At first glance, the Sony A7 V and the equally new Canon EOS R6 Mark III are both 33 megapixel full-frame mirrorless cameras that are designed to be an all-round hybrid stills/video solution aimed at enthusiasts.

They're very similar when it comes to their core specifications, so we're bringing you this Sony A7 V vs Canon EOS R6 Mark III head-to-head comparison to help you choose between the two cameras.

You can also read our detailed Canon EOS R6 Mark III review to find out exactly what we think of it in much more depth.

Sensor and Processor

The Canon EOS R6 Mark III utilises a 32.5 megapixel CMOS sensor and the latest Digic X processor, which provides a 34.3% increase in resolution compared to its 24.2 megapixel predecessor as well as offering 7K 60p internal RAW video recording.

The A7 V features a brand new 33 megapixel sensor partially-stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor paired with the equally new Bionz XR2 processor. This combination primarily offers even greater dynamic range, less rolling shutter and 4.5x faster readout speed than the previous A7 IV.

The A7 V offers 16+ stops of dynamic range, 1 stop higher than the R6 Mark III, with shadow noise claimed to be much less than its main rivals.

ISO Speed

The native sensitivity range of the A7 V runs from ISO 100-51,200, which can be expanded down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 204,800.

The native range on the Mark III R6 runs from ISO 100-51,200, which can be expanded down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 102,400.

Video

The Canon R6 III supports internal RAW video recording at up to 7K 60P or 7K/30p with Open Gate turned on, high frame rate recording at up to 4K 120P / 2K 180P, oversampled 4K/60p and also 4K/60p UVC live streaming for the first time ever on a full-frame EOS camera.

Other video-centric features include waveform monitor, proxies, metadata tagging, a full size HDMI port, 4 channel audio, 3/5 sec pre-recording function, 15+ dynamic range and CLog 2 and 3 profiles.

The A7 V offers 4K/120p recording in super 35mm crop mode and 7K oversampled 4K/60p full-frame recording with no pixel binning, plus Full 1080 HD at up to 240fps, with the dedicated Slow and Quick motion mode offering frame rates ranging from 1fps to 240fps at 1080p quality.

It offers the S-Cinetone, HLG, S-Log3 and S-Log2 profiles and additionally supports M-LUT and Log recording with LUTs. There's a new noise reduction function on the A7 V for the integrated mic which reduces constant background noise.

The Auto Framing feature uses the camera's AI-based subject recognition technology to automatically crop the frame to keep the subject in a prominent position when shooting movies, even when the camera is mounted on a tripod.

Unlike the R6 III, there's no Open Gate or RAW format video recording available on the A7 V.

Autofocus

The EOS R6 III has a very similar auto-focus system to the flagship EOS R3 sports camera, with AI tracking that can recognise humans, dogs, cats, birds, horses, aircraft and trains.

The Registered People Priority mode can detect and prioritise up to 10 faces even in side profile, useful for sports, news and weddings, with the ability to save 10 files on a memory card each with 10 registered faces.

Just like on the R5 II and R1, you can recall AF settings on the Canon R6 III by registering up to six custom AF setting profiles to save time on pre-shooting setting configuration.

It can focus in light levels as low as -6.5EV (when used with an F1.2 lens).

Sony has added an AI deep learning processing unit to the A7 V which enables it to recognise more subjects than the previous model, and also greatly improves the detection of humans and animals/birds.

It can recognise a human via its pose as well as its eye and face. So if the person's head is turned away from the camera, it will still accurately detect the subject as human based on the AI deep learning. Animal and bird detection has been expanded from just being able to recognise the eye to the eye, head and body.

As well as humans and animals, the A7 V is also able to recognise birds, insects, airplanes, and cars/trains. In the latter category, it is capable of focusing on helmets, it can recognise the eyes of some grazing and small animals, and more easily pinpoint the eyes of a variety of bird types as well as recognising bird bodies.

There's also a very welcome brand new Auto mode which will choose the most appropriate subject mode (although this is slightly slower than choosing the specific mode yourself).

Burst Shooting

The R6 Mark III can shoot at 40fps with the electronic shutter and 12fps with the mechanical shutter, thereby offering the fastest burst shooting in its class.

The buffer is 150 uncompressed RAW files and pre-continuous shooting up to 20 frames (Raw or JPEG/HEIF) is available before fully pressing the shutter button.

