Best Sony Mirrorless Cameras

When it comes to mirrorless cameras, there is no doubt that Sony is a strong contender among other manufacturers. With cameras ranging from professional full-frame models to beginners

culture sensor body

, there is definitely a Sony camera for everyone! In this article, we examine the

best sony mirrorless cameras

:

Sony Alpha a9 II

Sony Alpha a7R IV< /p>

Sony Alpha a7R III

Sony Alpha a7S II

Sony Alpha a7 III

Sony Alpha a6400

Sony Alpha a6600

1.

Sony Alpha A9 II

Our choice

Sony Alpha a9 II

The best of Sony's best mirrorless cameras

Excellent image quality paired with super-fast autofocus and superb continuous shooting speed.

CHECK PRICE

the

is the upgraded version of Sony Alpha a9 professional. When it comes to the best Sony mirrorless camera, the a9 II is the automatic choice. The old camera already has an excellent repertoire and a strong fan following. The new one raises the bar a notch. He is widely regarded as one of the best

mirrorless cameras

sports

, fast acting and

wildlife

mirror on the market.

Sony A9II

If you are a fan of ornithology, wild animals or

sports photography

pro, the standout feature of the Sony Alpha a9 II is its super-fast burst shooting speed. At 20 fps, it's one of the fastest interchangeable lens cameras around and arguably one of Sony's best mirrorless cameras in this regard, if not the best. But that's with the silent electronic shutter. With the release of the mechanical shutter, the maximum frame rate drops to 10 fps. Still, it's formidable by DSLR standards.

And despite being a mirrorless camera with an electronic viewfinder, visual lag is virtually non-existent. This is a wonderful thing to have when panning a moving athlete or bird.

The Sony Alpha a9 II is powered by a 24.2-megapixel full-frame CMOS BSI stacked sensor. The stacked design and BSI architecture help improve the light-gathering ability of the photodiodes. It also improves overall camera performance in low light.

The camera's autofocus mechanism consists of 693 phase-detection points (which cover 93% of the frame) and 425 contrast-detection AF points. With it, you get intelligent subject tracking and real-time Eye-AF that lets you track and capture moving subjects with greater ease!

As mentioned earlier, many of the improved features of the Sony Alpha a9 II are subtle but they bring an incredible amount of value to the table. For example, the memory card slots are now both UHS-II compatible.

The Sony Alpha a9 II is the flagship camera in Sony's mirrorless range. It is also one of Sony's best cameras.

That being said, if you're looking to save a few bucks off the total price, the Sony Alpha a9 is still an amazing camera that simply lacks a few of the new features discussed. There's no doubt that both are great cameras.

2.

Sony Alpha a7R IV

Ideal for high resolution work

Sony a7R IV

The best choice for those who want resolution

High resolution never seems to go out of style. Plus, you're adding exceptional image quality to it.

CHECK PRICE

Sony a7R series

represents the high-resolution cameras that produces and

fashion photographers

are drooling. That said, if you are a

landscape photographer

, the a7R series is also made for you. It is perfect for anyone looking for a high amount of detail in their images. In this regard, the a7R IV is one of Sony's best mirrorless cameras.

Sony A7R IV

As the latest camera in the a7R series, the a7R IV offers some great improvements. There's the obvious bump in resolution to almost 20 megapixels along with plenty of other features, some of which you'll find in the previous flagship Sony Alpha a9.

The most striking feature of the new camera is certainly the new sensor. It now produces images of 9504 x 6336 pixels. One of the main advantages of this is that you can enlarge and then crop later. Even with post-processing cropping, plenty of detail is retained. In terms of sheer resolution, this is definitely one of Sony's best mirrorless cameras.

To add to this, the camera has improved Pixel-shift technology which now uses up to 16 captures and produces 240MP sized images. That said, the system has some limitations and practical applications are rare.

One of the important updates of the Sony a7R IV is the improved autofocus system. The latest system comes with 567 sensor-based phase detection AF points. These AF points cover almost the entire frame vertically. But it only covers about 74% of the frame horizontally.

Autofocus incorporates real-time tracking and the a7R IV performs admirably well in this regard. However, when you compare the autofocus performance of the a7R IV with that of something like the a9 II, the latter is much faster and much more accurate.

3.

Sony Alpha a7R III

As well

Sony a7R III

Value for money if you need high resolution

High resolution combined with fantastic image quality.

CHECK PRICE

The arrival of each new technology invariably has a negative effect on the price of the outgoing technology. The arrival of the a7R IV inevitably led to lower prices on the

a7R III

.

