The best Sony camera in 2023

May 26, 2023

In this up-to-date guide, we recommend the best Sony camera for every user, including vloggers and photographers from novice to expert.

The sheer size of Sony's camera line-up means it really does offer something for every user. Maybe you’re a novice photographer just starting to get their feet wet, and are itching to upgrade from your phone to something that offers a bit more imaging power. Maybe you’re a seasoned enthusiast photographer looking for a whole new system. Perhaps you’re starting a YouTube channel and need a lightweight, capable, easy-to-use vlogging camera, one that’ll also be good for shooting photos for social media. Sony has all these options and more.

The flagship Sony series is its E-mount range of mirrorless cameras, the pride and joy of which are the full-frame Alpha cameras. Sony was an early adopter of full-frame mirrorless, coming out with its first models more than five years before Canon and Nikon unveiled theirs. As such, the Sony range is extensive and well-developed, with a huge ecosystem of lenses to choose from.

We’ve picked out a suite of Sony cameras, and made a recommendation for which ones suit which kinds of user. We’ve picked out the best model for wildlife photography, the best camera for landscape photography, and plenty more besides. While our list includes all of Sony's newest models, we’ve also made sure to include some fantastic second-hand options for those who are working to a tighter budget.

Before we get to the list, let's quickly take a look at the different types of Sony camera, and how to go about choosing the one that's right for you.

When choosing a Sony camera you’ve got two main decisions to make. What type of camera do you want, and what sensor size do you want?

We’ll deal with camera type first. Sony these days manufactures cameras in two classes: compacts and mirrorless cameras. Compact cameras have a fixed lens that can't be changed, while mirrorless cameras allow the user to swap between Sony E-mount lenses at will. Compacts are generally smaller, cheaper and easier to use, while mirrorless cameras offer greater image quality and shooting versatility, with the trade-off being that a complete mirrorless setup will cost quite a bit more, and be less portable.

Next, sensor size. Sony compact cameras have 1-inch sensors, and Sony mirrorless cameras will use either APS-C or full-frame. Which to choose? The largest full-frame sensors will deliver the best image quality and overall performance, particularly in low light, but require larger and more expensive cameras. APS-C tends to be thought of as the mid-range option, and 1-inch sensors will still offer a considerable quality upgrade over a smartphone.

For a thorough run-down, check out our guide to APS-C vs full-frame sensors.

Otherwise, it's best to look at the cameras’ headline features and figure out which are most important to you and your shooting priorities. Want to capture wildlife images? Look for fast burst speeds and sophisticated autofocus systems. If you’re looking to add video to your repertoire as well as stills, you’ll want to look at the maximum video resolution and frame rate the camera can capture.

Still not sure on what type of camera you’re looking for? You may want to check out our guide to DSLR vs mirrorless. And if you do end up choosing a Sony mirrorless, you’ll want to pick up some of the best Sony E-mount lenses to go with it.

Let's jump in and count off the best Sony cameras you can buy right now…

Best Sony cameras at a glance:

Read on to learn more about each of these excellent cameras…

The A7 cameras are Sony's full-frame all-rounders.

At a glance:

The Sony A7 cameras have always been good for a bit of everything. While the A7R models focus on resolution, the A7S models on low-light video and the A9 models on speed, the A7 cameras have quietly gone about the business of being some of the best full-frame all-rounders on the market.

The Sony Alpha A7 IV is great, kicking it up a gear in response to increased competition from Canon and Nikon. This translates to a revamped 33MP sensor, with 10fps burst shooting and super-fast autofocus to play with, as well as handling improvements like a fully articulating LCD screen and a higher-resolution viewfinder.

The impressive range of full-frame E-mount lenses allows you to customise the system according to what you plan to shoot. For serious photographers, it's one of the most fully-featured cameras you can buy right now without getting into ultra-pro territory.

In our review, our verdict was that with the A7 IV, Sony ‘has produced a substantially improved camera that offers enough updates not only to tempt its existing users to upgrade, but also to turn the heads of DSLR users who might be considering making the transition to mirrorless.’

