D5500 Review vs Nikon D3300, Canon 70D & Sony a6000: Portraits, Landscapes & Sports 

📷Nikon D5500 on Amazon help.tc/d5500 📷Nikon D3300 on Amazon help.tc/d3300 📷Canon 70D on Amazon help.tc/70d 📷Sony a6000 on Amazon help.tc/a6000

D5500, D3300 and 70D all shoot around 5-7 fps, while the a6000 does 11fps. So the Sony camera autofocus system has to process 2X the amount of photos. I'd love to see the results of the test done with the Sony drive speed set to mid instead of high which should be around 6fps. Seems like that would be a more apples to apples comparison that way. I suspect it will get a lot more in focus if it's taking half as many, or maybe it will be even worse, be interesting to see.

why is it that when people do comparisons that they use pro lenses as opposed to the kit lenses? This is a huge disservice to those who are trying to decide which camera to buy. Most people cannot afford the lenses you use.

Should have done this using only kit lenses to be fair to the actual intended consumer.

I really appreciate the amount of hard work you put behind creating such videos.

so jealous of the amount of snow you guys get. And what is that above the snow. OMG is that a blue sky! holy crap. its like paradise.

@a6k Writing times are much shorter with fast sd cards :) I am using sony's 90mbs write-speed card, and I can review bursts of shots pretty much immediately after.

Tony, in my experience the eye autofocus on the A6000 works quite well. It may eliminate some of the focus issues you had in the studio with the small spot focus accuracy or missing focus on the eye with only face detection. To use eye autofocus you simply set it as a custom menu button. I use the AEL button. Once the camera detects a face, simply hold down the button you set it to (AEL button placement works well) and you will actively see the camera switch focus from face detection to eye detection. I'm curious to hear if this improves your experience and accuracy in the studio

Thanks for the great video guys, I've also experienced hunting on low light with the a6000, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. I was using the 50mm 1.8 with the updated firmware. I would pick the A6000 again, but the D5500 would be my choice if I wanted a DSLR, looks fantastic.

The low light performance of the D5500 is amazing!!! Look at how clean it looked during the sports/ISO test. The colors also seemed to be unaffected by the ISO.

I really like your camera reviews. I seen a lot of videos but yours is the most impartial and fair. When you are reviewing, i dont get the impression that you favor one brand and i like it. Great job !

Thank you for the video. It helped me make up my mind and go with the D5500. Awesome camera. Great videos and a good book.

I was really amazed by the quality of the video and explanation. For a newcomer, you did wonders in let me clearly see the difference between all the cameras I came across BestBuy the other day. I was ready to buy a Nikon3300 but after seeing the touchscreen in action that made me think twice on the long run. I would love to hear if a camera body is something you usually keep for years to come if this is a hobby or if it would go away fast. Other than that, I am certainly a subscriber and likely soon a buyer of the books too :-)

You do know that the a6000 has three different speeds for continuous shooting. Lo, Med and Hi. To set it you push the left side of the rear dial. Also why you are shooting studio portraits @ 11 FPS is beyond me. Your other cameras would be buffering to if they were able to shoot that fast. The a6000 is an awesome little camera if you know how to use it properly.

Thank you guys for the great videos, they are very informative and they helped me decide what to buy for my first camera!

Good stuff as always! As someone who has been considering the 70D and a6000 for a while now, I appreciate this comparison.

Another great video thank you, I think you should compare the Nikon D7100 to the Canon 70D... Both are just under 1000$ at B.H

As an amateur photographer, I find the Sony A6000 to be fairly easy to use and very helpful (features) when learning about photography. I've played with the Nikon D5100 previously (bought it for my ex-wife who rarely taps into its full potential). Since using and learning about the features on the A6000, it's made it easier for me to use the D5100. In my limited experience comparison, the A6000 is better with the quality and "burst" shots, as long as the auto focus catches focus of course. It seems that I can take more shots with the A6000, but I'm finding that I'll probably get a better/higher "quality-to-shots" ratio with the D5100, alhtough I haven't done the math on this yet. I will easily take 500 photos in an hour with my Sony, but probably only half of them are work looking at - that's probably just my own personal learning curve though. As for the Nikon, I'll only take about 100 photos in an hour, but it's slower and I'm less interested in it . . . and I'm not sure how many of those photos would be good quality. I still love the Sony A6000 for the following reasons: 1) I'm a Sony fan; 2) It's lightweight and portable, yet take awesome quality photos; 3) Almost makes me look like a pro out of the box (or at least makes me feel like it); 4) Takes extremely fast burst shots in the Hi muli-shot mode, extremely helpful with action shots and what they call "image stacking"; 5) It's easier to clean the sensor than a DSLR, although that's not too tough anyway; 6) Easy to send photos to my phone, tablet, computer, or even directly to the internet via FB.

