Upgrading from a 70D - A7III or A7IV?

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gatecrasher3

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I'm considering upgrading from my 70D that I have owned and been happy with for the best part of 10 years. It seems that Sony are the go to mirrorless cameras to have and as such I've been looking at what they have to offer.

I'm very much a hobbiest and mainly use my camera for family shots but also have a passion for motorsport where I do my best to come away with some keepers of trackside panning shots with the 70-200 F4. I did briefly use an A6400 a few years ago and loved the features such as the eye AF.

From my research so far it seems that the A7IV offers a significant improvement in AF over the A7III, however the cost difference between the two is significant enough for me to wonder whether the money is best kept in my pocket.

Basically, is the A7III going to be a significant upgrade over the 70D, I'm assuming so and would I be missing out by not stretching to the A7IV? In either scenario I would be looking to pair a Sony with the 24-105 F4 and if possible use an adapter to use the Canon 70-200 in the short term before upgrading to a Sony compatible lens.

Any insights, thoughts or advise would be very much appreciated.
 
I would get a used A7R 3 myself, I used to have one and the sensor was amazing. It gave you so much freedom to crop, especially with birds and wildlife where you never ever seem to have enough reach.

But I found the Sony bodies and lenses very Chinesey if that is a word, maybe something to do with being made in China lol.
 
I wouldn't consider just Sony, although they do have their fans and are very capable cameras.

Canon M, even though M is dead, the cameras can be a steal used and are still very capable. Your current Canon glass would adapt seamlessly on the Ms with the Canon EF-M adapter. The Ms are older tech now though, so bear that in mind and might not be a huge upgrade on your 70D.

That said about the M system, this day and age, the Canon R system is taking over for Canon and with the right Canon EF-R adapter will also make good use of your EF glass . I have an R7, use adapted Canon (and a Sigma) EF glass on it and the AF is mindboggling. The R7 isn't perfect, especially with rolling shutter on the electronic shutter but for the money, it's a lot of camera.

If I were going anything other than Canon, it would be Fuji. Any of the major brands though have very capable mirrorless cameras and are worth considering.

I'm not fully up to speed on Sony cameras although they do have an excellent reputation, I'd just be looking at other brands too, especially if I already had nice glass. Using 3rd party adapters to adapt different branded bodies to different branded glass will come with a caveat of some kind, IME, although it is still workable.
 
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Dale. said:
That said about the M system, this day and age, the Canon R system is taking over for Canon and with the right Canon EF-R adapter will also make good use of your EF glass . I have an R7, use adapted Canon (and a Sigma) EF glass on it and the AF is mindboggling. The R7 isn't perfect, especially with rolling shutter on the electronic shutter but for the money, it's a lot of camera.
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That's a fair point in respect of checking out Canons offerings, I seem to have got caught up on Sony so haven't really explored other brands but being able to use my current lens would be a huge plus.

fujilover said:
I would get a used A7R 3 myself, I used to have one and the sensor was amazing. It gave you so much freedom to crop, especially with birds and wildlife where you never ever seem to have enough reach.

But I found the Sony bodies and lenses very Chinesey if that is a word, maybe something to do with being made in China lol.
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Would you say that the A7R 3 is a better bet from a value for money perspective or simply the sensor being the standout over the A7III and A7IV?
 
gatecrasher3 said:
That's a fair point in respect of checking out Canons offerings, I seem to have got caught up on Sony so haven't really explored other brands but being able to use my current lens would be a huge plus.


Would you say that the A7R 3 is a better bet from a value for money perspective or simply the sensor being the standout over the A7III and A7IV?
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Mainly the sensor, the A74 is still expensive i feel although im sure it is very good.
 
Why just consider Sony? I switched from a Canon 80D to a Fujifilm X-T4 last year and it was a massive step up. I did look at Sony but they just felt extremely cold and clinical. Getting into the Fuji system has reinvigorated my love of photography.
 
I switched from a Canon 6D to a Sony A7 III in 2019.
It’s a much better camera - AF actually works !
 
gatecrasher3 said:
I'm considering upgrading from my 70D that I have owned and been happy with for the best part of 10 years. It seems that Sony are the go to mirrorless cameras to have and as such I've been looking at what they have to offer.

I'm very much a hobbiest and mainly use my camera for family shots but also have a passion for motorsport where I do my best to come away with some keepers of trackside panning shots with the 70-200 F4. I did briefly use an A6400 a few years ago and loved the features such as the eye AF.

From my research so far it seems that the A7IV offers a significant improvement in AF over the A7III, however the cost difference between the two is significant enough for me to wonder whether the money is best kept in my pocket.

Basically, is the A7III going to be a significant upgrade over the 70D, I'm assuming so and would I be missing out by not stretching to the A7IV? In either scenario I would be looking to pair a Sony with the 24-105 F4 and if possible use an adapter to use the Canon 70-200 in the short term before upgrading to a Sony compatible lens.

Any insights, thoughts or advise would be very much appreciated.
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Sounds like an A9 might suit your needs better. Has better a.f reliability than either the A7III or A7IV and can be picked up at bargain prices now used, because most people mainly used the electronic shutter on the A9 used example usually have very low shutter counts as well.
 
Very grateful for the replies on here so far, it's nice to get some different points of view. Definitly throwing up some options that I hadn't considered.
 
