The Canon EOS R5 Mark II is the camera you buy when you don’t want to choose. Landscapes, weddings, birds, sports, 8K video. It handles all of it, at a level that only stacked-sensor flagships could reach a few years ago.

The original R5 from 2020 was already a big hit. It also had a reputation problem: 8K video that overheated. The Mark II, released in mid-2024, fixes that and changes the sensor underneath. It’s a 45MP back-side illuminated stacked CMOS chip, so the camera reads out much faster. That one change ripples through everything else the camera does.

The Canon EOS R50 is the camera Canon built for people who’ve been shooting on a phone and want more. It’s tiny, it’s cheap, it focuses very well and it’s simple to use. Released in early 2023, it became one of the best-selling interchangeable-lens cameras in the world, and for good reason.

Canon has since released the R50 V, a viewfinder-less, vlogging-focused version. The original R50 is still the better pick for most beginners because it keeps the eye-level viewfinder that makes shooting outdoors so much easier.

Some cameras win on a headline spec. The Canon EOS R6 Mark II wins by not losing anywhere. It’s fast, it focuses brilliantly, it handles well and it shoots clean 4K at 60p from the full sensor. Since its launch in late 2022 it has been the camera Canon shooters point their friends to when they ask what to buy.

It also has a sequel now. The R6 Mark III arrived in late 2025. That makes the Mark II a discounted, proven body, and there’s a strong case that it’s the better buy for most people.

The R6 Mark II’s one real weakness was resolution. Twenty-four megapixels is plenty for most jobs, but it left little room to crop. The Canon EOS R6 Mark III, announced in November 2025 at $2,799 for the body, fixes that with a new 32.5MP back-side illuminated sensor. Then it adds something no R6 has had before: internal raw video.

That makes it a different kind of camera. The Mark II was the do-everything bargain. The Mark III is closer to a small R5, at a price to match.

The Canon EOS R7 is Canon’s enthusiast APS-C camera, and the one wildlife and sports shooters keep coming back to. It launched in May 2022 at $1,499 for the body with a 32.5MP APS-C sensor, 15 frames per second with the mechanical shutter, and in-body stabilization. The APS-C crop gives every lens 1.6 times more reach, which is exactly what birders want.

Put Canon’s RF 100-400mm on it and you get the field of view of a 640mm lens for very little money. That combination alone sold a lot of R7s.

The Canon EOS R8 has a simple pitch. Take the sensor, processor and autofocus from the R6 Mark II, put them in a much smaller and cheaper body, and leave out the expensive extras. It launched in early 2023 at $1,499 for the body, about $1,000 less than the R6 II, and weighs about 461 grams with battery and card.

That makes it one of the cheapest ways into modern full-frame, and one of the lightest.

The Fujifilm X-M5 is the smallest and lightest interchangeable-lens camera Fujifilm makes. It weighs about 355 grams with battery and card, launched in October 2024 at $799 for the body, and puts a film simulation dial right on top. It’s Fuji’s answer to Sony’s ZV-E10 II, aimed squarely at creators and first-time camera buyers who want the Fuji look.

It’s a funny little camera. Very capable in some ways, very stripped-down in others.

Most Fujifilm cameras are built around dials and nostalgia. The Fujifilm X-S20 isn’t. It has a normal mode dial, a deep grip and a flip-out screen. It’s Fuji’s camera for people who want Fuji color and Fuji lenses without the retro controls, and who shoot as much video as stills.

Released in mid-2023 at $1,299 for the body, it upgraded the popular X-S10 in the places that mattered: a much bigger battery, the newer X-Processor 5, better autofocus and a serious jump in video.

The Fujifilm X-T5 is a camera for people who like holding a camera. Shutter speed dial on top. ISO dial on top. Exposure compensation dial on top. You can set everything before you turn it on, and you can read your settings at a glance with the camera switched off. Fuji went back to that classic layout with the X-T5 after the X-T4 drifted toward video, and photographers noticed.