This is my first time here and I have to tell you guys I loved this review. Excellent job.

WOW... super awesome review. I quickly know which 1st "high performance" camera i should buy after watching this video. Appreciate the research knowledge a lot. Thanks a lot.

Why does Tony smile during Nikon and frown during Canon?

Thanks! Your video makes me decide to go for D3300.

Oh many thanks Tony & Chelsea. Liked!

I absolutely love your videos. You are not too serious to the point it's boring, but you aren't dumbing it down to the point where it appears presumptuous. Best of all, you showcase things in a very practical, often satirical manner that adds a human element. This not only makes me actually seek your videos, only. It also entices me to feel involved synergistically with what you say. Thank you for these videos. One of the best on RU-vid.

They purposely made the Sony a6000 suck. Continuous mode is for wild life and single shot af is for portraits. They should of changed the creative style to natural or portrait, and put single shorting drive mode. I own a sony a6000 and its a magnificent camera.

Tony, one thing I have found with Sony mirrorless cameras is the entire system relies on Sony 'tuning' everything correctly. Out of the box my a6000 was horrible, missed focus, noise levels were too high and other odds and ends. I sent my copy back to Sony for repair and sent specific photos on a DVD for them to analyze. When I got my a6000 back it was stunning. The AF system is dead accurate and although I didn't do any quantitative tests, it worked so well post repair that I forgot about 'testing' and just shoot the thing. I will say one thing. Shoot into veiling flare, like the sun where it casts a pink/purple hue over the frame and watch the a6000 fail miserably with green/pink pinstripes all over the image. This is an actual flaw of the a6000 sensor. Other than that one problem I very much enjoy shooting my a6000. Oh one last thing, make sure your camera AND lens have the latest sony firmware on them. Initial firmwares do not perform like the current ones.

I've been debating for some time on which of this cameras to purchase this video is going to make my decision a whole lot easier ! Thank you so much

Great Video. I'm really thinking about taking up photography. Your video was very informative. I have my eye on the Nikon D5500. Looking to purchase soon. Thanks for all your help.

You should start doing low-light tests.

Yay for the Canon :) i love my 70D but I do hope that canon improves their sensors soon. Can't wait for the 5DSr review when it comes out :)

Hello Tony & Chelsea Northup, I have a question, does shutter count matter for mirrorless cameras? and thank you for your videos i really enjoyed them.

Wow! Thanks for doing this video! I think it will help with my next camera body purchase!

Tony and Chelsea.... Just another great product review, I really appreciate your format and that you both add input and perspective. Its so refreshing to see your family approach with such quality content throughout the video. Whether I am interested in the product or not, I always learn something from your videos. Thanks for being the leader in our space.

I bought Sony a6000

For those who want an ultra-detailed demo and comparison this is superb. VERY useful. Thanks.

Wow, the video was really nice. I love how you 2 where taking turns. And how you used a moving subject. I won't use a DSLR for sporting events. But my pick is the D5500 for my first DLSR. Thanks for the amazing video!

The A6000 has Eye-detection and can specifically focus on the eyes - you prob would have much faster focus results

Only thing you missed is the video capabilities and canon 70d it's amazing live view autofocus and touch screen does much better job at it....a6000 only problem there is no touchscreen

i really loved your videos sir...you are awsome

I like your videos a lot ! I just bought D5500 with 18-55 and 55-300mm,and i am still learning,but your chanel is helping a lot,thank you.Like.

On sensor phase detect is slower and less accurate than the traditional phase detect auto focus. Due to the way it functions it needs a higher bit depth ADC to get the same accuracy which they do not tend to use, thus it is common to see on sensor phase detect being assisted by contrast detect auto focus. They also have a lower signal to noise ratio, thus more error prone, so while the combo is overall faster than contrast detect auto focus, it does not compete with the accuracy of a quality traditional phase detect system.

