Canon R5 vs Sony A7S III | Why I’m Switching

- Armando! - Gene! - Armando, guess what, what I'm switching to Canon. - Gene, guess what, what I'm switching to Sony. Wait, what? - Wait, what? I thought you love Sony! - I thought you love Canon! So, yeah, it's true. After Armando and I spent days testing the Canon R5 with the A7S III, side to side, back to back, I've gone ahead and canceled my preorder on the Canon R5, and yup, you guessed it, I ordered the A7S III. Now, let me preface this by saying that this video a hundred percent not spon

sored. So, I have zero obligation to use a camera or a lens or anything like that. Sony just offered the biggest paycheck. So, I was like, it's kinda crazy actually 'cause I've been a Canon user ever since my Canon teach why. And I've been really happy with their cameras and actually, this camera that I'm shooting on right now, Canon C300 Mark III, one of my favorite pro cameras out there right now. So, I'm still gonna continue using Canon stuff. Now, when you look at the spec sheet of both of t

hese, they both go neck and neck, they both have great 4K, 10-bit 4:2:2. But the standup features is that the Canon has 8K, really impressive, but on other hand, Sony has 240 frames per second in 1080p. If I could have one or the other, I don't really care about 8K, but that 240 frames per second, I think I'll be using. Now, they both have 4K at 120 frames per second. The Sony might have a slight sharpness advantage, but I mean, they're both really solid in 4K 120. But that 240 frames per second

, I mean, come on, you look at some of these shots side by side you really get a sense of how much more slow-mo that 240 frames per second is. All right, we needs some slow-mo shots of... Connor's taking one for the team. He's getting his hair wet so he can give us a nice glorious, whoa, they watch slow-mo shot. ♪ Hey, you're so easy to love. ♪ ♪ Hey. ♪ (laughter) Good time on the beach. How are you feeling? - Cold. - It was worth it, right? - You paid for my dinner. (laughter) ♪ Hey, you're so

easy to love. ♪ ♪ Hey you're good so. ♪ But at the same time, you can't ignore the 8K capability. And taking a close look at it, it is the sharpest setting we tested in any of the cameras. And the silver metal also goes to the Canon R5 in the 4K HQ mode, which is basically the 8K image down sampled into 4K. And the third place is Sony's 4K, which is still incredibly good. But once you take a microscope to it, I would say the R5 still looks sharper. And then last place is Canon's regular 4K, so,

the non-HQ mode. And compared to everything else, it is really soft. So, Canon 8K looks the best. I wanna say that 4K HQ, looks right there with it. And then you get Sony's 4K, which is just below that. And then normal 4K or Lane 4K, it's like all the way down. So, now that we see it laid out, these three are pretty solid. All I know is I just don't want that one. I mean, after you're up here, you can't go back. So, now we come up here to look at these three and usually you want the best image q

uality you can get. But third place doesn't seem so bad when you consider that these two overheat like crazy. So, if you don't want your camera to consistently overheat, I'm gonna go ahead and say the Sony's 4Ks better option. Now, the Canon overheating is old news, but the question is, is it a real problem or was it something that was just blown out of proportion? I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you it's a real (beep) problem. I couldn't get the shots I wanted during our simple testing because

of the overheating. And of course we got to throw it in the incubator. Sony is pretty good about not overheating in any of the settings and the R5 apparently doesn't overheat in the 4K mode, as long as it's not in the HQ mode, right? - Yes. We'll see about that here in the incubator. We have it at 40 degrees Celsius right now, which is right at 104 degrees Fahrenheit. So, round one, it opened in there for 30 minutes. They're both doing fine, but we're gonna have to open it up and reset the came

ras real quick because of the R5 30 minute required time limit. The A7S has no required time limit. (laughs) You still like that R5, now (beep). - Let's format the card. It's too hot, right? - I'll get them. - This was toasty. - Yeah, nice and warm right here. - Format, format. I'm ready to go. - Where did I put the format button? - That Sony menu. Come on, deep dive. - This has been slightly improved. - Shut the door. Round two. - I'm kinda impressed. They're both still good, after an hour of r

ecording in there. Last time I tried this test, the A7S has had overheated at about 45 minutes, but I think that's because I didn't adjust the threshold of when it overheats, but now they've both been in there for an hour and they're still good. Let's do a 4K 60 now and see if we can heat it up a little bit. - Oh, I can't record 4K 60. So, look at that. - Oh, so you can't do any 4K 60 right now. - No. So, this is the big problem with the R5 is that, if you use it normally, let's say for whatever