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Best for: enthusiast photographers who want to shoot all kinds of subjects

The A1 is capable of 30fps burst shooting, at full resolution, with focus and exposure adjustments.

At a glance:

So, speaking of ultra-pro territory – the Sony Alpha A1 is something truly special, and one of the most technologically advanced cameras ever made. It could have topped any of the categories on this list that don't have the word "budget" anywhere near them, but we’ve picked it for bird and wildlife photography because of its frankly ridiculous ability to shoot at 30 frames per second, maintaining that full 50MP resolution, while adjusting focus and exposure between shots. This is basically cheat mode for wildlife photography.

Of course, the Sony A1 is designed for professionals, and costs more than almost any two other cameras on this list combined. If that's out of your budget (fair), then we’d also recommend considering the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV, which is featured a little further down this list.

We had no choice but to give the Sony A1 the highest possible score in our review; as our Technical Editor Andy Westlake said, it's ‘a truly remarkable technological tour de force.‘

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Best for: big-budget pros

The Sony A6000 was the firm's first APS-C mirrorless camera.

At a glance:

This fantastic camera has been around since 2014, and the fact that it's still one of the best mirrorless cameras for beginners is an indicator of how many things Sony got right with it. The Sony Alpha A6000 kicked off an entire series of APS-C mirrorless cameras for enthusiasts, and over the years its price has come down to the point where it's one of the best budget cameras you can buy. There are also plenty of E-mount lenses designed specifically for APS-C cameras, so you won't feel short-changed when it comes to the glass.

It's amazing how many of the A6000's specs are still competitive today. The autofocus system can acquire a subject in as little as 0.06 seconds, and the burst mode can manage 11fps – all of which is more than enough for speedy action photography. The only area where the A6000 has started to fall behind is video, as it pre-dates the 4K boom, and doesn't have a mic jack.

In our review when the A6000 came out, we said, ‘Top-spec technology and a host of cutting-edge features may just see the Alpha 6000 mirror the longevity and success of its predecessor and keep it competitive in years to come.‘ Not to toot our own horns, but we called that one pretty well.

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Best for: cash-conscious beginners and enthusiasts

The Sony A7R II can be picked up at a significant discount on the second-hand market.

At a glance:

Released in 2015, the full-frame Sony A7R II has since been discontinued. However, it is still widely available on the second-hand market, and if you’re looking for high-resolution full-frame shooting, we reckon it's one of the best bargains you’ll find.

It's a camera that demands plenty of accuracy on the part of the user. 42 megapixels is an unforgiving resolution, and if you’re a hair off on your focusing, it's going to be noticeable. Fortunately, the Sony A7R II was the first high-resolution mirrorless camera to come sporting 5-axis image stabilisation, meaning it's easier to shoot at slow shutter speeds and still get pin-sharp shots.

We published a special feature not long ago on why the Sony A7R II is one of the best used cameras you can buy, and one of the features we singled out was its high-ISO performance. You can push the A7R II all the way up to ISO 25,600, and it’ll still handle detail really well.

The A7R II proved something of a favourite among the professional photography community. Landscape pro Joe Cornish was blown away by the high-ISO performance of the A7R II, and appreciated its lightweight build for use out in the field. Meanwhile, we also saw motorsport photography pro Nick Dungan put the A7R II through its paces on the track. It's not really designed for this genre, but the A7R II did well at nailing challenging shots, and Nick ended up concluding he would seriously consider adding it to his kit bag.

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Best for: getting ultra-high resolution as cheaply as possible

The Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV has a high-quality fixed lens.

At a glance:

The Sony RX10 IV is one of the most powerful bridge cameras ever made. A great, self-contained choice for wildlife photography, it pairs a 20.1MP 1-inch sensor with a 24-600mm (equivalent) f/2.4-4 lens, and also sports an incredibly capable autofocus system that consistently nails moving subjects.

The asking price has come down a little since launch, making the RX10 IV a much more tempting prospect than it was in the past. Those who want a marriage of image quality and convenience in a camera should really consider the RX10 IV.

