Nikon D810 vs Sony Alpha 7C

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Nikon D810 and the Sony Alpha 7C, 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.

Nikon D810 was introduced in June 2014 and Sony Alpha 7C was introduced in September 2020. 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 Nikon D810 over Sony Alpha 7C.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony Alpha 7C over Nikon D810.

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

Nikon D810 has a 3.2" Fixed screen with 1,229k dot resolution and Sony Alpha 7C has a 3.0" Fully Articulated screen with 922k dot resolution. Fully articulated screen makes Sony Alpha 7C selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Sony Alpha 7C 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 7C) 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

Nikon D810 has a built-in Optical (pentaprism) viewfinderSony Alpha 7C has a built-in 0.39" Electronic (OLED) viewfinder with 2,359k dot resolution. They both have 100% coverage.

Nikon D810 features a 36.3 megapixel Full Frame CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.9 x 24 mm and a total area of 861.6 mm². Its native ISO range is 64 - 12,800 and expands to 32 - 51,200 in boosted mode. Sony Alpha 7C features a 24.2 megapixel Full Frame BSI-CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.6 x 23.8 mm and a total area of 566.4 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 51,200 and expands to 50 - 204,800 in boosted mode.

Sony Alpha 7C 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

Nikon D810 is equipped with EXPEED 4 processor and can take pictures up to 7360 x 4912 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like FX: 5520 x 3680, 3680 x 2456; 1.2: 6144 x 4080, 4608 x 3056, 3072 x 2040; 5:4: 6144 x 4912, 4608 x 3680, 3072 x 2456; DX: 4800 x 3200, 3600 x 2400, 2400 x 1600 with 5:4, 3:2 aspect ratios. Sony Alpha 7C is equipped with BIONZ X processor and can take pictures up to 6000 x 4000 resolution.

Lens Mount

Nikon D810 has Nikon F lens mount and Sony Alpha 7C 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 Nikon D810

There is no optical low-pass filter (OLPF), also known as an anti-aliasing filter, in front of the sensor on Nikon D810. 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 7C

Sony Alpha 7C has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS) with 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 7C

Sony Alpha 7C 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 Alpha 7C

Sony Alpha 7C has a built-in Bluetooth (version 4.1) 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 7C

Sony Alpha 7C 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 3.2 Gen 1x1 (5 GBit/sec) inputs for data transfer. Nikon D810 has a Mini HDMI and Sony Alpha 7C has a Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Nikon D810 comes with EN-EL15 battery pack with battery life of 1200 shots and Sony Alpha 7C comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 740 shots.

External Storage Slots

Nikon D810 has two card slots - one for SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) and one for CompactFlash (Type I, compliant with UDMA). Sony Alpha 7C has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) card slot.

Shutter

Nikon D810 has Mechanical Focal Plane shutter and Electronic shutter. Sony Alpha 7C has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/8000 sec on Nikon D810, and up to 1/8000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/4000 sec with mechanical shutter on Sony Alpha 7C. Nikon D810 can shoot continuously up to 5.0 fps. Sony Alpha 7C can shoot continuously up to 10.0 fps.

Focusing

Nikon D810 has 51 (15 cross-type) focusing points and Sony Alpha 7C has Fast Hybrid AF (Phase-detection / Contrast-detection) system with 693 focusing points. Nikon D810 has detection range from -2 to +19 EV and Sony Alpha 7C has detection range from -4 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Nikon D810 and Sony Alpha 7C range from 0 to +20 EV and -3 to +20 EV respectively and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Nikon D810 and ±5 EV range on Sony Alpha 7C. You can also do exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Nikon D810 and exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony Alpha 7C.

Flash

Nikon D810 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 or PC Terminal or Wireless connection. Sony Alpha 7C has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected via Intelligent Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/250 sec on Nikon D810 and 1/160 sec on Sony Alpha 7C.

Nikon D810 body has dimensions of 146 x 123 x 82 mm (5.75 x 4.84 x 3.23") and Sony Alpha 7C body has dimensions of 124 x 71 x 60 mm (4.88 x 2.8 x 2.36"). Nikon D810 weighs 980 g (2.16 lb / 34.57 oz) and Sony Alpha 7C weighs 509 g (1.12 lb / 17.95 oz).

Nikon D810

Sony Alpha 7C

146 mm

123 mm

124 mm

71 mm

123 mm

71 mm

82 mm

60 mm