Smaller, lighter, and more affordable while offering professional-level performance. Those are the hallmarks of prosumer cameras that appeal to both professionals and serious enthusiasts.
Smaller, lighter, and more affordable while offering professional-level performance. Those are the hallmarks of prosumer cameras that appeal to both professionals and serious enthusiasts.
Canon EOS M5
The Canon EOS M5 features a 24MP APS-C sized sensor and a decidedly moreSLR-like body design with a handgrip and provision for an electronic viewfinder. There’s a decent 2.36M-dot OLED option, and that’s paired with a 1.62M-dot tilting rear LCD with touch. The nice thing is that the touch capabilities of the EOS M5 aren’t limited in any way, so you can use it to navigate menus, select AF points, and pinch to zoom just like you would on your smartphone. That’s not to say that Canon has skimped on physical controls – you’ll find a full complement of dials and buttons on the tiny 115.6 x 89.2 x 60.6 mm body. So you truly do get the best of both worlds with this camera. There’s a new touch and drag function on the rear LCD screen that lets you simply run a finger across the rear LCD to reposition the AF points. This works with the viewfinder up to your eyes too, thus offering a handy option for Dual-Pixel AF also means focus is also much faster with the EOS M5 compared to previous M series cameras, though it still isn’t as fast as the EOS 80D or any of the other cameras in this shootout. This is probably because it has the least number of focus points – 49 – when every other camera in this category has at least 100. And this is where there’s caveat in terms of AF selection. Where other cameras allow you to go down to individual AF points, even the “1-point” AF option on the EOS M5 offers a rather large rectangle that can’t be resized, so it’s hard to say just how precise the focus can get. Running on Canon’s DIGIC 7 Image Processor, the EOS M5 is capable of capturing images with an ISO range of 100-25,600. It also does continuous shooting at a respectable rate of 9.0 fps, with a buffer that allows it to capture up to 26 shots (JPEG large) before slowing down.
+ Good handling. Inclusion of touch makes it very easy to go through the menus.
- Autofocus is noticeably slower than the other cameras.
Fujifilm X-T2
The X-T2 is Fujifilm’s top-of-the-line DSLRformat camera, and it’s built around the 24.3MP X-Trans III CMOS sensor with just slight changes to the overall design from the X-T1. The movie record button is gone – access to movie mode is now via the drive mode lever. In practice, this works fairly quickly, and we think it’s much better than a tiny record button. Also improved, is the rear LCD. This now incorporates an extra hidden latch that allows it to flip open as well as out. You can now tilt the screen upwards to face you when holding the camera in portrait orientation, great for low-level shots. We like that the AFjoystick from the X-Pro2 has been carried over to the X-T2. This is well placed so you can get to it even when your eye is to the viewfinder. Pressing it in also allows you to change the size of the AF group so you don’t even have to jump into any menus. Like the X-T1, continuous shooting again maxes out at 8.0 fps with the mechanical shutter, but the X-T2 now does up to 14.0 fps continuous shooting using its electronic shutter. In this mode, the buffer captures up to 42 frames in JPEG before slowing down but the slower mechanical shutter will capture up to 83 frames, almost doubling the X-T1 (or tripling the EOS M5). Of course, fast capture has to be matched with accurate focus, and in this the X-T2 excels too, thanks to wider coverage than even the X-Pro2. It features a total of 325 focus points, of which 91 are selectable. Five different presets have also been made to finetune performance based on the situation. Add to this improved video performance with the ability to capture 4K video (with Fujifilm’s film presets for better color), and the added option of a boost mode for higher performance (at the expense of battery drain), and it’s easy to see that Fujifilm has made the X-T2 into a very strong all-around performer.
+ Good handling. Excellent image performance overall.
- Battery life could be improved.
Nikon D500
The D500 gets many of the latest technologies Nikon has to offer, most notable of which would have to be the new Multi-CAM 20K AF system. This has 153 AF points; 99 of which are of the cross-type variety. These literally cover the entire frame of the D500 from left to right, leaving just a small gap above and below, so you have more flexibility over where you place your AF point. The D500 also has a large buffer of 200 shots (RAW), and 10 fps continuous shooting capabilities (with an XQD card). The ability to handle so many images continuously speaks to the improved processing capabilities of the EXPEED 5 image-processing engine, which is paired with a 20.9MP DX-format CMOS sensor. The combination of these two allows the D500 to have a native ISO range of 50-51,200, expandable to a stunning ISO 1,640,000! Touch control on the rear 3.2-inch LCD seems to be limited to the playback menu and during shooting (touch AF or touch to shoot), but you do get an AF selector joystick like what’s on the Fujifilm X-T2. However, this seems to be limited to AF point selection. The joystick doesn’t work with any of the other menus at any point, and actually seems a little too stiff comparatively, so we see many users sticking to the regular D-pad instead. For working in low light situations, the D500 also allows you to illuminate the entire row of buttons that flank the LCD panel. That’s a first for an APS-C camera by Nikon, and certainly something that can come in handy if you’re working in extreme situations. Finally, it’s worth noting that the D500 has gone with both XQD and SD as the memory card options, much like on the new D5. Battery life on the D500 is rated at a stunning 1,240 shots, but that is largely dependent on how many of its wireless functions you enable. Thus, there’s now a handy aircraft mode function so you can cut off any extraneous battery consumption.