, you're shooting a wedding, 20, 30 minutes, you're getting some nice 24, 30 frames per second. The problem is, let's say you want to do some high frame rate stuff, since the camera's already hot, you can't use those modes. The winner for the overheat test has to go for Sony. You want to just leave it in there and see how-- - Let's just... - Yeah, all right. - Right now we're recording 4K 60, at 600 megabits per second. It's not overheating. The memory cards full. I'm just getting really bored o

f waiting, so, I just overheat this thing. I'm gonna format this card and we're gonna go 4K 120. This thing is going down. ♪ Hey, you're so easy to love. ♪ - I think it's fair to say, it's a beast. You just take it in the oven. Come on, let's do it. - There we go. - You want a hundred degrees? - Let's do it. Yeah, yesterday, you're filming with this thing in the heat. - All day. See this little button right here. - Mm-hmm. - It's like the red handle. You push the button and then you can actually

record. - And you can stop, on the top hand? - Yeah. You know, like in your skateboarding days, don't you wish you would've had this? - Yeah, that's the one thing we have an issue with C300 Mark III, is I'm so used to top hand, the FX9 the top button. What? Oh, dude, that's awesome! - Kondor Blue. - Kondor Blue! - Yeah, they make this whole cage. - I need one of these top handles. - You can have it after the shoot. This top handle works with your C500 Mark II and the EOS R and all these cameras

. - This is my handle and he just literally gave it away. - It's mine, no. - That's what happens-- - That's probably true. Probably is his. - [Gene] So it's just a prototype cage for the A7S III? - This is the A7R4 cage, and it works on here. We are looking to making some minor design changes to make it more fitting to this camera, but it's pretty dang good as it is, so. - They can description. (soft music) - Hey, what's going on, man? - Not so much. Rodrigo, here, Sock from Brazil, Alaikum. - [

Gene] All right on, question. Who's the better YouTuber, huh? - Whoa! - Who's better? - Oh, man, don't put me in this. (laughter) Thank you so much for share the knowledge for us. Have a good one. - [Gene] See yeah. - Sony, what is this? Backward Sony, what is that? - [Gene] Half the time the Sony logo is upside down. - I guess I'm just telling you who this camera's catered to, it's like vloggers. - I do kinda like how the Sony is a little bit more compact, but see that there definitely is a bit

of a size difference. You like the bigger screen on the R5? - I do, I think it's nice. - Even though the Sony A7S is smaller, when we're talking about HDMI ports, look at that, full size. Would you like to look at how dinky the little HDMI is on here? Look at that. The little camera has the big HDMI port. - Something worth noting from using both of these cameras is, A7S III you can actually use it with like a dummy battery, where the R5 Canon has this really crazy protection thing that if you p

ut in like an aftermarket battery or like a V-Mount, like dummy battery, it just won't let you do it. It'll tell you, this is not like a correct battery, contact, whatever. It's got a weird like, message, where are the Sony, we were able to run it through V-Mount. So, that's kinda cool. - I feel like Canon is a little bit more specific on what kind of battery you use, but it can write onto like any memory card. And even if you change files around in the memory card, you put it back in and just c

ontinues to write, no problem. Sony is more particular about their memory card. - I still think this is a killer feature of Canon, it's the VND. I like having this drop in filter as opposed to having like a VND in front of the glass. - That is definitely nice having that VND right there. The battery life on both of these, pretty good, huh? - Yeah, they're pretty good. - While we were in the incubator, we were recording both of them for over an hour, and they're both still decent on battery life.

So, you could expect to get a couple hours of video. - Now, one thing I've never liked about Sony's is their Mike Jack. They break all the time. I'm wondering if they've done anything to improve that. Obviously this is a camera that we haven't used for a very long time. That's something that tends to happen over months, but I'm hoping that they actually upgraded the internals of the microphone. That was a big problem with literally all of their A7 lineup. - I've never seen that issue, but that'

s probably because I've never vlogged on a Sony. - In fact, it's $150 to fix. I already know the price. - Oh, okay, interesting. I do like the idea of that microphone that just fits in right here and uses that communication through this hot shoe so that you don't have to actually plug in any wires. So, that's definitely something I want to test out. After I started shooting with Sony, I really started to utilize these three settings right here. The memory recall settings, you can really program

