I feel qualified to say that the best full-frame cameras offer some of the best performance you can get from any camera right now – since I'm someone who's been shooting full-frame since the days of film (a full-frame sensor is the same size as a frame of 35mm film). Manufacturers use their full-frame lines to push the boundaries of imaging technology, with recent advancements including Canon's in-camera neural net processing, Sony's ultra-fast global shutter sensors, or Leica's triple resolution output. Full-frame is an exciting place to be!
Full-frame sensors have larger individual pixels than both APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras, meaning they offer better low light performance, greater dynamic range and less noise. They also render a shallow depth of field for those dreamy, bokehlicious blurry backgrounds. While full frame bodies traditionally come with a high price tag, they don't have to be expensive; cameras like the Nikon Z5 II, which I've included here, offer great performance at a price that's within reach of amateur and enthusiast photographers.
I haven't included flagship professional cameras here, because they're super-specialist and super-pricey (check out my guide to the best cameras for sports photography for those), but this guide is a good cross-section of full-framers for most folks. So, whether you're a working pro or an amateur looking to up your game, these are the best full frame cameras I recommend right now…
I've been shooting full frame since the 35mm film days (my first ever camera was the Canon AE-1!) and as an early adopter I'm lucky enough to have used almost every full frame mirrorless camera ever made. I've reviewed all the latest flagship models from Canon, Nikon and Sony, and I use my full-frame bodies for both personal and paid work – so I've got a lot of miles on the full frame camera clock!
Best full frame cameras: my top picks
Sony's all-rounder A7 cameras take a big leap forwards with the A7 V, thanks to a new processor that vastly improves its autofocus performance compared to the A7 IV. For a full-frame camera to do a bit of everything, this gets my recommendation.
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The Nikon D850 is a big bruiser of a camera compared to the new Nikon Z models, but this is one of my favorite DSLRs of all time, and this size works in your favor if you're shooting with big, heavy lenses.
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An entry-point for full-frame mirrorless, the Nikon Z5 II offers absoutely unbeatable value for money as far as I'm concerned. It's fast enough for action, with intelligent Subject Recognition, but it's also hugely intuitive and easy to use.
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It took almost 10 years, but Sony finally updated the RX1R series – and the latest version is packed with the latest technology, including all-important autofocus improvements, in an impossibly small body!
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Panasonic has carved a niche as the go-to brand for mirrorless video, and the S5 IIX takes that to a whole new level with phase detect autofocus, 6K 30p open gate, ProRes and ProRes RAW support and more.
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If you want pixels, pixels and more pixels, the Sony A7R VI offers the highest native resolution on the full-frame market, with a stacked 66.8MP sensor. It's enormously capable, and enormously expensive.
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This camera does everything a pro could want with its 45MP sensor, 180MP photos via in-body upscaling, 30fps bursts, 8K 60p video, AI-powered predictive autofocus, 8.5 stops of stabilization… it's a monster.
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Best full frame cameras
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Best all-rounder
Some mirrorless cameras are quite specialised into specific archetypes – they're built for speed or for resolution or for low light or for whatever else. If you're after a generalist, a camera that'll do a bit of everything and do it well, my recommendation is Sony's excellent A7 V.
With a 33MP full-frame sensor, it's not the highest-resolution camera in this space, but still offers plenty of pixels for cropping and printing. This was the same resolution as was featured on the previous A7 IV – where the upgrades have come here is in autofocus. The Sony A7 V benefits from the refreshed Bionz XR2 processor, integrating a dedicated AI unit to power sophisticated subject-detection autofocus, which is capable of recognising and locking onto discrete subject types like animals, vehicles and people.
Paired with the newly upgraded burst-shooting capabilities, the Sony A7 V is better than these cameras have ever been for capturing action. I would say – and Gareth agreed in his review – that the video specs are a little pedestrian for this price point, and if video is a big priority, you can get better value elsewhere. But this is still a seriously accomplished camera that's perfect for versatile and adventurous photographers.
Read our full Sony A7 V review.
Best DSLR
The Nikon D850 is certainly a big bruiser of a camera compared to most mirrorless models, but its arguably the best DSLR ever made – and the size actually works in your favor if you shoot with big, heavy lenses, as they balance better on a chunky DSLR body. This is a handling factor that many mirrorless users don't always take into account.
The D850 has a bright, clear optical viewfinder that some photographers still prefer over an electronic finder, no matter how good. Its 45.7MP sensor still produces images as superb as ever, and can shoot bursts at 7fps – or 9fps with the optional battery grip.
