I have a camera showdown planned for March, when we go to Byron Bay to shoot the surfers. I want to put our Canon cameras and lenses against the Sony A6000. The idea is not to compare image quality or anything like that, but how they perform photographing sports at long distance.

This is what we are going to compare:

• Canon 5D Mark III with Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II (full frame, 6fps, 22MP, DIGIC 5+ processor, 61 point AF system – 41 cross-type, OVF);
• Canon 5D Mark III with Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II + 2x Teleconverter (full frame, 140-400mm f5.6 with teleconverter, 6fps, 22MP, DIGIC 5+ processor, 61 point AF system – 41 cross-type, OVF);
• Canon 7D Mark II with Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II (APS-C, 35mm equivalent: 112-320mm, 10fps, 20MP, Dual Digic 6 processors, 65 all cross-type autofocus sensor, OVF);
• Canon 7D Mark II with Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II + 2x Teleconverter (APS-C, 35mm equivalent: 224-640mm f5.6, 10fps, 20MP, Dual Digic 6 processors, 65 all cross-type autofocus sensor, OVF);
• Canon 650D (aka T4i or Kiss X6i) with Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II (APS-C, 35mm equivalent: 112-320mm, 5fps, 18MP, 14-bit DIGIC 5 processor, 9 all cross-type autofocus sensor, OVF);
• Canon 650D (aka T4i or Kiss X6i) with Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II + 2x Teleconverter (APS-C, 35mm equivalent: 224-640mm f5.6, 5fps, 18MP, 14-bit DIGIC 5 processor, 9 all cross-type autofocus sensor, OVF);
• Sony A600 with Sony 70-200mm f4 G OSS (APS-C, 35mm equivalent: 105-300mm, 11fps, 24.3MP, Bionz X image processor, Hybrid AF system with 25 contrast-detect and 179 phase-detect points, EVF).

I know some things are obvious just by looking at the list and specs, but what I really want to know is which one will give me more good images, in the right time. Which one of them will be ready the moment I want to shoot so I don’t miss anything.

 

For this preview, we went to Paddington Skate Park.

 

 

Because we were so close to the skaters I didn’t use tele-converters. I also didn’t shoot with the Canon 650D and Canon 7D Mark II (but Roberta shot with the 7D Mark II so although I have no photos to show, I have some numbers). For all these reasons I’m calling it a preview of the showdown, not really the showdown. I used the center focus point and focus area with both cameras to see if that would make any difference, but it didn’t really, apart from the fact the to use the single center focus point I had to be spot on the center, of course.

 

I took 164 photos with the 5D Mark III and got 130 (79.27%) in focus, 140 with the A6000 and got 112 (80%) in focus. Roberta took 54 photos with the 7D Mark II and got 43 (79.63%) in focus. Not much of a difference there!

 

One thing I noticed was that even though the numbers are very similar, I had sequences where all photos are out of focus with the A6000.

Let’s say the skater was doing something and I took 6 photos with the 5D Mark III. At least half of them would be in focus. With the A6000 I had situations where I took 10 photos and they are all out of focus. Not one could be saved. So the 5D Mark III was refocusing the whole time while I had my fingers down the back focus and shutter buttons, but the A6000 couldn’t do it. Maybe is the 11fps being too fast for the camera to manage to refocus. I even had a funny situation where the A6000 completely missed focus because it actually locked the focus point in a tiny flying insect!

 

The A6000 11fps over the 5D Mark III 6fps sounds amazing on paper, but it didn’t give me any amazing in between shots over the Canon. Also, the 11fps will fill the buffer quickly, and that takes me to the next issue with the A6000: Camera lock-down.

While the A6000 is saving the images from the buffer to the card, you can’t do anything, not even change a setting or start the image preview. With the 5D Mark III your fps will go all the way down to 1fps or even less, but you can still SHOOT, or change settings while you wait, or whatever! I missed lots of shots with the A6000 because of this problem. And I know this is a Sony thing, as the A7R II has the same issue.

 

The Canon 5D Mark III is a classic DSRL with an Optical View Finder. The Sony A6000 has an Electronic View Finder. Although the A6000’s EVF is not as amazing as the one in the new A7R II, it’s good enough. BUT, because I was using the default settings (back LCD on and change over with the proximity sensors), the change over from the back LCD to the EVF was quite slow. It takes one or two seconds for the EVF to come to life and that’s enough time in sports photography to miss the action. Don’t forget you still need to frame and focus. Also, when reviewing images on the LCD and then moving your face close to the camera to take a shot, the image review will show up in the EVF. So instead of being ready to take the shot, you have your image review. I know a half press on the shutter button will take that away, but still, it’s one more thing. And since I mentioned the half press on the shutter button, in the 5D Mark III that half press is just a little touch on the button, so I find myself struggling to remove that image from the EVF.

Oh and there’s more: I use a back button to focus, always. The back button used on the A6000 to focus is the same button used to zoom in when reviewing images, so if I move the camera to my face and have the image review in the EVF, pressing the back focus button will NOT take me back to where I want to be and it will instead zoom in to the picture.

Sony’s face detection autofocus can be handy in some situations and that’s currently not possible with DSLRs…

Yes, I know, all these things can be changed, and that means I have to go through the Sony confusing menu system, again.
When talking DSLR vs Mirrorless weight and size have to be considered, always, and mirrorless will always win this fight. I have a battery grip attached to the 5D Mark III at all times, it gives me a better grip because of my big hands.

 

• Canon 5D Mark III: 950g with one battery (1330g with battery grip + 2 batteries);
• Canon 7D Mark II: 910g with one battery;
• Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L II: 1490g;
• Sony A6000: 344g with one battery;
• Sony 70-200mm f4 G OSS: 840g.

 

• Canon 5D Mark III with 70-200mm total weight: 2440g (without battery grip for comparison);
• Canon 7D Mark II with 70-200mm total weight: 2400g;
• Sony A600 with 70-200mm total weight: 1184g.

 

One minor problem I had with the A6000 later in post, is that 11fps gives me lots of photos within one second, and Lightroom sorts images by Capture Time by default. I had to change it to File Name to have the photos in the right order.

 

In a separate note I want to say something about the Sony (both A6000 and A7R II) when it comes to all around cameras: no dual card slots. Not that it’s the most important fact in this comparison because the only of the 4 cameras that can use dual card slots in sports is the 7D Mark II. The 5D Mark III has dual card slots but the SD slot is slower and that brings my buffer to something like 5 photos before it slows the fps down. But I shoot weddings and having that second card as a live backup is priceless.

 

As for image quality, I will let you decide for yourselves. The images here posted where processed in Adobe Lightroom CC. The two 100% crop images where processed applying Lens Correction and Camera Calibration only, no other processing. And the last image from this post is the funny A6000 “miss focus”.

 

Click the photos to enlarge and see shutter speed, aperture and focal length information.

 

 

100% Crop:

 

Sony A6000 focusing on the wrong subject:

 

Disclosure: the Sony A6000 has been my “always with me” camera for a bit over a month. Its small size and lightweight is great and my Canon kit has been sitting home to be used for professional purposes only. My Sony kit has:

• Sony A6000;
• Three batteries;
• Sony E 16mm f2.8;
• Sony E 50mm f1.8;
• Sony FE 70-200mm f4.