these three to be exactly what you want it to be. And then you could also save what is in another four memory, recall settings in your memory card. So, then you have seven different settings that you can just hop between. So, I set like two of them, four vlog modes, my favorite vlog modes, then I also set some for slow-mo, and I also set some for getting the best possible resolution. It it's very easy because you don't have to go, oh, okay, I wanna get this kind of shot. Let me dial him my bit r

ates my file format, my resolution. You don't have to go and do all that, you just. And then you rarely have to go into the menu. - Another main difference in both of these cameras is gonna be the lens selection. I mean, Sony has been in the mirrorless market now for a lot longer than Canon. However, you can't dismiss these beautiful RF lenses and the type of glass or building, for example, the 15-35, this is an F28 with image stabilization. There's nothing comparable on the Sony side with image

stabilization. And then of course you have like the 70-200, which is like a baby lens on the RF. Lens selection isn't as big as Sony, but the lenses they have are outstanding. - That is gonna be the hardest thing for me, when it comes to switching over to Sony is-- - You are not switching. - I am switching, I'm switching, losing this 15-35 F28. This is like the bloggers Dreamlands right here. And this does not exist in the Sony E-System, yet. Maybe if enough of us beg it, maybe they'll make a 1

5-35 F28 stabilized on the E-mount. - In fact, you know what'd be good? Why don't you show them the difference right now? Log with this really quick and show him the difference between like a 15 mil vlogging compared to like a 16. - Okay, yeah, all right. I'm gonna vlog like I usually would Dell and let's see how stable it is. Is this the ultimate vlog set up here? I'm gonna try to not think about, trying to keep this camera stable or anything like that. I'm just gonna try vlog like I usually wo

uld on my vlog channel. - Was I'm saying. - [Gene] What's up bro? - Kinda surf, cause I see a bunch of surfers, but that's not us right now. - We're gonna start surfing. Whoa, how many fishes that? How did that happen? Cheater! - I call hoax on that one. - All right, so you guys have generally seen how stable and how this picture looks. Should I switch to the R5 now? - Switch it. - Alright, let's go. And now we're switched to the EOS R5. - Look at that stabilization in the eye on a focus. - The

eye on this camera is definitely no joke. But you said in the latest firmware they fix the wobble issue. - It improved the wobble. - So, as I walk around and even if I whip around a little bit, there's no wobble that I've seen yet. So, if you're freaked out about the wobble, like I was, that's not as much of an issue anymore, I don't think, but yeah, what do you guys think? Do you guys see the wobble? I'm all the way at 15, and I think it's all fixed. That's the one thing I do have to hand to Ca

non, is this IBIS is amazing. - I mean, this is just handheld at 35, I got stabilization. I'm gonna go ahead and do a few steps in, but yeah, definitely a fan. I'm gonna go ahead and pop off stabilization now, immediately, you see all that jitter. Like every time I take a step is just so jittery. I'm gonna pop it on. Oh, yeah, look at that, just snaps in. - What do guys think? Does this look necessarily better The Sony also has some advantages in the pro environment. And I think the big advantag

e is that it has S-Log2 and S-Log3, really utilizing that dynamic range of the camera is capable of. The R5 has C-log, which is awesome, but no S-Log2, no S-Log3. I keep hearing rumors that S-Log2 and three might be coming in the R5, which would make it a bit more appealing. By the time you're watching this, maybe it's already in the camera, so let's hope so. Let's just say Canon solves their overheating issue. I would still go for the A7S, because the Sony is designed with video as a priority,

as opposed to the R5, it's got great video features, but it is still a photography camera more than it is a video camera. And I think Sony did a good move there by making the Sony A7R a high-end photo camera, the A7S, a video camera. So, they were able to really focus in on video needs. And most of you know that I am a video guy. I rarely take pictures unless it's for Instagram or thumbnail, but literally that's about it. A big part of why I say this is because of the sensor. The Sony has a 12 m

egapixel sensor and the R5 has a 45 megapixel sensor. And you might be like more mega pixel, more better, but there is such a thing as having too many pixels, and Canon themselves know this, because right now I am filming on a Canon C300 Mark III. And this sensor is only 9.6 mega pixels, and it's one of my favorite pro cameras. And how about the legendary Arri Alexa? One of the greatest cinema cameras ever created. It has a 7.5 ish megapixel sensor. And the reason behind this is because just bec

ause it's a high megapixel count, doesn't mean it's a larger, better sensor. Still the same size, so, when you have more pixels, you have more stuff to cram into that fixed amount of space. So the thing I love about that 12 megapixel sensor is that, each one of those photo sites are huge compared to the 45 megapixel sensor, wherever every one is crammed in there. And they're all individually small because of that, if you're gonna get a good 4K down sampled image, you're gonna have to process it.