It came out in late 2022 and has been one of Fujifilm’s best sellers since. A successor, the X-T6, has been the subject of rumors through 2026. Until it lands in shops in numbers, the X-T5 remains the photographer’s X-mount camera to buy.

The Fujifilm X-T50 takes the best part of the X-T5, its 40.2MP X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor, and puts it in a smaller, lighter, cheaper body. Fuji launched it in May 2024 at $1,399 for the body, and it weighs about 438 grams with battery and card. It also swaps the ISO dial for something new: a dedicated film simulation dial on top.

That dial tells you who it’s for. People who want to pick a look and shoot, and who care more about the feel of their photos than chasing specs.

No camera of the last five years had a launch quite like the Fujifilm X100VI. Announced in February 2024, it sold out almost everywhere and stayed hard to find for months. Social media did most of the marketing. People who had never owned a “real” camera wanted this one.

It’s easy to be cynical about that. Don’t be. Under the hype is a very good camera.

The X100VI is a fixed-lens compact with a 23mm f/2 lens, which gives the field of view of a 35mm lens on full frame. Classic street and travel framing. The body is the same small, retro shape the X100 line has used since 2011. What changed is inside: the 40.2MP X-Trans 5 HR sensor from the X-T5, and in-body image stabilization for the first time in an X100.

The Nikon Z50II is a small, cheap camera with an expensive brain. Launched in November 2024 at about $910 for the body, it takes the Expeed 7 processor and subject-detection autofocus from Nikon’s flagship Z8 and Z9 and puts them in a compact APS-C body with a proper grip and a viewfinder.

That’s a big leap over the original Z50 from 2019, which was a nice camera with ordinary autofocus.

Entry-level full-frame cameras used to mean old technology at a lower price. The Nikon Z5II doesn’t play that game. Announced in April 2025 at $1,699 for the body, it gets the Expeed 7 processor and subject-detection autofocus from the Z8 and Z9, a back-side illuminated 24.5MP sensor, and one of the brightest viewfinders in its class.

The original Z5 from 2020 was a sensible budget camera with slow autofocus and cropped 4K. The Mark II is a much bigger jump than the name suggests.

The Nikon Z6III is the camera that made Nikon’s mid-range interesting again. The Z6 and Z6II were good, solid, a little dull. The Z6III borrows speed and video power from the Z8 and Z9 and puts them in a body that costs a lot less.

The trick is the sensor. It’s a 24.5MP “partially stacked” chip, the first of its kind in a full-frame camera. Nikon put fast readout circuitry along the top and bottom edges of the sensor, which gets you much of the speed of a fully stacked sensor at a lower cost. The result is less rolling shutter, a faster electronic shutter and a camera that feels quick in your hands.

When Nikon launched the Z9 in late 2021, it was the flagship that brought Nikon back into the mirrorless race. Then in 2023 Nikon took almost everything inside it, removed the built-in vertical grip, and sold it as the Z8 for about $2,000 less. Same 45.7MP stacked sensor. Same processor. Same autofocus. Roughly 30 percent smaller.

It has been one of the most loved cameras of the decade ever since.

The Nikon Zf looks like a film camera from the early 1980s. It’s styled after the Nikon FM2, with brass-topped dials for shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation and a little window showing the shutter speed. People stop you in the street to ask about it.

Underneath the costume, it’s thoroughly modern. Nikon put the Expeed 7 processor and subject-detection autofocus from the Z8 and Z9 in it, plus the best stabilization Nikon had shipped at the time. That combination made it one of the surprise hits of 2023, and it’s still a favorite with photographers who want a camera that feels good to use.

The GH line has been the video shooter’s Micro Four Thirds camera for over a decade. The Panasonic Lumix GH7, released in mid-2024, is the most complete version yet. It records ProRes RAW inside the camera, it finally has phase-detection autofocus, and with an optional module it records 32-bit float audio. On paper it reads like a cinema camera. It costs about $2,200.

The sensor is a 25.2MP back-side illuminated Four Thirds chip. That’s smaller than full frame or APS-C, and it’s the GH7’s main tradeoff. In exchange you get a compact system, small lenses and deep focus that’s easy to control, which run-and-gun shooters love.

For years the Lumix pitch came with an asterisk. Great video, great color, great stabilization… and autofocus that pulsed and hunted. The Panasonic Lumix S5II, launched in early 2023, removed the asterisk. It was the first Lumix with phase-detection autofocus, and it turned Panasonic’s full-frame line into a real option for people who don’t want to babysit their focus.

That one change made the S5II one of the best-value full-frame cameras of the last five years. It launched at about $2,000, below the Canon R6 II and Sony A7 IV, and street prices have only come down since.

The Panasonic Lumix S9 is a full-frame camera that doesn’t look like one. It’s small, flat and colorful, with no viewfinder and a rear screen that flips around. Panasonic launched it in May 2024 at $1,499 for the body, aiming it at people who shoot social content on phones and want full-frame quality without full-frame bulk.

It takes the 24.2MP full-frame sensor and phase-detect autofocus from the excellent Lumix S5II, then strips the body down to about 486 grams with battery and card.

Sony’s A6000 series ran for almost a decade on the same small rangefinder-style body. Each update added a bit. None of them fixed the basics. The Sony A6700, released in mid-2023, finally did. Bigger grip, bigger battery, a fully flipping screen and the AI-based autofocus from Sony’s full-frame bodies. It’s the APS-C camera Sony fans waited years for.

It costs around $1,400 for the body, which puts it against the Fujifilm X-S20 and Canon’s R7. It’s smaller than both, and for hybrid shooters it’s the more complete package.

The Sony A7 IV came out in late 2021 and quietly became the default answer to “which full-frame camera should I buy?” Wedding shooters bought it. YouTubers bought it. People who just wanted one camera that did everything bought it. Five years on, with the A7 V now on shelves, the A7 IV hasn’t stopped making sense. It’s simply cheaper.

That’s the story here. The camera didn’t change. The value did.

The Sony A7 IV spent four years as the default full-frame hybrid. Its successor, the Sony A7 V, was announced in December 2025 at $2,899 for the body, and it goes straight at the two things people complained about most: the cropped 4K at 60p and the slow sensor readout.

Resolution stays at 33MP. What changed is the sensor design. It’s a partially stacked back-side illuminated chip, the same general idea Nikon used in the Z6III, with fast readout circuitry added at the edges. That speeds everything up without the price of a fully stacked sensor.

The Sony A7C II answers a simple question. What if you took the A7 IV, kept the sensor, upgraded the autofocus and squeezed it into a body not much bigger than an APS-C camera? You get a full-frame travel camera that fits in a small sling bag. Sony released it in 2023 alongside a high-resolution sibling, the 61MP A7CR.

The first A7C, from 2020, was a good idea held back by an awkward viewfinder, one control dial and older autofocus. The Mark II fixes most of that. It weighs about 514 grams with battery and card, roughly 150 grams less than the A7 IV.

Sony’s A7R line has always been about resolution. The Sony A7R V, launched in October 2022 at $3,899 for the body, kept the 61MP back-side illuminated sensor from the A7R IV and spent its upgrades on everything around it. The biggest one was a dedicated AI processing unit for autofocus, a first for Sony.

That chip is why the A7R V mattered. A 61MP camera is unforgiving: a slightly missed eye that looks fine at 24MP looks soft at 61. Better focus means more usable frames at full resolution.

The Sony ZV-E10 II is a camera made for people who point it at themselves. No viewfinder, a flip-out screen, a big built-in microphone and a body small enough to hold at arm’s length all day. Sony released it in July 2024 at $999 for the body, and it’s the update the hugely popular original ZV-E10 needed.

The first ZV-E10 had a tiny battery, 8-bit video and an old sensor that wobbled when you panned. The Mark II fixes all three.