mean, it really became very, very prevalent. The Sony’s got a little bit of it in the skin tones. You see a little bit gray here, you know. The digital noise is very prominent. Now, Sony didn’t struggle to focus in that minus four. That’s really a low light focus test. Because at minus four stops, you’re having to find, the camera is trying to find the focus with nothing, no light at all. And the Canon really struggled. I had to shoot multiples of it. I tried to get it to hit. With the Sony it hit on each one of them. So yeah, the Canon is looking, is really having a hard time keeping up with the Sony. So let’s go to plus one stop. Digital cameras don’t like this world at all at just plus one stop. Look at the highlights in the background on both these cameras. They are blown out, they get this kind of grayish banding around them, they just look terrible at plus one stop. The color is starting to shift a little bit, but not too bad. But you’re starting to get some kind of digital noise. But look what happens when we go to plus two stops. At plus two stops everything outside the window is just blown out on the Canon. There’s a little more on the Sony, not much. It’s about the same at that point. We’re starting to see a little bit of digital noise. But really, it’s all the color is starting to posterize. All the highlights start to posterize. When we go to plus three stops. Now the skin tone has shifted. The color has shifted. The outside is blown out. You can’t recover this. You can’t make it happen. Neither of these cameras look any good at this point. I think back when we were at plus one, it was interesting at plus one because I think at plus one we were able to keep the color was pretty good. The banding was minimal. The Sony was a tiny bit ahead. So dynamic range test, Sony seemed to do better in the minus category. When you’re doing minus one, two or three, four stops. It certainly did better with the focus when it came to minus four stops. But in the plus, they both performed about the same. So I think the Sony edged out the Canon just slightly when it comes to the dynamic range tests. So it looked to me like the Sony edged out the Canon, mostly because it could focus in that really low light situation. But they’re very similar when you look at the images compared to one another. You decide which one worked out for you. I’m going to give it to the Sony.
So let’s wrap this up. We’re looking at two very different form factors between these two cameras. That’s the first decision you’ve got to make. If you have a ton of Canon glass, I would not switch over to Sony because it wouldn’t make any sense. But if you have, if you’re deciding for your first camera, or if you have Sony glass then the a6700 really delivers a lot of great features. It gives you great video specs, it’s giving you great autofocus. The Canon is giving you a great stabilization, an EVF that’s easy to look through if you’re working outside. So the Canon has some great advantages. But the Sony seems to edge it out in so many ways as we looked at the tests. So these cameras are head to head. You have to decide which one of these form factors works for you and what lens series you’re already invested in. That’s going to help you make the decision. So check out some other lessons we have on these topics. We want to hear from you. Leave us a comment and you keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!
