In this video, I want to answer the questions, Is the Sony A7Cii worth the extra cash over the A6700 for photos? The images must be so much better to validate the extra amount you pay for the full frame sensor and the camera’s capability. But is it the only factor? How about the handling? How do the cameras compare in different photography situations like landscapes, events, wildlife, portraits, etc? What are the lens options between these 2 cameras?  Isn’t the APSC camera A6700 ending up cheaper and lighter with APSC lenses as a whole? So, shouldn’t that be a better option even if the images are even comparable? And before answering any of these, Why do we even compare these 2 cameras in the 1st place?

To understand this, I want to put these cameras side by side. Look at them. They are almost the same size. When it comes to portability A7cii weighs just over 20 grams more than the A6700 but having a full frame sensor, it makes it a much more compelling option to consider. This photo comparison is just one of the comparison videos I made between the Sony A6700 and the Sony A7Cii and you can find other comparison videos in the playlist in my channel. 

Before we get into the photo comparisons between these 2 cameras, I would like you to identify which photos are shot with Sony A6700 with the Viltrox 27mm F1.2 lens and the Sony A7Cii with the Sony 35mm F1.8 Full frame lens. One of them is Camera A and the other is Camera B. It is really a very close match up in terms of the focal length and aperture equivalence. I also want you to ignore the lens imperfections and focus on the noise and the feel of the images because that is what the people do when you deliver the images. 

Before we get into which one is shot using which, let’s talk about the similarities and the differences between them.

These 2 cameras are very similar and it makes me wonder why Sony did not use the same body for both these cameras. On the outside, As I mentioned in another video, I prefer the amount of dials and buttons on the Sony A7Cii while I prefer the grip of the Sony A6700. 

The reason being, the Sony A7Cii has 3 dials which allow me to configure aperture, Shutter speed and ISO on each dial but in the a6700, it only has 2 dials for aperture and shutter speed. Let me remind you, this from a photography perspective, and the photographer in me is talking about how he feels using these 2 cameras. 

The ISO dials are available in both these cameras but you will have to move your thumb away from the gripping position, click the button to enter the “ISO change menu” and then you can turn the dial to change the ISO. It involves a lot of steps and it takes away my focus on composing and exposing the subject. That’s why I love the fact that there is a dedicated ISO dial on the top of the Sony A7cii where my thumb rests to quickly change the ISO. It makes manual shooting so much easier. 

There are 3 custom buttons on the A6700 which is one more than the A7cii but I find that the custom button placement on the A6700 is not practical and it is difficult to access them. Usually I set one on the above to the focus area selection and the other one to the White balance and the bottom one is to switch between the silent or electronic shutter mode and mechanical shutter mode. As I can change the white balance from the screen and I set the WB before filming, I changed the custom button on the thumb grip on the A6700 to switch between the viewfinder and the monitor. 

This comes in handy while shooting videos as the A6700 is my primary video camera. I will explain more on why I prefer the A6700 over the A7cii for videos in a future video.

So, I prefer the custom button placement more on the A7Cii as it is more accessible. 

When it comes to the grip, Sony A6700’s grip is only second to the grip of the Sony A9iii in the sony ecosystem. It is even better than the Sony FX30 or FX3’s grip. It stays well in my giant hands for the size of the camera. The A7Cii’s grip on the other hand is very shallow and small for me even to hold the camera. But it can be resolved with a grip from Smallrig for the A7Cii but nothing can add an extra dial on top of the A6700. So, for usability, the win goes to the A7Cii with a grip. 

Let’s start with similarities between these 2 cameras shall we? There are loads and loads functions that are the same and here is the list of them. If you want to see everything, you can pause the video and take a screenshot of these tables.

Firstly both these cameras are obviously Sony E-mount interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras. 

They both have a single SD card slot which can accept up to UHS-II compliant V90 cards. I use Sandisk 128GB UHS-ii V90 cards with write speeds up to 260MB/s and read speeds up to 300MB/s.

Both do not have pixel-shift multi shooting. So there is no high-resolution photo capture capability in both these cameras unlike the Sony A7Rv. 

The color temperature range in both these cameras are the same as well going from 2500K to 9900K. 

Both can accept the same NP-FZ100 batteries. 

Both these cameras have the same operating temperature from 0-40 deg C or 32-104 deg F. 

Both of these cameras are also weather sealed, however, the level of weather sealing might be different.