Back this week with another episode of I can’t decide which camera to buy. A couple of weeks ago I tested the Nikon D850 against the Nikon z7ii and the Canon r6mii when I was thinking about switching to Canon from Nikon (you can see those comparison photos and read my thoughts about them here.)  I thought I finally make my decision, but I had to do ONE more test.  This time it was a Nikon z7ii vs Canon r6 mark ii vs Sony alpha 7 iii mirrorless camera comparison.

I was pretty confident about wanting to switch to Canon after the last test, but then a few people suggested that I try a Sony before I commit to Canon.  And again, I like to research the crap out of everything before making a big decision, so I was totally game for trying out the Sony (which honestly never entered my radar as an option before someone mentioned it).  Apparently a LOT of photographers are leaving Canon for Sony, and at this point I was only one new Canon lens deep into my switch, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

These were all shot at my studio on a gorgeous spring morning.  A bit about my studio – it’s a hot mess as far as color temp and lighting. I’ve mentioned it before, but it gets a lot of direct sun in the morning, which I typically block out with several layers of white sheers (which I think probably give a bit of a cool/blue color cast).  I also have a giant row of green hedges along the patio right outside my shooting area, and a giant (very green, leafy) tree that is right outside the window by the shooting area.  All of this makes it challenging at times to use natural light, but I’ve made it work over the last 5 years.

A few notes before the comparisons:

– all of these photos were shot in my all white, very bright natural light studio

– all settings were the same on all three cameras

– some series were shot in Kelvin, some in auto white balance

– the Sony I borrowed had an adaptor and a Canon EF lens on it. The Nikon and Canon mirrorless cameras had native lenses.

– editing is totally subjective, and these could all be edited a million different ways. In the interest of keeping things simple, I mostly did one click edits with these, all with the same presets and minimal adjustments.

– this is one of the cutest babies ever, and a huge thank you to his mom for coming in with him to help me with this (I photographed his newborn session 6 months ago, but haven’t blogged those yet).

 

Comparison 1, SOOC:

 

Comparison 1, edited:

 

Comparison 2, SOOC:

This is where I really wanted to test the difference – showing more of the white wall.  I tend to do a lot of pulled-back photos with some negative space, and show a lot of the white wall.  With Nikon, I would aways have to do additional editing in Photoshop to make my white wall look more “white”.  Here are my typical edits with all three photos below:

 

Comparison 2, edited:

I actually think all three of these look great!  The whites for my Nikon weren’t nearly as cyan looking as usual, and I chalk that up to shooting earlier in the day, and it being sunny out (in the afternoon, the shooting area of my studio gets very blue looking).

 

Comparison 3, SOOC:

 

Comparison 3, edited:

 

Comparison 4, SOOC:

Comparison 4, edited:

I definitely prefer the Canon for these edits, but totally personal preference.

 

Comparison 5, SOOC:

 

Comparison 5, edited:

Loving both the Nikon and Canon edits for these.

 

Comparison 6, SOOC:

 

Comparison 6, edited:

Loving the Canon and Sony looks on these.

 

My biggest takeaway, again, is that Canon seems to have the truest whites in most of the images, which makes for an easier edit for me.  I’m not having to go into Photoshop and remove cyan from the white walls which is a big time saver (yes, I made an action for it but it’s still an extra step I’d rather not have to take). Nikon did handle the higher ISO better than normal for this session, but I still think Canon does better with that overall (Sony handled it well, too).

So, I think now that I’ve exhausted all my options, I can (almost) confidently say that I will be switching everything over to Canon.  But again, this is all personal preference, and probably depends on where, how, and what you’re photographing.  I’ve read about people switching from Canon to Nikon and Canon to Sony lately, but for me (even thought I LOVE my Nikon z7ii) Canon still seems like the best choice.  Although looking at them all together, I really am still liking my Nikon edits…maybe I’ll end up keeping both.

 

What do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts on the Nikon z7ii vs Canon r6 mark ii vs Sony alpha 7 iii mirrorless camera comparison.

 

Canon edits:

 

Nikon edits:

 

 

Sony edits: