Canon or Nikon? I get asked that all the time when I talk to clients. I usually respond with “Neither. I shoot with Sony.” I have used a Sony camera for my entire photography career. I currently own a Sony A7 Mark 2. It is a mirrorless full frame camera.
Why? Technology!
Sony, in my humble opinion, is the leader in technology in DSLR cameras. I will briefly talk about eleven points that won me over in choosing Sony to be the money-maker in my photography business.
- Electronic View Finder. Because the A7ii is a mirrorless camera, it can show you a live view and adjust the image in real-time according to the setting that you have picked. So no more guessing if your combo of ISO, Aperture, and shutter speed is going to produce the image you are looking for… Now you can see it in real-time. REAL TIME. It comes in handy when you are loosing light or you might miss a moment when you are taking test shot after test shot guessing what settings to go with…
- Tilt Screen. This goes off of the electronic view finder, but high-end Canon’s and Nikon’s don’t even have a tilt screen. It is a small feature that means a lot to those of us that get shots from low and high!
- Focus Peaking/Zebra. The A7ii will show you on the live view a hash area that is highly in focus. My eyes are not the best and looking tho the view finder I can’t tell exactly where my focal point is. Especially when in manual focus mode. Zebra helps me see if I need to click over to manual real fast and adjust.
- Expanded Focus. Lets say you are in manual mode. You want to hyper focus on a corner or the subject’s eye…. with expanded focus turned on when you turn the focus wheel, you see a VERY zoomed in picture on your focal point and as you adjust the focus you can see that the eye become more or less focused. When you are happy, you can press the shutter. This will help you control where the hyper focus is every time!
- Upload to Phone. This is something that is INCREDIBLE! Really….. you can send picture you took from the A7ii directly to your phone in the middle of no where with no cell service needed. I have been at weddings taking pictures and upload pictures that I took to Instagram before some of the attendees did with their cell phones! I have shocked the bride when she goes to look at her hashtag seeing pictures I took 3 minutes ago! It adds a special touch!
- Smart Remote. This goes with the upload to phone feature. The A7ii can connect to your phone and send a real-time picture to it of what it sees in live view, with the current settings (see item #1 above)!! You can also take a picture and it will same that photo to the memory card and automatically send a copy to your phone! WOAH! Canon or Nikon has nothing on that! Not even close!
- Memory Card Compatibility. I can take a picture with my original A230 and move it into my Sony handycam and capture a video, then move it to my A7ii and still capture picture/video no problem. Why are other brands making this so difficult?
- Image Stabilization. Lots of lens have this feature… but does your sensor? The A7ii is magnetically suspended and controlled on all 5 axis (Pitch, Yaw, X, Y, Roll). That means that when your hand naturally moves for that 1/10 of a second the camera will detect that movement and cancel it out so the image will be as crisp as possible when tho you are not using a tripod. I have tried it out and it makes hand-held shots at night at 200mm possible! It is wonderful!
- Eye Auto Focus. Don’t you hate it when you are in a portrait session and you move the focus point to the subject’s eye, ½ press the shutter and then move the camera back to the frame you want and then release the shutter? This feature is not built-in. The A7ii will track a face and automatically make the eyes the hyper focus point without you moving the camera. This can also teach faces during videos.
- Weight…. or lack there of. 1.22lb. Because of the capitalization on technology, Sony was able to remove lots of hardware and get the weight down to a meal 1.22lb!! Impressive because Canon’s 5Div is 1.67lb and Nikon’s D5 is 3.1lb…
- Bottom Line, Price. Sony’s A7ii is $1,498. Canon’s 5Div is $3,499. Nikon’s D5 is $6,496!
My $0.02 is that Sony has more tech that make shooting easier and faster all while saving you weight and money. If you have not heading down to your local camera store and played with a Sony yet, I would give them a shot (pun intended!)