You guys wanted more tightly matched tests
on the topic of the Sony a7 III versus the Nikon Z6?
Well, today you're going to get them.
Let's get Undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What is happening, everybody?
I'm Gerald Undone, and today is going to be
my final video in the Nikon Z6 trilogy,
and it's gonna be a rather simple one.
We're going to be testing two things:
autofocus and image quality. And these tests
are gonna be done in photo modes as well,
so won't be restricted to just video shooters.
In my previous video, my summary was basically that
the Nikon Z6 was great and extremely close to the Sony,
but that I preferred the Sony just a little bit more.
I also mentioned that I preferred it a little bit more
for photography, and a few of you Nikon shooters
seemed to be a bit bothered by that.
So, today I'm gonna hopefully show you why I prefer
the Sony for photography by demonstrating
two factors that are important to me
when it comes to choosing cameras,
which are continuous autofocus speed and reliability,
and overall image sharpness. What's important
to remember here, though, is that these are the factors
that are important to me and why I favour the Sony,
but for you, the factors might be different.
There were comments in the previous video, though,
that I think did well to hit on some other factors that might
make a person favour the Nikon, so in the interest of fairness,
I'm gonna read some of those to you now.
DIY-HACKS said that they appreciate
the improved EVF and LCD on the Nikon,
and the better touch functionality,
and those are good points.
The EVF and LCD are both noticeably better
on the Nikon, and I think
the touch functionality is quite good as well.
DjCj-Video echoed the same sentiments
about the EVF and LCD, but they also preferred
the larger buttons on the Nikon,
and the superior weather sealing.
Again, both good points. I think ergonomics is gonna play
a big factor here since the hardware is so close.
Essentially, choose whichever camera
you enjoy shooting with more,
because that will always make it a better purchase.
And the last point I want to mention here
that quite a few of you hit on was lens pricing.
Now, it's definitely true that Sony lenses
cost more in the long run than Nikon ones,
so that's definitely something you should factor in
when you're doing your overall value equation.
Today, however, we're not gonna be using Sony lenses.
We're gonna be using Sigma Art lenses
because it was the only way that
I could get the same lens on the Sony and the Nikon.
For the Nikon, I've also got the new 35mm f/1.8 S,
which we'll use to cross-reference
to try and eliminate any concerns
that might be raised by the FTZ adapter when using the Sigma
to say, "Is it caused because the adapter,
or does the same thing happen on the Nikon native lens?"
So, we're gonna be using that one as well.
But as someone who's used Sigma Art lenses extensively,
both natively and adapted,
I believe that the lens is performing normally
on the Nikon through the FTZ adapter,
so that would suggest that
the adapter is doing a pretty good job.
I also want to thank Camera Canada
for supplying me with these lenses and adapters
on such short notice so that I could make this follow-up.
As I've mentioned before, Camera Canada is definitely
my favourite place to shop for all things Sony or Nikon.
If you're interested in any of the gear that
we talk about in this video, make sure
you check out their links in the description below.
Alright, so here's what we're gonna do:
I'm gonna put both cameras in AF-S mode,
and I'm gonna use the Sigma 35mm Art on both
with the same aperture, and basically I'm just gonna
use a small focus area located somewhere near the centre,
and I'm just gonna hold the AF-ON button
until it turns green, moving back and forth
between two targets about ten times.
Then we're gonna do the same thing with AF-C,
and then the same thing with video.
And at the end of the focus tests,
I'm gonna attempt to take the exact same photo
with all three lenses and compare sharpness.
In the last video, some of you mentioned
that you thought the softness on the Nikon
when shooting the Rubik's Cube
was caused by it being out of focus.
I'm gonna use a measured distance
to make sure the cameras are at the same location,
I'm gonna obviously set all the framing elements up the same,
I'm gonna use a matte with a grid layout
so that I can keep everything in exactly the same location.