And that just seems like a lot of work for the processor to do. And that's probably part of the reason why it's overheating so much. And the A7S III does it have to do nearly as much computing because it's taking information off of less pixels, but every pixel it does get information for it's very clean. Another thing I was really excited about is that BSI, backside illuminated sensor. So, the photons come off this light, bounce off my face and go into this lens and then eventually hits a photo

site, which is then converted into a pixel. So, to get a really clean pixel, you want as much light hitting that photo site as possible. And traditional designs have some copper wiring cover parts of it, so it limits the amount of light that can come in. But when you see a BSI structure, that basically means that copper is all back here. So, that photo site is free to just absorb as much light as possible, because a big part of the reason why we're able to get so much dynamic range, such clean

shadows. Now, when it comes to low light, we all know that Sony's been the King of low light for some time now, and this is no exception. The R5 is actually surprisingly good, but the A7S definitely pushes beyond what the R5 is capable of. So again, Sony takes the wind there. Now, colors was something that I used to have issues with on previous Sony cameras, but they've come such a long way. And for all this footage in the video, I'm not doing any sort of creative adjustments. I'm just slapping

on a technical lead on there to get it to 709. And since I already liked the image coming out of the camera, I just have to push it a little bit further and whatever direction I want, I'm happy with the color. And one thing I have noticed with my Canon cameras is that, even if I leave it in auto white balance, it tends to adjust pretty quickly and pretty accurately. The Sony there's been quite a few times where I was like, oh, it's not exactly where I really want it to be, but there are a couple

of different auto white balance modes available in that Sony. So, I do want to play with that to see if I can figure out which setting I like best. So with A7S III, I typically like to white balance off a gray card, just to make sure that my white balance is good. And across the board, that's the better way to do it anyways. But with the Sony, I feel like I'm a little bit more incentivized to bring it, opposed to the Canon, where I'm like, just leave it on auto. Honestly, for vlogging, they're

both great. They both have ultra wide angle options. They both have IBUs digital stabilization in the lens. You have a spot to put your microphone, you have a flip out screen, good color, good dynamic. Like there they're both gonna work well for blogging. But how do they work in a pro level environment? That's something that we tested out with Armando. So, right there, no, sorry, this way, right there. All right, gentlemen, what do you think is the biggest advantage of the A7S III? - You can use

it with peace of mind, everything that the camera says it can do, it can do 100% of the time. - I think for me, like you said reliability, but most importantly, you're still getting killer video features. We haven't tested out the rock capabilities with the Atomos Ninja because as of filming this video right now, those features are not unlocked, but when they do come out, I think that's just gonna be an upper edge to give you cinema quality on a mirrorless body. - [Gene] Yeah, the 16 bit raw ou

t of the full size HDMI, tough to beat that. - All right, Sam. - I think you already know the answer to this. - [Gene] You're gonna see a low light. - Yeah, low light is (beet) bananas on this (beep), bro. - [Gene] Look at this, I'm not going like F14, F12, this is an F5. And I'm comfortably filming right here with just a fire and these dinky little lights, overhead. Favorite feature about the R5. - So, the IBIS. - It is crazy because when you put, was it a 70 E-mount, that you had me put on her

e yesterday, it looked like it was floating. It was kind of crazy. And my biggest fear at first was that wobble at that ultra wide angle. And I think it's because the IBIS was just too powerful, but I think what they did with the latest firmware, was they made the IBIS a little bit less powerful when it detects the lens is on the ultra wide. So, you don't have that issue, which also means slightly less stabilization in an ultra wide, but it's still it is a killer. IBIS system, I think, this is p

robably one of the best IBIS systems I've ever seen. - Third feature, I'd say for me, it has to be the RF system. The lenses that are available right now, I think it has a bright future. And with companies like RED now supporting with their Komodo camera, I really believe that it's gonna be a great lens mount for the future. - [Gene] And those drop in and this is behind the lens. That thing is awesome. All right, Connor, what'd you got for us? - Both of those were really good. And those are defi

nitely the standout features. More subtly, I think the body ergonomics on the R5 are better than the Sony A7S III. I feel like the grip feels better. I feel like it's chunk. I feel like it's bigger. I liked the screen that's on top. I like that when you take off the lens, the sensor is protected behind the shutter, behind the shield, those little details, although they may not be major and they may not quite influence your buying decision, they are nice details, nice touches that I kinda wish So