I own an A9 and an a7iii

The A9 is worlds apart to the a7iii when it comes to autofocus, and the blackout free viewfinder is something that now I've experienced, I couldn't live without.

For a laugh i tried my a7iii with the 200-600 mounted, that is usually exclusively on the A9.
As someone used to the A9, it wasn't a pleasant experience at all.

The a7iii for me excells at landscapes and street photography. For wildlife or sport, I'd take the A9 over it anyday.
 
I've recently switched up to an A7iv from my old A900 - and all I can say is that it's an amazing camera - but there are so many combinations of settings it will take a while to figure everything out.

If you do go down the Sony route I'd strongly recommend Gary Friedmans books - he's been using Sony cameras back from the days of Minolta, and his e-books cover all the options from the menus, what they do, and situations when you should use them, as well as his preferred settings.

https://www.friedmanarchives.com/sony-books/
 
TCR4x4 said:
I own an A9 and an a7iii

The A9 is worlds apart to the a7iii when it comes to autofocus, and the blackout free viewfinder is something that now I've experienced, I couldn't live without.

For a laugh i tried my a7iii with the 200-600 mounted, that is usually exclusively on the A9.
As someone used to the A9, it wasn't a pleasant experience at all.

The a7iii for me excells at landscapes and street photography. For wildlife or sport, I'd take the A9 over it anyday.
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Great to get a real world comparison between those two. Much appreciated.
 
Here's my thoughts, if you plan on wanting native lenses in the end then for me Sony is the better option as their mount is open up to third party manufacturers therefore there's a greater option of native lenses, many of which are considerably cheaper than main manufacturer and offering comparable performance.

I see that you're considering the A7iii, A7IV and now A9. What hasn't been mentioned before is the ergonomics, the A7IV has by far the best ergonomics of the lot as the grip is much better and it gives you more room between the grip and lens mount. It's still pretty tight at times with wider lenses, but it's better. Also, the colour science of Sony has got better with the newer bodies, so much so I now generally prefer Sony colours to Canon :runaway:

Out of the three the A9 has the best AF in terms of acquisition and tracking capability, however the A7IV has bird eye AF which the A9 doesn't. All 3 will have much better AF than the 70D and human eye AF will be great for family shots. For panning motorsports you don't particularly need a fancy af system, it's far more about technique.
 
snerkler said:
All 3 will have much better AF than the 70D and human eye AF will be great for family shots. For panning motorsports you don't particularly need a fancy af system, it's far more about technique.
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Along with the ergonomics this is the key for me, a noticeable improvement over what I currently have.
 
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I've switched from Canon R6 to Sony A7iii - this is due to not shooting weddings anymore. I can honestly say that there isn't a single thing that the sony is better at than the canon.

I would try and test the cameras in your short list - sony menus are all over the place (mobile phone layout vs photography layout) and this may or may not have a bearing on any choice.

All above is my opinion.
 
If you prefer adapting EF telephoto lenses then a canon RF body would be a better choice.
If you prefer to change over to native lenses then Sony e-mount body would be a better choice.
there is very little in terms of tracking capability to really worry about between the latest canons and Sonys. so it all just comes down to the lenses imo.

Someone mention Fuji above, the X-T5 looks very interesting. Last fuji body I used was a XT3 so I don't have much idea about how much they have improved since.
But I remember someone the older prime lenses being slow to focus which I did not like.
 
I’ve had the A7R3 and whilst being very capable, I’d go for the a74. It has the new menu system, upgraded autofocus, upgraded image processor, better video capabilities and better ergonomics. The only advantage of the A7R3 is the extra 10mp.
 
dkh said:
I've switched from Canon R6 to Sony A7iii - this is due to not shooting weddings anymore. I can honestly say that there isn't a single thing that the sony is better at than the canon.

I would try and test the cameras in your short list - sony menus are all over the place (mobile phone layout vs photography layout) and this may or may not have a bearing on any choice.

All above is my opinion.
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The menus on Sony have undergone a huge overhaul and are now much more similar to Canikon, another reason some may choose the A7IV over the A7III. I don't think I'd have swapped an R6 for an A7III though, from what I know the R6 seems like a slightly better camera.
 
snerkler said:
The menus on Sony have undergone a huge overhaul and are now much more similar to Canikon, another reason some may choose the A7IV over the A7III. I don't think I'd have swapped an R6 for an A7III though, from what I know the R6 seems like a slightly better camera.
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I'm sticking with the sony as I've said I only use it now for non-professional use and can't justify the price difference.
 
I don't know if Sony offers it, but I know Canon (and Fuji) both do free 48-hour loans of their kit, which are ideal to get a feel for it before buying.

One other thing to consider is that you are planning to switch from 1.6x crop to full frame, so your lenses will be a lot wider e.g. I found 70-200 a bit short for motorsport on a full frame body, but the 24-105 would suit it well.
 
I finally managed to get to compare the A7III and A7IV in the flesh today and based simply on ergonomics the A7IV felt like the nicer camera of the two in the hand for me. It would be fantastic if Sony offered a trial of their cameras in the same way that Canon and Fuji do but as far as I can tell they don't. Tempted to trial a Canon R7 however just to see what I think.
 
I have a73 , a74 and canon r6 ....all great cameras but the r6 is incredible and in my opinion the better camera . If your set on Sony then I personally think for the extra £ the 4 is worth it over the 3
 
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