I'm obviously gonna be using the same aperture,
and I'm also gonna be using the Ninja V as a monitor
to ensure focus in multiple ways.
Whenever I do tests like this, my goal is always
to compare things as closely as reasonably possible,
but keep in mind that when you're in the field,
you likely won't have time to be this precise,
so slight variations in the testing
that may show differences in performance
is still valid data,
because those same variations are likely to occur
when you're in the field using the camera.
But anyway, let's get started with the AF-S tests.
[laid-back techno music]
So, my thoughts on the AF-S
when it comes to Nikon is that it handles it extremely well.
I can't see anybody having any issues
when it comes to speed or reliability with AF-S,
whether they're using native or non-native lenses.
The Sony, however, definitely struggled.
And this has always been an interesting thing
about the Sony, because Sony's AF-S
is definitely weaker compared to their AF-C,
and also weaker compared to other cameras' AF-S systems.
If you want to know more about why this is,
check out my video on the different autofocus systems,
but essentially it's just kind of a known thing
that you're better off leaving your Sony on AF-C
versus AF-S for most purposes.
The issue with many lenses on the Sony
is that the focus seems to step back a bit
before going forward when using AF-S,
similar to what you'd expect to see
with a contrast detection-based system.
For most native Sony lenses,
all this really means is there's just a tiny delay
before pushing forward and acquiring focus,
but this little delay seems to really trip up
the Sigma 35mm Art for some reason.
I believe that many of the negative reviews online
that complain about the autofocus on the Sigma 35
for Sony are actually just experiencing this anomaly.
My thinking is that because
the Sigma tends to move the glass so quickly,
that when it jumps back a little bit first,
it might actually reach all the way to the close focus
and then just kind of stop and give up
and not know what to do next, and so you actually
have to press the autofocus button again
in order to make it go forward,
and that's part of the reason of why the autofocus
seems slower in the video here
where I was demonstrating with the Sony
is because I actually have to double tap
the AF-ON button sometimes
in order to get the Sigma to then go ahead
with the second stage of focusing after the moving back,
because it just kind of goes back and stops.
Now, this is a definite con for Sony
that happens on many lenses,
but it is significantly worse on the Sigma 35mm,
and maybe it can be fixed in an update down the road,
but for now, the Nikon wins this round easily.
Now let's do the AF-C tests. For these ones,
I'm just gonna be holding the AF-ON button
down the entire time and switching back and forth
once it seems like it's grabbed focus.
♪
So, for AF-C, both lenses performed
quite similarly on the Nikon.
I actually have trouble telling them apart for this test,
and I would say both did really well
and are perfectly acceptable.
In fact, I'd even say that they showed great performance,
but they're still noticeably slower than the Sony,
and you'll also notice that the Sony
no longer has that stop/start problem.
So, my advice to any new shooters of the a7 III
is just to put your camera on AF-C mode and leave it there.
It'll outperform the AF-S mode by a large margin
and give you much better results.
Another thing that I prefer about the Sony
when it comes to AF-C over the Nikon
is you still get focus confirmation
with that green light.
The reticle still lights up green,
even when you're doing tracking in Continuous Mode
to let you know you're in focus.
With the Nikon, the box just stays red,
and you kind of have to trust it.
I don't really like that as much.
But I suppose it's a good thing that the Sony
has this for AF-C, because like I said,
I wouldn't typically use the AF-S mode,
and the Nikon has the green light in their AF-S mode.
Anyway, Sony wins this round. This is one of the reasons
why in the previous video I was saying I preferred this Sony
over the Nikon Z6 when it comes to photography.
I think maybe a few of you got confused thinking that
I was saying that about Nikon in general.
Nikon has some DSLRs, like the D850,
that perform incredibly well for autofocus,
but when comparing the a7 III to the Nikon Z6,
the a7 III definitely outperforms it
in autofocus continuous,
and that's an important factor for me.
