Canon has recently announced their new flagship cameras, the R5 and R6. There will be no 5D mark V, and the Canon shooters looking to upgrade will need to eventually sell off their old glass for almost nothing.
I am a 5D Mark III shooter, so I never upgraded to the Mark IV. I was satisfied with what I have, but now that the R5 and the R6 have been introduced, I am certainly looking at the market and what options I have regarding these new breeds mirrorless cameras.
But, what has also happened, is that I started checking across the fence to see what Sony’s top of the range cameras are able to achieve, and I am certainly liking what I see. In fact, last year when I shot the Levi’s videos with the Sony a7R II I was very impressed with the auto-focussing and the IBIS that got me the shots I needed. I must however confess that these technological breakthroughs do not exist in the 5D Mark III, and I couldn’t compare it to the Mark IV because I didn’t have one or a job needing one.
So now I am left with a choice, and it’s a choice I will make that will stand for the next decade, or until the next lens design makes the manufacturers produce a different lens range, which tends to happen every decade or so.
My thinking is to weigh the two cameras I am considering up against one another, and to see what the benefits are of each. These are based on what I will need. I do product photography, and for fun I do street photography. I shoot fashion video and am looking to expand this in future, so video is becoming more and more important for me.
Canon R5
Pros
- 8K footage. That means it'll give you a boost when your clients ask for 4K. You've got double that, and might be a selling point for them, although not necessarily for you or your skills and work you do. You're also future-proof, and can crop in should you need to.
- The Canon color that photographers and photo-loving people — this means almost everyone — have grown to love so much.
- It’s a camera for stills and video. It’s going to deliver on both sides of the coin for a photography and video business.
Cons
- Overheating is an issue. There are rumors that Canon is holding these cameras back in the market to check demand. Apparently they've done this in the past too, but now with the current situation it's even more aggressively implemented. For your work it can also mean having to carry two bodies or a back up.
- The cost of new lenses if you really want the benefit of this new camera body and technology is quite an investment. They're in the same ball park with regards to cost compared to Sony, and it's a completely new kit you're going to have to budget for.
Sony a7S III
Pros
- There is a hard focus on image stabilization. IBIS, lens stabilization and electronic, gyroscopic stabilization which should give you the same type of video GoPro has achieved with their action cameras but now you've got the lenses, color science and file formats that gives you the options a professional needs.
- Sony’s pro-level color science used in their film cameras are now similar, if not the same, in this camera. Don’t make the mistake thinking Sony is behind in color science. Their film cameras have shot some large productions, and with this camera, they're making it more accessible in a smaller body.
Cons
- It's a new camera that I will need time to dissect, learn from, and digest. And if the comments regarding it's menu system is anything to go by, it's quite a transition from the simplicity Canon offers. The menu has been updated though, and with the touch screen interface it seems like it will be simpler than the previous generations.
- Change can also be a positive. Getting out of my comfort zone could be a great thing for not only my work, but the way I do my work and what I shoot too.
Conclusion
Canon has been around for decades, and when the digital revolution came, it was exciting to have video included with the 5D Mark II. But, with them deciding to not launch a Canon 5D Mark V, it confirms that it is the end of the DSLR as we know it. This indirectly proves Sony has been ahead with regards to technology, research, and giving the photographers what they want and need since their entry into the market.
On a technical note, for photography, you won’t get the same quality of an image. It’s only 12 megapixels. I do however believe the Sony A7IV will do better than that with regards to still image quality, but not have the video capabilities of the A7SIII. We'll have to wait and see.
My Final Verdict
I've been a Canon shooter since the start of my career. It's been great getting to know it's abilities and I am still impressed with what the Mark III has to offer. But, just like changing from a DSLR to mirrorless, I do think changing brands could be a good thing. With this knowledge and with my budget allowing, I will be converting to Sony. I am usually an early adopter and the first to get my hands on new gear, but in this case I will first check what the Sony a7 IV has to offer and then choose between the two.
As a Canon shooter, are you planning on sticking with the brand, or are you also considering switching? Let us know in the comments.
"Canon shooters looking to upgrade will need to eventually sell off their old glass for almost nothing." Not necessary as most EF glass will work even better when mounted on a Canon R series camera.
In your Pros for the R5 you stated that having 8K is double 4K. That's incorrect. 8K is 4X the resolution of 4K, not 2X.