Even without the grip, this camera has an amazing battery life of 1,840 shots – far more than any mirrorless rivals – and you'll be able to shoot to your heart's content with dual CFexpress Type B and SD card slots. If you're still married to the mirror, this is the camera I would go for.
Read our full Nikon D850 review
Best value
There's been quite a tussle between manufacturers over the best-value full-frame camera, but in my view, Nikon has currently got it sewn up. The Nikon Z5 II is just absurd, a brilliantly fully featured full-frame camera offering almost all of the functionality of the zippy Z6 III at a significantly lower price.
Its hugely intelligent autofocus system can see in virtual darkness, allowing you to bag the shot in basically any conditions, and this pairs with a perky 30fps burst rate. Sure, that's not as fast the Z6 III's ludicrous 120fps top rate, but let's be honest – for the vast majority of photographers, 30fps is plenty.
Offering dual SDXC UHS-II card slots, the Nikon Z5 II is highly capable when it comes to video as well as stills, offering 4K 60p (albeit with a bit of a crop; 4K 30p is uncropped). And then there's the price! At $1,699 / £1,599 / AU$2,699, it significantly undercuts the kinds of cameras it's competing with, and if you're looking for a way to step up from a smaller-sensor camera to full-frame, it's frankly one of the most cost-effective ways to do so.
Read our full Nikon Z5 II review
Best compact
The Sony RX1R III is a camera almost a decade in the making! But the long wait was worth it, as this might just be the best full frame compact camera on the market – with a couple of caveats, the first one being the sky-high price.
For me, the other asterisks are tolerable. I'd have preferred a tilting screen, and I always miss in-body image stabilization (IBIS). But both these sacrifices exist for a reason: to keep the RX1R III as small as possible. And just how small is the Sony RX1R III? It's smaller than everything except the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera – including the Fujifilm X100IV!
So if size matters, there's no competition – but the super-small Sony has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. Chief among them is the brilliant autofocus, which was a definite weakness on the RX1R II. But the new model benefits from Sony's stellar AF tech, including subject detection for everything from insects to airplanes.
The 61MP full frame sensor delivers brilliant results, thanks to the trusty (albeit decade-old) Zeiss 35mm f/2 lens. And the RX1R III leverages those 61 million pixels to offer digital crop modes, giving you de facto 50mm and 75mm shooting options (with respective 29.4MP and 15MP resolutions).
The lens also accommodates macro shooting (which, combined with the insect AF, was one of my favorite ways to use the camera) and you can also shoot 4K 30p with the ability to plug in a microphone. Though again, given the lack of IBIS, this isn't really a run-and-gun vlogging camera and is more useful for things like short Stories or Reels.
If you can afford the high price of entry, this is a sensational – and truly pocket-sized – compact camera.
Read my full Sony RX1R III review
Best for video
If I need to shoot balls-out, guns-blazing video, this is the camera I reach for. Technically the Lumix S1R II offers slightly better specs, but unless you really need 8K and internal ProRes 5.8K RAW HQ, the S5 IIX is the best camera for video short of spending the big bucks on a dedicated cinema camera.
The phase detect autofocus system isn't as sophisticated as the other brands', but it's still very very good. But the real highlights here are the 6K 30p video, with the ability to shoot open gate to absolutely liberate your workflow – especially if you're a creator shooting who delivers in multiple formats.
You also get 4:2:2 10-bit All-I, Apple ProRes and ProRes RAW with output to SSD and Atomos recorders, 4K 60p streaming over LAN (with FullHD 60p over WiFi), 120p shooting in Slow & Quick mode, 6.5 stops of in-body image stabilization, weather sealing… and it's even a decent stills camera, with the option of 96MP photos via the high res pixel shift mode.
Read our full Panasonic Lumix S5 IIX review
Best for resolution
If native resolution is what matters most to you, look no further than the Sony A7R VI. Previously there were a few cameras with full frame image sensors maxing out at the 61MP mark, including the Sigma fp L, Leica SL3 and, of course, Sony's own A7R V. However, the Sony A7R VI has since arrived to blow them all out of the water.
Like all cameras in the A7R series, going all the way back to the first, this camera is all about maximizing resolution. So not only can you shoot at that glorious 66.8MP native setting, but it also offers the option to shoot 270MP images via the magic of pixel shift technology, which literally shifts the sensor to create an artificially larger image area. (It should be noted that there are limitations to this technology, and that the Canon EOS R5 offers 400MP pixel shift shooting.)
This high-end full-frame mirrorless camera is also faster and smarter than everything that came before. It offers 30fps burst shooting, blackout-free, with autofocus fully engaged – and that autofocus system benefits from the latest tech, making calculations around 60 times per second. Image stabilization is also excellent, and video options have been much-improved from previous Sony offerings, with a raft of new features including LUT import, LUT monitoring, more S-Log profiles, Auto Framing, a tally lamp, improved internal mics, and better heat dissipation using graphite materials.
