The top-rated Sony camera for photography, videography, and vlogging

These are my top choices for the greatest Sony cameras available today for content producers, photographers, and videographers.

As Sony broadens its camera offerings to include more shooters in fields like sports, wildlife, travel, fashion, video production, content creation, and vlogging, the selection of the best Sony cameras only gets better. Whether you are a professional, enthusiast, or a beginner, there is a Sony camera for everyone.

At the very top end are the powerful but expensive sports-focused Sony A9 Mark III with its incredible global shutter or the high-resolution megapixel behemoth that is the Sony A7R IV. In the middle, my favorite travel, video, and content-creation cameras are Sony’s APS-C mirrorless models, and my current fave is the little but mighty Sony a6700.

Additionally, vloggers and social media makers are the target audience for Sony’s newest ZV lineup of cameras. I adore these cameras’ very small and straightforward designs, which allow them to travel anywhere and capture excellent, instantly useable footage with no effort. I’ve been very delighted with the small, smart, and reasonably priced Sony ZV-1F.

After using, evaluating, and rating each one, we believe that these are the top Sony cameras available at the moment.

• Best overall: Sony A7 IV
• Best for resolution: Sony A7R V
• Best for sports: Sony A9 III
• Best for travel: Sony a6700
• Best budget full frame: Sony A7 III

The best Sony cameras

To help you select the best option for you, our knowledgeable reviewers evaluate and compare goods and services for hours.

Over Top Picks:

Best Sony camera overall

1. Sony A7 IV

How can one of the greatest mirrorless cameras ever be improved? Sony had to provide an answer to that query with the A7 IV. One of the main reasons I have kept the Sony A7 III on our list is because it was a formidable competitor, advancing camera technology earlier than anything else at the time and forcing all other brands to catch up.

The Sony A7 IV ought to be the company’s “vanilla” A7 model, providing a full-frame mirrorless starting point, covering all the bases without becoming an expert in any one area, and letting other Sony cameras shine for other uses. For resolution, Sony offers the A7R, for video, the A7S, and for compactness, the A7C.

The Sony A7 IV is everything from average, though. With improved focusing, tracking algorithms, speed, and resolution, it theoretically outperforms the A7 III in nearly every aspect. However, it blurs the distinctions between Sony’s earlier A7 models more than before. All in all, it’s a far more sophisticated camera that, in my opinion, caters to a more affluent market than the A7 III.

For a wide range of producers who are not specialists and prefer a camera that can be used for both portrait and landscape photography, or for hybrid photographers who like high-resolution stills as much as high-quality 4K video, the A7 IV remains the ideal all-purpose camera. It is less accessible than it was previously, though, because of its greater price and features, and it is now much more competitive with other brands.

Best Sony camera overall at: Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

Best Sony camera for resolution

2. Sony A7R V

Originally intended to serve as Sony’s “resolution specialist,” the engineers chose to incorporate almost every component they had in the studio into the camera. Although I don’t think everyone needs it, the A7R V is a technically impressive camera with features that will make you drool.

The main feature is the 61MP sensor, which produces stunning detail when used with high-end lenses from Sony, Sigma, and other manufacturers. This makes it ideal for product, landscape, and portrait photographers who may wish to print large images of their work. It is particularly useful for sports and wildlife photography because it allows you to crop closer to the action if your lens isn’t long enough. It’s not the fastest camera, with a burst rate of 10 frames per second, but it’s good for pushing all those megapixels.

The A7R V is a touch unimpressive physically, despite its enormous technical capabilities. The camera body feels too little, or isn’t tall enough, and it doesn’t complement the large professional lenses you’ll undoubtedly be using with it. Instead of being tailored to the advantages of this camera, the controls have a generic layout. It takes time and a good memory to remember which button you’ve modified to do what, but you may alter the buttons indefinitely to fit your workflow.

AF is exceptional when combined with modern AI subject recognition because of its quick identification and acquisition as well as its extremely sticky “tracking.” Additionally, there is an improved in-body image stabilization technology, which is rather important as even the smallest jitter appears to be much worse in 61MP.

I’m not sure if the A7R V is a desirable upgrade for those who currently use the previous model, even if Sony claims it is superior. The image quality is just as good as that of the A7R IV before it. Despite the high price Sony charges, this camera is really only for serious pros. However, for beginners who want the highest resolution in a full-frame camera for professional work, this is a must-have.

Best Sony camera for resolution at: Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

Best Sony camera for sports

3. Sony A9 III

“I am nothing short of gobsmacked, blown away, bowled over, and wowed by the Sony A9 III,” to use the words from our review. With the first global shutter ever included in a consumer camera, it allows for up to 120 frames per second for RAW+JPEG and an incredible top shutter speed of 1/80,000. Oh, and you can use Flash with the entire 1/80,000-second global!

Sony’s remarkable AI autofocus ability, which can follow more subjects than ever before and accomplish feats like human position estimation—which anticipates your subject’s actions before they do—matches the A9 III’s lightning-fast speed.

This camera, however, is unquestionably just for individuals who require the fastest speeds—we’re talking about professional sports photographers worldwide, where every millisecond can mean the difference between missing the action and obtaining that back page shot.

What are you waiting for if that describes you? The majority of photographers will never need to use the speed this camera can achieve, thus for everyone else, it is a major overkill. Backup, storage, and removing undesired photographs are some of the biggest drawbacks of all that speed, so I’d like not to attempt to handle those!

But if my most damning critique is that the A9 III is too quick to keep up, then Sony has undoubtedly succeeded in its goal! However, as an all-around hybrid model, the Sony A1 outperforms the A9 III for professionals who require more than speed. It has 50MP stills and 8K video, albeit with somewhat less advanced AF tracking.