Now while I had it on AF-C, I also did some continuous
burst shooting to check and see what the keeper rate
would be like to test the reliability factor
of the focusing of these cameras as well.
For the test, I would do one run pushing in
and then another one pulling out
while holding the AF-ON the entire time.
This is a rather difficult test for cameras,
because a lot of cameras struggle
when you do a rapid pull back with keeping up with the focus.
So, here are the results. First up,
we have the Nikon using the Sigma lens,
getting ever closer to the Rubik's Cube.
For scoring, if the image was usable, it gets a one,
and if it wasn't usable, it gets a zero,
but I've also allowed for a 0.5,
which would be for cases where the image was,
you know, somewhat usable or almost usable.
It did an OK job, but not perfect.
And now here's the pull-back results
for the Nikon and Sigma combo.
And now the push-in results
for the Nikon using the Nikon lens.
And then the pull back for the Nikon on Nikon.
And now let's look at the Sony.
Pushing in towards the Rubik's Cube....
And pulling back.
Here again, I would say
the two Nikon lenses performed similarly,
even though one of them is adapted,
which speaks well of the adapter.
But I will say the native Nikon lens seems to have handled
the pull back a little bit better, though.
But the clear winner here is the Sony.
It doesn't struggle for as many frames during the pull back,
and it had more total keepers than the Nikon lenses.
I actually performed this test several times.
I'm not gonna bore you with hundreds of collages,
but the Sony did consistently outperform the Nikon.
And this is another big deal for me
when it comes to photography, the reliability factor.
And if you pair the Sony with some of
their more impressive autofocus lenses,
like the 400mm f/2.8 or the 24mm G Master,
you will be amazed at the keeper rate.
I still have yet to miss a shot with either of those lenses.
It is shockingly good.
And now finally, we have the video autofocusing tests.
♪
Something interesting about the Nikon
in the video autofocusing test is that the Nikon lens
and the Sigma lens focus differently.
The Sigma goes for instant focus,
regardless of the speed setting in the menu.
It doesn't matter whether you set it to -5 or +5
for the speed setting, the Sigma just automatically
jumps to focus, regardless of where you set it.
The Nikon 35mm lens, however, is sensitive
to the speed setting in the menu,
but no matter how fast you set it,
it's never as fast as the Sigma lens.
I would suggest that the Nikon lens might be better for video
If you want to get smoother pulls,
but the Sigma lens is definitely faster
if you're looking to acquire focus instantly.
Now, the two Sigma lenses perform similarly
in this regard, whether on the Sony or the Nikon,
in the sense that they just seem to jump to focus.
But as I pointed out in the previous video,
the Nikon does seem to transition
much more seamlessly, and now I know
that that's caused by the camera and not the lens,
because now I'm using the same lens on both cameras.
I can see distinct jumps in focus
when using the Sigma on the Sony,
but not so much on the Nikon. Now there are lenses
that handle this better for the Sony,
but the whole point of this was to compare apples to apples.
Even though the Sony is more responsive
than the Nikon, the Nikon transitions smoother,
and that's a nice feature to have for video.
The Sigma 35 for Nikon, though, was the noisiest
of the bunch, and probably too noisy
for video if you plan to use the built-in mic.
[soft electronic stuttering and whirring]
The Sigma on the Sony was actually
the quietest of the three,
and when it comes to the native Nikon 35mm,
the only drawback I can really see to that lens
when compared to the Sigma Art Lens for video
is the fact that the Art Lens
has a mechanical focusing ring
where you're gonna have to use the electronic focus
by wire system for the native Nikon lens,
and that's going to be terrible for manual focusing.
Also, another thing that I don't really like
about the Nikon for video focusing,
which speaks to the touch control comment from earlier,
is that when you tap on the screen to change
the focus point on the Nikon,
it doesn't initiate a smooth focus pull,
it just jumps to it,
almost as if you had moved the focus point
and then pressed the AF-ON button.