In our testing, we found that the sensor/lens combination delivers excellent image quality across the board. Many bridge cameras offer an enormous shooting range, but in practice their image quality is overly compromised at the extreme ends of their big lenses. No such issues here – you can push the Sony RX10 IV to 600mm and still get great images, though there is some fall-off if you stop down past f/8.

Our verdict? ‘The Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV sets a new standard for all-in-one superzoom models. If you’re interested in getting an all-in-one travel camera, or simply want to photograph your local wildlife without needing to buy a huge zoom lens for a DSLR, it's the best you can buy.‘

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Best for: wildlife photographers who want an all-in-one package

The Sony ZV-1 Mark II switched on and with wind shield attached. Photo credit: Andy Westlake

At a glance:

While it seems unlikely that Sony will produce any more stills-focused compact cameras in the near-future, in the vlogging world these cameras are having something of a renaissance. Enter from stage left the Sony ZV-1 Mark II, the latest release from Sony and a successor to the popular, vlogger-oriented ZV-1.

This isn't so much a replacement for that camera as it is an update. The ZV-1 II offers a similar feature set in a lot of ways, fielding a 20MP 1-inch type CMOS sensor, a flip-around touchscreen. The key difference though is in the lens – the ZV-1 II's lens is significantly wider than that of the ZV-1, covering an 18-50mm equivalent focal range compared to 25-70mm equivalent. This makes it wide enough for arm's length vlogging – a criticism levelled at the ZV-1 – and is unique among zoom compact cameras generally, making the ZV-1 Mark II potentially an interesting camera for stills shooters too.

Naturally it comes with drawback. While you do still get an f/1.8 maximum aperture, this drops to f/2.8 once you zoom past 24mm and f/4 at 35mm. This means you get less in the way of attractive background blur, even when you’ve activated Sony's Background Defocus mode. This certainly isn't a ruinous issue, but if you do want to capture images with a shallow depth of field and the background nicely thrown out, the original (and significantly cheaper) ZV-1 may be a better choice.

Ultimately though, this is still one of the best best cameras for vloggers. In our review we appreciated how Sony has overhauled the touch interface to make the camera much easier to use, and the new directionality settings on the built-in mics. Vloggers are unlikely to be disappointed with this one.

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Best for: vloggers and aspiring YouTubers

The Sony ZV-E10 is the firm's first vlogging-centred mirrorless camera. Photo credit: Richard Sibley

At a glance:

Sony's ZV series of cameras are expressly designed for vlogging, delivering a highly portable video setup. The Sony ZV-E10 is the first mirrorless camera in the series; like the A6000, it sports a 24MP APS-C sensor. It takes a lot of design cues from the first camera in the series, the Sony ZV-1 compact, but having the option to swap out E-mount lenses gives you a great deal more flexibility.

The ZV-E10 packs in a lot of vlogger-specific features. Its built-in 3-way capsule microphone gives it on-board audio recording performance that is head and shoulders above most consumer cameras. You can also attach an external mic if you prefer. While its video capabilities won't match those of flagship cameras like the Sony A7S III, the ZV-E10 works brilliantly as an agile setup for run-and-gun vloggers.

As we said in our review, ‘For content creators there are few creative things that the ZV-E10 won't allow you to do.’

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Best for: vloggers who want an agile, portable rig

Sony's RX100 range of compacts has proved enduringly popular.

At a glance:

Though this isn't the most recent Sony RX100 compact camera (that title belongs to the Mark VII), the price of this sixth iteration has come down enough since release that we think it's the smarter buy for travel photography.

It's got a much longer built-in lens than previous RX100 cameras, making it more versatile, and also packs in plenty of high-end features for a camera in this class. Having 24fps burst shooting with focus and exposure adjustment, up to a 233-shot JPEG buffer, is no small thing.

The little Sony RX100 VI is still pocketable, meaning it's ideal for city breaks and hikes as it won't add much weight to your bag. The pop-up viewfinder is a nice touch as well, and 4K video at 25p with full pixel readout is super handy.

