Making the jump to FF mirrorless: Nikon, Sony, Canon?

Hello all and thanks in advance your thoughts and input.  It's been years since I seriously considered new camera equipment. The advancements in the FF mirrorless realm are amazing and daunting. Currently  I have an old D700 and some third part glass that rarely get used, which seldom gets used. The last several years I've been using a Fuji X10 for travel and casual shooting. I'v loved the weight savings of mirrorless, and am looking at the various offerings.

I'm basically at point where I can start from scratch with regard to a FF system investment.  Having said that, I'm curious as what your thought are on the pros/cons of the Canon, Nikon, and Sony systems if you were just getting "started".  My main use is travel (landscape, interior architecture, casual shooting, some wildlife, and will be doing some sailboat race shooting at our local club.

Cheers and thanks again for sharing your thoughts,

RB

I only have experience with the Nikon side of mirrorless. I had a Z7II, but sold it before it was even a year old. It just can't shoot motorsports very well. I moved on to the Z9, it is fantastic. But if your looking for weight savings the Z9 is not it. It is big and heavy, but this is what I like. I really dislike tiny camera bodies.

I got my first mirrorless camera last year--a Nikon Z9. It is set up (somewhat) like your D700 which I owned and used at one time. Its size and weight do not bother me as my DSLRs all had battery grips attached.

The improved dynamic range in the sensor is a major improvement. And this applies to all brands, not jut Nikon, based on comments from from my Canon and Sony mirrorless shooter friends. Subject detection is nice too if you have a specific need for it. If you shoot a lot of Action, make sure the camera you buy will satisfy your needs. Based on your normal shoots, this may ot be a priority.

Regarding lenses, I bought two Z mount lenses, the 24-120 f4 S and the 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 I use many of my Nikon F mount lenses on my Z9, especially my Nikon 105mm f2.8 macro and my Nikon 200mm f4 macro lens and my Nikon 500mm f5.6 pf lens.

Go on line and look at videos that describe the camera and lenses. I recommend videos by Steve Perry at Backcountry. He shoots with both Nikon and Sony and takes mostly nature and wildlife images.

Ckeck out the websites by Thom Hogan: Sansmirror and zsystemuser

rabmen wrote: Hello all and thanks in advance your thoughts and input.  It's been years since I seriously considered new camera equipment. The advancements in the FF mirrorless realm are amazing and daunting. Currently  I have an old D700 and some third part glass that rarely get used, which seldom gets used. The last several years I've been using a Fuji X10 for travel and casual shooting. I'v loved the weight savings of mirrorless, and am looking at the various offerings.

I'm basically at point where I can start from scratch with regard to a FF system investment.  Having said that, I'm curious as what your thought are on the pros/cons of the Canon, Nikon, and Sony systems if you were just getting "started".  My main use is travel (landscape, interior architecture, casual shooting, some wildlife, and will be doing some sailboat race shooting at our local club.

Cheers and thanks again for sharing your thoughts,

RB

  Is there a reason you want to switch to FF?  Is there a time when you need to have the gear by (Nikon will be announcing a new camera, possibly in a month)?  Maybe there is a photography club you can join and try out some cameras/lenses that others have?  Or a good camera store near you that will let you hold different gear and take some shots in the store?  Your uses are so varied that it is hard to see how one system would necessarily be better than another, at this point all 3 (plus Fuji) would be a big improvement over a D700.

Rabmen, I get the opportunity to see the different camera systems. My 2 cents based on what I think you said that you want to do. My first choice would be Canon R7 with the 100-500 lens. That would give you a range of 160-800 with one lens. Get a wide-angle lens and you're probably covered. My second choice would be an Olympus OM1. Two lenses--40-150 mm and the 300mm with a 1.4 tc and your covered from 80 mm to 840mm. The Canon would probably have better ISO capabilities. Both are light and very easy to carry around. Used correctly, both have excellent image quality. Although an outstanding camera, I would not suggest the Z9 because it is big and heavy. It would be nice if you could get a chance to use the different systems that you're interested in.

rabmen wrote: [snip]
I'm basically at point where I can start from scratch with regard to a FF system investment.  Having said that, I'm curious as what your thought are on the pros/cons of the Canon, Nikon, and Sony systems if you were just getting "started".  My main use is travel (landscape, interior architecture, casual shooting, some wildlife, and will be doing some sailboat race shooting at our local club.

If I were just getting started, I would look at how I use and view my photos and decide from there. If you're just for online viewing, for example, not printing big. full-frame is not necessary. It's just get you a bulky, likely heavier system that don't make your photos look much if any different to anyone.

If shooting bird in flight is not something you do a lot, just pick any full-frame you like from the three systems you mentioned. If you shoot bird-in-flight a lot, pick the one with the best AF. All Nikon, Sony and Cannon are good so I think if you have to pick one, you should consider their reliability, prices and may be resale values instead of based on what types of photos you take because they can do them all and well.

They of course you have to ask yourself if you really want to carry a heavy Z9 traveling and walking around.

Hopefully folks who have switched systems - yes they exist - would chime in.

I have tried Sony a6600, a7III, a7RIII a7RIV, a9, a9II and lenses as 100-400 +1.4 x TC and 200-600. I sold them all kept the last one Sony a7RIV and no lens. I have a Nikon 500 f 5.6 PF ED lens and will try to use it on the Sony camera with a Monster adapter.
My main equipment currently is Canon R5 and Canon R7 and the lens is Canon 100-500. I liked the Sony system but I like the Canon
much better. Focusing of the R7 and R5 are superior to any of the Sony cameras I had and listed above. I have no mirrorless experience with Nikon but I love some of their lenses I have, especially the 500 f 5.6 PF lens.

