Sony A7 III vs Canon 5D Mark IV

Introduction

The Sony A7 III is a versatile mirrorless camera with exceptionally strong capabilities that can satisfy the needs of enthusiast photographers and professionals although Sony calls it an “entry-level” camera which is misleading without a doubt!

On the other hand, the Canon 5D Mark IV is one of the newest mainstream DSLR cameras which in my opinion, is one of the most all-around cameras that Canon has ever crafted due to the fact that this model performs exceptionally good whether you want to shoot sports photography, wildlife, landscape or simply a casual, street photography!

From the very beginning, I’m sure that you already know that we can’t decide the winner from the start and that we should dig a bit deeper and reveal all of their capabilities and put them on point because only by doing this, we would be able to provide the most accurate answer!

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Head To Head Comparison

Sony A7 III

Speaking of the design, the Sony A7 III features a sleek yet strong, dust and weather-sealed construction that measures 3.9 x 5.0 x 2.5″ (HWD), weighs approximately 1.4 pounds, and if you take a look at its body, you may likely have the same feeling as you were shooting with the A7R III, although the A7 III is way more comfortable to hold. Additionally, the grip is bigger and more comfortable on hold which is something that I really prefer mainly because of the fact that you will be able to shoot for hours without feeling fatigued!

The control layout consists of an EV dial, Mode dial, and two programmable C1 and C2 buttons which are positioned on the top, while on the rear, the controls are almost the same as the A7R III including a programmable C3 button, Menu button, Record, AF-ON, and AEL.

Also on the rear, positioned on the top, there is a fantastic 3.69-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder that has a magnification of 0.78x and provides coverage of up to 93%. Once you start shooting through it, your site will be clear most of the time, however, images appear more pixellated and here, I think that Sony should have done a better job.

Slightly below, there is a 921,600-dot touchscreen LCD that isn’t a true vari-angle screen though, due to the fact that you can tilt it up to 107-degrees upward and downward for 41-degrees. Regardless, the screen is crispy enough to offer you a really clear sight of everything you want to shoot, while on the other side, it is highly responsive as well, hence, all of your gestures will be properly registered and I think that you will be very satisfied!

Moreover, between the rear thumb rest and the LCD, there are is an FN button and a focus point selector joystick, and overall, there are 13 customizable buttons which means that you will have a huge freedom in terms of use with this camera!

For your information, the connections are composed of two USB ports including a USB-C and micro-USB port, 3.5mm microphone input, 3.5mm headphone jack, single micro HDMI port , two memory card slots where one of them supports SD/SDHC/SDXC memory at UHS-II speeds, and a second slot that works with all SD formats but at slower UHS-I speeds. If we take these connections aside, the A7 III is also Wi-Fi,Bluetooth and NFC-enabled which is awesome since you will have multiple options to share your images and videos to your phone and even use your phone as wireless remote controller!

In terms of the performance, the Sony A7 III incorporates a back-illuminated 24.2MP BSI Full-Frame image sensor, and extraodrinarily strong, 693-point phase-detect AF system, continuous shooting rate of 10 fps, 5-axis stabilization and a native ISO range of 100-51,200 which is expandable to 50-204,800!

For your information, this camera may not be the fastest to start, focus and fire because it takes 2.2 seconds to achieve this, however, the autofocus system is top-notch and i really like it because it locks onto a target in 0.05-second in bright light situations and it takes 0.4-seconds in dim conditions.

In addition, the A7 III does a fantastic job in maintaining the noise to the minimum throughout the ISO range. Namely, at ISO 3200, pictures look mouth-watering because they are incredibly good defined and are filled with numerous details and accurate colors. At ISO 6400, the results are quite the same. At ISO 25600, you will notice the presence of noise which isn’t strong though and here, details are preserved in a very good manner, however, once you reach ISO 102,400, noise is revealed more while at the ISO 204,800 the noise reaches its peak. These results were delivered by shooting JPEGs, by the way.

If you shoot RAW images through ISO 100 or ISO 6400, the grain appears a bit more, but at ISO 12,800 and ISO 25600, the noise is present but will unlikely cause you frustration.

Before we move to the next section, I’d like to mention that the A7 III outputs a strong performance under low light thanks to the inclusion of a 5-axis sensor-based image stabilization system, and so far, I don’t have considerable remarks for this part.

A wide angle lens for the A7iii can make it go to the next level. The shots you can take with a wide angle lens are definitely stunning and i’d recommend every Sony owner to grab one. There are a lot of different lenses that work well with this camera. For example, i use the Sony SEL28F20 for portraits because it’s the best portrait lens for Sony a7iii.

When it comes to the video, the A7 III records 1080p videos at 120fps and the most important part, you can record 4K videos at 24/30fps, and keep in mind that the overall video quality is really good because this camera is different from the other Sony cameras that are known for outputting a rolling shutter effect.