I find it funny how many reviews are talking about the overheating problem on the new R5. How many editors have computers powerful enough to even work with the files? Or the storage! The fact they overheat shouldn't even be considered until after you build up your workflow to begin handling the huge file sizes.
As many others have stated. EF Glass is a tremendous value, and there is so much of it that there is always a refurbished, or slightly older version out there for someone to rent or buy. Unless you are working on a feature film, no one cares what the gear is. If your talent for composition doesn't show with a Rebel 300d, it certainly won't with an R5.
Since January I've been changing fully from Nikon to Canon. I have an R5 on order and two EOS RPs at the moment and two RF lenses. I am very happy with Canon so far. The RPs were great but shooting sports I was finding the frames per second was limiting so I decided to dive in with the R5 and I'll probably sell one of the RPs to someone in my local camera club. Anyway, bottom line is I'm thrilled with the images from the mirrorless and have not missed my Nikons at all. I'm still learning all of the 1 million menu settings.
It depends on what type of shooter you are. Do you shoot stills, or video. If the former, I would stick with Canon, if the latter, Sony.
I've owned a Sony video camera for years, yeah it only shoots 1080, but has been an excellent camera.
This is all about video, as the threshold for excellent digital still photography has already been surpassed. The next step is an affordable hundred megapixel sensor, but what next? The future of two dimensional image making is in 4K to 8K video with the highest frame rate, for that is where the money is for the greatest number of paid gigs, and to feed our insatiable consumption of visual data. Then one day there will be a new breakthrough, perhaps holographic, that will place much of what came before, on a path to redundancy.
Guess I don't understand how the A7 series comes close to the specs of the R5.
Um, can anyone tell the difference between 4 and 8K? How big of a screen do you need before you can?
"Sony A7S iii Pros
IBIS"
looks like paid advertisement of Sony.
Canon has bigger mount - more opportunities for better stabilization. Canon EF lenses work through canon adaptor.
I was thinking that too. Maybe Sony's giving him a free camera or deep discount for writing the article. LOL!!
I have a friend who's PRE-ordered the Sony a7Siii. He hasn't gotten it yet. It doesn't really matter what company Sony, Canon, Nikon...., in all those reviews, the reviewer was given the camera.
Or at least loaned to them. Maybe it's a "justification" article to make him feel good about his decision. ;-) I saw and read where there were some reviewers that didn't get a reproduction R5 or R6 to test and were not happy about it. The couple on YouTube being one. They profess their fondness for Sony and they were rewarded as Sony either gave or loaned them an A7SIII to review.
Loan too, yes. Duh, didn't think about the pre-production models. With an early video, you can make money with lots of hits/likes.
Must be a slow news day. This article was so thin, poorly researched, out of date, basic and nonsensical. The conclusion was to consider a Sony A7Riv yet it didn't even get mentioned in the body of the article. Just awful fill-up-space guff with no merit at a time when photographers are blessed with great options.
Anybody who would leave a 45 MP hybrid beast of a camera option to get a 12 MP 2008 resolution camera is dense, or has a small penis, or has money to burn on multiple cameras. Brand jumping is DENSE!
The A7SIII is not in the same league as the R5... really the direct competition is the A7RIV and the R5 beats that camera in almost every way.
Ironically, a month ago all I read from Sony people was "I'm going back to Canon because Sony is stagnating and that R5 looks amazing". Now a new niche video-only camera is announced and the tune has changed. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
As for "colour science" despite being a Canon shooter for 15 years, I've never thought any camera had bad colour science, ever. I have buddies who jumped ship from Canon to Sony, they made nice images on both. A few then ditched Sony to get Fuji (or came back to Canon). They finally "admitted" the Sony colours were terrible. I don't buy it. Youtube schills like Gerald Undumb and Matti Hapooja always said they hated Sony colours, and now they are on the Sony gravy train, they announced "Sony has better colours"... meanwhile posting videos of waterskiing in which the sky has more bands than Woodstock. ugh.
PS. I shot as a pro for 15 years, the 1D Mk3 was my money camera for 12 years... but I sold it. Why? Because I was losing jobs with that 10 MP sensor. Even 24 MP is too small for me these days. If I only shot video I might consider the A7SIII but really, most likely I'd get a cinema camera.
The Sony «…color science used in their film cameras…»?!?
