Canon EOS 5D Mark II vs Sony Alpha 7R III

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Sony Alpha 7R III, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II was introduced in February 2009 and Sony Alpha 7R III was introduced in October 2017. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Canon EOS 5D Mark II over Sony Alpha 7R III.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony Alpha 7R III over Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Sony Alpha 7R III have 3.0" screens with 920k dot and 1,440k dot resolutions respectively. Canon EOS 5D Mark II has a Fixed screen Sony Alpha 7R III has a Tilting screen which makes it very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Sony Alpha 7R III also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality (available only on Sony Alpha 7R III) allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Viewfinder

Canon EOS 5D Mark II has a built-in Optical (pentaprism) viewfinderSony Alpha 7R III has a built-in 0.5" Electronic viewfinder with 3,686k dot resolution. Canon EOS 5D Mark II has 98% coverage with 0.71x magnification and Sony Alpha 7R III has 100% coverage with 0.78x magnification.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II features a 21.1 megapixel Full Frame CMOS sensor with dimensions of 36 x 24 mm and a total area of 864 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 6,400 and expands to 50 - 25,600 in boosted mode. Sony Alpha 7R III features a 42.4 megapixel Full Frame BSI-CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.9 x 24 mm and a total area of 576 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 32,000 and expands to 50 - 102,400 in boosted mode.

Sony Alpha 7R III has BSI-CMOS sensor, short for Backside Illuminated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor sensor. In traditional CMOS sensors, the wiring and circuitry are located on the front side of the sensor, which can block some of the incoming light. BSI technology flips this design by placing the photosensitive elements (pixels) on the backside of the sensor, allowing more light to reach the pixels. This significantly enhances light sensitivity and improves low-light performance. BSI-CMOS sensors are particularly effective in low-light conditions, as they can capture more light, resulting in brighter and less noisy images. This makes them well-suited for indoor and night photography. BSI-CMOS sensors deliver a higher SNR and reduced cross-talk.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Canon EOS 5D Mark II is equipped with DIGIC 4 processor and can take pictures up to 5616 x 3744 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 4080 x 2720, 2784 x 1856, 5616 x 3744, 3861 x 2574, 2784 x 1856 with 3:2 aspect ratios. Sony Alpha 7R III is equipped with BIONZ X processor and can take pictures up to 7952 x 5304 resolution.

Lens Mount

Canon EOS 5D Mark II has Canon EF lens mount and Sony Alpha 7R III has Sony E lens mount. Due to their Full Frame sensor their crop factor (also called lens multiplier) is equal to 1x. This means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length.

No Low-Pass Filter on Sony Alpha 7R III

There is no optical low-pass filter (OLPF), also known as an anti-aliasing filter, in front of the sensor on Sony Alpha 7R III. This results in a slightly sharper image but may also introduce moiré patterns and aliasing artifacts when photographing subjects with fine, repetitive patterns or details.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Sony Alpha 7R III

Sony Alpha 7R III has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS) with 5.5 stops of compensation. This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Sony Alpha 7R III

Sony Alpha 7R III has a built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth on Sony Alpha 7R III

Sony Alpha 7R III has a built-in Bluetooth which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

NFC on Sony Alpha 7R III

Sony Alpha 7R III has Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which simplifies the process of pairing it with other NFC-enabled devices like smartphones or tablets. It allows to quickly transfer photos and videos or remotely control the camera from compatible device. NFC can also be used for authentication and security purposes. It can verify your identity before accessing certain features or transferring sensitive data. It can be used with NFC-enabled accessories as well, such as lenses, flashes and GPS devices.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. Canon EOS 5D Mark II has a Mini HDMI and Sony Alpha 7R III has a Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Canon EOS 5D Mark II comes with LP-E6 battery pack with battery life of 850 shots and Sony Alpha 7R III comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 650 shots.

External Storage Slots

Canon EOS 5D Mark II has a single CompactFlash (Type I/II, UDMA 7), Microdrive card slot. Sony Alpha 7R III has two card slots - one for SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) and one for SD/SDHC/SDXC/Memory Stick Duo Hybrid (UHS-I).

Shutter

Canon EOS 5D Mark II has Electronically Controlled Vertical-travel Mechanical Focal-plane shutter. Sony Alpha 7R III has Electronic shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/8000 sec on Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and up to 1/8000 sec on Sony Alpha 7R III. Canon EOS 5D Mark II can shoot continuously up to 3.9 fps. Sony Alpha 7R III can shoot continuously up to 10.0 fps.

Focusing

Canon EOS 5D Mark II has Dual Pixel CMOS AF system with 9 focusing points and Sony Alpha 7R III has Fast Hybrid AF (Phase-detection / Contrast-detection) system with 425 focusing points. Sony Alpha 7R III has detection range from -2 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Sony Alpha 7R III range from -0.5 to +18 EV and -3 to +20 EV respectively and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±2 EV range on Canon EOS 5D Mark II and ±5 EV range on Sony Alpha 7R III. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Canon EOS 5D Mark II and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony Alpha 7R III.

Flash

Cameras have no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected to both of them via Hot Shoe or PC Terminal to Canon EOS 5D Mark II and via Intelligent Hot Shoe or PC Terminal to Sony Alpha 7R III. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/200 sec on Canon EOS 5D Mark II and 1/250 sec on Sony Alpha 7R III.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II body has dimensions of 152 x 114 x 75 mm (5.98 x 4.49 x 2.95") and Sony Alpha 7R III body has dimensions of 127 x 96 x 74 mm (5 x 3.78 x 2.91"). Canon EOS 5D Mark II weighs 850 g (1.87 lb / 29.98 oz) and Sony Alpha 7R III weighs 657 g (1.45 lb / 23.17 oz).

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Sony Alpha 7R III

152 mm

114 mm

127 mm

96 mm

114 mm

96 mm

75 mm

74 mm