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  1. Table of Contents
  2. Top
  3. Main Differences
  4. Design
    1. Portability
    2. Build Quality
    3. Body
    4. In The Box
    5. Ergonomics & Comfort
    6. Viewfinder
    7. Screen
    8. Menu System
    9. Built-In Lens
    10. Sensor
    11. Battery
  5. Photo General
    1. Photo Shooting Speed
    2. Photo AF-C Tracking
    3. Photo AF-C Center Point
    4. Photo Image Stabilization
  6. Photo Image Quality
    1. Photo RAW Dynamic Range
    2. Photo RAW Sharpness
    3. Photo RAW Noise
  7. Pictures Sample Gallery
    1. The Skate Park Picture
    2. The Polish Church Picture
    3. The Studio Picture
    4. The Stairway Picture
  8. Video General
    1. Video Features
    2. Audio
    3. Video File Format And Compression
  9. 4k Video
    1. 4k Video Frame Rate
    2. 4k Video Internal Recording
    3. 4k Video Autofocus Performance
    4. 4k Video Quality
    5. 4k Video Rolling Shutter Effect
  10. Full HD Video
    1. FHD Video Frame Rate
    2. FHD Video Internal Recording
    3. FHD Video Autofocus Performance
    4. FHD Video Quality
    5. FHD Video Rolling Shutter Effect
  11. Video Image Quality
    1. Video Dynamic Range
    2. Luminosity Patch Detection
  12. Storage And Connectivity
    1. Storage
    2. Inputs / Outputs
  13. Comments

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV vs Sony α7 III

Side-by-Side Comparison

Products

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Sony α7 III

Tested using Methodology v0.12.1

Updated Jan 10, 2025 02:28 PM

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Amazon.com

Tested using Methodology v0.13

Updated Feb 24, 2025 06:15 PM

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Amazon.com
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Picture
Sony α7 III Picture
  1. Recommended in 1 article:
  2. Canon

Variants

  • EOS 5D Mark IV (Black (Body Only))
  • EOS 5D Mark IV (Black W/ 24-105mm Lens)
  • a7 III (Black (Body Only))
  • a7 III (Black W/ 28-70mm Lens)

Our Verdict

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

Sony α7 III

The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and the Sony α7 III are different camera types. The Canon is a DSLR, so while it's built like a tank and has a longer battery life, it also lags behind the Sony in areas like autofocus, burst speed, and video. The Sony is also significantly more portable.

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Notice: Two or more of the products selected have been tested with different test methodologies, so some of the results below aren't directly comparable. Learn how our test benches and scoring system work, and read more about the latest changes to our cameras test methodology.

Main Differences for

Threshold 

0.10

Travel Photography 

7.0
7.8

Portability 
 

2.0
4.1

Battery 
 

7.4
9.4

Ergonomics & Comfort 
 

7.5
8.5

Full Comparison

Design

Portability 
 

2.0
4.1

Portability Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Portability Picture
Sony α7 III Portability Picture

Height 
 

4.7" (11.9 cm)
3.8" (9.6 cm)

Width 
 

6.0" (15.3 cm)
5.4" (13.8 cm)

Depth 
 

3.4" (8.6 cm)
3.1" (7.9 cm)

Volume 
 

95.6 in³ (1,566.0 cm³)
63.9 in³ (1,046.6 cm³)

Weight 
 

1.98 lbs (0.90 kg)
1.43 lbs (0.65 kg)

Show text

Build Quality 
 

7.5
8.0

Build Quality Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Build Quality Picture
Sony α7 III Build Quality Picture

Show text

Body  

Body Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Body Picture
Sony α7 III Body Picture

Body Type 
 

DSLR
SLR-Style

Water Resistance 
 

Weather-Sealed
No

Mirrorless 
 

No
Yes

Rugged 
 

No
No

Hot Shoe 
 

Yes
Yes

Customizable Button 
 

Yes
Yes

Command Dial 
 

2
3

Tripod Mount 
 

Yes
Yes

Lens Mount 
 

EF Mount
E-Mount

Built-In Flash 
 

No
No

Fastest Shutter Speed 
 

1/8,000 s
1/8,000 s

In The Box  

In The Box Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV In The Box Picture
Sony α7 III In The Box Picture