I really don't understand why you didn't use the a6000 correctly. In the studio portret shot situation you could have used eye af by simply assigning it to the center button to automatically focus on the eye. In terms of the action photos. I have even seen comparisons with the 7dmk2 where the a6000 performs a lot better. Talking about the video from Gary Fong. Why didn't you try the lock on af mode?

Very helpful video, thank you so much!

great video as always ! should it be the d5300 or the d5500 ? is there much difference to consider the upgrade or might as well use the extra bit of money for a lens or an accessory? thanks

Who shots portraits at 11 fps?

if the a6000 just had a touch screen it'd be game, set, match for me.

Bought the D5500 largely based on your reviews. Love it...and I like the Ledge Light photo @ 1:15. See it almost every day.

Well glad I bought a d5500 promo package, can't wait to use that tilt screen

the Sony lenses are super expensive so I'm gonna get some vintage Minolta lenses instead :)))

Could you please do a similar video but focusing on video instead of photography?

Tony's beautiful brown eyes eyes reminded me that I'd left my cup of tea in the kitchen. Thanks guys. Night saved!

Very good review love it

There is a button for doing auto eye focus on the a6000.. but yes it should just do this as default.

i am surprised skin tones was not mentioned from the different cameras....i did not know tony has yellow hair.....i have a sony nex-c3 for my travel cam and was looking to upgrade it with a camera with a viewfinder, the 6000 was the obvious choice but after downloading lots of raw files i decided for me that the canon 100D/sl1 will be better for me with canons better skin tones and colors probably better AF in low light ..another deciding factor was lenses i wanted a sharp compact 24mm and nobody has one for the sony front to back my 100D with the 24mm F2.8 stm is more compact than my sony nex with its 17-55 kit lens EDIT Tony you have changed something.. the image of you with yellow hair is not hera now

Interesting video. I have a 2012 Nikon D7000 (which has many similar internals to the D5500 and D3300). I look forward to any comparisons that you do of the newer Nikon D5600 etc.. against the opposition from Sony, Canon etc...

I have the A6000 and I have been seriously let down by the autofocus in lowish light. A great review.

that Sony A6000's burst... :D wow

I don't get the Nikon marketing point. D5500 costs nearly 850$in my country. Having this sum of money you can buy semi-pro D7100 which IMO is much better than D5xxx. Also another great variant for beginners is to but D5300 for 600$ and with the rest of 200-250$ but a prime nikkor lens (35mm f/1.8g or 50mm f/1.8g) which is more important than body. D5xxx series is aimed to be bought by beginners, who in most cases doesn't have 850$. If Nikon wants this to happen the price should be 600$ for a new kit set , otherwise it won't be popular. As for me, i have D5100 with 35 mm f/1.8g and 85 mm f/1.8g and i'm not intended to buy even D5300 because D5100 sensor is still good and can compete with newer sensors :)

just started getting into photography. awesome video. awesome channel

Awesome thank you for beautiful videos! And very educating as well - love it and THANK YOU again! :) :) :) :)

I love Paul Reiser 4 lyfe

The smaller size of the Sony is rather meaningless once you put any decent sized lens on it.

I love the way you explain ...

Thanks Tony, I been thinking an al month if I hace to go for a 70D o 7D (Landscape, Weddings). I'm going for the 7D. Cheers (Sorry my english)

Question, why did you not include the D5300 in your tests? It's also under a grand, ( last I checked) has the tilt screen, and more AF points than the 3300. The D5500 intrigues me, though size eventually wins. I bought the a6000, because you can use any of those "cheaper lenses" on it, as well as the e-mount, smaller lenses with a simple (meta-bones?) adapter. Image quality is also very good. Other reviews indicate the a6000 is just as good, if not better than dslr's for action, although more than once, you've indicated the hit rate is far fewer. That much is clearly debatable. Other tests have indicated a much higher hit rate than yours. In my opinion, ILC eventually wins this fight, if it hasn't already. Quite a few "pro's", have already defected to ILC. Size alone for many of us, is enough on it's own to make the switch. Add in image quality, and very easy uploads to social media, and you have at the very minimum, a formidable alternative. A mostly objective review for the dslr die hard,I'll give you that. The 5500, despite it's size over ILC, is still worth a look. Nice job.

Gasp! Tony you admitted you like the (1980s style) top LCD!

Hello guys. I always enjoy watching your videos. Very entertaining and jam packed with useful info. What kind of fluid head do you guys have mounted on the tripod at the 7:40 mark ? Thanks.