This price drop means you can get a great camera at the fraction of the price. And make no mistake, the a7R III is a very good camera.

Sony A7R III

The Sony a7R III comes with a 42 MP BSI CMOS sensor. The sensor comes with the BIONZ X image processor and front-end LSI. This leads to, among other things, faster image processing and an improved continuous frame rate.

It offers a continuous shooting speed of 10 fps with full autofocus. Without screen blanking, the frame rate drops to 8 fps. The camera has in-body image stabilization rated up to 5.5 stops. This gives a lot of advantages to a photographer shooting handheld or indoors; in low light conditions.

The sensor architecture features a gapless on-chip design. In addition, it has an anti-reflective coating and does not have an optical low-pass filter.

The autofocus system consists of 399 phase detection AF points and 425 contrast detection AF points. This allows for better subject tracking and faster AF lock-on in most situations. Additionally, the increased number of contrast detection points ensures better AF performance during movie recording.

Speaking of video shooting, the Sony a7R III shoots in Super35 and is even capable of 5K upsampling using the full height and width of the in-frame sensor. This has a significant impact on the quality of the recorded video. This helps eliminate moiré and false colors from images that are otherwise common with cameras that don't have an optical low-pass filter.

Another interesting feature of the a7R III is the Hybrid Log-Gamma component. With this, you can harness the advantages of shooting with a

high dynamic range

and not have to worry about color grading your footage in

.

4.

Sony Alpha a7S II

Best low light camera

Sony Alpha a7S II

If low light photography is your game. This is a must have.

Low-light images don't get any better than this.

CHECK PRICE

Sony Alpha a7S II

is a full-frame mirrorless camera ideal for photographers who love

take pictures in low light

. The reason it is suitable for shooting low-light images is due to the large pixels of the low-resolution sensor. At 12.2 megapixels, the sensor has quite large pixels compared to cameras like the a7R IV or a7R III. The BIONZ X image processing engine is associated with the sensor.

Sony Alpha A7S II

The camera also has an impressive ISO sensitivity range. Native 100 at 102400 and Extended 50 at 409600. This is by the way the highest among all the cameras we have listed here. Even though the camera is essentially the same as the outgoing camera in terms of sensor and image processor, there have been significant improvements in the way the wiring has been done. Also, with the improved software inside the a7S II, noise management has been significantly improved in this camera.

The a7S II incorporates a 5-axis image stabilization system. He has a rating of 4.5 saves. It works for stills as well as videos, making it very useful for any job you have in mind.

The camera is capable of using S-Log3 Gamma, S-Log2 and S-Gamut3 to give a better amount of flexibility for those who like to color their footage in post. And with that you also get the Zebra feature.

5.

Sony Alpha a7 III

Excellent overall choice

Sony a7 III

This camera combines the best of many worlds.

The A7III takes the good stuff from many cameras and comes in a package that's excellent overall. Value for money.

CHECK PRICE

the

Sony a7 III

is a full-frame mirrorless camera from Sony. While the traffic seems to be split between the a9 II and the a7R IV, and to a large extent towards the a7S II, the a7 III is somewhat pushed back. But if you take a look at the specs, the a7 III is a powerful camera in every way.

The a7 III, although it does not have a high resolution like the A7R IV or the performance of the A9 II, stands out as a camera designed for all occasions and for all uses.

Sony Alpha A7 III

24 megapixels offers more than enough resolution for all types of photographic requirements. So whether you're looking to capture landscapes, portraits, or weddings, you've got most of the bases covered.

Related article:

Best Lenses for Sony a7 III

The 10fps continuous shooting speed, on the other hand, gives enough frames to get a few keepers. Often when shooting birds in flight or a sportsman, the difference between getting great shots and a missed opportunity is the camera's continuous shooting speed. Of course, autofocus is also a major requirement.

One of the advantages of Sony's mirrorless systems is that the autofocus points that make up the AF system cover almost the entire frame. The 693 phase-detection AF points, in this case, cover 93% of the frame. Thus, off-center compositions, as well as subject tracking are much easier to do.

Related articles

Best Selling Mirrorless Cameras (Updated Daily)

Best low-light mirrorless cameras

Best Sony Vlogging Cameras

And if you're shooting people, you'll appreciate the Eye-AF that's found its way into many Sony cameras. The Eye-AF mechanism offers much better locking of a person's eye that is closest to the camera. In this way, it helps you achieve all the critical aspects of portrait photography, to have sharp eyes. Eye-AF even works as wide as f/1.4.

