Sony A7 II vs Canon 6D

Introduction

The Sony A7II is a pro-mirrorless camera that was introduced on the market in November 2014, as yet another strong camera in the full-frame mirrorless series that have quickly gained a significant popularity, because it became the first choice for thousands of photographers on the market.

On the other hand, the Canon 6D was released the late November 2012, and at the same time, it was the first Canon DSLR camera to have built-in wireless capabilities, and smallest and lightest full-frame DSLR that Canon has ever created!

Even though there is a gap of 13 months between them, even nowadays, they are being purchased by the photographers on the market, and that has to mean something. Since our job is to reveal this and find out which one should suit your preferences the most, I’d suggest getting into action right away, and at the end, feel free to agree and disagree with who wins the race.

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Head To Head Comparison

Sony A7 II

The Sony A7 II sports a sleek, magnesium-alloy construction that is accompanied by a composite material which is present on the front plate, and weather-sealing which helps you have an undistracted shooting experience under a variety of different weather conditions, since for now on, dust and moisture will never cause you problems.

Aside from being a tough camera, the A7 II is fairly comfortable to shoot with thanks to its deep grip that is wrapped in a textured coating that does not only add beauty to the camera itself, but it definitely comes handy in terms of feeling comfortable even if you’ve been shooting for a long period of time.

Speaking of the control layout, the A7 II employs simple and easy to access buttons that can are spread across the top and rear part of the body.

On the top, there is a multi-functional hot shoe that occupies the central position of the body, the left side is completely free, whereas on the right, there is a standard Mode dial, an EV compensation dial along with two programmable C1 and C2 buttons. In front of those buttons, sitting atop the handgrip, you can also find a power switch and a shutter release button.

On the top-rear, there is yet another customizable C3 button and a menu button, while slightly below, on the right side, there are dedicated control buttons that are kind of compressed, but still, I don’t think that you will have issues with them.

Also on the top, you can find a 2.36m-dot OLED electronic viewfinder that has a magnification of 0.71x and covers up to 100% of the field, hence, you will love shooting through it because it is bright and provides a truly detailed and clear view of the scene and the objects you intend to shoot.

Slightly below, there is a tiltable, 3″, 1,22k-dot LCD screen which lacks touch-sensitivity, unfortunately, however, you can adjust its position upwards for 90-degrees and downwards for 45-degrees which means that you can shoot photos from various angles without any problem. Also, the screen outputs sharp visuals and what’s even better is that it maintains a higher level of visibility even if you’re previewing your captured content under a bright daylight.

Moreover, the connection options consist of a micro-HDMI port, micro-USB port, single memory card slot that supports SD/SDHC/SDXC cards and Memory Stick DUO card formats, and it is Wi-FI/NFC enabled as well which is awesome, since you can easily share your content to compatible devices.

In terms of the performance, the Sony A7 II incorporates a built-in 5-axis in-body image stabilization, has a full-frame 24.3MP image sensor, an impressively fast AF system that packs 117-phase detection points and 25-contrast detection points, a continuous shooting rate of 5 fps, an ISO range that stretches from 100-25,600 and a BIONZ X image processor that dramatically improves the processing speed and sets the noise to the minimum.

Thanks to these components, the A7 II does really know how to deal with the noise, regardless if you prefer shooting JPG or Raw image formats.

For instance, the best results of JPGs can be achieved between ISO 3200-6400, because images do really look crisp and the noise is virtually non-existent.

However, once you reach the ISO 25,600, the noise starts to overcome the image which is expectable though, and I’d advise you avoid this setting.

On the other hand, RAW images remain strong and look impressive through ISO 1600 – 3200 – 6400, and as expected, starting from ISO 12,800 and all the way up to 25,600, noise starts to be more prominent and decreases the overall quality of the image.

When it comes to the video, the A7 II records 1080p videos at 24/30/60 fps in multiple formats, and although it lacks 4K capability, this camera is capable enough to output well-defined footage that is filled with highly-accurate colors and well-defined details!

Sony A7 II Sample Footage:

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Canon 6D

From a design perspective, the EOS 6D boasts a fairly compact body considering the fact that we are talking about a DSLR camera, because it measures 4.4 x 5.7 x 2.8″, weighs approximately 1.7 pounds without a lens and as was the case with the A7II, this camera is also moisture and dust-proof, which will dramatically improve your shooting experience, since the weather situation will unlikely affect the camera performance.

