The Best Full Frame Cameras for Passionate Photographers

Photography is your passion. Maybe it’s also your profession. If that’s the case, there’s a chance you still enjoy it as a hobby and don’t need a super high-end camera to shoot the photos you want. Well, we’ve got something special for you. We went into our Reviews Index and found a bunch of great current cameras for passionate photographers. Dive in with us!

How We Chose the Best Full Frame Cameras for Passionate Photographers

Here’s some insight into how we chose the best full-frame cameras for passionate photographers

• Our Editorial Policies don’t allow us to include products we haven’t fully reviewed. Thankfully, we’ve reviewed every full-frame camera on the market. And we can say with certainty that these are the best mirrorless full frame cameras for passionate photographers. What’s more, if you’re on a budget of under $3,000 or don’t need the biggest and best features, any of these do great work.
• Passionate photographers aren’t necessarily enthusiasts. There are professional photographers who aren’t passionate about their work. And there are hobbyists that aren’t all that passionate either. But we use the term passionate photographer to speak about everyone who genuinely adores photography.
• The Sony a7 IV is one of the best full-frame cameras for passionate photographers due to a variety of reasons. It boasts a modest megapixel range while also delivering good autofocus and video performance.
• The Canon EOS R is one of the company’s first RF series cameras. For the most part, it’s the closest thing to the Canon 5D Mk IV you can get. Even though it’s an aging camera, the image quality is still wonderful. We continue to use it to this day for its size and performance with portrait subjects.
• The Leica Q2 is one of the best cameras for passionate photographers because it’s so incredibly simple. If you want to get back to basics, this is the best camera to get on the market.
• The Nikon z7 II has the highest megapixel count of all the cameras on this list. If you want pure details, this is the best full frame cameras for passionate photographers.
• The Panasonic S5 does something no other camera on this list does: Live Composite. If you’re an astrophotographer, this is the most important camera on your list.
• Please click into our reviews for more insight. Our staff shot all the product images and sample images in this roundup.

Sony a7 IV

Pros

• Face detection and tracking
• Animal face detection and tracking
• Bird face and eye detection
• Metering
• Updated OLED screen and menu
• Comfortable grip
• Suitable for a variety of applications
• Weather-sealed and sensor dust issue is improved
• Fast autofocus
• Impressive Dynamic Range
• Sharp – almost too sharp for some womens’ portraits
• In-camera skin softening to combat incredibly sharp skin pores

Cons

• High ISO performance could be better
• Color noise in out-of-focus areas at lower ISOs
• Shutter freezes and the camera becomes unresponsive at times when shooting bracketed
• High burst mode currently only works if shooting compressed RAW

Our Reviewers’ Thoughts

In our review, we said:

“The long-anticipated Sony a7 IV is finally here and aims to bridge the gap for still photographers and videographers. It’s received a bit of a facelift with a beautiful, new OLED screen and a more comfortable grip. The updated face and animal detection with tracking is impressive and fun. It now comes with in-camera skin smoothing to significantly reduce post-processing time. Plus, its price is pretty great for an all-in-one option.”

Buy Now: Amazon

Leica Q2

Pros

• Good image quality, though arguably better offerings from competitors
• Weather sealed
• Feels nice in the hands
• Beautiful
• The lens is exceptional

Cons

• This is questionable, but the Leica Q2 could have really used a joystick. Not everyone wants to manually focus the lens instead.
• High ISO output is a bit under par
• The LCD screen is pretty low resolution
• Autofocus in very low light isn’t great
• Could have used a few more function buttons

What Do We Think?

In our review, we state:

“The Leica Q2 is a pretty good camera, but I can’t recommend it for all types of professional work. In some ways, I think the lens is holding it back. Optically speaking, I think it needs an upgrade though it can deliver beautiful image quality. The near 50MP sensor is quite a lot to handle and it shows. Then there is fantastic weather sealing.“

Buy Now: Amazon

Canon EOS R

Pros

• Build quality
• Weather sealed like crazy
• Autofocus is good
• Protects the sensor when off
• Canon’s menu system is still simple
• Ergonomics feel nice
• With a lightweight lens, it feels just as nice as a Sony camera
• These are some of Canon’s best RAW files in years
• Good battery life
• Fast Wifi transfers, though not as simple as Sony’s

Cons

• Needs Dual SD cards
• Needs a joystick
• The magic touch bar is odd and could use refinement
• Optimizing the way the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed dials work, such as the automatic remetering for ISO, not cool
• Canon needs to improve or change their face and eye detection
• Bigger than Sony, but the L lenses are about on par with their G Master glass

Our Reviewers’ Thoughts

In our review, we said:

“In most situations the Canon EOS R is fast and accurate. In fact, in my entire time using the camera, it probably only missed focus a few times in low lit situations where I was using face detection and one time when I was using the wide horizontal autofocus area trying to track a moving dancer at f1.2 or stopped down a bit. But even so, that’s difficult to do. However, I have to admit that the Canon EOS R was still able to deliver enough usable images in every situation.”

Buy Now: Amazon

Nikon z7 II

Pros

• A much-improved autofocus system
• Durable magnesium alloy build with weather-sealing
• Image quality is great, especially with native Z lenses
• In-body image stabilization
• Dual card slots with XQD/CF Express and SD

Cons

• While improved, the autofocus isn’t as good as Canon’s R series
• Eyepiece rubber sometimes blocks the eye sensor
• Viewfinder blacks out

Our Reviewers’ Thoughts

In our review, we said:

“The Z7 II has colors similar to those from my D850. With the right lens, the colors are vibrant and punchy without being overbearing. But, occasionally, colors skew a little green, particularly skin tones. Through firmware version 1.30, Nikon has added a Portrait Impression Balance function. This allows you to adjust the brightness as well as the green/magenta hues of skin tones in JPEG images. You can save three different settings this way. I prefer the images adjusted slightly towards the magenta, but it took some trial and error to find a setting I liked. It’s not self-explanatory. I think the photographers who are going to look at the chart and know how to use it are the ones shooting in RAW anyway. Unfortunately, it’s a non-feature for RAW photographers. But, it does offer some of the color adjustments that I would apply to RAW portraits to JPEGs in-camera.”

Buy Now: Amazon

Panasonic S5

Pros

• Nice feeling
• Dual card slots
• Image stabilization is solid
• Feels great in the hand
• Beautiful JPEGs
• High ISO output is solid
• Panasonic’s full-frame colors continue to put me in awe.
• Live composite is SO FUN!
• Panasonic’s menus continue to be some of the best.
• I ADORE the shutter sound.
• Probably the fastest autofocus camera I’ve seen from Panasonic in the full-frame range
• L Monochrome D continues to be one of the most beautiful and wonderful features of Panasonic cameras.
• These RAW files are great

Cons

• Much improved autofocus, but face detection could be better. As of November 2020, it’s really improved with firmware 2.0.
• Multiple exposure mode and how it’s used is a mess. It needs more versatility.
• Battery life is much improved
• Focus peaking requires a lot of improvement before it’s perfect

Our Reviewer’s Thoughts

In our review, we state:

“And the only systems that can do it very well are Canon and Sony. Panasonic’s integration of the focusing types is far superior to both Sony and Canon. Sony has it worse where you need to dig through the menu to switch from one to another. Canon has a specific mode for face detection. So too does Panasonic, but at least now you’re more versatile. I thoroughly enjoyed this.”

Buy Now: Amazon

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