That said, there are issues when tracking a subject (other than Eye-AF) while using continuous autofocus. The problem is compounded when shooting with a lower aperture because the camera sets the autofocus aperture the same as the shooting aperture.

If you shoot with a lower aperture, the AF system receives insufficient light to lock the focus. You will run into problems in such a situation, especially when the subject is moving fast. Like a bird or wild animal in low light conditions.

Finally, the a7 III is a capable video camera. With UHD/4K recording at 30p you also get HLG and S-Log3 Gamma. The built-in 5-axis SteadyShot image stabilization system ensures that the camera is capable of recording very stable photos and videos.

While recording in Full HD, the a7 III oversamples to avoid pixel binning and the resulting moiré and false colors commonly associated with high resolution cameras.

6.

Sony Alpha a6400

Great economical choice

Sony Alpha a6400

Great entry-level option for mirrorless enthusiasts

Excellent autofocus. Excellent low light capabilities.

CHECK PRICE

Sony's mirrorless segment includes both full-frame and APS-C cameras. Small APS-C cameras have the same E-mount as larger full-frame bodies, meaning you can use the same tough E-mount lenses that produce great images.

When we talk about Sony's APS-C mirrorless cameras, the Alpha a6400 immediately comes to mind. It is one of the most economical low-light cameras on the market.

Under the hood, the a6400 comes with a 24.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS Exmor sensor. And it's paired with a BIONZ X image processing engine.

We love the a6400 for many reasons. It is compact. It comes with a strong textured grip that feels great in your palm. It has a tilting LCD screen that tilts up to 180 degrees. This means that if you check in yourself, you can see if you're up to speed very easily.

And since the LCD screen tilts up, it doesn't get in the way of your tripod head. The camera can record in UHD/4K with full pixel readout, ensuring no pixel bunching.

But what we like the most is the fast autofocus system. Sony boasts that the a6400 can lock focus in 0.02 seconds. And we can guarantee they're not bluffing. Focus is accurate most of the time and focus locks very quickly.

And speaking of focusing, the camera has 425 phase-detection and 425 contrast-detection AF points that cover 84% of the frame. A big bonus if you compose off-center or track a topic.

Among other features, real-time eye tracking and real-time AF capabilities are not to be missed. Eye-AF and real-time tracking are important tools for someone doing portrait photography. It locks the eye of the subject closest to the camera, then continues to track the subject as it moves.

And if you have more than a passing interest in shooting video, you'll also find HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) useful allowing you to pump up the contrast or make your videos look the way you want them to. they be.

Definitely a camera you want to consider if you want to enter the Sony E-mount ecosystem.

7.

Sony Alpha a6600

Excellent choice

Sony Alpha a6600

Best choice if you want Sony mirrorless crop

A great all-around mirrorless camera. Offering excellent video features and excellent image quality.

CHECK PRICE

the

Sony Alpha a6600

is the latest in the long line of Sony a6xxx cameras. It comes with a host of improvements over the previous a6400 while retaining many of the features of the previous model.

One of the main advantages of the a6600 over the a6400 is the presence of image stabilization. 5-axis SteadyShot INSIDE image stabilization is rated up to 5 stops. Built-in image stabilization ensures all compatible lenses are stabilized. And that includes all third-party lenses. Image stabilization is the key difference between getting a sharp image and a blurry image.

A number of older features that we've seen before in the likes of the a6400 and a6500 have been retained. The flip-out rear LCD always flips 180 degrees and faces forward. But along with the screen, it incorporates an RGBW pixel structure which ensures that the screen is brighter and more usable under the sun.

Related article:

Best Lenses for Sony a6600

The a6600 is a compact APS-C camera with dedicated features aimed at photographers looking to shoot video. It has features like Enhanced Zebra function. This is what gives an accurate reading of the exposure. Especially when working in bright conditions and the LCD screen does not look conclusive.

To make it clear that this is a video camera as much as a still camera, this is the Time Code feature. It is useful when working in a multi-camera setup to have this feature. It's definitely a plus to have when you have assimilated all the sequences and are ready to edit them into a final sequence.

Author

Rajib Mukherjee

Rajib is an avid travel photographer and generalist photographer. He loves testing and reviewing new photographic equipment. He has been writing about cameras and lenses for over 10 years now. You can consider it your "main guide" here on PhotoWorkout.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Some content that appears on PhotoWorkout.com comes from Amazon. This content is provided "as is" and may be changed or removed at any time.