The A7 V can shoot a 30fps blackout free burst, the same shooting rate as the flagship A1 II. The continuous shooting rate for the mechanical shutter on the A7 V is up to 10fps.

The A7 V's buffer size with compressed RAW goes to 1000 shots+ and in the compressed 14-bit RAW mode you can get up to 95 images continuously.

Pre-capture is a new feature on the A7 V that has made its way from the A9 III sports camera. When activated, up to 30 frames per second are temporarily stored while the shutter button is half-pressed, and up to 1 second before can be captured once the shutter is fully pressed, providing a degree of leniency for fast-moving action.

The Continuous Speed Shooting Boost is another new function which provides an easy way to quickly engage one of the various burst modes (30/20/15/10/5fps) at the press of a button.

Both cameras offer a maximum shutter speed of 1/16,000th second when using the electronic shutter.

Body and Design

The Canon R6 III weighs in at 699g with battery and memory card or 609g body only and measures 138.4 x 98.4 x 88.4mm.

The A7 V weighs 695g with battery and memory card and measures 130.3 x 96.4 x 72.3mm.

IBIS

The R6 III's intelligent stabilisation system provides up to 8.5-stops of image stabilisation available via a combination of the camera's in-body Image Stabiliser which works in tandem with the attached lens’s own stabilisation system. 

Thanks to a newly redesigned stabilisation unit, the new A7 V offers up to 7.5 stops of in-body stabilisation at the centre of the image and 6.5 stops at the edge, making it one of the more capable Alpha camera in this regard.

Viewfinder

The R6 III has a 0.5-inch, 3.69m-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 0.76x magnification that operates up to 120fps for minimal lag when shooting fast-moving subjects.

The A7 V has a very similar 3.69m-dot EVF that features 100% scene coverage, 0.78x magnification and a 120fps high frame rate option to help track moving subjects more smoothly with virtually no lag.

LCD Screen

The R6 Mark III has a fully articulating 3-inch, 1.62 million dot, vari-angle LCD screen which tilts out to the side and faces forwards for more convenient vlogging and selfies. You can flip out the screen to the side, rotate it forwards for easier operation when pointing the camera at yourself, and fold it flat against the back of the camera to stop it from getting scratched.

The A7 V has a 3.2-inch, 2095K dot resolution, 4-axis LCD screen inherited from the A7R V and which is unique to Sony. It can be flipped out to the side, rotated to the front, folded against the back of the camera to help protect it, and set to many other positions in-between.

Memory Cards

The R6 III supports two CFexpress Type B and SD UHS II cards via dual slots, with the ability to record to both cards simultaneously.

The A7 V also employs dual CFexpress and SD card slots in order to support the faster video frame rates. One of these slots can interchangeably use UHS-II SD-cards and faster CFexpress Type A cards and one is only for UHS-II SD-cards.
 

Battery Life

The R6 III employs the LP-E6P battery from the EOS R5 II which provides 620 shots according to CIPA standards.

The Sony A7 V uses exactly the same large capacity NP-FZ100 battery as the previous A7 IV model, offering a CIPA-rated battery life of 750 shots when using the LCD screen and 630 when using the viewfinder.

Connectivity

The Mark III R6 features 5GHz wi-fi and Bluetooth 5.1 support, the ability to operate as a webcam and also 4K/60p UVC live streaming for the first time ever on a full-frame EOS camera.

The A7 V offers 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz wi-fi compatibility, 4K/30p UVA/UAC live streaming and it has 2x2 MIMO antennas which provide 2x faster transfer speed than the previous model.

Both cameras can also be powered and charged via a USB connection, which is useful if you're out and about and have a compatible powerbank to plug the camera into, and both use the newer USB-C variant.

The A7 V actually has two USB-C ports rather than a single one, though, one faster USB-C 3.2 10 Gbps port for file transfer and one slower USB 2.0 480 Mbps port for recharging.

Price

On launch, the Canon EOS R6 Mark III is priced at £2799.99 / €3199.99 body only in the UK and Europe respectively.

The Sony A7 V has a price-tag of £2799 / €2999 / $2,899 body-only in the UK, Europe, and USA respectively.

Conclusion

Choosing between the Sony A7 V and the Canon EOS R6 Mark III is very difficult, with the latter perhaps having the edge due to its more advanced video recording, faster burst shooting and more effective IBIS.

So what do you think? Would you choose the Sony A7 V or the Canon EOS R6 Mark III? Leave a comment below!

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