AT A GLANCE.
Sensor APS-C CMOS
Resolution 20.9-megapixels
Dimensions 147.0 x 115.0 x 81.0 mm
Weight (body only) 760g
Price (body only) $2,999
+ Good feature set with weather sealing
- Price is high for APS-C sized sensor camera.
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II
The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II has a new 20MP Live MOS sensor that’s been developed together with a new TruePic VIII image processor, ensuring that both work seamlessly together to deliver only the highest performance. Greater processing speeds means the E-M1 Mark II is able to stay shooting for faster and longer than before. The camera is able to go for 105 frames (JPEG High) before slowing down when shooting at 60 fps (electronic shutter) and can keep shooting till your card is full at 15 fps (mechanical shutter), easily matching or beating the capabilities of professional full-frame cameras. Of course, speed is nothing without precision, and for that Olympus has implemented a Dual FAST AF. The camera will use both phase and contrast detection focus in single focus mode and switches to phase detect focus exclusively for continuous focus mode thus ensuring optimal performance. No less than 121-point all cross-type autofocus (AF) points are selectable in the frame, with the AF points laid out across the sensor in an 11x11 grid that covers up to 75% of the frame vertically and 80% of the frame horizontally. Like the EOS M5, the E-M1 Mark II has an AF Targeting Pad mode that allows you to shift AF points using a finger against the rear touch screen LCD. The E-M1 Mark II of course incorporates the latest In-body image stabilization (IS) from Olympus, allowing for up to 6.5 stops of compensation. The camera is also now capable of a native ISO range of 200-6,400, expandable down to 64 and up to 25,600, bringing it closer in line with the performance of top-end DSLRs. While the rear LCD does incorporate touch for focus and to trigger the shutter, it seems to have been disabled in the menus so you’ll have to use the four-wayD-pad. That’s not an optimal experience as the menu system is a little too extensive, with sub menus, and sub menus to the sub menus to navigate.
AT A GLANCE.
Sensor Micro Four Thirds
Resolution 20.4-megapixels
Dimensions 134.1 x 90.9 x 68.9 mm
Weight (body only) 498g
Price (body only) $2,848.
+ Impressive performance in low light for this format.
- Menus are too extensive, making them difficult to navigate
Sony a6500
Built around essentially the same body, the a6500 uses the same 24MP copperwired Bionz X sensor as the a6300 before it, but adds in-body image stabilization, touchscreen control, and a faster processor with a deeper buffer. This allows it to take better advantage of the 11fps continuous shooting rate, as you can now do up to 300 frames in JPEG or 107 frames in RAW. There’s also a new LSI chip that provides even more processing power so you can now instantly review or check focus on images while they’re still being written to the card. The autofocus system is also unchanged from the a6300, with the same spread of 425 focal plane phase-detection AF points and 169 contrast-detect AF points across the entire image area. That’s still amongst the best in its class, but what has improved is that there are now ways to select focus by touch. Sony has finally incorporated touch into the 3.0-inch tilting TFT LCD in the form of their Touch Pad function, which lets you run a finger across the LCD to shift focus points. Another key difference from the a6300 is the inclusion of in-body 5-axis image stabilization (IS). Much like what we’ve seen from Olympus, Sony’s IS system corrects shake in five axes. It’s intelligent enough to work concurrently with lenses that have their own IS systems so that they don’t interfere with each other, and Sony rates the system as being able to compensate for up to five stops of hand shake. It seems to be a little larger than the a6300 though, with an more generous handgrip. It’s about 20mm deeper than the a6300 while being the same height and width. (The a6500 measures 120.0 x66.9 x 53.3mm to the 120.0 x66.9 x 48.8 mm of the a6300). Battery life seems to have decreased too, as the camera can now only manage about 350 frames on a single charge, probably from the toll of the extra processor.
AT A GLANCE.
Sensor APS-C CMOS
Resolution 24.2-megapixels
Dimensions 120.0 x66.9 x 53.3 mm
Weight (body only) 453g
Price (body only) $1,949
+ Good performance and overall feature set.
- Menus are still a little too extensive, making it difficult to navigate.
Fujifilm X-T2
Given how well the Nikon D500 performed in last year’s test, this was a much closer result than we expected. However, the X-T2 consistently turned in images with better detail and less noise in all the situations. The inclusion of a focus-selector joystick helped both in terms of selecting focus points and navigation of menus, bridging the gap in usability with the competition. And while it doesn’t have the biggest buffer, the ability to go for 42 frames at 14 fps is certainly sufficient when you add the scary accuracy of the camera’s autofocus system. It’s also able to produce 4K video with support for output to external monitors and audio monitoring, making it a better all-rounder. To top it all off, it’s also $400 cheaper than the D500.
Sony A6500
The Sony a6500 gets our vote for best value this time round, simply because it ticks all the right boxes while still coming in below $2,000. Like the a6300, it too turns in great images and video for a relatively low price. Performance has been improved at the expense of battery life, but the pictures the camera turns in now are truly just a step or two below those from the X-T2, and in some cases, on par with the D500. Not having dual memory card slots, or even a front control dial does hurt it somewhat in terms of usability (not to mention the extensive menu), but the compact size does mean it will again make a very reliable second camera. Definitely worth considering if you’re already on the Sony system.
