Chris and Jordan from DPReview TV made a great video recently, in which they discuss the best APS-C mirrorless cameras in the sub-$1000 category. Most beginners and photography/videography enthusiasts end up buying a camera in this price range and that’s why we believe this video is extremely useful. You can watch the entire video above, but we’ll list some of the most important takeaways from it below.
Design and Ergonomics
- Nikon Z50 – Looks and feels professional. Large grip and excellent EVF. Weather sealing.
- Fuji X-T30 – Beautiful camera. Joystick and dials are useful. Very customizable.
- Canon M6 Mark II – Looks good. Good grip. Great menu and touch interface. Removable EFV is the biggest downside.
- Sony A6400 – Grip and menu system is improved vs previous models but still needs work. Limited touch controls.
Image Quality
- Canon M6 Mark II – The new sensor is fantastic. Good low-light performance. 32MP photos are great for cropping.
- Fuji X-T30 – Great image quality. Amazing JPGs with famous Fuji colors.
- Sony A6400 – Good low-light performance and dynamic range. JPGs are better than before.
- Nikon Z50 – Lowest resolution out of these four cameras. Good performer but the sensor is older.
Video
- Fuji X-T30 – Fantastic video quality. Great color. 10-bit recording to external devices. Headphone jack via USB-C adapter. Decent autofocus and low amount of rolling shutter.
- Sony A6400 – Poor rolling shutter. Sharp 4K video. Very effective autofocus. Fantastic Log profiles.
- Nikon Z50 – Decent autofocus performance. Sharp video. Flat profile, but no Log profile.
- Canon M6 Mark II – No crop in 4K finally, but videos are soft. No flat or Log profile. Excellent Dual Pixel AF.
Autofocus
- Sony A6400 – Real-time AF tracking is very intelligent. The eye detect is tenacious. Sony autofocus is the easiest and most successful.
- Canon M6 Mark II – It’s Dual Pixel AF is fantastic. The interface is very easy. There’s no joystick and you’re stuck with the touchscreen, but most people today are used to that kind of interface.
- Nikon Z50 – Its AF performance is similar to X-T30, but it picks up faces and eyes from further away. AF performance is fast.
- Fuji X-T30 – The joystick is a plus. Eye-AF is improved from before. Some accuracy issues and misses here and there.
Lenses
- Fuji X-T30 – Fujifilm has the best line of lenses for APS-C. You got compact zoom lenses that are affordable, as well as professional telephoto and general-purpose lenses. Really nice fast aperture prime lenses. Fuji 18-55mm f/2.8-4 is by far the best kit lens you can get for APS-C.
- Sony A6400 – There is a pretty extensive line of APS-C lenses. Awesome third party support from many different manufacturers. You can use full-frame E-mount lenses without an adapter.
- Canon M6 Mark II – Canon is relying on its full-frame lenses, although they have a solid lineup of native EF-M lenses as well. Sigma just announced lens support for this mount too.
- Nikon Z50 – Newest play to the market in the APS-C realm. Two lenses they released don’t offer great image quality and roadmap is not really exciting. You’re reliant on using more expensive full-frame Z-mount lenses or their older APS-C lenses with an adapter.
Overall Score
- Fuji X-T30
- Sony A6400
- Canon M6 Mark II
- Nikon Z50
Christ makes a conclusion that results make sense because both Fujifilm and Sony have committed the most effort to the APS-C game. However, all four cameras have some unique benefits to them and are very capable.
