When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission. Canon brought an FSI sensor to a partially Stacked party. Last week, Canon announced the EOS R6 III, an update to its enthusiast-tier full-frame mirrorless camera.
It gains a new sensor, much more capable video specs and upgrades to the autofocus system.
Our initial review goes in-depth on how the EOS R6 III compares to its predecessor, so we'll largely avoid re-treading that ground here. Instead, we'll discuss the three major competitors: the Nikon Z6III, Panasonic S1II, and Sony a7 IV.
Price
In the US, the EOS R6 III, Z6 III, and a7 IV are all priced similarly, with the S1 II standing out as substantially more expensive than the rest. It's less of an outlier globally, though, with it and the EOS R6 III sitting at a few hundred pounds higher than the other two models.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
MSRP (US / UK)
$2800 /
$2700 /
$2700 /
$3200 /
The one thing we'll note about the EOS R6 II is that Canon is keeping it in its lineup for $2299. It's still an extremely capable camera, and those mainly shooting stills will likely want to consider how much it's worth to gain better resolution and upgrades to its (still competitive) autofocus system.
Resolution and readout speed
33MP can capture a lot of fine detail.
Canon EOS R6 III | Canon 85mm F1. 4 L VCM | F7. 1 | 1/40 sec | ISO 100
The EOS R6 III and a7 IV are higher resolution models that utilize more familiar sensor tech, featuring 33MP FSI and BSI sensors, respectively. Nikon and Panasonic, meanwhile, both use a 24MP 'partially Stacked' sensor, which uses more complex circuitry to dramatically improve readout speeds compared to more traditional designs.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
Resolution
33MP
24MP
33MP
24MP
Stills rolling shutter rate (ms)
Both the Canon and Sony offer an approximately 16% increase in linear resolution compared to the 24MP models, which isn't quite as large an improvement as you might expect just based on the numbers, but will still provide a benefit in capturing fine details.
While the EOS R6 III has the fastest readout speeds, it's worth noting that it achieves this by producing 12-bit Raws, compared to the 14-bit ones its competitors offer. This will limit its dynamic range and result in noise in the deepest shadows compared to its competitors, but it's worth noting that it will only be an issue when shooting in e-shutter mode (though that's also when rolling shutter rate is the biggest concern). While the Z6III also suffers from slightly noisier than typical shadows, that's instead due to its higher levels of read noise, an issue interestingly not shared by the S1II, at least in its mechanical shutter mode.
Rolling shutter rates are especially pertinent when it comes to the a7 IV, which has substantially slower readout speeds than its peers. These make it so you can't use its electronic shutter mode to capture most moving subjects without risking motion artifacts.
Autofocus
The EOS R6 III comes with an upgraded autofocus system, which Canon says uses the algorithms from its flagship EOS R1 and R5 II models. Like most of the other models, it's been trained to recognize several types of subjects, and has several options for selecting your autofocus point.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
AF subject detection
- Human
- Animal (Dog / Cat / Bird / Horse)
- Vehicle (car, motorcycle, plane, train)
- Automatic
- Human
- Dog/Cat
- Bird
- Plane
- Car
- Motorcycle / Bike
- Train
- Automatic
- Human
- Animal
- Bird
- Human
- Animal
- Plane
- Train
- Vehicles
Motorcycle/ Bike
While the S1II lacks an automatic subject detection mode, the bigger concern is performance. In our tests, we've found it to be less reliable at tracking than we've come to expect from Nikon, Canon and Sony and, unlike its competitors, it doesn't fall back to generic tracking in subject recognition mode, so you have to be more aware of your settings for some types of shooting. It does, however, have an "Urban Sports" recognition mode designed to recognize humans even when they're in odd body positions, such as when they're breakdancing or skateboarding.
The Sony a7 IV isn't as far behind as the table may imply, as its tracking system is still extremely capable. However, it doesn't have Sony's latest AF system, which relies on a coprocessor and supports more subject types and complex human recognition.
Continuous shooting and pre-capture
One of the EOS R6 III's notable upgrades is the fact that its pre-burst capture mode no longer requires going into the special Raw Burst mode, which didn't capture JPEGs and stored captured images in a new, not widely supported format until you exported them into a standard Raw after the fact. Now, it's simply an option you can activate when in the "H+" 40fps drive mode and using the electronic shutter.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
Burst rate
12fps mech.
40fps e-shutter
14fps mech.
20fps e-shutter
60fps JPEG-only
6fps lossless compressed Raw
10fps lossy Raw
10fps mech.
