Canon EOS 80D vs Sony FX30

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Canon EOS 80D 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 80D was introduced in February 2016 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 80D over Sony FX30.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony FX30 over Canon EOS 80D.

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 80D and Sony FX30 have 3.0" Fully Articulated screens with 1,040k dot and 2,360k dot resolutions respectively. Fully articulated screen makes cameras selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Both models feature touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality 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 80D

Canon EOS 80D has a built-in Optical (pentaprism) viewfinder. It has a 100% coverage and 0.95x (0.59x 35mm equivalent) magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Sony FX30.

Canon EOS 80D features a 24.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 22.5 x 15 mm and a total area of 337.5 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 16,000 and expands to 100 - 25,600 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 80D is equipped with DIGIC 6 processor and can take pictures up to 6000 x 4000 resolution. Sony FX30 is equipped with BIONZ XR processor and can take pictures up to 6192 x 4128 resolution.

Lens Mount

Canon EOS 80D has Canon EF/EF-S lens mount and Sony FX30 has Sony E lens mount. They both have APS-C sensor but because of a small size difference their crop factors (also called lens multiplier) differ from each other. Canon EOS 80D has the crop factor of 1.6x which means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.6. Sony FX30 has the crop factor of 1.5x which 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

Cameras have built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz on Canon EOS 80D, Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac/b/g/n 2.4/5 GHz on Sony FX30) 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.

NFC on Canon EOS 80D

Canon EOS 80D 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 80D has a Mini HDMI and Sony FX30 has a Full Size HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Canon EOS 80D comes with LP-E6N battery pack with battery life of 960 shots and Sony FX30 comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 570 shots.

External Storage Slots

Canon EOS 80D has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot. Sony FX30 has Dual CFexpress Type A / SD card slots.

Shutter

Canon EOS 80D has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Sony FX30 has Electronic Rolling shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/8000 sec on Canon EOS 80D, and up to 1/8000 sec on Sony FX30. Canon EOS 80D can shoot continuously up to 7.0 fps. Sony FX30 can shoot continuously up to 10.0 fps.

Focusing

Canon EOS 80D has Dual Pixel CMOS AF system with 45 (45 cross-type) focusing points and Sony FX30 has 759 focusing points. Canon EOS 80D has detection range from -3 to +18 EV and Sony FX30 has detection range from -3 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Canon EOS 80D ranges from +1 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Canon EOS 80D and (1/3 EV increments) range on Sony FX30. You can also do exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on both models.

Flash

Canon EOS 80D has a built-in flash with maximum range of 12.00 m at ISO 100 and also accepts external flash which can be connected via Hot Shoe. Sony FX30 has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/250 sec on Canon EOS 80D.

Canon EOS 80D body has dimensions of 139 x 105 x 79 mm (5.47 x 4.13 x 3.11") and Sony FX30 body has dimensions of 130 x 78 x 85 mm (5.11 x 3.06 x 3.33"). Canon EOS 80D weighs 730 g (1.61 lb / 25.75 oz) and Sony FX30 weighs 646 g (1.42 lb / 22.79 oz).

Canon EOS 80D

Sony FX30

139 mm

105 mm

130 mm

78 mm

105 mm

78 mm

79 mm

85 mm