Sony, Panasonic, et al, did NOT use their colour science in their film cameras; the film/chemical companies did!
Their is such a thing as Kodak film colour science, Fujifilm colour science, Agfa film colour science, et al, but no such thing as Sony film, Pentax film, Canon film, Nikon film, Panasonic film colour science.
Speaking of Canon colour science,….
«The Canon color that photographers and photo-loving people — this means almost everyone — have grown to love so much.»
Yeah. No! Not everyone loved it. I hated it. It makes skin tones look either red, or muddy, IMNSHO. Never liked it.
«It’s a camera for stills and video. It’s going to deliver on both sides of the coin for a photography and video business.»
You are one of the few who can actually benefit from one camera to do both jobs, as you are either doing product/street photography, or doing fashion video. You are never called on to do both, so this might actually work for you. Still, I suggest you keep your current camera for stills, and get a video camera for video.
Had that discussion too many times, but if you are as serious about fashion video as you are about product photography, you do not want a compromise camera. (Unless by, “fashion video,” you mean a YouTube fashion channel, then, whatever).
«For your work it can also mean having to carry two bodies….»
Is that not always the case???
«…cost of new lenses….»
Not if you use an adaptor. Canon makes them. They thought that through when they designed the new mount.
«Sony have never released a DSLR camera.»
WTDickens?!? er… YES!!! Yes they have!
«This indirectly proves Sony has been ahead… and giving the photographers what they want….»
Actually, it does not. It may prove that mirror-less is finally catching up to SLR enough for Canon (and maybe Nikon) to make the jump.
The Pentax through-the-lens, auto-focus DSLR was ten years premature. They made two lenses for it, then they waited ten years to try again. The K-FA mount was replaced by the K-AF mount. Yes, Pentax had vision, but technology had to catch up to the vision.
…And some of us actually do want the SLR over the mirror-less.
Was this article submitted to an editor, or did it go straight from writer to publication?
[EDIT]
FULL-DISCLOSURE: Pentax DSC shooter, do not intend to switch. In the rare cases when I do shoot video, I do it on a Canon video camera.
In the highly unlikely event that I did switch DSC systems, the only other worthy system I have considered was Olympus. Now that Olympus is up for sale, it depends on who buys it; I might consider Sony, then Nikon.
For a video camera, I will choose Panasonic, Samsung, or JVC.
[/EDIT]
Very good reponse.
There are many reviews on Youtube that show the A7SIII overheats faster than Canon; fact is all video cameras will overheat without a cooling feature built in. The Sony is an excellent camera and in some respects better than the Canon, but not enough to make me change systems.
There are some Canon fanboys on this site who attack Sony and send them to hell to burn up, while praising Canon, and I think the truth is that at the moment it's the most overheated place in Canon's own cameras!
I use Canon but they did the same thing with the 5d mark 4. Promoted 4k video and then threw in the mjpeg codec which made file size huge and hard to work with so I never used at all. Not they promote 8k and it's an overheating disaster. I don't care if people only plan to use it for 5 seconds. They knew it was a disaster and went for the spec sheet. I'm done with the all in one. Other companies have shown results can be better, be cheaper and still not cannibalize the higher end video cameras. And now the wait starts for another 4 years of waiting to see if they finally offer what they advertise.
Good thing is because of this I now have two BMPCC 6K cameras and still use the mark 3 and 4 for photography. I can spend money on lighting, audio or post gear.
The quality of articles on Fstoppers is really going downhill. This one is totally incompetent and at times looks like trolling.
"Canon R5 vs Sony A7sIII" - they're not comparable as A7sIII is a video camera. In terms of stills, the 12Mp sensor can only be used in niche applications such as astrophotography.
"Sony have never released a DSLR camera. They started their journey with mirrorless cameras." - this is a joke right?
"Sony’s pro-level color science used in their film cameras are now similar, if not the same, in this camera." - seriously? Sony's colour science in film?
"The cost of new lenses for R5" - you don't need new lenses as long as you have EF glass and an EF adapter. So in terms of lenses, the cost of upgrading to the R5 is the cost of an adapter. The cost of switching to Sony will be much higher.
"A7sIII is only going to give you down sampled 4K" - no, it doesn't do downsampled 4K, the author simply doesn't understand what he's talking about.
Absolute profanation, I'm disappointed in Fstoppers who put this article on the top.