For the best high-resolution performance in stills and video, the A7R VI can't be beat.
Read our full Sony A7R VI review
Best for professionals
The original R5 has been my pro tool since it launched in 2020, and it's still ludicrously powerful all these years later. However, the Mark II eclipses it in every possible way.
I really don't know where to begin – you're best to check my review to see everything that this camera offers. For starters, its 45MP sensor is now back side-illuminated and stacked – meaning the files are cleaner, and it's a whole lot faster. Fast enough for 30fps burst shooting, which makes mincemeat of sports and wildlife photography. Fast enough to radically reduce rolling shutter on its video, which now tops out at 8K 60p.
The autofocus is Canon's very latest tech, Dual Pixel Intelligent AF, with a dedicated processor and all manner of AI tricks – making it the best AF system I've ever used. It can predict player movements in specific sports, for example, and you can program it to recognize specific faces and always prioritize them when multiple people are in shot.
There's more AI power in the form of Neural network Image Processing, which enables the camera to upscale your 45MP photos to 190MP shots in-camera and with no loss of quality. Or alternatively, you can crop into your images and then upscale them to make sure you don't lose any quality. You can also denoise your images by two stops, to make high (or even moderate) ISO images as clean as possible.
This camera absolutely blows me away, and I haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do. There's nothing it can't shoot, and if you're a pro you can take this on any job and know you'll get the shot.
Read my Canon EOS R5 Mark II review
How to choose the best full frame cameras
When you're shopping for the best full-frame camera, there are three key things to think about:
• What system do you want to buy into?
• What is your photographic specialty is
• How much do you want to spend?
Choosing the right system is important because you want it to last, and you'll also be investing in lenses and other accessories that could outlast your camera body.
Canon and Nikon make both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, but while DSLRs are popular and capable cameras, it's mirrorless cameras that have taken the lead – and while you can use DSLR lenses on mirrorless cameras with adaptors, it's not an ideal long-term solution. Pentax ONLY makes DSLRs right now, so that's one less decision for Pentax fans.
So then it's all about brands. Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic all make full-frame mirrorless cameras. Each one has its own lens mount and its own lenses, though third-party makers like Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, and Laowa make lenses in many different mounts.
The other decision is what you want your camera for. There are some great all-rounders that can do a bit of everything, but if you have a particular specialty you need a camera designed for the job. See our guides to the best cameras for sports and the highest resolution cameras, for example.
So this brings us to the third factor: how much you want to spend. With this in mind, we start out with more affordable options for enthusiasts and work up to the more advanced and more expensive dream cameras that we secretly all want. If price is your biggest decider, you might also want to check out our guide to the cheapest full frame cameras right now.
How we test cameras
We test DSLR and mirrorless cameras both in real-world shooting scenarios and in carefully controlled lab conditions. Our lab tests measure resolution, dynamic range and signal to noise ratio. Resolution is measured using ISO resolution charts, dynamic range is measured using DxO Analyzer test equipment and DxO Analyzer is also used for noise analysis across the camera's ISO range. We use both real-world testing and lab results to inform our comments in buying guides.
FAQs
What is considered a full frame camera?
There's only one criterion that a camera needs to fulfil in order to be called a full-frame camera – it needs to have a full-frame sensor. This is a specific sensor format measuring 36mm x 24mm. This is roughly the same dimensions as a single frame of 35mm film, which is where the name full-frame comes from, and is also why you sometimes see full-frame referred to as '35mm equivalent' or similar.
Should a beginner get a full-frame camera?
There's no reason a beginner photographer couldn't use a full-frame camera – however, it may not be the best option. Getting the full benefit from the larger sensor and (usually) greater resolution requires a robust understanding of exposure, and at first you may not see much of a difference from the results you get from full-frame compared to a camera with a smaller sensor.
There's also the fact that full-frame cameras tend to be more expensive, and tend to have controls and menus that are set up with the assumption that you have a reasonable knowledge of what you're doing. Beginner cameras like Canon's EOS R100 come with helpful guide modes to ease in new users, and it's rare you'll find much like that on a full-frame camera.
With that said, if you do want to dive straight into full-frame, there are options. Nikon's Z5 is a budget-friendly option that would be a good in-road to full-frame, as is Canon's EOS R8.
Read more:
Best professional cameras
Best full frame DSLRs
Best full frame mirrorless cameras
Cheapest full frame cameras
Best enthusiast cameras