Additionally, the EOS 6D sits comfortably in your hands, thanks to its deep grip that allows you to shoot for hours without feeling fatigued, and at this point, I think that both cameras deserve credits from us.

When it comes to the controls, on the top-left side, you can find a Standard mode that is followed by an On/Off lever, while on the right, there’s a monochrome Information screen that sits below an array of buttons of which you can take advantage in order to have an access in the AF Mode, Drive Mode, ISO, Metering Mode and the button that activates the backlight of the Information screen.

On the center, there is a hot shoe, while if you take a look from the rear, you will notice a couple of more buttons located on the top part, and a few more buttons that are set on the right along with a lock switch.

At the middle, there is a fixed, 3″, 1040k-dot screen which does a really good job in providing you a clear sight over the things you intend to capture/record, however, the A7II deserves more points here because the 6D lacks flexibility.

Above the screen, you can find a neatly-positioned viewfinder that sits on the top, and what’s interesting about it is that it covers up to 100% of the field of view, and it helps you have a really good sight over the subjects you intend to shoot.

Moreover, the connection options consist of a built-in Wi-Fi and GPS, while the physical ports are comprised of an HDMI port microphone port, and a single SD card slot that supports SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards.

Performance-wise, the Canon EOS 6D incorporates a 20.2MP full-frame sensor, has an 11-point AF system, burst shooting speed of 4.5 fps, a native ISO range of 100-25,600 which is expandable to 102,400 and it is powered by a DIGIC 5+ image processor that does a fantastic job in keeping the noise levels as low as possible.

In practice, JPEGs taken through ISO 100-800 look impressively good, and the overall color accuracy is great, however, there’s a bit of luminance noise which isn’t that pronounced to decrease the image quality. The same results can be recognized also at ISO 1600, however, keep in mind that once you reach the upper ISO range, starting from 25,600 – 102,800, image progresses respectively, and it overcomes the image quality. That’s why, I’d recommend you avoid these levels.

Moreover, RAW format images, throughout the ISO range appear really good, but of course, if you step on the higher ISO threshold, blur becomes more prominent and images wouldn’t be that usable.

In the end, I would also like to inform you that the EOS 6D records 1080p videos at 30fps which look surprisingly good, however, in comparison to the A7 II who records 1080p videos at 60fps, I think that the EOS 6D underperforms a bit at this point.

Canon 6D Sample Footage:

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Sony A7 II vs Canon 6D Feature Comparison

	Sony A7 II	Canon 6D
Camera Type	Mirrorless	DSLR
Megapixels	24.3	20.2
ISO Range	100-25,600;51,200	100-25,600;50-102,400
Flip-Out Screen	Yes	No
AF Points	117 AF points	11 AF Points
Viewfinder	Yes	Yes
Touchscreen	No	No
Video Recording	Yes	Yes
Sensor Size	Full-Frame	Full-Frame

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Conclusion

Before we announce the official winner, after this intense fight, I’d suggest having a closer look at the key aspects of both cameras, because by doing this, we will be able to bring the most accurate answer to the question. Ready? Let’s go!

The A7 II outputs an unmatchable performance in terms of shooting Portrait, Daily and Street photography, whereas for sports, the Canon EOS 6D appears to perform a bit better.

For landscape and portrait photography, the A7 II performs better yet again, because Canon EOS 6D outputs a fairly average performance here.

Finally, the Sony A7 II beats the Canon EOS 6D by having a built-in Image stabilization, an articulating screen, has 19% more pixels (24MP vs 20MP), packs 106 more focus points ( 117 vs 11), has a higher resolution screen ( 1,230k vs 1040k-dots), faster shutter speed ( 1/8000s vs 1/4000s), and let’s not forget its support for UHS-I memory cards and the fact that it outputs a better High ISO performance.

The only area where the EOS 6D offers more advantages is regarding the battery life ( 1090 vs 350 shots), the built-in GPS and its ability to provide a timelapse recording.

Clearly, the winner is Sony A7II, despite its higher price tag.

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