Introduction
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A significant group of camera makers have decided that full frame mirrorless cameras are the sector most likely to remain profitable as the camera market contracts. This leaves us with a selection of cameras priced around $ 2000, all trying to get you hooked on a new system.
We’re going to look at three 24MP full frame mirrorless cameras from Sony, Nikon and Panasonic. The other potential contender here is the Canon EOS R but, while its lens lineup is looking interesting, we think the other three cameras are stronger contenders, so will concentrate on those for now.
This leaves us with a selection of cameras, all trying to get you hooked on a new system
When it comes to their sensors, similarities go way beyond just the headline pixel count. Performance is so close across the trio that you might reasonably conclude that they had similar underlying silicon.
There are differences, of course: Panasonic hasn’t topped its chip with phase detection AF masks, which reduces the (already small) risk of striping artifacts at the cost of slightly lower continuous AF performance. Meanwhile Sony restricts you either to lossy Raw compression that can slightly limit your processing flexibility, or honking-great uncompressed files. But in terms of image quality, lenses are likely to make much more difference to your photos than the brand name that appears on the front of the camera.
Other spec differences
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Beyond the sensors, there are a handful of other differences. There are subtle differences in terms of which features each brand provides, with Panasonic generally throwing everything it can at the S1.
All three cameras have in-body image stabilization, the Panasonic and Nikon both feature top-plate display screens, while the Sony and Panasonic offer twin card slots.
Another difference is viewfinder resolution: one of the ways Sony has kept the cost of the a7 III competitive is to stick to a 2.36M dot viewfinder. Nikon’s Z6 has a 3.64M dot finder, which gives a 25% increase in linear resolution. It also does a good job of making the most of this resolution (rather than feeding it a low-res input signal during autofocus, for instance). The Panasonic’s S1 finder gives a further 25% linear res increase, taking it to 5.76M dots.
All three makers talk about weather resistance, but none go so far as to state ratings or give guarantees
In terms of handling, the S1 combines a big grip with a large array of direct control buttons and dials, all spread out on the largest of the three bodies. The Sony is the smallest camera and its control layout is the most cramped, as a result (though the grip is still pretty well shaped). The Nikon strikes a balance: offering less direct controls than the Panasonic but managing to fit a decent grip and well-positioned dials onto a well-sized body.
All three makers talk about weather resistance, but none go so far as to state ratings or give guarantees, in that regard. The Panasonic S1 promises the longest shutter life and certainly feels the most substantial of the three. Meanwhile, in his teardown of the Nikon Z7, Roger Cicala at LensRentals said: ‘This is engineering department weather resistance. Anything that can be sealed has been sealed.’
The Panasonic is also the only camera here to offer 4K 60p video capture or 10-bit Log recording: the Sony will capture 8-bit Log internally, while the Z6 will output a 10-bit stream to an external recorder.
Lens choice
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Sony has a five-year head start when it comes to creating a lens system for its full-frame E-mount cameras, meaning it offers by far the widest choice of lenses. In addition to its own lens range, which extends to long teles, standard zooms and primes, Sony has also opened the E-mount up, allowing third-party manufacturers to broaden the range. Tamron makes a pair of F2.8 zooms, while Sigma has created E-mount versions of a selection of its Art-series primes (originally designed for DSLRs).
Panasonic is in the next-strongest position: it’s introduced three of its own lenses and joined a system that already has eight Leica primes and zooms. In addition, Sigma has promised L-mount versions of those same Art-series primes.
By going it alone and keeping the specs to itself, Nikon has only its own lenses to offer
By going it alone and keeping the specs to itself, Nikon has only its own lenses to offer: 35mm and 50mm primes, 24-70mm zooms in both F4 and F2.8, and a 14-30mm F4 wide-angle. Of course, Nikon also offers an F-mount-to-Z-mount adapter, which allows the use of its existing F-mount lenses (though only the more recent designs with built-in focus motors will offer autofocus).
Various adapters exist for all three systems, offering access to Canon EF lenses, for instance. Generally, though, adapted lenses don’t offer their full performance when adapted (though Nikon’s F-Z adapter does a good job). When sizing-up these systems, it’s worth considering whether your existing lenses can be adapted to any of these new mounts, but not a great idea to go out and buy new lenses with the intention of adapting them (the performance is likely to be inferior and their value will drop significantly when native versions are introduced).
Travel
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Photo by Dan Bracaglia
The Nikon and Sony immediately stand out for travel, since they’re appreciably smaller and lighter than the Panasonic. Of these, the Sony has the best battery life, which is a definite advantage, but all three cameras can be charged over a USB connection, to keep them topped-up along the way.
