Nikon ZRvsSony a6700: Which Camera Should You Buy?

The Nikon ZR uses a 24.5 MP full-frame sensor, while the Sony a6700 is built around a 26 MP APS-C chip. That extra surface area is why the Nikon reaches a native 51,200 ISO against the Sony's 32,000, and why it holds color better when light runs out.

For anyone shooting events, night streets or dim interiors, the full-frame Nikon simply needs less light to look clean. The Sony gives up some of that headroom, and in exchange its smaller sensor allows a much smaller body. If you never shoot above ISO 3200, the gap matters far less than the size difference.

This is where the two split hardest. The Nikon ZR records 6K and can write ProRes RAW and N-RAW internally, with a claimed 15 stops of dynamic range in log. The Sony tops out at 4K, and it has no raw video option at all.

If you grade footage or want the flexibility of raw in post, the Nikon is the only one of the two that offers it. Sony answers with 120 fps 4K, but only when you accept a crop; full-width 4K stops at 60p. That makes the a6700 the better slow-motion camera, and the ZR the better one for high-resolution, high-latitude work.

The Sony a6700 has a 2.36 M-dot electronic viewfinder with 0.7x magnification. The Nikon ZR lists no viewfinder at all, and instead gives you a 4-inch rear screen at 3.07 M dots.

That trade is the real fork in the road. A viewfinder is what makes handheld stills shooting stable and framing possible in bright sun, and the Sony has one. The Nikon's larger, sharper panel is easier to compose on from a gimbal or tripod and easier to check focus on. For handheld photography, the Sony wins; for rigged video work, the Nikon's screen is the more useful tool.

The Sony a6700 shoots 11 fps with its mechanical shutter, and its subject detection covers humans, animals, birds, insects, cars, trains and planes. The Nikon ZR reaches 20 fps electronically, adds motorcycles to its subject list, and offers a high-resolution pixel-shift mode for stills.

The Nikon's faster electronic burst and pixel-shift make it the stronger pick for product, architecture and landscape detail work. The Sony's mechanical shutter and its published 4,000 1/s top speed suit flash and fast handheld action, where rolling shutter is a concern. Neither maker publishes a sensor readout figure, so the electronic-shutter comparison can only go so far on paper.

The Sony a6700 weighs 493 g and measures 122 x 69 x 75.1 mm, so it is the smaller and lighter of the two, and Sony rates its battery at 570 shots. The Nikon ZR is 630 g and wider and taller, but much thinner front to back at 49 mm.

The Nikon's advantages are elsewhere: two card slots instead of one, a dust- and drip-resistant body rating, and USB-C charging on both. Two slots matter if you shoot paid work where a card failure ends the day. The Sony's lighter body and published battery figure matter more if the camera travels with you constantly.

The Nikon ZR shoots 20 fps electronically against the Sony's 11 fps, so it fires more frames per second. It also detects motorcycles, which the Sony's list does not include, and it captures a pre-burst of 0 s, meaning nothing is buffered before you press the shutter.

On paper the Nikon's higher frame rate favors action. In practice the Sony's 120 fps 4K and 11 fps mechanical shutter are the safer bet for fast panning, since electronic shutters can skew moving subjects and neither maker publishes readout speed. For stills of fast sport, weigh the Nikon's frame rate against the Sony's mechanical shutter.