70fps e-shutter
Pre-burst capture
Yes, up to 0. 5 sec
Yes (JPEG only)
No
Yes, up to 1. 5 sec
The Canon, Nikon and Panasonic cameras all have some level of inflexibility when it comes to burst and pre-burst shooting. The Canon and Panasonic, for instance, don't let you adjust your framerates in each burst mode, though this is especially noticeable on the S1II, which has no options between the pedestrian 10fps and buffer-destroying 70fps. Nikon gives you more control in this regard, but its fastest burst rates and pre-burst options are JPEG-only, giving you less room for adjustments in post.
The a7 IV, meanwhile, hails from an era before pre-burst capture was standard in this class of cameras, and doesn't include any option for it. Its burst rates are also quite slow, as it has to rely on its mechanical shutter; its electronic shutter just isn't fast enough for continuous shooting.
Viewfinder and screen
The EOS R6 III's EVF and screen aren't bad, but they're no longer state of the art.
The Canon EOS R6 III uses the same EVF and rear display as its predecessor, both of which feel perhaps a bit behind the times compared to the larger, higher-resolution ones found on the Nikon Z6III and Panasonic S1II.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
Viewfinder res/
magnification/
eyepoint
3. 69M dot
0. 76x
23mm
5. 76M dot
0. 8x
21mm
3. 69M dot
0. 78x
23mm
5. 76M dot
0. 78x
21mm
Rear screen
3. 0"
1. 62M dot
Fully-articulating
3. 2"
2. 1M dot
Fully-articulating
3. 0"
1. 03M dot
Fully-articulating
3. 2"
1. 84M dot
Tilt + Fully Artic.
What really sets the S1II apart, though, is its articulation mechanism. It lets you tilt it up or down in-axis with the camera's sensor, while also allowing you to fully articulate it for easier video shooting. The extra tilt mechanism also gives you more clearance if you have things plugged into the ports, such as headphones, microphones and HDMI. While the Z6III has a more standard full-articulating screen, the company says its viewfinder is the brightest out there, reaching up to 4000 nits.
The Canon, Nikon and Panasonic will emulate a blackout-free experience in some of their burst modes, but they operate by showing you the previous frame captured, rather than a live view of what you're shooting.
Video - resolution, framerates and workflow
The EOS R6 III's biggest upgrades come to its video recording capabilities. It catches up to the rest of the market, gaining internal Raw recording, tools like waveform and false color and, blessedly, the ability to set white balance live, without having to take a still first.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
Video resolutions
7K DCI/60 (Raw)
7K/30 open-gate
4K/120 (full-width)
1080p/180 (full-width)
6K/60 (Raw)
5. 4K/60 (full-width)
UHD 4K/60 (full-width)
UHD 4K/120 (1. 5x crop)
UHD 4K/30 (full-width)
UHD 4K/60 (1. 5x crop)
6K/30 3:2 (Raw / open gate)
5. 7K/60 DCI (Raw)
5. 9K/60 (16:9)
DCI 4K/120 w/ 1. 17x crop
Uncompressed video
C-Raw
Over HDMI
N-Raw
ProRes Raw
No
ProRes Raw
Over HDMI
Video assist tools
False color overlay
Waveform
Log view assists
Waveform
Log view assists
Shutter angle
Log view assist
Waveform
False color
Vectorscope
Anamorphic desqueeze
Shutter angle
Log view assists
Custom LUT recording
The EOS R6 III may be one of the best options for slow-motion shooters, as it offers not only oversampled, full-width 60p, but also full-width 120p. However, it presumably achieves this by sub-sampling the footage, which isn't necessarily the case with the cropped modes on the partially Stacked sensor cameras.
The S1II remains one of the most capable hybrid options on the market, offering pretty much every conceivable recording option and assistance tool. Perhaps its biggest leg up, though, is its internal fan, which helps push its recording times past what some of the other cameras on this list can handle. It's also the only hybrid mirrorless camera in this class to support 32-bit float audio recording, though you'll need an external XLR adapter to enable it (unlike Nikon's more video-focused ZR model, which can do it internally). It also has a Dynamic Range Boost mode that allows for greater dynamic range capture, at the cost of the rolling shutter rates jumping to above 30ms, making them not particularly practical for shooting most moving subjects.
Most cameras in this class excel at both stills and video
The Z6III is also very capable at shooting video, with the only real drawback compared to the EOS R6 III and S1II being its lack of an "open gate" mode, which provides more flexibility in post to reframe, or to take horizontal and vertical video from a single clip.
This option is also missing from the a7 IV, but it shows its age in other, more critical ways. Despite having a higher-resolution sensor, it tops out at 4K recording, though this is at least oversampled from 7K capture. It also doesn't offer internal Raw recording, and doesn't include many of the now-standard assistance tools.
