For some photographers, it’s full-frame or nothing. And those photographers will probably never be convinced otherwise. The best non full-frame cameras are capable of doing incredible things that full frame cameras can’t though. We’d know; we’ve tested them. Dive into this list with us as we explore the best non full-frame cameras.
How We Chose the Best Non Full Frame Cameras
There are lots of great cameras on the market. So here’s how we chose the best non full frame cameras.
- All our formatted roundups include products that we’ve done full reviews of over the years. Our Editorial Policies don’t let us include products we haven’t tested. So, be assured that we’ve actually used all these non full-frame cameras over the years.
- We chose these as the best non full-frame cameras because of a bunch of features that they provide for the money.
- In the case of the Canon EOS R7, it’s one of the best non full frame cameras because of its interplay into the full-frame RF camera system and the great variety of high end lenses available for it.
- The Fujifilm XH2 and XH2s are some of the best non full frame cameras because of everything they’re capable of doing. These two made some big waves this year.
- The OM SYSTEM OM1 is one of the best non full-frame cameras because it boasts a lot of computational photography in addition to great build quality and lenses.
Canon EOS R7
PROS
- Compact
- Fantastic image quality
- Great autofocus
- Weather resistance
- Dual card slots
- Canon’s menus – deeper and pretty simple to navigate, and nowhere near the jungle Sony makes you venture into to find El Dorado
- Incredibly lightweight
- Insanely affordable
- Great high ISO output
- I like the dual back dial and joystick.
- Absolutely phenomenal autofocus when it comes to birds
- ISO 12,800 is incredibly usable.
- WITH A BIRD SHROUDED BY LEAVES, 4/19 PHOTOS WEREN’T IN FOCUS. That’s a great hit rate!
- 500mm at 1/160th still gave me usable results because the image stabilization is so good with this camera and the 100-500mm.
- Exposure preview enabled with focus tracking in low light is very accurate.
- Fastest mechanical shutter almost is like black out free viewfinder
- Canon lets you update the firmware via the app.
CONS
- IBIS doesn’t automatically detect that you’re on a tripod.
- Randomly finds an object and tries to constantly latch onto it at times
- I wish Canon offered more affordable lenses worthy of this camera.
- The ISO button is in an awkward spot.
- I had an odd issue using the Canon Control Ring Adapter and the Irix 150mm f2.8 macro lens. It wouldn’t recognize the lens’s aperture. When I tried to make a photograph, it kept the shutter open. I had to pull the battery to get it to stop.
- I wish it had a blackout-free viewfinder in mechanical shutter mode for all settings.
- Electronic shutter can really be affected by a rolling shutter issue.
- Canon Connect doesn’t let you see the star rating of images within the app.
- Exposure preview really slows down performance with scene recognition, especially in low light. Otherwise, it’s fine.
- Scene recognition isn’t as great for some wildlife in low light.
- Canon’s vehicle technology looks at the shape of a vehicle and whether or not it has wheels. Therefore it isn’t great at tracking trains.
In our review, we state:
The Canon EOS R7 is an fantastic camera. Canon took the autofocus of the EOS R3 and packed it into a camera with an APS-C sensor. This is perhaps the thing worth talking about the most as it more or less outperforms the EOS R5 and EOS R6. With that said, the EOS R3 is a fantastic companion to those cameras as well as the original EOS R. As the spiritual successor to the Canon 7D series, the EOS R7 performs very well across the board. The changes to the ergonomics will be welcoming to new customers, and possibly divisive amongst the Canon loyalists. The build quality is outstanding when paired with equally weather-resistant lenses. And the image quality is a fascinating thing to talk about. The high ISO output is exceptionally clean for a camera like this. In some cases, it even outdoes the Canon EOS R, a full-frame sensor camera.
Fujifilm XH2s
PROS
- Lovely colors
- Great image quality straight from the camera
- Fast bursts at 15 fps mechanical and 40 fps electronic, with autofocus
- Finally, Fujifilm has animal eye AF
- No blackout viewfinder
- Excellent low light autofocus
- Durable build quality
- Comfortable grip
CONS
- AF is good, but there are better sports cameras
- I miss the classic dials of the X-T series.
