The Buyers guide to...Best Sony cameras in 2023

The Sony A7 III is the camera that raised the bar, in the same way that the Canon EOS 5D Mark II did when it arrived a decade ago. And now we have the Sony A7 IV. There was a lot of anticipation around this camera, which packs in the features around its full frame 33-megapixel sensor.

What’s impressed many photographers from amateur all the way through to pro is that Sony has delivered all the improvements upon the A7 III that we were hoping to see. It’s clearly capable of focusing quickly and delivering sharp images with a high level of detail. In the default settings, the colour and exposure are also good with only occasional need for the exposure compensation control.

It’s a great all-rounder and in no way an entry-level camera. But if you’re an amateur photographer looking to invest in your hobby and hopefully make some money from it on the side, the Sony A7 IV is a solid choice. The Sony A7 IV price tag isn’t as eye-waveringly cheap as the Sony A7 III price was at launch. And it doesn’t have the depth of video features as the Sony A7S III, but the A7 IV is an incredibly capable video camera and is significantly more affordable.

The Sony A7 IV makes a solid upgrade on the A7 III. In fact, it’s one of those rare cameras that makes a significant enough jump to warrant upgrading from one generation to the next.

Read our Sony A7 IV Review

The Sony A6600 is Sony’s flagship APS-C format mirrorless camera and it’s aimed at enthusiast photographers and videographers who want to shoot in a variety of conditions. It features a 24.2MP Exmor CMOS image sensor, the BIONZ X image processor and a front-end LSI as is implemented in Sony’s full-frame cameras for better enhancements in still and video image quality.

Among the A6600’s impressive feature set is Sony’s innovative 5-axis in-body image stabilisation system that provides a 5.0-step shutter speed advantage.

The Alpha 6600 also delivers an autofocus acquisition time of just 0.02 seconds, with 425 phase-detection AF points covering approximately 84% of the image area and 425 contrast-detection AF points.

Also on-board is Sony’s ‘Real-time Tracking’ and ‘Real-time Eye AF’, the latest version of Sony’s Eye AF technology, which employs AI-based object recognition to detect and process eye data in real-time.

Real-time Eye AF promises improved accuracy, speed and tracking performance of Eye AF for both humans and animals, and allows the photographer to concentrate exclusively on composition. It’s a significant bonus for pet and portrait photography.

High-resolution internal 4K movie recording with full-pixel readout without pixel binning in Super 35mm format is also on-board. You’ll also find built-in interval shooting for time-lapse videos and a 180-degree tiltable, 3.0-type 921k-dot (approx.) LCD touch screen.

It may not have the same shape as the Sony A7 series of full-frame cameras, but the A 6600 has much of the same technology, enabling it to deliver impressive results with a wide range of subjects.

Read our Sony A6600 Review

While its pixel count remains the same, the Sony A7R V was given some significant upgrades over its predecessor, the A7R IV. For starters, the processor and AI Processing Unit enable some impressive improvements, with the Eye AF seeming much more sensitive and snappy.

There’s also a 9,437,184-dot viewfinder and a 4-way tilting touchscreen that allows much more touch-control. And let’s not forget the 8K video capability (with a 1.2x crop) and the full-frame 4K from 6.2K.

It’s a very tempting option for professional photographers who need that big resolution (which the 61MP A7R V has in spades) and for content creators who might want to film in 8K to create downsampled 4K footage.

Read our Sony A7R V hands on Review

No doubt, some videographers were hoping for a big jump in resolution from the 12mp A7S II. However, Sony already has the 61Mp A7R IV and the 24Mp A7 III, so sticking with 12Mp means that the A7S III has even better low-light capability than its predecessor but with a much better autofocus system, a vari-angle screen and the highest-resolution viewfinder around.

The A7S III is about more than just grabbing the headlines for its resolution; it promises to make capturing 4K video easier than before and for that video quality to be the best 4K footage you can get from a Sony camera. It doesn’t disappoint as the quality of the footage is superb.

As well as a host of improvements to its video specification, the Sony A7S III introduces the highest-resolution electronic viewfinder we’ve seen to date and it’s the first Sony A7-series camera to feature a vari-angle screen. According to Sony, this is something that videographers and photographers have ‘demanded’.