Video - rolling shutter
The EOS R6 III has impressive rolling shutter performance for not having a partially Stacked sensor, even in its oversampled modes, which are derived from 7K capture.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
Open-gate
17. 9ms
—
—
UHD >4K capture
14. 3ms (4K, oversampled)
9. 5ms (6K)
27. 4ms (4K oversampled)
N/A
UHD 4K standard
7. 2ms
9. 5ms
—
12. 5ms
The Panasonic, Nikon and Canon cameras all feature more than usable rolling shutter rates in all of their modes, with the exception of the S1II's DR Boost setting. This means you don't really have to worry about whether your subject or camera will be moving too fast for your specific settings.
The Sony is a different story, as the only mode it has capable of capturing fast-moving subjects without too much distortion is its 4K/60 mode, which comes with a 1. 5x crop, dramatically changing its field of view. It's possible to work around this limitation, but it's definitely worth considering if you plan on doing a lot of video work.
Ports and storage
This section has perhaps the least to discuss, as most of the brands have settled into a relatively standardized layout. The EOS R6III, Z6III and S1II all have a CFexpress Type B slot paired with a UHS-II SD card slot, headphone and microphone jacks and full-size HDMI.
The odd one out is Sony. While the a7 IV has the same selection of ports, it opts for CFexpress Type A instead. This is a dual-format slot that can also be used with standard SD cards, which could make dual-card shooting cheaper, depending on your needs, but with the camera limited to UHS-II speeds.
Canon and Sony have also equipped their cameras with digital hotshoes, which can be used not only for flash, but with other accessories, such as microphones or XLR adapters.
Battery
The EOS R6 III uses Canon's latest battery, but it's clearly using a lot of power.
The one area where the EOS R6 III is noticeably worse than its predecessor is when it comes to battery life; the extra features come at a cost of it getting around 12-15% fewer shots per charge than the EOS R6 II.
Canon EOS R6 III
Nikon Z6III
Sony a7 IV
Panasonic S1II
Battery life EVF / LCD
270 / 510
360 / 390
520 / 580
360 / 320
As always, the CIPA ratings tend to under-represent the literal number of pictures you can capture with a single charge; it's not unusual to get double the rating in real-world use. However, it's clear that Canon and, to a lesser extent, Nikon and Panasonic have traded some longevity for their advanced features.
Sony, meanwhile, is the standout. While we might recommend bringing a spare battery or two for a weekend of heavy shooting with the EOS R6 III, Z6III or S1II, we'd be pretty confident leaving the house with only a single fully-charged battery for our a7 IV.
The extras
Like the Nikon Z6III and Panasonic S1II, the EOS R6 III's ergonomics are well-honed.
There are things that don't fit easily into a spec sheet. For example, while the cameras in this roundup are in roughly the same class when it comes to size and weight (though the S1II is the heaviest of the bunch by a fair margin), we find that the a7 IV doesn't feel quite as comfortable to hold as the other models in this roundup.
There's also the matter of HDR output, which is becoming an increasingly interesting option as the industry settles on broadly compatible image formats, and as more and more devices boast screens that can properly display HDR content. While all the cameras can record HDR video, it's worth noting that the a7 IV's HLG HEIF function comes at the cost of Raw recording. The other cameras in this roundup can capture both Raw and HDR HEIF files simultaneously, but Sony makes you choose one or the other.
It's also worth noting that both Canon and Nikon exert more control over what lenses get made for their mounts and Sony or Panasonic do; both companies have shown a willingness to disallow third-party lenses they don't want made. Sony, however, isn't entirely blameless in this regard either; while companies like Sigma, Viltrox, 7artisans and more have produced a wide array of third-party E-mount lenses, they're all limited to 15fps shooting, a restriction not placed on the L-mount versions.
Summary
At this point, it should be clear that the EOS R6 III is a competitive entry in the enthusiast-tier full frame camera market, though it's not entirely dominant. Each model in this range has some trade-offs compared to the others; choosing the Panasonic nets you one of the best display designs and suite of video features, at the cost of less reliable autofocus, while Nikon has great autofocus, but doesn't include things like open-gate recording or Raw stills shooting in its fastest burst rates. And both have less resolution than the Canon, but have faster sensors.
As has been a running theme, the a7 IV is really the odd one out at this point. It's far older than the others, and that age shows in quite a few aspects of its design and capabilities for both stills and video. Still, the selection of lenses available for it is unassailable, and its autofocus is still at least in the conversation with Nikon and Canon, despite being a generation behind Sony's best.
. dpreview.com2025-11-18 17:00