Very great review.

Drop test?

the best is the a6000 😜

I'm glad I was able to come across this review of the 3 different cameras as I was interested in the Alpha 6000 from Sony because of it's rapid fire shooting - my style of photography is street or street documentary. As I see it, this type of photography can pose many types of shooting forms from dead stop to super fast paced... This is why I was keen on the A6000 because of its rapid fire however as Tony mentioned, NOT every shot came in fully focused and that could pose a problem as one never gets to rewind time in order to retake the photo... This leaves me to ask - would you still recommend the Alpha 6000 or perhaps the A5100 which has touch screen but physically smaller in size or the Canon D70? Thanks!

14:45 excellent use of marketing your book. Brilliant work.

I need to apologize to Mr.Northupand and must say that I am very sorry. I am one of the a6000 owners that accused him in the previous video of a6000 review (vs EM10). I shoot a very difficult subject: dogs running. After 1 year with the a6000 and almost 15.000 clicks I can confirm that it cannot focus as fast as a DSLR. I bought recently a secondhand d3300. The d3300+kit lens is much more accurate than the a6000+kit lens (tryied also the 50mm f1/8). I tested them with the same settings (removing any setting that could delay the Sony such as face recognition) at bright sunlight with 1/1250 shutter and f7.1 and still the d3300 was way ahead. Also the Sony kit lens cannot resolve enough detail for a 24MP sensor while the Nikon can. With this data I do not trust Sony anymore and I am not going at any case to buy their expensive 70-200 f/4 lens (it was the next lens I was going to buy). Now I try to sell my Sony equipment, buy some lenses for Nikon, and hopefully next year I will be able to buy a d7200. No more mirrorless for me. I am going to build a solid DSLR system that will serve me well. So, once again, I am very sorry Mr.Northup.

i don't know that anderson cooper is a photographer

Very good review, I got the answer to my questions, and I will now move on! Thank you.

Thanks so much for this review! It was by far the best one when comparing the D5500 and a6000. I'm stuck in between the two for my first "nice" camera. I'm really interested in capturing moments and artistically inclined photos. I'm loving the d5500 because it's reliable and has excellent quality -- but the size and technology of the a6000 is also appealing.

[troll] NO, TONY AND CHELSEA! YOU'RE WRONG! The a6000 is far better at everything that has to do with everything photography, you just don't know how to use the a6000 and unlock all of it's power! You need to talk to Gary Fong and Jason Lanier to learn how to truly get the most out of these cameras. the a6000 destroys DSLRs and kills the need for full-frame sensors FOREVER!!![/troll] lol ;-)

You are brother and sister?

Nice review! Would you suggest me the Nikon D5500 or Canon 70D?

Hi Chelsea & Tony ! Could you please review Pentax K-3 vs Sony A-77 Mark II vs Nikon D7200 vs Canon 7D Mark II as Portraits, Landscapes,Sports Cameras ???

I like your review, you observe every detail for each camera without taking sides. +1 follow

Amazing video thank you

Excellent vid here Tony. I am getting the 3300 soon.

Good stuff. I carry an a6000 because it is small and I love it. But I would like to get my hands on a Canon 70D.

Your videos are really nice, one of my fav photography channels

A6000 has face recognition PLUS focus on eyes option! ALPHA , mirror-less, crush them all!!! I'm so happy with my a6000, actually with big lenses i carry it in my backpack, BUT I have an option to mount low profile lens (like kit lens) and put it in my pocket. Great, isn't it ?

lovely family T&C... I went to buy sony a6000 but i got a D5500 kit instead for $590 AU... real good deal i feel... when i picked up both the cameras D5500 just felt right..

Great video, thank you.

I love my d5500. broke one,(fell down a cliff) coulda bought anything else in this price group..bought a d5500 again. d5500 is good for urbex..love the sanitarium!