And that may be OK for photography,
but it's not great for video.
And the focus positioning also seems to be
a lot more restrictive on the Nikon. I feel like I can't
quite get the focus point exactly where I want it,
whether I use the joystick or the touchscreen.
Now, on the Sony, I have the same problem with the joystick,
but with the touchscreen, I feel like I have a lot more
flexibility in positioning it wherever I want.
So, I feel like, with the Nikon, it's like I only have,
like, 50 or 60 positions, and I find that kind of limiting.
So, although I like the screen better on the Nikon,
I actually like the functionality of the screen
on the Sony a bit better when it comes to touch focusing.
So, it's hard to declare a winner for this round
because both have pros and cons.
I would say when it comes to smoothness
and potentially the pleasing look of video,
I'd probably give it to the Nikon,
but when it comes to the functionality,
I would probably give it to the Sony.
Finally, here's the same photo taken on all three lenses
with the same exact settings and conditions.
Something I noticed right away about the Nikon 35mm,
which is in the centre of the three images,
is that it's actually wider than the two Sigma Art Lenses.
This makes me feel that this lens isn't actually
a 35mm lens, but is a little bit closer to 30mm.
You actually get similar distortion to what
you'd expect to see on a wider lens as well.
I personally don't really like that as much,
because I like the look of the 35mm.
So, in this case I would say I prefer adapting the 35
than using the native 35,
but that, again, is completely subjective.
If you prefer a lens a little bit wider,
you might actually prefer the native Nikon in this case.
You can see that the two Nikon images look very similar,
with the native Nikon lens maybe being a tad brighter.
All these images were shot at f/2
and used the camera's standard coloration.
One of the things that some of the comments
on the previous video also reflected is that the Nikon
had better "colour science" than the Sony.
And if you know anything about
my previous video on colour science,
you know that that expression means absolutely nothing to me,
and it shouldn't really mean anything to you either.
It's a completely subjective analysis,
and what it actually comes down to is
which camera you like the look of better.
I'm not going to spend time reviewing that in this video
because I find it frivolous to review colour science.
But if that's your reason for choosing one camera
over the other, that's completely valid,
but it's not objectively
why one camera is better than the other.
Anyway, back to the image comparison.
Let's zoom into the centre of the frame
and compare the sharpness.
This is 900% scale of the centre logo,
and again, I find the two Nikon lenses to be very similar.
But in my opinion, the Sony is a tad sharper,
but it's quite minor, and I really,
really had to zoom in to even show it.
So, that's it for the tests, and I think they've shown
once again just how close these two cameras are.
I think you'll do really well with either of them.
I hope this kind of served a little bit as--
you know, a mini review of the Nikon 35mm lens,
'cause now we can see how it compares
to the Sigma Art Lens, and we can also see
how the Sigma Art Lens works with the FTZ adapter.
I hope that kind of serves as a multi-review over there.
But, question for you,
something I really want to know is,
what features are most important to you
when you look at comparing cameras,
or when you look to make a camera purchase decision?
Which factors rank on the top of your list?
Let me know in the comments below.
For me, I like the Sony better
because of its AF-C performance
and its slightly sharper image,
but I also appreciate the better battery life,
the more flexible autofocus points,
and the USB power supply.
But as I shared from the comments
on the previous video,
there's definitely reasons to prefer the Nikon as well.
Lens prices, weather sealing, the bigger body,
grip, and buttons, the improved EVF,
and smoother autofocus in certain configurations.
But ultimately, get the one
that you're gonna enjoy using the most,
because a camera in your hand is worth
a whole lot more than one on the shelf.
But that's gonna be it for me. I hope you found
this video helpful, or at least entertaining.
And if you did, make sure you leave it the old thumbs-up
and consider subscribing if you haven't already.
But if you did not find this video helpful or entertaining,
feel free to hit the dislike button twice.
Alright... I'm done.
♪