All three are also easy enough to connect to over Wi-Fi, if you want to share your images while still on tour. The Sony makes life slightly easier for Android users by incorporating NFC (you can just tap your phone to the camera to transfer the image currently being shown), but then loses any bonus points by being the only camera here that doesn’t let you re-process a Raw file, if you decide on different processing settings.
If you like to travel with a zoom, the Sony 24-105mm F4 would probably swing us towards the a7 III: the Nikon 24-70mm F4 is smaller (and very sharp) but the Sony is more flexible and the quality is consistently excellent.
If you prefer to stick with a single prime lens, then it’ll depend on your focal length preference. For instance, Sony makes you pick between the massive (and optically unimpressive) 35mm F1.4 and the rather modest 35mm F2.8, which might be enough to make us choose the Z6 and 35mm F1.8 S or 50mm F1.8 S as our preferred traveling companion.
Video
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Nikon has promised a firmware update adding Raw video output to the Z6, which may well put the cat amongst the independent production pigeons. But for the majority of videographers, the Panasonic S1 is probably the pick here.
All three cameras can shoot 4K/30p and 24p from the full width of their sensors, but the Panasonic takes this further by offering 4K/60p from an APS-C crop region. For amateur videographers the S1 offers full 10-bit Hybrid Log Gamma: a ready-for-use high dynamic range video format.
Videographers with more demanding workflows may appreciate the optional firmware upgrade (which will cost extra, depending on when you buy the camera), which makes the Panasonic the only camera here to record 10-bit Log footage internally, and the only one to offer a waveform display for optimizing exposure.
The Nikon comes closest to the Panasonic in terms of making it easy to jump back and forth between stills and video shooting, but if you tend to shoot both in the same session, we’d go for the S1.
Family and moments
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Photo by Carey Rose
All three cameras have eye-detection autofocus, which is especially handy for quick grab-shots of family and friends, and all three work well in this respect. We’ve had the highest success rates with the Sony system, especially in situations with multiple subjects where you need to quickly pick who you want to focus on (it’ll pick the one nearest your selected AF point), but all three cameras do a good job.
The size and weight of the Nikon Z6 and Sony a7 III certainly make it more likely that you’ll have the camera with you at key moments. The retractable Nikon 24-70mm F4 pairs with the Z6 to give a pretty compact do-everything kit, which certainly counts in its favor.
The Panasonic’s HLG video (which captures lifelike footage for playback on high dynamic range TVs) might be a benefit for family movies but, beyond that, there’s not a lot to choose between the three cameras for simple video clips. Video autofocus on the Sony and Nikon cameras is a little more dependable than the Panasonic, but Sony falls behind the others in terms of ease-of-use if you wish to select and track a specific subject.
Landscape
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Photo by Jeff Keller
The Panasonic S1 immediately suggests itself for landscape work thanks to its 8-shot high resolution mode. We were impressed at how well it cancels subject movement, making it genuinely useful for landscape shooting. It also has the most comprehensive top-plate display panel, which is handy when working from a tripod.
However, while the Panasonic feels like the most rugged and durable of the three cameras here, there are no formal ratings or guarantees to back that up, so we can’t be certain that the apparent sturdiness is anything more than perception. Meanwhile, we know Nikon has put a lot of effort into its sealing.
All three cameras will do a good job, but to gain the Sony’s full dynamic range you’ll need to shoot uncompressed Raw, which is something of a demerit. Lens selection is likely to be a larger deciding factor, with Sony currently leading the charge thanks to some very good ultra wide-angle lenses.
Formal portraits
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Photo by Carey Rose
There’s little to choose between the three cameras in terms of formal portraits. All three have eye AF systems that make it easy to focus on people, letting you concentrate on your interaction with your subject. In our experience the Sony is most consistent at putting the focus exactly on the eye, rather than the eye-lashes.
Again Sony has the head start in terms of lens selection, though Sigma has said it will make L-mount versions of its lenses, including the 85mm F1.4 Art and 135mm F1.8 Art which, in addition to the Leica 90mm F2, mean that Panasonic users will be pretty well served.
The Z6 can immediately use all of Nikon’s extensive flash system, which extends to both radio-frequency and infrared trigger options. Sony also has a radio-frequency system. There are also plenty of third-party flash triggers available for all three systems.
Lifestyle and people
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Photo by Wenmei Hill
Lifestyle and people pictures are pretty much the core strength of all these cameras. Their large sensors and choice of wide aperture lenses support the shooting of those Instagram/Stock Photography shots of the picture-perfect lifestyle.
All three cameras now include autofocus that will find and focus on a subject’s eye. The Sony is the easiest of the three, if you need to focus on a specific person, but all three cameras work pretty well.
The Sony has the strongest lens selection, though the promise of a selection of Sigma primes for L-mount means the Panasonic should be pretty flexible, too. To get close to this on the Nikon you quickly have to start thinking in terms of adapting lenses, which isn’t the best long-term investment.