Thank you for your GREAT videos, Tony and Chelsea! You always make informative videos that actually show us what you're doing in real time, with examples, and everything is always very high quality. Really, the editing work is so pro too. These cameras have been on my radar for a while too, along with the D7100. I would like to request that you do a video talking about the video capability of these cameras. It would be great to have a camera that takes BOTH: great stills AND has functional stress free video; for creation of RU-vid videos. I know all of these DSLRs could do decent video when the subject is sitting still, but once the camera or the person leans forward or steps to the side... Focusing hell could break loose! Here's the big pros+cons I've learned about these 3 cameras (and still cannot choose) (I have no interest in sports/high speed photography) -Nikon lacks aperture control in live view mode (mechanically this is impossible for the DX lens mount. Nikon wont add this with a software update) -Nikon hunts for focusing a lot (contrast detection) so it wont auto focus well if you're moving for video... -Arguably has the BEST image quality of the 3 cameras in question (in video and for stills). But is it THAT much better in portraiture/low-light/videos? -Sony a6000 has issues with overheating. It may do one 20 minute video, but the next video will probably cause it to shut down for heat reasons. -No microphone port -Battery life is inferior in this unit compared to the DSLRs -Affordable body, but Expensive lenses! Want cheap lenses from other makes? The Metabones adapter for this is $200+ and will take away your cameras auto focus capabilities so you still lose out. -The Canon 70D's sensor DOES NOT produce AS nice image quality as the sensors in the other 2 (Sony in both!) for stills. How big is that difference? Damn I'm just not sure. DXO mark feels like a placebo to make deciding on cameras more difficult. - The 70D is considerably bigger/heavier than the Nikon and the Sony -But the 70D uses "phase detection" (not contrast detection) so it AUTO FOCUSES amazingly for video. No hunting back and forth! Could this be the video deal breaker? - But again, are the stills image quality inferior to the other 2? Seems like thats the case everywhere I look, unless you're in a Canon forum (where you will be lynched for not worshiping the 70D) And last but not least... Would we be better off looking at a Panasonic GH3 for the best of both worlds (portraiture/low light and Video) Sorry for the small essay. I don't expect a detailed response to ANY of this, but those facts put together are what makes me unable to decide on anything. Just wanted to share what may be going through a viewers head! Side note: I went to the store and ergonomically in my medium sized hands, the D5500>D70>>D6000.

Good video as always

Nice way to compare them!

Very easy to watch you both doing each comparison, the video work was nicely done! One day soon I will make a switch to mirrorless, preferably I like the Fuji line. Watching someone like Damien Lovegrove who made a complete switch to Fuji, shows just how incredible the results can be with smaller mirrorless cameras. There's a lot said recently with the new Sony's, but there are some quirks, and I'm not too sure about the color results I've seen? Dave Dugdale for example has just a made a complete turnabout from Canon gear, but if there is one thing he is noticing is...the color reproduction with Canon (video) is spot on, whereas the Sony (video) has to be played with in post production. Now that's something you never hear about with the Fuji cameras, however I'm referring to still images. Presently I have the Canon 70D. And for sure with a very close look the image quality may be somewhat softer. However it is the one camera that really is very capable in both video and stills, so this is the one reason I think it is such a great camera! It seems the mirrorless cameras excel in either video or stills...but not both, and this would be a very important factor in deciding whether or not to purchase one yet for me. Having the Canon 70D at my side is like having two cameras in one! Anyways your productions are great to watch. Perhaps in the future you could do some comparisons with the Fuji x100t fixed lens, and the Fuji xt1 camera body and lens. Thanks!

thank you tony and chelsea i love your tutorials and reviews pls i will like to know how to set the bracketing on my d5300 instead of shooting directly with the HDR setting,also will like to know what software to use for HDR.

thanks to those who made this video to be useful for those looking for specialization in this area .

Hey Tony. Im planning to get the D5500 for some semi pro use. Im confused with the choice of lenses though. Id be doing mostly portrait and macro.. along with a few landscapes. Really confused with the lens combination I should get. .. either from Nikon or other third party companies. Im also on a very very tight budget.. so anything exceeding 600$ would be a "NO NO" for me. Got any suggestions?

Great job thanks!

Love your channel

hi @tony ... ur videos are so very knowledge ....though i do not have a camera rt now...but i am planning to hav one by d end of ds year....m little confused b/w d 5200 ,5300,5500.... whch one wud u prefer for landscape/outdoor n at d same time indoor shoots ...d former two seems to hav quite similar tech specs .... plz help ! ...thanks...

Great video, guys. You seem to have dropped the pro-Canon bias you had in the past, which is good to see. I found this a very good review, close enough to real-life shooting, very relevant for anyone buying a new camera. There will always be people who don't like certain aspects of the review, but you cannot please anyone, especially the Sony fans who don't like their favorite brand criticized :)