Show text

Ergonomics & Comfort 
 

7.5
8.5

Hand Grip Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Hand Grip Picture
Sony α7 III Hand Grip Picture

Hand Grip: Small Hand 
 

No
Yes

Hand Grip: Medium Hand 
 

Yes
Yes

Hand Grip: Large Hand 
 

Yes
Yes

Hand Grip: Extra-Large Hand 
 

Yes
No

Show text

Viewfinder 
 

EVF Menu Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV EVF Menu Picture
Sony α7 III EVF Menu Picture

Viewfinder Type 
 

Optical
Electronic

Advertised Coverage 
 

100%
100%

Advertised Resolution 
 

N/A
2.36 million dots

Advertised Magnification 
 

0.71
0.78

Show text

Screen 
 

4.9
6.7

Screen Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Screen Picture
Sony α7 III Screen Picture

Screen Articulation Type 
 

No Articulation (Fixed Screen)
Tilting

Screen Max Brightness 
 

700 cd/m²
665 cd/m²

Advertised Resolution 
 

1.62 million dots
0.92 million dots

Size 
 

3.1" (8.0 cm)
3.0" (7.5 cm)

Touchscreen 
 

Yes
Limited

Show text

Menu System 
 

9.0
6.5

Screen Menu Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Screen Menu Picture
Sony α7 III Screen Menu Picture

Guide Mode 
 

Yes
Yes

App Name 
 

Canon Camera Connect
Imaging Edge Mobile

Show text

Built-In Lens 
 

0.0
0.0

Aperture Vs Focal Length  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Aperture Vs Focal Length
Sony α7 III Aperture Vs Focal Length

Maximum Aperture 
 

No built-in lens
No built-in lens

Max Aperture (Full-Frame Equivalent) 
 

N/A
N/A

Minimum Focal Length 
 

N/A
N/A

Maximum Focal Length 
 

N/A
N/A

Max Focal Length (Full-Frame Equivalent) 
 

N/A
N/A

Optical Image Stabilization 
 

No
No

Light Falloff Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Light Falloff Picture
Sony α7 III Light Falloff Picture

Luminance 
 

N/A
N/A

Light Falloff 
 

N/A
N/A

Sensor 
 

Sensor Type 
 

CMOS
BSI CMOS

Advertised Effective Pixels 
 

30.4 MP
24.2 MP

Processor 
 

Digic 6+
BIONZ X

Sensor Size 
 

Full Frame
Full Frame

Extended ISO Minimum 
 

50
50

Native ISO Minimum (Base ISO) 
 

100
100

Native ISO Maximum 
 

32,000
51,200

Tested Firmware 
 

Ver. 1.3.3
Version 3.10

Show text

Battery 
 

7.4
9.4

Battery Type 
 

Canon LP-E6N
Sony NP-FZ100

USB Charging 
 

No
Yes

Power Delivery While Recording 
 

No
Yes

Advertised Battery Life In Photo 
 

900 photos
610 photos

Tested Battery Life In Video 
 

101 min
137 min

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Photo General

Photo Shooting Speed 
 

6.4
7.3

Low Speed Continuous 
 

4 fps
4 fps

High Speed Continuous 
 

8 fps
10 fps

Silent Shooting Continuous 
 

4 fps
9 fps

Raw Buffer Size 
 

26 Photos
40 Photos

JPEG Buffer Size 
 

10,000 Photos
164 Photos

Buffer Empty Time 
 

7 s
10 s

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Photo AF-C Tracking 
 

4.7
6.8

Autofocus Tracking Shots  

tracking-run-01-01
Run 01
AF-C Tracking 01
tracking-run-01-01
Run 01
AF-C Tracking 01

Perfect Focus Hit Rate 
 

34%
50%

Usable Focus Hit Rate 
 

49%
85%

Show text

Photo AF-C Center Point 
 

9.7
10

Autofocus Center Point Shots  

center-point-run-01-01
Run 01
AF-C Center Point 01
center-point-run-01-01
Run 01
AF-C Center Point 01