The Sony has the most awkward user interface of the three (particularly in terms of its menu system), but it can be set up so that you rarely need to delve into the full menu.
In terms of usability, we really appreciate the Nikon’s combination of sensible size, comfortable grip and straightforward user interface: it’s the camera we most enjoy shooting with, out of the three.
Candid and street
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Photo by Carey Rose
The Sony a7 III and Nikon Z6’s smaller size help when it comes to discreet shooting. The Sony then builds on this by having the largest selection of small lenses. Its ‘wide’ area AF mode is probably the smartest auto AF system (it’ll not only choose a subject but can be set to then track it through the scene).
The Nikon has plenty going for it, too, though, if there’s a lens you like available. Its touchscreen is more responsive than the Sony’s, as are its physical control dials. It’s also fastest of the three to start up, helping it in the ‘decisive moment’ stakes.
All three cameras shoot attractive out-of-camera JPEGs and all three make it pretty easy to then share these to your phone. And, significantly, all have a usable silent shutter mode, if you really need to be subtle.
The Panasonic S1 is pretty responsive, and its two-axis rear screen means you can shoot portrait orientation at waist level in a way you can’t with the other two. Unfortunately it’s the largest camera and the most likely to be noticed and hence to prompt a response from the people you’re trying to unobtrusively photograph.
Sports and wildlife
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Photo by Carey Rose
None of these models are explicitly designed as sports cameras but are all capable enough all-rounders that you won’t find yourself lost on the sidelines.
The Sony’s autofocus is the most comprehensive (once you’ve chosen which of its area modes gives you the best results). It’s got by far the best fleshed-out range of native telephoto and super-tele lenses. It also has the fastest shooting rate, at up to 10 fps, and has tracking that’s good enough for sports use. This and the camera’s greater battery life make it the strongest choice in this company.
That said, the Nikon isn’t that far behind. Its subject-tracking AF is slower and more awkward to initiate, and less dependable but its other AF modes are very capable. The camera is compatible with Nikon’s extensive range of F-mount DSLR sports lenses, but the performance of these is somewhat variable, and we wouldn’t necessarily recommend heavily investing in non-native lenses, especially for such an expensive class of lenses.
The Panasonic is probably the weakest of the three, both in terms of AF performance (though not by as much as is sometimes suggested) and lens availability. It also has the slowest shooting rate: 6 frames per second with continuous autofocus.
Wedding and events
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Photo by Dale Baskin
Wedding and event shooting requires many of the characteristics needed for lifestyle and people shooting, but increases the level of jeopardy, because you only get one chance to get the shot. This puts greater emphasis on speed of operation and it one of the disciplines that hugely benefits from redundant twin-card shooting. This counts against the Nikon for wedding shooting.
The Panasonic has the most extensive array of direct control points and allows enough customization that you can always have the controls you need at your fingertips. You can also save your settings onto a memory card to bring a second (perhaps rented) body into line with your primary camera, or just correct any settings changes you may have made for another job.
If you need to deliver both stills and video, the Panasonic has both the strongest feature set and makes it easiest to quickly switch back and forth between the two modes (you have extensive control over which settings follow over from one to the other).
All this being said, the Sony has the strongest selection of native lenses at this time, and if you’re going to be carrying one or two cameras for eight hours at a time, you might enjoy the Sony’s lighter weight compared to the Panasonic.
Conclusion
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We often find these application-focused articles enlightening: forcing yourself to think about how the performance differences affect different types of photography can help reveal which differences are important, and which are only relevant to a handful of users.
The two things that jumped out while writing this piece are that all three cameras are very good (and pretty consistently good at most things), but also that they’re opportunities for a fresh start if this is your first step into full-frame mirrorless. As always, lens availability should play a major role in which camera you choose but, to a large degree, it’s only really Nikon F-mount shooters who will find themselves with any dog in this particular fight. Unless you have multiple high-value long tele Nikon lenses, it might make sense to see a move to full frame mirrorless as a chance to sell-up and start again.
All three cameras are opportunities for a fresh start if this is your first step into full-frame mirrorless
The Sony is, overall, the best all-rounder: it does well at just about everything. Sony has been making full-frame mirrorless cameras longer than anyone, which gives it an advantage both in terms of technological development (especially autofocus) and lens selection. However, its focus on developing new and exciting features has left its user interface looking awkward and clunky by comparison. The Panasonic is a more feature-laden camera and yet is arguably easier to use and configure.
The Nikon Z6 runs the Sony very close, especially with its improved focus operation with firmware v2.0. In many respects we prefer the Nikon’s handling and UI over the Sony’s.
The choice you make is likely to engender a degree of commitment to a new lens system and, having looked at each camera in detail, we’d say thinking long-term about lenses is more important than focusing on the relatively minor differences between these three cameras.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