Having used both, the autofocus on Sony A7R V is vastly superior to A7R IV. I enjoy FF's ability to allow deep crops into very high res shots. I love both of the Sony tele lenses mentioned above.

Especially for fast action (e.g. wildlife), composing is often performed after the fact, and catching a wider view is excellent. I am just not fast enough to compose in camera.

My main resentment towards Sony was the service in Canada. I had a minor repair done on my first 200-600 lens and it took them three month. When I got my lens back I had to deburr at one of the screw holes of the flange to make it work. They don't even have an independent Sony service in Canada. In USA it is probably much better. I'm a CPS member so having Canon equipment has an advantage when it comes to service.

I was a long time DSLR user and rarely upgrade cameras. Kept the Canon 40D for 8 years and kept the 7D MK2 for 8 years. Finally upgraded to Canon mirrorless a month ago. Canon R6 MK2. For a few reasons. It is much lighter, the eye-tracking and a pleasant surprise is the viewfinder or EVF is so much brighter so it is easy to see and track my subject.

One thing about going from DSLR to Canon mirrorless, there are so many more settings compared to DSLR. So, there is a steeper learning curve initially. One negative is I'm trying to figure out how to lessen the EVF blackouts and it isn't as smooth for moving subjects while taking photos. The learning curve thing.

Eventually I see myself selling off my EF lenses and buying RF lenses. They are just so much lighter. As I get older, I want to go lighter and lighter. I enjoy walking, hiking and exploring and heavy gear bogs me down. So, mirrorless fits in well.

I've used most of the high-end sony bodies, including the A9 and A1. I had a change in my work life, so I simplified my camera system down to just Nikon gear. I use the Z9 with the 500PF and 800. The Z9 is on par, as near as I can tell, with the Sony bodies I've used. However, it is big and heavy in comparison to Sony's. I wouldn't even consider any other Nikon body, though, the other bodies are sub-optimal in terms of AF, in my opinion, and not worth considering, but that's from a predominantly bird shooter. I do like the ergonomics of Nikon bodies more than Sony, but it's not a deal breaker.

I use to be an avid kayaker even kayak instructor at the time. By happenstance I had sold all my boats. They were old and I knew I needed to upgrade, but I didn't expect to all of a sudden be without anything to paddle. Lucky we had a good shop that basically rented any kayak a person could want.  This is not hyperbole I spent an entire season renting a different kayak each time we went out (every weekend plus days in the middle) As an instructor they did cut me a break occasionally.  

Kayaks are like cameras they are all great but some just feel better in your hands and some work better at what you do.  With Lensrental and other very easy to use online rental sites I would highly recommend just renting one model turn it back in, rent another and another until "You" know what camera/system works best for you. Because honestly they are all great systems

archfotos wrote: I use to be an avid kayaker even kayak instructor at the time. By happenstance I had sold all my boats. They were old and I knew I needed to upgrade, but I didn't expect to all of a sudden be without anything to paddle. Lucky we had a good shop that basically rented any kayak a person could want.  This is not hyperbole I spent an entire season renting a different kayak each time we went out (every weekend plus days in the middle) As an instructor they did cut me a break occasionally.  

Kayaks are like cameras they are all great but some just feel better in your hands and some work better at what you do.  With Lensrental and other very easy to use online rental sites I would highly recommend just renting one model turn it back in, rent another and another until "You" know what camera/system works best for you. Because honestly they are all great systems

This is excellent advise.  Yes, it takes time and costs a bit more BUT when you do buy a system you know it's the right one YOU. 

There are a lot of factors to consider including ergonomics for you, lens selection for what you like to shoot, service availability in the country you live in, and more.  The Sony system has been around the longest and it has an open mount specification so there are vastly more native mount lens choices available from many lens manufacturers than the other two.  There is some third party support for Nikon and they even sell rebadged Tamron lenses as Nikon lenses although not the latest generation of some of those lenses.  Canon has a completely closed mount so there is little to no third party support.  Ergonomics is something you would need to test out - the rental option is a good one for that.  Features are fairly similar across the different manufacturers at a given price point but there are some differences that might matter.  For example, as a landscape or macro photographer, automatic focus bracketing so that you can create a focus stack might be important to you.  Some cameras have it some don't from all of the manufacturers and it may not be there for one or the other at a specific price point - this will require some research on you part - that's just an example.  Figure out what is important to you and what your price point is and then select the system that best meets your needs.

A huge thanks to everyone for your insights and thoughts.  
The rental route makes a lot of sense and is something I had 
initially overlooked.  

archfotos wrote: I use to be an avid kayaker even kayak instructor at the time. By happenstance I had sold all my boats. They were old and I knew I needed to upgrade, but I didn't expect to all of a sudden be without anything to paddle. Lucky we had a good shop that basically rented any kayak a person could want.  This is not hyperbole I spent an entire season renting a different kayak each time we went out (every weekend plus days in the middle) As an instructor they did cut me a break occasionally.  

Kayaks are like cameras they are all great but some just feel better in your hands and some work better at what you do.  With Lensrental and other very easy to use online rental sites I would highly recommend just renting one model turn it back in, rent another and another until "You" know what camera/system works best for you. Because honestly they are all great systems

I don't know about USA but here in Canada renting is very expensive. Only one rental place in Ontario, located in Toronto/Mississauga.
Renting a Sony a7R V for one day cost $270 CAN +1.13% tax per day. In my opinion you cannot find out virtually anything about a camera in one day. 
If you have to go through several cameras the cost piles up and if you don't live close to Toronto, shipping back and forth adds to the cost.
I rented a lens ones for three days and it was not enough to make a decision about buying it or not. I would rather ask people whom I trust about their opinion regarding a camera or a whole system.