Sony A7 IV vs Canon EOS R6 vs Nikon Z6 II: Which is a Better Buy?
Sony A7 IV vs Canon EOS R6 vs Nikon Z6 II Size Comparison Front View
Here we have the latest Mid-Range Full Frame Mirrorless cameras from the big three! With the introduction of the Sony Alpha A7 IV , the competition in this class got even tougher. The Sony A7 III has been a best seller in its class even after almost 4 years after its launch but it was showing its age in certain areas. So Sony released the A7 IV with a new 33MP sensor and a very attractive feature set. Let's compare these three cameras, A7 IV vs Z6 II vs EOS R6 in detail and see which one is a better buy. We will start with the prices since it is going to be one of the most important decision factors after all for many people:
Price
Sony A7 IV sells for $2499 Body only, Nikon Z6 II is priced at $1999 and Canon R6 sells for $2499 , same as A7 IV. As seen here, the Z6 II is significantly cheaper than the other two. Thanks to the global chip shortage, manufacturers rarely discounts the prices of their popular cameras so don't expect these prices to go down by much any time soon.
Winner: Nikon Z6 II
Sensor and Image Quality for Stills
Sony with its 33 MP sensor has the highest resolution of the three while Nikon Z6 II has a 25MP sensor and the Canon EOS R6 has a sensor with only 20MP resolution. 33MP may become the new sweet spot for mid-range full frame cameras since it leaves a lot of room for cropping in post-process while maintaining a similar high ISO performance with the other two. Even when shot with 1.5x APS-C crop in a pinch (one scenario is to use APS-C E-mount lenses although not ideal), you get 14.6MP still image files which is very acceptable for many use cases.
Winner: Sony A7 IV
Video
- Both cameras can can record 4K 60p video at their highest setting but the A7 IV and Z6 II has a 1.5x (APS-C) crop factor at this setting whereas the Canon R6 has only a slight 1.07x crop.
- All cameras can record 10bit 4:2:2 video however while Sony and Canon can do this internally, Nikon can only record this externally over HDMI.
- As in stills, Sony and Canon both has much better Auto Focus compared to Nikon and we would give the edge to A7 IV of the two.
- All cameras have siilar level of rolling shutter effect in 4K recordinga as none of these has the stacked BSI CMOS sensors the more pro flagship models such as Sony A1, Canon EOS R3 and Nikon Z9 uses.
- Canon and Sony have an advantage with their fully articulating screen over Nikon's tilting screen while shooting video
- Sony has a unique Focus Breathing feature where the camera compensates the framing changes due to focus breathing for certain lenses automatically
- Sony A7 IV's 4K video is oversampled from 7K up to 30 and has the most detailed 4K quality of any hybrid camera that we know of
- With SLog2, SLog3 and Sony's professional S-Cinetone Color modes and H265 video, offers the most versatile recording settings.
- The new added Mode dial on the Sony A7 IV makes switching between Stills and Video modes a breeze, changing the menu selection at the same time.
- Sony A7 IV's Gyro based stabilization gives the choice of extra level of stabilization under certain conditions.
- A7 IV sports a full-size HDMI port (Good job Sony!) whereas Canon and Nikon has mini HDMIs.
Winner: Sony A7 IV
Size
Sony A7 IV vs Canon EOS R6 vs Nikon Z6 II Size Comparison Top View
A7 IV has the most compact body of the three,and lighter at the same time. Ergonomics is vey subjective, changes depending on your hand size and preferences so won't take it as a decision factor.
Winner: Sony A7 IV
Image Stabilization
All three cameras has 5-axis in-body image stabilization systems and they are very effective but the general consensus is that the Canon has the most effective IS especially when paired with its RF lenses that has optical image stabilization. One less known feature that Sony has though is the Gyro data base stabilization for videos. This lets you stabilize the video footage post-shooting by using a software, it introduces an extra crop to the shootage though and for the best results, the shutter spped ahs to be higher than normal.
