Canon EOS 5D Mark III vs Sony FX30

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the Sony FX30, 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 III was introduced in May 2012 and Sony FX30 was introduced in September 2022. 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 III over Sony FX30.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony FX30 over Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

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 III has a 3.2" Fixed screen with 1,040k dot resolution and Sony FX30 has a 3.0" Fully Articulated screen with 2,360k dot resolution. Fully articulated screen makes Sony FX30 selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Sony FX30 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 FX30) 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.

Optical (pentaprism) Viewfinder on Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Canon EOS 5D Mark III has a built-in Optical (pentaprism) viewfinder. It has a 100% coverage and 0.71x magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Sony FX30.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III features a 22.3 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 - 25,600 and expands to 50 - 102,400 in boosted mode. Sony FX30 features a 26 megapixel APS-C BSI-CMOS sensor with dimensions of 23.3 x 15.6 mm and a total area of 243.4 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 32,000 and expands to 50 - 102,400 in boosted mode.

Sony FX30 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 III is equipped with DIGIC 5+ processor and can take pictures up to 5760 x 3840 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 3840 x 2560, 2880 x 1920, 1920 x 1280, 720 x 480 with 3:2 aspect ratios. Sony FX30 is equipped with BIONZ XR processor and can take pictures up to 6192 x 4128 resolution.

Lens Mount

Canon EOS 5D Mark III has Canon EF lens mount and Sony FX30 has Sony E lens mount. Due to Full Frame sensor in Canon EOS 5D Mark III its crop factor is equal to 1x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length. Due to APS-C sensor in Sony FX30 its crop factor is equal to 1.5x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.5.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Sony FX30

Sony FX30 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 FX30

Sony FX30 has a built-in Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5, 802.11ac/b/g/n, 2.4/5 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 FX30

Sony FX30 has a built-in Bluetooth (version 5) 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.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. Canon EOS 5D Mark III has a Mini HDMI and Sony FX30 has a Full Size HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Canon EOS 5D Mark III comes with LP-E6 battery pack with battery life of 950 shots and Sony FX30 comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 570 shots.

External Storage Slots

Canon EOS 5D Mark III has two card slots - one for SD/SDHC/SDXC and one for CompactFlash (Type I, UDMA 7). Sony FX30 has Dual CFexpress Type A / SD card slots.

Shutter

Canon EOS 5D Mark III has Electronically Controlled Vertical-travel Mechanical Focal-plane shutter. Sony FX30 has Electronic Rolling shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/8000 sec on Canon EOS 5D Mark III, and up to 1/8000 sec on Sony FX30. Canon EOS 5D Mark III can shoot continuously up to 6.0 fps. Sony FX30 can shoot continuously up to 10.0 fps.

Focusing

Canon EOS 5D Mark III has Dual Pixel CMOS AF system with 61 (41 cross-type) focusing points and Sony FX30 has 759 focusing points. Canon EOS 5D Mark III has detection range from -2 to +18 EV and Sony FX30 has detection range from -3 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Canon EOS 5D Mark III ranges from +1 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Canon EOS 5D Mark III and (1/3 EV increments) range on Sony FX30. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Canon EOS 5D Mark III and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony FX30.

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 III. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/200 sec on Canon EOS 5D Mark III.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III body has dimensions of 152 x 116 x 76 mm (5.98 x 4.57 x 2.99") and Sony FX30 body has dimensions of 130 x 78 x 85 mm (5.11 x 3.06 x 3.33"). Canon EOS 5D Mark III weighs 950 g (2.09 lb / 33.51 oz) and Sony FX30 weighs 646 g (1.42 lb / 22.79 oz).

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Sony FX30

152 mm

116 mm

130 mm

78 mm

116 mm

78 mm

76 mm

85 mm