Perfect Focus Hit Rate 
 

97%
100%

Usable Focus Hit Rate 
 

97%
100%

Show text

Photo Image Stabilization 
 

7.8
7.3

Stabilization Slideshow  

Minimum Shutter Speed Achieved 
 

1/13 s
1/20 s

In-Body Image Stabilization 
 

No
Yes

Show text

Photo Image Quality

Photo RAW Dynamic Range 
 

8.2
9.0

Dynamic Range Scene  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Dynamic Range Scene
Sony α7 III Dynamic Range Scene

Dynamic Range At Base ISO 
 

10.2 f-stops
11.2 f-stops

Dynamic Range At 1/500s Exposure Time 
 

9.8 f-stops
9.8 f-stops

Dynamic Range At 1/2000s Exposure Time 
 

7.5 f-stops
8.0 f-stops

Dynamic Range At 1/4000s Exposure Time 
 

7.1 f-stops
7.3 f-stops

Show text

Photo RAW Sharpness 
 

8.5
8.9

Sharpness Scene Crop  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Sharpness Scene Crop
Sony α7 III Sharpness Scene Crop

MTF Graph  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

Vertical Edge MTF50 At Base ISO 
 

2,012 LW/PH
1,993 LW/PH

Horizontal Edge MTF50 At Base ISO 
 

2,027 LW/PH
2,541 LW/PH

Show text

Photo RAW Noise 
 

7.6
7.9

Noise Scene Crop  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Noise Scene Crop
Sony α7 III Noise Scene Crop

Noise Vs Exposure Time  

See details on graph tool
See details on graph tool

SNR 18% At 1/8 Exposure Time (125 ms) 
 

33.8dB
34.5 dB

SNR 18% At 1/30 Exposure Time (33 ms) 
 

31.8 dB
32.6 dB

SNR 18% At 1/125 Exposure Time (8 ms) 
 

27.8 dB
28.7 dB

SNR 18% At 1/500 Exposure Time (2 ms) 
 

23.1dB
23.4 dB

Show text

Pictures Sample Gallery

The Skate Park Picture 
 

Sample Gallery - Skate Park   

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Sample Gallery - Skate Park
Sony α7 III Sample Gallery - Skate Park

JPEG Skate Park Picture  

RAW Skate Park Picture  

The Polish Church Picture 
 

Sample Gallery - Church  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Sample Gallery - Church
Sony α7 III Sample Gallery - Church

JPEG Polish Church Picture  

RAW Polish Church Picture  

The Studio Picture 
 

Sample Gallery - Studio  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Sample Gallery - Studio
Sony α7 III Sample Gallery - Studio

JPEG Studio Picture  

RAW Studio Picture  

The Stairway Picture 
 

Sample Gallery - Stairway  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Sample Gallery - Stairway
Sony α7 III Sample Gallery - Stairway