Winner: Canon EOS R6
Lens Availability
All these manfuacturers are known by their excellent lenses but when we look at the number of available lenses, Sony is in the best position, and it has the best third-party lens selection of all three by far. Manufacturers such as Sigma and Tamron offers an extensive selection of Sony E mount lenses so it is possible to find at least one alternative lens for almost all focal ranges.
Due to entering too late to the Mirrorless game (who remembers Nikon 1 system?) , Nikon's lens selection is very shallow, trailing behind the others. (For Canon and Nikon, it is possible to close the gap by using lens mount adapters and use extensive selection of Canon EF and Nikon F lenses but we all know that the adapted lenses never performs as good as the native ones)
Winner: Sony A7 IV
Check these pages for more detail: Sony A7 IV Lenses, Canon EOS R6 Lenses, Nikon Z6 II Lenses
Auto Focus
Kudos to Sony for implementing its best Autofocus system (as used on Sony A1) to A7 IV, it is hard to find a fault in this system. Canon likewise performing head to head with Sony in this department. The eye tracking and animal tracking tracking on these two cameras gives them almost an unfair advantage over many less advanced AF systems, such as the one in Nikon Z6 II. Although Nikon recently made major advancements in this area, they are still behind Sony and Canon.
Winner: Canon EOS R6 and Sony A7 IV
Battery Life
Sony's NP-FZ100 battery provides the best battery life of the three with a big lead. It is rated for 600 shots wth CIPA standards, Canon has a battery life of 360 shots and Nikon has a battery life of 410 shots.
Winner: Sony A7 IV
LCD
At 2100000dots resolution and 3.2"-inch diagonal size, Nikon has the largest and the highest resolution LCD screen. On the other hand, Z6 II's screen is a Tilting type and Canon and Sony has a fully articulated screen. Both screen types has its advantages and fans but if you are more video focused, you will like the fully articulated screens whereas for more stills focused styles, tilting screens may be more preferable.
Winner: Nikon Z6 II (although some will prefer Canon and Sony)
Sony A7 IV vs Canon EOS R6 vs Nikon Z6 II Size Comparison Back View
Viewfinder
All cameras has the same 3,690,000dots resolution but the Viewfinder on the Nikon with its 0.80x magnification is slightly larger than Canon's 0.76x and Sony's 0.78x.
Winner: Nikon Z6 II
Continuous Shooting
One compromise Sony had to make on A7 IV due to its higher resolution 33MP sensor is the max continuous shooting speed. Sony can only shoot 10fps max and this goes even lower if you shoot Uncompresses lossless format. Nikon Z6 II can go up to 14fps and the Canon R6 goes up to an impressive 20fps with electronic shutter and 12fps with mechanical shutter.
Winner: Canon EOS R6
Other Features
- Only Nikon has the Top LCD which may come very handy under certain conditions.
- Sony A7 IV lacks the Focus Stacking and Focus Bracketing functions that the other two cameras have
- Sony A7 IV has the best webcam implementation of all three, requires no additional software and features streaming resolutions up to 4K
Here we have a brief summary of the comparison of these specs and ffeatures of A7 IV, Z6 II and EOS R6 in a more structures way.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |  |
| Model | Sony Alpha A7 IV | Canon EOS R6 | Nikon Z6 Mark II |
| Sensor Resolution | 33.0 MP | 20.0 MP | 25.0 MP |
| Announced Date | 2021-10-21 | 2020-07-09 | 2020-10-14 |
| Camera Type | Pro Mirrorless | Pro Mirrorless | Pro Mirrorless |
| Sensor Type | BSI-CMOS | CMOS | BSI-CMOS |
| Sensor Size | Full frame | Full frame | Full frame |