In our review, we state:
As a wedding photographer, I would definitely consider the X-H2s for it’s low light abilities, especially while knowing I would still be able to photograph my kids’ soccer games or my hobbyist wildlife photos with it. I would be ecstatic to add this to my kit. If sports and wildlife were my main focus, I might be more inclined to reach for the Canon EOS R7, the OM System OM-1, or the Sony a7 IV around the same price point. However, none of those alternatives have colors as lovely as the X-H2s (and I much prefer the X-H2s grip over the a7 IV).
Fujifilm XH2
PROS
- Very quiet
- Fantastic image quality
- High ISO images are fairly clean, or you can embrace the noise.
- The best color from an APSC sensor in a while
- Subject detection is great in sufficient lighting.
- Weather resistant
- Good for street photography
- Alright battery life
- Still works well with older lenses
- Cropped shooting mode in continuous drive mode is brilliant. (Let me get it right in camera and frame it perfectly there rather than fixing it later.)
- Continuous AF is great in good lighting.
- Very good at 10pm for tracking birds
CONS
- I miss the ISO dial so much.
- Desperately needs to find a way to make switching between subjects faster
- Rolling shutter in pre-shot ES
- I wish it had more customizable buttons.
- Fuji needs to update how their focusing modes work.
- Star ratings don’t transfer over to Capture one or Lightroom.
- Continuous AF isn’t so great in low lighting.
- Fuji needs to update their AF-C customization modes.
- Autofocus performance deteriorates with exposure preview on and lots of underexposure.
- High ISO editing versatility isn’t all that great, but for wildlife it really needs to be.
- Fuji currently lacks a major selection of fast telephoto lenses, and they really need them.
In our review, we state:
In the hands, it feels like a smaller version of a Fujifilm GFX camera. My personal thoughts on the retro ergonomics aside, the XH2 feels practical in many ways. However, I wish it had more customizable buttons and that certain buttons had unique textures to make them easier to find in the dark. Alternatively, if the buttons were lit up in the dark, I’d be happy. Being visually impaired can make navigating the camera difficult unless you go directly into the menu options to change things.
OM SYSTEM OM1
PROS
- This new menu system is amazing
- So much autofocus versatility with scene selection!
- So small and well built!
- A great amount of buttons, but it probably could’ve done with even more
- There’s finally an rating system that’s easy to access!
- Weather sealing is some of the best on the market.
- An incredibly lightweight camera with OM’s lenses
- When the autofocus sensitivity is increased, this camera is a beast at photographing and locking onto birds. But it’s still not on par with Sony and Canon.
- Autofocus is better for moving vehicles than flying birds simply because birds are a smaller part of the frame typically.
- Dramatically improved high ISO output
- Autofocus tracked a cat walking towards me pretty well. It works but it’s buggy at times just like Sony, Canon, and Nikon.
- The cameras computational photography capabilities are so incredibly fun.
- The cleanest high ISO print we’ve ever gotten from a Micro Four Thirds camera at ISO 6400.
- Face detection is better than Nikon, Fujifilm, and Panasonic. It’s not quite on par with Canon, Sony, and Leica.
- Low light AF sensitivity works well, but that’s because it negates the exposure preview setting after a while.
- THEY FINALLY FIXED FOCUS PEAKING ZOMGWTFBBQ!!!!
- Capture One support is absolutely incredible.
CONS
- Olympus went and made an awesome menu system but didn’t make it touch compatible.
- Separates bird and animal detection
Bird detection is very difficult to use when a teleconverter is attached.(fixed)- Animal and bird detection is a bit better than with Nikon and Panasonic, but still behind both Canon and Sony.
- No sensor protection when the camera is turned off. Come on, folks! How do you make a camera with an insane IP durability rating and not protect the sensor?
- C-AF with Tracking isn’t the best. Tracking moving birds is tough and almost impossible.
- Image stabilization at very slow shutter speeds doesn’t seem as great as previous Olympus cameras, but is still very good.
In our review, we state:
Chief among the OM System OM1’s predecessors was image stabilization too. Years ago, I handheld a photo for 15 seconds. I did that when I was younger, and these days I’ve got a few things that make holding my breath a bit more complicated. Despite this, I got a pretty good photo handheld at 13 seconds. It shows just what’s possible with the new OM System OM1.
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