In our review we were consistently impressed by how much technology was packed into the RX100 VI's tiny body, saying, ‘There's no doubt that the Sony RX100 VI is an astounding technological feat.‘

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Best for: world-explorer photographers who travel light

The A6400 offers flexible streaming options. Photo credit: Andy Westlake

At a glance:

If you want to set up a Sony camera for streaming, an APS-C mirrorless camera is a good bet, as they offer a solid suite of video features without the high price tag of the full-frame models. We recommend trying the Sony Alpha A6400 – it has plenty of features that are hugely useful for streaming, like its flip-up monitor, which has a video-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio.

You can stream via HDMI, or via USB with Sony's Imaging Edge webcam software. The A6400 can record 4K at 30p, though the Full HD looks excellent, and is potentially the better choice for streaming.

In our review, we also had a lot of praise for the A6400's autofocus, which really is exceptional. ‘This really is a glimpse of the future,’ we said at the time. ‘Its ability to lock onto and track subjects is truly extraordinary.’

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Best for: at-home vloggers, streamers and YouTubers

With blistering burst speeds, the Sony A9 II is a sports photography powerhouse. Image credit: Sony

At a glance:

Sony shook up sports and action photography with its blisteringly fast A9, and the Sony Alpha A9 II is an even more impressive mirrorless camera. The A9 II is designed to be able to capture basically any subject, no matter how fast-moving – its ground-breaking autofocus system is capable of making up to 60 AF calculations per second, and it can shoot at up to 20fps with the electronic shutter, or 10fps with the mechanical. This means you’ve still got a competitive burst rate in play in situations where you might run the risk of encountering a banding effect due to the quality of the light.

The A9 II burst-shoots with no viewfinder blackout, meaning you can keep laser-focused on your subject. With this and the generous ISO range, it's difficult to think of many other cameras that can match the A9 II for its ability to nail the shot in basically any situation.

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Best for: sports pros

The Sony A7R received five stars in our full review. Photo credit: Andy Westlake

At a glance:

We recently finished our Sony A7R V review, the latest in the high-resolution line of A7R cameras. At least, that's nominally the case. However, given that the A7R V boasts class-leading AI autofocus, increased buffer capacity and 8K video capability, the lines between different Sony cameras are becoming more and more blurred.

Whereas different Sony cameras used to be specialists in different areas, we’re seeing more cameras like the A7R V and A1 that are simply good at everything – and are priced accordingly. Is this good strategy? We’ll find out in years to come, but in the meantime, the result is undeniably great cameras like the A7R V.

So, what we get here is the same 61MP sensor as the A7R IV. While some might be disappointed that it's not an upgrade, that many pixels are difficult to argue with. If you want higher resolution than that, you’re probably looking at medium format anyway.

Elsewhere on the camera is an upgraded autofocus system, with enhanced subject detection powered by a new AI processing unit. It's capable of recognising a huge range of subjects, including cars, trains, airplanes and insects as well as the usual humans, animals and birds. According to Sony, this unit also improves metering and auto white balance.

Stabilisation has been dramatically improved, now delivering up to 8 stops of effective exposure compensation with the right lens. Users also have more image recording options to help manage those huge 61MP files, including lossless raw compression, and lower resolution options (26MP and 15MP) for those times you don't need all that detail.

It all adds up to a hell of a camera. Is it worth almost $4,000/£4,000? That's up to the individual user. Our conclusion in our review was as follows: ‘If your needs are tilted more towards image quality than outright speed, it's difficult to argue against the Sony Alpha 7R V being the best full-frame stills camera available… if you can justify the A7R V's price, you’ll be blown away by just how good it is.‘

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Best for: making large prints

The Sony ZV-E1 is a full-frame vlogging camera. Image credit: Sony

At a glance:

This came as something of a surprise. Whereas previously Sony's vlogger-pitched ZV series had stuck to using APS-C sensor, the Sony ZV-E1 spectacularly bucked the trend, housing the same 12.1MP full-frame sensor as found in the pro-grade A7S III and FX3. While it came with a corresponding price hike compared to other ZV cameras, it's still a good deal cheaper than either of the models it borrowed its chip from.