| Sensor Sensitivity | ISO 100 - 51200( expands to 50 - 204800) | ISO 100 - 102400( expands to 50 - 204800) | ISO 100 - 51200( expands to 50 - 204800) |
| Lens Mount | Sony E | Canon RF | Nikon Z |
| Image Stabil. | Sensor-shift ( up to 5.5 stops) | Sensor-shift ( up to 8.0 stops) | Sensor-shift |
| Eye Tracking Focus | | | |
| Weight | 659g | 680g | 705g |
| Dimensions | 129 x 97 x 81mm | 138 x 98 x 88mm | 134 x 101 x 70mm |
| Weather Sealing | | | |
| Focus Points | 759 | 6072 | 273 |
| Min AF Detecting Range | -4eV | -6.5eV | -4.5eV |
| Animal Eye Tracking | | | |
| Focus Stacking | | | |
| Focus Bracket | | | |
| Minimum Shutter | 30 sec | 30 sec | 30 sec |
| Maximum Shutter | 1/8000sec | 1/8000sec | 1/8000sec |
| Continuous Drive | 10.0fps | 12.0fps | 14.0fps |
| Max Video Reso | 3840 x 2160 | 3840 x 2160 | 3840 x 2160 |
| Video fps at Max | 60p, 50p,48p, 30p, 25p, 24p | 60p,30p/, 23.98p | 30p, 25p, 24p |
| Video Formats | MPEG-4, XAVC S, XAVC HS, XAVC S-I, H.264, H.265 | MPEG-4, H.264, H.265 | MPEG-4, H.264 |
| Max Video Mbps | 600 | 470 | 144 |
| Max Video Color Depth | 10bit | 10bit | 10bit |
| Storage Slot | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| UHS Support | UHS-II | UHS-II | UHS-II |
| Battery Life | 600 | 360 | 410 |
| Battery Model | NP-FZ100 | LP-E6NH | EN-EL15c |
| Webcam | | | |
| Anti Flicker | | | |
| Microphone Port | | | |
| Headphone Port | | | |
| Wifi | | | |
| Weather Sealing | | | |
| Timelapse | | | |
| Screen Type | Fully articulated | Fully articulated | Tilting |
| Top LCD | | | |
| LCD Size | 3.00" | 3.00" | 3.20" |
| Screen dots | 1440000 | 1620000 | 2100000 |
| Touch Screen | | | |
| Viewfinder | | | |
| Viewfinder Type | Electronic | Electronic | Electronic |
| Viewfinder Coverage | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Viewfinder Magnification | 0.78x | 0.76x | 0.8x |
| Viewfinder Resolution | 3,690,000 | 3,690,000 | 3,690,000 |
| Selfie Friendly Screen | | | |
| AF Joystick | | | |
| Bluetooth | | | |
| Full-size HDMI Port | | | |
| Gyro data Stabilization | | | |
| Price | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo |
Conclusion
Here we are at the end of our comparison review. It is not an easy decision for sure (unless you are already committed to one of the systems). I will try to summarize my main findings here:
- The only camera that I will eliminate will be the Nikon Z6 II . Surely it has a price advantage over the others but at the same time, in many areas it lags behind the Sony and Canon performance and feature wise. But I strongly believe that Nikon will catch Canon and Sony in their next iteration, Mark III (Nikon Z9 is a strong indication of what is coming).
- Especially if AF and Video performance is important for you, we recommend you to choose either Sony and Canon.
- If we have to choose between the Sony and Canon, I would go with the Sony A7 IV due to its huge lens selection, slightly better Video and higher pixel sensor.
The good part is that al these cameras are so good that you can't go wrong with any of these, in most of the cases I can assure you that these cameras as tools are not the constraints but our technique and efforts are. Tell us what you think, which one of these cameras is the best camera for your use case, please share with us in the comments area.
Check Prices of Sony A7 IV at: B&H Photo / AmazonUS / AmazonCA / AmazonDE / AmazonES / AmazonFR / AmazonIT / AmazonUK / AmazonIN / AmazonAU
Check Prices of Canon EOS R6 at: B&H Photo / AmazonUS / AmazonCA / AmazonDE / AmazonES / AmazonFR / AmazonIT / AmazonUK / AmazonIN / AmazonAU
Check Prices of Nikon Z6 II at: B&H Photo / AmazonUS / AmazonCA / AmazonDE / AmazonES / AmazonFR / AmazonIT / AmazonUK / AmazonIN / AmazonAU