As well as the vari-angle screen that everyone wanted, the Sony A7S III adds a great new viewfinder and improved video features.

Read our Sony A7S III Review

We leave the Sony A7S II on our list of the best Sony cameras because it’s still a really solid camera, and it’s price is likely to come down now that it’s been succeeded by the A7S III.

Its low-resolution sensor has been fine-tuned for the video to ensure maximum quality and is regularly used as a lightweight broadcast camera.

Essentially the 12MP sensor enables full pixel readout without pixel binning so making maximum use of the sensor.

With features and layout more akin to a stills camera than video it makes the transition for today’s generation of photographers to easily transition between stills and video.

It also packs in pro log colour modes such as S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3 which makes it easy for video editors and directors to seamlessly blend footage from multiple cameras.

Of course, ensuring that you’re able to capture the best possible quality video it has options to shoot at 4K, 30fps and 1080p, 120fps.

Being small and lightweight makes the A7S II ideal for handheld use and here the camera features 5-axis images stabilisation to ensure smooth, fluid handheld footage.

The Alpha A1 is Sony’s most advanced camera to date, it combines a high-resolution full-frame sensor with high-speed performance. It features a new 50.1Mp full-frame stacked Exmor RS image sensor and can perform up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second.

Thanks to its impressive processing power, the Sony A1 can shoot at up to 30fps (frames per second) while its large buffer allows for sequences of up to 155 full-frame compressed RAW images or 165 full-frame JPEGs to be shot at that rate.

In addition to improved Real-time Eye AF for humans and animals, the Alpha 1 uses high-level subject recognition technology for Real-time Eye AF for birds. Algorithms also maintain the AF tracking if a sitting bird takes off or the framing changes.

The Sony A1 is the first Sony Alpha series camera to feature 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video recording. It’s also capable of shooting 4K 120p / 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 video and offers S-Cinetone colour. It uses 8.6K oversampling for enhanced resolution and, naturally, the 8K footage can be used for 4K editing during post-production.

The Sony A 1 has a 9.44 million dot OLED Quad-XGA electronic viewfinder, with a refresh rate of up to 240 fps, ensuring no blackout, delivering the highest resolution in its class. In addition, there’s a 3-inch 1,440,000-dot tilting touchscreen that features the revised menu arrangement and more extensive touch-control that was first seen in the Sony A7S III.

In case a resolution of 50Mp isn’t enough, the Sony A1 has Sony’s Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode onboard to enables 16 full-resolution images to be composited.

You can order the Sony A1 from Wex Photo Video and Park Cameras in the UK and Adorama or B&H Photo Video in the USA. You can also find the latest Sony A1 offers at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Read our Sony A1 Review

If you’re looking for a small full-frame camera with Sony’s excellent autofocus and noise control systems then the Sony A7C is the way to go as it’s smallest of the Sony A7-series cameras. It has a flat-topped rectangular body that makes it look similar to the Sony A6600, but there’s also a vari-angle screen rather than a tilting monitor. And inside, the A7C has the same 24Mp sensor and core features as the Sony A7 III.

Paired with the FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 kit lens., which is a small collapsible optic, the A7C makes an attractive choice for travel and everyday photography.

However, in shrinking down the A7C, Sony also made a few compromises on the handling. There’s no joystick on the back of the camera for example, and there’s only one control dial. In addition, the electronic viewfinder is the type of unit that is more commonly found in APS-C format cameras.

While it’s great to have a vari-angle screen, if you can live without it, and don’t mind a slightly larger camera, then the Sony A7 III, which sits above the A7C in the range, makes a great alternative and costs a little less.

Read our Review

The Sony ZV-1 delivers everything that a vlogger could wish for in a compact camera, and it comes with Sony’s excellent AF system. There are features to help inexperienced photographers/videographers/vloggers get good results, the exposure can be controlled automatically or manually and there’s a built-in ND filter plus Log and Gamma control. It makes it easy to produce great 4K video but lets you take control when you want to. It all adds up to a very enticing camera for vloggers.