Sony A7 III Sample Images:

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Canon 5D Mark IV

The Canon 5D Mark IV as was the case with its opponent, the Sony A7 III, shares the similar body to its predecessor as well, such as the 5D Mark III, and if you’ve ever had a chance to shoot with the 5D Mark III, your experience will seem very similar.

Otherwise, this particular model measures 4.6 x 5.9 x 3.0″ (HWD), weighs around 1.8 pounds and boasts a magnesium alloy and polycarbonate construction that is sealed against weather and dust, hence, if we compare it to Sony A7 III, here, both cameras are strong enough to be used under a variety of different situations and both of them receive points from me.

On the top, there are there is a hot shoe, large monochrome information LCD display that is backlit and it will keep you informed with numerous stuff like the shutter speed, EV compensation, white balancing, etc, as well as three dual-function buttons such as the Drive/AF, Flash Power/ISO/ White Balance/Metering plus a control dial.

If you take a look at the rear, you will find more dedicated controls that are really well-organized, so you will find an array of buttons on the left and right side, as well as on the top.

On the top-rear, there is an optical viewfinder that has a 0.71x magnification with 100% coverage, and here, the viewfinder covers more area on the contrary to the Sony A7 III who covers only 93%. Also, Canon’s viewfinder is brighter than Sony’s camera mainly because of its glass pentaprism design.

Slightly below, you can find a 3.2″, 1620k-dot fixed touchscreen which employs an anti-reflection and anti-smudge coating which is super-useful because you will have an undistracted and clear sight even if you’re shooting under bright light conditions!

Connection-wise, the 5D Mark IV consists of a PC Sync, microphone and headphone port, micro USB 3.0, mini HDMI port, has a support for CompactFlash and SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards, as well as it is Wi-Fi, GPS and NFC-enabled, so here, the result is a tie.

Speaking of the performance, the Canon 5D Mark IV packs a 30.4MP full-frame CMOS sensor, an impressive 61-point AF with 41 cross-points, an improved processor that provides a continuous shooting rate of 7 fps, and a native ISO range that stretches from 100 to 32,000 which is expandable to ISO 50-102,400!

As expected, images are indeed delightful, they look sharp while the colors are exceptionally accurate and well saturated. As a matter of fact, this unit achieves great results in setting the noise to the minimum most of the time. Namely, when shooting through ISO 800, the image quality is fantastic and the noise isn’t present at all, but a bit higher, at ISO 12,800, you will notice a minimal decrease in clarity, whereas, at ISO 6400, JPGs looks excellent and you will unlikely find remarks.

However, at ISO 25,600, noise is more pronounced and kind of overtakes the image detail, and increases to ISO 32,000 and 51,200, and reach the peak at ISO 102,400 where the output is poor.

On the other hand, RAW pictures are unbelievably defined and strong even if you shoot through ISO 12,800, but, as you’re reaching ISO 25,600 the noise is starting to overtake the overall image quality, while at ISO 102,400 the grain is the most present, but still, images you get may still be useful.

Finally, the 5D Mark IV supports 4K footage same as the Sony A7III at 24/30fps, 1080p videos at 60fps, and 720p videos at 120 fps, and thanks to its dual pixel AF the footage will be captured properly and the overall video quality is awesome.

Canon 5D Mark IV Sample Images:

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Sony A7 III vs Canon 5D Mark IV Feature Comparison

	Sony A7 III	Canon 5D Mark IV
Camera Type	Mirrorless	DSLR
Megapixels	24.2	30.4
ISO Range	100-51,200; 50-204,800	100-32,000; 50-102,400
Flip-Out Screen	Yes	No
AF Points	693 AF points	61 AF points
Viewfinder	Yes	Yes
Touchscreen	Yes	Yes
Video Recording	Yes	Yes
Sensor Size	Full-Frame	Full-Frame

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Conclusion

After this in-depth review, I have to admit that both cameras are capable enough to output an uncompromised performance and both of them are highly capable of video recording aside from their primary purpose which is to capture wonderful photos!

Let’s make a head-to-head comparison of the key aspects of the cameras, so that you may be able to take advantage of the arguments and create your own opinion if you don’t have by now, and choose which camera should be the winner here.

First of all, let’s note that both cameras don’t have a built-in flash, something that can be considered as a weakness that is shared by the cameras.

Moving on, the Sony A7 III on the contrary to the 5D Mark IV outputs a better performance for street photography and daily photography, however, the 5D Mark IV performs a bit better for sports photography. It’s very good in that field, especially when paired with a lens made for sports photography.

In addition, the Sony A7 III packs a built-in Image Stabilization, an articulating screen, 693-focus points opposed to Sony’s 61-points, it is 3 fps faster than the latter camera ( 10 fps vs 7) and has a slight higher color depth.

On the other side, Canon EOS 5D mark IV has a better maximum sensor resolution, higher screen size, better battery life ( 900 vs 610 shots).

Overall, I’d go for the Sony A7 III because although both of them are strong, this camera offers more advantages which may be crucial during your shooting sessions.

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