ny kinda pulled from. - Mention the photography side too. I think we all collectively agree that that is an awesome thing to have, so. - [Gene] Right, if it was Christmas and you knew that there was a camera inside of your package-- - Sam was good this year. - Which camera would you hope it is? This or the R5? - Oh, man. - You gonna say Fuji. (laughs) - No, I can't say Fiji. I already have a Fuji film, which I would tell you. - Actually, tell you what, Santa will give you any mirrorless camera y

ou wish, but it has to be a mirrorless camera. - A Fujifilm GFX 100. - [Gene] Oh, you'd go for that medium format? - Just because of the crispy medium format, the photos that I can catch on that. But between these two cameras, honestly, right now, I pick the Sony. Which that doesn't come lightly, 'cause I haven't liked Sony much. - I've talked more (beep) about Sony than most other camera companies. But, no, legit, I'm very impressed by this camera. - You know, I am gonna stick with the R5, but

I'll tell you why. Video features on the A7S III are killer, but we have a killer video camera already. We shooting with the C500 Mark II. I want something that I can take great pictures, I can vlog. And because the R5 doesn't overheat in 4K 24 non HQ, I'm okay with that. 'Cause that's probably 99% of the way I'm gonna use it, is gonna be in that mode. So for me, the AK, the 4K HQ, although amazing, I don't really care for them. And I'm still being hopeful that Canon will release a firmware upda

te to fix the overheating issue, because if they were to release something tomorrow, that completely eliminates that issue, then, oh, boy. I think the race between these two cameras is even harder to choose which one is best. - [Gene] It would be, yeah. And also another thing that would really entice me to consider the R5 again, would be if it had S-Log2 and S-Log3. That's a big factor. - Yes, what's the moral of the story guys? Reliability. Why do these cam companies like Arri do so well? Relia

bility. 'Cause when you take a camera like Arri on set, it's gonna work every single time. Reliability always wins. - [Gene] Yes, all right, Sam, how about you? - So, you have to understand, my girlfriend has the 15-35 RF, the 70-200 RF and the 50, I'm have to stick with the R5. Let's say I didn't have that, Then I'll probably stick to the Sony. - Anyways, that's all I got for this video. And as we wrap this up by reading a few comments, we'll do something slightly different today. I started a d

iscord channel, so far I've kept it private, but I'm gonna open it up to the public today. So, link down there. If you wanna come chat it up with us. Let's see what some of your saying over there. I asked R5 or A7S. R5 as it is still usable in video segments for a lot of things. So, it's the perfect combo for photo plus video. I can definitely see that 45 megapixels being appealing to a professional photographer. Turin, says A7S III because it is far more convenient without the overheating issue

s, with start and stop recording. And honestly, I like its colors a bit more than the R5. I am moderately colorblind, so don't crucify me. And if I want it raw, it does have external recording options all around. It just feels like it has less issues on the video side. I can't afford either, so I won't get either for a while. My buddy Steven Short says, face detection wasn't possible before on Sony cameras when shooting S-Log2, S-Log3, how has that changed since the A7S? Oh, yes it has. And that

's actually something that I almost forgot to mention, because in older cameras, if you shot an S-Log2 or S-Log3, the autofocus just wasn't nearly as good as if you had it on a default color profile. But now none of that is an issue. I was using nonstop S-Log3, no auto-focus issue, whatsoever. So, we're good there. My buddy, Adam, says I'm torn with love a true hybrid camera for travel. All my glass is EF mount and the R5 looks amazing for stills, so I'm leaning R5. But from what I've heard the

dynamic range on the R5 video is underwhelming, which is a potential deal breaker. The A7S III is very tempting. Curious what the stills are like on it. Sounds like it's more tailored for video than stills. Adam, pretty a hundred percent right? I mean, 12 megapixel, is that enough? I guess it depends on who you are. And good news is, since all your glasses EF mount with that Sigma adapter, which I'll throw a link down there below, the autofocus seemed to be pretty good. And when I was talking to

the people over at Sony, that was the one that they were recommending had the best communication. 'Cause if you get a crappy adapter then you may have delays in your autofocus and all that, but so far, that Sigma adaptor seemed to feel really good with the lenses I've tested on it so far. So, that's good news. Yeah, I think most of you guys are pretty much on the same page, but yeah, hopefully this was helpful. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to check out Armando's video that we did on h

is channel, link down there in the description. And also the affiliate links down there. All this stuff down, just go down there and just buy everything. Go, have fun. See you guys later. (soft music)