Much of the specification on the Sony ZV-1 is familiar from the Sony RX100 series of compact cameras, but there are a few notable differences to make it better for vlogging.

No surprise then to learn that the ZV-1 has a 1-inch type stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor with 20.1 million effective pixels. That’s a comparatively large sensor for a compact camera and, as we’ve seen with cameras like the Sony RX100 VII, it brings advantages for image quality.

In addition, the Exmor RS CMOS sensor brings phase-detection focusing – which is usually faster and more decisive than contrast detection. The ZV-1 has a total of 315 phase detection AF points which are available for use in stills and video mode.

Read our Sony ZV-1 Review

Promising ‘A9-level’ AF performance as well as 90fps single burst shooting, the RX100 VII turned a lot of heads when it was announced and reinforced Sony’s reputation as a true innovator in the market.

Inside the RX100 VII is a 1-inch, stacked 20.1-megapixel Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a DRAM chip and Sony’s Bionz X image processor. On the outside is a ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* 24-200mmviii F2.8-4.5.

What should really get people excited, though, is the technology the RX100 VII inherits from Sony’s A9. Like the A9, the RX100 VII’s image sensor realises blackout-free shooting for a completely live view, even when continuous shooting at 20fps.

The RX100 VII also promises ‘A9-level’ AF/AE tracking performance during continuous shooting, meaning the camera performs AF/AE calculations up to 60 times per second and captures fast-moving action at 20fps with AF/AE tracking.

Sony’s Real-time Eye AF and Real-time Tracking modes also make their debut for the first time in a compact camera. With 357 focal-plane phase-detection AF points and 425 contrast-detection AF points, its AF system is among the best you will find in a camera this small.

The Sony RX100 VII also debuted a new Single Burst Shooting mode, which captures a high-speed shot at up to 90fps in JPEG or Raw format using the anti-distortion shutter. Sony describes the mode as enabling photographers to frame fast-moving action and shoot as if capturing a single frame, but the RX100 VII will deliver seven frames, taken at 90fps, 60fps or 30fps.

Aimed at vloggers, the Sony RX100 VII also brings some solid movie-making credentials, such as 4K in-body movie recording with full pixel readout and no pixel binning in high bit rate XAVCS, Real-time Tracking and Real-time Eye AF for video and a microphone input.

Thanks to its combination of fast responses, incredible Real-Time Eye AF for humans, animals and birds, 30fps shooting capability and 50Mp full-frame sensor, the Sony A1 is a very attractive choice for wildlife photographers who can stomach its price tag.

Read our Sony A1 Review

The Sony A9 II has the same stacked 24-megapixel full-frame sensor as its predecessor, the Sony A9. However, it’s paired with a more recent Bionz X processor.

The A9 II also retains the A9’s much-lauded 693-point phase detection AF system, which also includes 425 contrast AF points. It also incorporates Sony’s Real Time Eye-AF, Real Time Tracking and Fast Hybrid Focusing modes. And it can’t fail to impress.

Sony also improved the A9 II’s weatherproofing including enhancing the areas around the ports, battery and memory card doors.

A key attraction of the Sony A9 II for wildlife photographers is its ability to shoot at up to 20fps completely silently.

Read our full list of the best cameras for wildlife photography.

Aimed at beginner photographers, the Sony A6100 offers plenty of room to grow. Its impressive feature set nearly matches the fellow APS-C format Sony A6600.

Like its sibling, it boasts internal 4K movie recording in Super 35mm format with full pixel readout without pixel binning, to capture approximately 2.4x the amount of information required for 4K movies. Budding videographers will also appreciate the integrated microphone input and built-in interval shooting.

Again, like the A6600, the A6100 incorporates a 24.2MP Exmor CMOS image sensor, the latest BIONZ X image processor and a front-end LSI. AF acquisition is lightning fast at 0.02secs via its 425 phase-detection AF points covering approximately 84% of the image area and 425 contrast-detection AF points.

Sony’s Real-time Tracking and Real-time Eye AF modes are also on-board, delivering faster and more accurate AF performance when photographing humans and animals.