JPEG Stairway Picture  

RAW Stairway Picture  

Video General

Video Features  

Full HD Video 
 

Yes
Yes

4k Video 
 

Yes
Yes

6k Video 
 

No
No

Clean HDMI Output 
 

Yes
Yes

Advertised Max Chroma Sampling Over HDMI 
 

4:2:2
4:2:2

Advertised Max Bit Depth Over HDMI 
 

N/A
8 bits

Log Picture Profile 
 

No
Yes

Recording Light  
 

No
No

Show text

Audio  

Audio Test Sample 
 

Audio Recording 
 

Stereo
Stereo

Microphone Level Display 
 

No
Yes

Video File Format And Compression  

MP4 H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC 
 

Yes
No

MP4 H.265 / HEVC 
 

No
No

MOV H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC 
 

Yes
No

MOV H.265 / HEVC 
 

No
No

AVCHD H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC 
 

No
Yes

All-I Compression 
 

Yes
No
4k Video

4k Video Frame Rate 
 

5.7
7.2

240 fps In 4k 
 

No
No

120 fps In 4k 
 

No
No

60 fps In 4k 
 

No
No

30 fps In 4k 
 

Yes, with a Crop
Yes, with a Crop

24 fps In 4k 
 

Yes, with a Crop
Yes

4k Crop At Max Available fps 
 

1.64 x
1.165 x

Show text

4k Video Internal Recording 
 

8.9
7.8

Bitrate Maximum In 4k 
 

526 Mbps
100 Mbps

Bitrate Minimum In 4k 
 

511 Mbps
60 Mbps

Chroma Sampling In 4k 
 

4:2:2
4:2:0

Bit Depth In 4k 
 

8 Bit
8 Bit

Record Time Limit In 4k 
 

30 min
30 min

Overheat Recording Interruptions in 4k 
 

0
0

Show text

4k Video Autofocus Performance 
 

8.3
8.9

4k Object Tracking Video  

Object Tracking In 4k 
 

8.7
9.7

4k Face Tracking Video  

Face Tracking In 4k 
 

9.1
9.5

Face Detection In 4k 
 

Yes
Yes

Eye Detection In 4k 
 

No
No

Show text

4k Video Quality 
 

6.5
8.2

4k Sample Low Light Video  

Low Light Capability In 4k  

7.0
7.5

4k Test Scene Extract  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 4k Test Scene Extract
Sony α7 III 4k Test Scene Extract

Test Scene Extract In 4k  

6.0
8.9

Show text

4k Video Rolling Shutter Effect 
 

3.5
6.4

Rolling Shutter Video in 4k  

4k Rolling Shutter 
 

10.3°
5.7°

Show text

Full HD Video

FHD Video Frame Rate 
 

8.5
9.5

240 fps In FHD 
 

No
No

120 fps In FHD 
 

No
Yes

60 fps In FHD 
 

Yes
Yes

30 fps In FHD 
 

Yes
Yes

24 fps In FHD 
 

Yes
Yes

FHD Crop At Max Available fps 
 

1 x
1 x

FHD Video Internal Recording 
 

7.6
7.7

Bitrate Maximum In FHD 
 

60 Mbps
100 Mbps

Bitrate Minimum In FHD 
 

30 Mbps
16 Mbps

Chroma Sampling In FHD 
 

4:2:0
4:2:0

Bit Depth In FHD 
 

8 Bit
8 Bit

Record Time Limit in FHD 
 

30 min
30 min

Show text

FHD Video Autofocus Performance 
 

8.1
9.0

Object Tracking Video  

Object Tracking In FHD 
 

8.3
10

FHD Face Tracking Video  

Face Tracking In FHD 
 

9.1
9.5

Face Detection In FHD 
 

Yes
Yes

Eye Detection In FHD 
 

No
No

Show text

FHD Video Quality 
 

6.3
9.1

FHD Sample Low Light Video  

Low Light Capability In FHD  

6.5
9.0

FHD Test Scene Extract In FHD  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV FHD Test Scene Extract In FHD
Sony α7 III FHD Test Scene Extract In FHD

Test Scene Extract In FHD  

6.0
9.2

Show text

FHD Video Rolling Shutter Effect 
 

6.8
7.5

Rolling Shutter Video in FHD  

FHD Rolling Shutter 
 

4.7°
3.0°

Show text

Video Image Quality

Video Dynamic Range 
 

8.3

Video Dynamic Range Waveform  

Sony α7 III Video Dynamic Range Waveform

Video Dynamic Range Slideshow  

Strict SNR Max Dynamic Range 
 

7.04 stops

Lenient SNR Max Dynamic Range 
 

10.50 stops

Background Floor Max Dynamic Range 
 

13.92 stops

Luminosity Patch Detection 
 

7.9

Luminosity Patch Detection Chart  

Sony α7 III Luminosity Patch Detection Chart

Above Middle Gray 
 

5.17 stops

Below Middle Gray 
 

9.09 stops
Storage And Connectivity

Storage  

Card Slot Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Card Slot Picture
Sony α7 III Card Slot Picture

Card 1 Slot 
 

CF Card
SD Card UHS-II

Card 2 Slot 
 

SD Card UHS-I
SD Card UHS-I

Show text

Inputs / Outputs 
 

7.3
9.5

Input Picture  

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Input Picture
Sony α7 III Input Picture

USB 
 

Micro-B USB 3.0
USB-C

HDMI 
 

Mini (Type C)
Micro (Type D)

Headphones 
 

Yes
Yes

Microphone 
 

Stereo
Stereo

Wi-Fi 
 

Yes
Yes

Bluetooth 
 

No
Yes

Show text

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

Sony α7 III

Comments

  1. Comparison

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV vs Sony α7 III: Main Discussion

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