Best Sony camera for sports at: Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

Best Sony camera for travel

4. Sony A6700

One of the most well-liked camera lines for hybrid shooters who enjoy traveling or who are enthusiastic YouTube and social media video producers is Sony’s a6xxx line. The idea behind the camera is a basic, portable APS-C camera that conceals some amazing features. Upgrading features like autofocus and IBIS to Sony’s most recent model, the a6700 is a reasonable step up from the a6600.

With larger full-frame lenses, I still found the a6700 to be a touch small and difficult to grasp, even though it keeps the small rangefinder-style APS-C camera design from previous versions and adds some noticeable and welcome button arrangement enhancements. Although it can be a bit difficult to distinguish between the lenses in the two formats, Sony’s smaller enthusiast lenses are a far better match for the a6700 if you’re willing to settle for them.

However, among Sony’s APS-C lineup, the a6700 is my top pick for hybrid still and video shooters looking for a small camera that, crucially, has a viewfinder. It’s also a far better option than Sony’s confusingly identical ZV family of cameras.

With greater tracking, faster speeds, and higher quality, the a6700 offers a remarkable stills experience. The a6700 is a bit more powerful than its small size might suggest, thanks to its improvements in 4K video capture and incorporation of AI autofocus technology from Sony’s more expensive and potent cameras.

The beginning price of the A6700 is more than that of the previous generation, and it is comparatively more costly than some of its rivals, who have made significant efforts to reduce the price difference in recent releases. For vacation photographers and multimedia producers who value professional features in a small package, the a6700 is a great option because it provides a lot for the money.

Best Sony camera for travel at:Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

Best Sony camera on a budget

5. Sony A7 III

Sony created the A7 III so good that it isn’t going away, even though the camera is essentially every feature of the A7 III improved and adjusted with the current technology. You may have noticed the A7 IV, the next version of the A7 III, at the top of this list. Whether deliberate or not, Sony has benefited from this since it may have inadvertently acquired the most affordable full-frame camera.

Eye autofocus, a very efficient 696-point AF system, and 4K video with a 5-axis image stabilization system that claims 5EV of adjustment are among the flagship features. Together with the newest generation of the image processor, the 24.2MP back-illuminated picture sensor provides exceptional tonal range and enables extremely high ISO settings. When the camera was released in 2019, all of this may seem unimportant now, but it was groundbreaking.

Although this is true for all Alpha lenses, some people may find the body a bit tiny when used with pro lenses, although handling is good. Although Sony has a wide selection of lenses, there are also amazing third-party solutions available because of its desire to open up its mount.

Even while the Sony A7 III lacks the ultra-high resolution of the A7R V and the lightning-fast speed of Sony’s top-tier A9 cameras, it nevertheless manages to provide a strong substitute for these more expensive versions by offering unbeatable value. I believe it’s not just the best-priced Sony camera available, but the best value full-frame camera overall for the finest performance at a fair price!

How to choose the best Sony camera

The first thing you should do is decide what you want to do with your camera.

Sony’s Alpha series is the best option if photography is your primary interest. These cameras are more specialized for producing higher-quality photographs in various settings. The Sony a6700 combines the finest of Sony’s technology into a portable package, the Sony A9 II is for dedicated sports shooters, and the Sony A7R V is a megapixel monster for enormous shots. To further improve your photographic skills, the greatest Sony lenses are compatible with Sony’s Alpha series.

Sony produces a great line of small content production cameras if you want to record video for social media or live streaming online. My favorites are the Sony ZV-1F, which is small and straightforward, and the Sony ZV-E10, which has the option of interchangeable lenses. The ZV-E1 has great video specs with built-in pro audio, and the A7R V can record 8K video footage for the highest resolution. If your video projects are more complex, you may require more alternatives in terms of sensor size or video codecs.

We have a separate guide for producing really high-end video; for some top-end Sony video alternatives, see our selection of the finest camera for filmmaking.

Which Sony vlogging camera is the best?

Your budget will determine this. The ZV-1F, a small, portable camera with good 4K performance, is Sony’s best entry-level vlogging camera. The Sony ZV-E10 is the greatest camera in the company’s lineup if you’re looking for something a little more sophisticated; its interchangeable lenses provide you greater creative freedom.

Are Sony cameras superior than Canon and Nikon models?

Not always; how you utilize a camera determines its quality. Excellent subject recognition and tracking, strong picture stabilization, and Sony’s extensive history of creating high-quality video are just a few of the many areas in which Sony cameras shine. Changing to a Sony camera from a different brand won’t help you get better at photography unless you also work on your technique. You may be certain that with practice, you can produce equally outstanding photographs using any camera equipment.

How we test Sony cameras

We evaluate Sony cameras under closely monitored laboratory circumstances as well as in actual shooting situations. We evaluate Sony cameras based on their intended use; for instance, we test powerful sports cameras like the Sony A9 III with fast-moving subjects, while we test the ZV vlogging line with an emphasis on video quality rather than stills prowess.

Our in-person testing evaluates Sony cameras’ performance in typical shooting scenarios. This is predicated on our reviewer’s personal experiences with the camera, including how it feels and functions, any problems they ran into, and their subjective assessment of the camera’s performance independent of the lab findings.

Our laboratory studies quantify signal-to-noise ratio, dynamic range, and resolution. ISO resolution charts are used to measure resolution, DxO Analyzer test equipment is used to measure dynamic range, and DxO Analyzer is also used to analyze noise across the ISO range of the camera.

We carefully consider both test data and real-world experience when choosing which products to include in our shopping guides.