Fundamentally, the Sony ZV-E1 is a pitch towards serious aspiring YouTubers – those who want to produce high-quality footage but aren't necessarily all that au fait with the technical ins and outs of doing so. It's small enough to be agile and portable, but still packs in effective stabilisation for run-and-gun vlogging. There are also plenty of features invoking the buzzword of the year – AI, including AI-powered automatic framing, which creates a crop in 4K footage and then uses it to follow a moving subject through the frame – effectively giving the appearance of camera movement even when the ZV-E1's body is completely static. Clever.

There are gripes we have with the camera – we’ve never been fans of the practice of manufacturers announcing cameras with top-of-the-line features, then revealing that it doesn't actually have those features yet, but will in a few months’ time when the firmware update rolls out. But this isn't a practice unique to Sony – they’re basically all at it – so we won't gripe too much, and will look forward to the ZV-E1 getting 4K 120p and Full HD 240p when the firmware update arrives in June of this year.

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Best for: Video and vlogging

The Sony A7S III sports two CFExpress card slots.

At a glance:

It's hard to overstate just how much the original Sony A7S changed the game with regard to low-light video. Its ability to effectively shoot in the dark at ISO levels as high as 409,600 redefined what was thought possible on a full-frame mirrorless camera. The A7S II further upped the ante by adding internal 4K recording, solidifying the series’ position as a tool for serious filmmakers.

The Sony A7S III does all the same things, and adds handling upgrades like a side-hinged fully articulated LCD, and a completely overhauled touch-sensitive interface. As awkward menu-fiddling has always been a bit of a bugbear with Sony cameras, this was a truly welcome addition. As we said in our review, ‘It doesn't take long with the A7S III to be seriously impressed.’

With twin card slots that can both accept the super-fast CFExpress Type A format, as well as a back-illuminated sensor structure that enables lightning-fast readout speeds, this is a camera that's more than capable of keeping up with even the most demanding video shoots.

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Best for: filmmakers and pro content creators

The Sony A77 II may be something of a technological dead end, but it's a cheap and capable camera. Photo credit: AP

At a glance:

Ah, A-mount. Once a vital component of Sony's camera line-up, long since discarded in favour of the much more successful E-mount mirrorless cameras. Sony may not have ever quite admitted that there won't be new A-mount cameras and lenses in the future, but the ones that were released are still perfectly solid in their fundamentals, and can be picked up for a great price on the second-hand market.

The Sony A77 II is one of the last A-mount cameras ever released. Not the very last – that was the A99 II, but that one still costs too much even on the used market to be really worth buying. The A77 II, on the other hand, can be picked up for a very reasonable outlay indeed. It's an SLT camera, which is short for single-lens translucent, and in form and function it very much resembles a DSLR. With 24MP of resolution and 12fps burst shooting, it still has pretty competitive specs today.

The sensor is APS-C, and the A77 II was clearly pitched to compete with contemporary APS-C speedsters like the Canon EOS 7D and Nikon D7100. As such, it sported a pretty spiffy autofocus system, with 79 phase-detection points. At the time, we described this as ‘staggering‘. Naturally, it does not come close to being staggering in 2023, but it's still pretty good, especially with subject tracking.

The A77 II is a bit of a curio of a camera, and won't be one for most people due to the lack of a decent upgrade path. However, it provides decent value for money on the second-hand market, and is worth looking into, particularly if you like the look of A-mount lenses.

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Best for: bargain hunters, casual photographers

Found your perfect Sony camera? Why not have a look at some of our choices for the best Sony E mount lenses, or have a look at our other buying guides, and our latest reviews, for more ideas.

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Jon has been writing features and reviews for Amateur Photographer for more than a decade. His writing has also appeared at Digital Camera World, Black + White Photography magazine, Photomonitor and many more. He's an avid film photographer, despite the expense, and has contributed a few features to AP on how to shoot film on the cheap. See more at jonstapley.com.