I bought my first camera sony f717 and my first music player iPod in 2002. I clearly remember the media's praise of these electronic products. It is epoch-making, amazing and unique. . . Now they are all piled up in my storage room like garbage.
Now I am using 5D Mark IV, and I also remember how the media described it at the time. As a photography enthusiast, I just know that short videos are the direction, but I still stick to 5D4. When the media's evaluation of R5 calms down, I might buy R5 or A7SIII.
I had Canon, my daughter has taken it. I switched to Sony. My daughter is happy and I'm not looking back!
Why would it be necessary to replace all of your EF glass with RF at this time? That's crap and you know it. It sounds to me like your looking for an excuse to try something new.
Is this still old sensor tech in the R6? I'm a long time canon user however the files the Sony A73 seems brighter and cleaner compared to my Canon eos R, so what's the deal with R6? Is its sensor up to the job?
I believe that the R6 is using the same sensor as the 1DxIII which ain't bad.
Interesting how history continues to rhyme: should I buy a Chevy or a Ford; should I swtich from Canon to Nikon, etc. And the same answer comes back: what exactly do you need?
If most photographers were honest with themselves, they'd have to admit that they probably haven't maxed out on understanding and using what they already have. I had this discussion with a talented landscape photographer. He said "give me any brand you have and I will show you how to get great results with it. A camera needs to become an extension of your arm, so you know instinctively what's next. But most people can't get past the elbow."
I love the innovations and the pace of change. And it's good to see Sony keeping the two traditional kingpins shaking in their boots. But ultimately, you start with a set of needs, you determine what meets the needs, assess the financial implications (which many fail to do) and remain logical.
Photographic equipment is like cars, golf clubs, snow skis and cell phones: you can lose a fortune chasing technology and innovation, losing sight of what you really need. People would do well to go back to Ansel Adams' 'The Camera', and read/re-read page xiii within the introduction. He nailed it back in 1980. It helps to, shall we say, remain focused.
I'm sticking with what works for me. This camera has an identity crisis. As a hybrid shooter, this would never work. Editors that hire me for photo and quick interview video ask a minimum of 20 megapixels for the portraits and only want HD for video almost never 4k.
I had been a Canon user for years, then invested in a Sony a9 and Sony glass. Along with my Canon glass the Sony glass, I had all the lens ranges covered for my uses. After a year and a half of using the a9, I did not care for Sony's unorganized menu system, the small size & poor grip, and eye tracking was erratic at best I wanted something over 20mp, so I decided to switch back to Canon & the R5. I'm primarily a stills shooter so the negative hype generated by the YouTube, "Talking Head" experts didn't bother me. I received the R5 and have been putting it through its paces. To date I can say it meets or exceeds my expectations for image quality, speed, eye/face tracking & IBIS, not to mention the feel and ease of use.
Has Sony built out a repair service in the U.S. like CPS? Sony sounds interesting but I would have to be able to send something for repair and have it back in a week like Canon.
Good question. I think we take for granted how good that program is.
Just made the jump from 5DIV to Sony A9, and am very chuffed indeed.
New Canon R5 as top of the line Canon mirrorless camera challenges SONY in most departments. Depends if you consider camera body design and design size as the deciding factor. SONY A series body not compatible with their larger lenses. Not to say SONY will fall out of favour with their fan club due to their extensive Zeiss lens range. What if Canon camera body all-weather sealing superior to SONY? Important for some nature photographers?
The all new Sony A7 S III have stunning performance for professionals. α7S III builds on the strengths of the S series such as high sensitivity. wide dynamic range while providing pro features like enhanced AF, optical image stabilisation and 4K 120p recording. we can see the actual power of alpha. Sony Alpha7s introduce newly developed 12.1-megapixel back-illuminated Exmor RTM CMOS image sensor and newly developed BIONZ XR image processing engine with up to 8x the processing performance.
check for more info https://unitedbroadcast.com/sony-alpha-a7s-iii-mirrorless-digital-camera...
Sony by releasing so many new A7 / A9 cameras in full flight giving Nikon / Canon limited space in the mirrorless market; catching up will take them some time with full lens range. Going back to Nikon and Canon by present Sony users will be an expensive exercise with no guarantee of satisfaction; especially if newly-designed cameras contain any software bugs.
Forget sony. Those cameras are piece of shit with great marketing. They are not useable. Just forget.