The best cameras for photography in 2026: new cameras for wildlife, landscapes, street and more

In this guide, I’m keeping things simple and counting off the best cameras for photography you can buy in 2026. While modern cameras are all expected to be great at both photography and video, not all users are interested in both functions, and if you’re someone who primarily shoots stills and leaves the video functionality of your camera well alone, this guide is for you.

So, what makes a great camera for photographers? Well, that’s going to depend on what you like to shoot and where you want to publish your photos – so while I have suggested a few top all-rounders to start with, I’ve also offered picks for all the major genres of photography, including landscape, portrait, wildlife, street, sport and more. I’ve also made sure to cater this list to all budgets, with affordable options as well as the high-end stuff.

Every camera on this list has been fully tested and reviewed by our team – many by yours truly – and I’ve only included cameras on this list that I think are genuinely worth their asking price, high or low. If you need more choice, we also have a guide to the best cameras for beginners. If budget is a stretch, I’d recommend taking a look at our list of the best cameras under $500/£500. Otherwise, read on as I count off the best cameras for photographers!

The best cameras for photography: our quick list

• Best full-frame camera for photography: Nikon Z5II – Buy now
• Best APS-C camera for photography: Fujifilm X-T5 – Buy now
• Best budget camera for photography: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV – Buy now
• Best camera for wildlife photography: Nikon Z8 – Buy now
• Best camera for portrait photography: Canon EOS R5 Mark II – Buy now
• Best camera for sports photography: Canon EOS R1 – Buy now
• Best camera for landscape photography: Sony A7R VI – Buy now
• Best camera for macro: OM System OM-1 Mark II – Buy now
• Best camera for street photography: Ricoh GR IV – Buy now
• Best camera for wedding photography: Canon EOS R6 Mark III – Buy now
• Best camera for travel photography: Fujifilm X-E5 – Buy now
• Best camera for underwater photography: OM-System Tough TG-7 – Buy now

Looking for the best deal on cameras for photography? Our ‘Buy now’ buttons are setup to automatically take you to the best prices, from trusted retailers. You’ll also find a list of other retailers below each camera, so you can find the right deal for you.

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Best full-frame camera for photography: Nikon Z5II

Specifications at a glance:

If you’re looking for a full-frame all-rounder for photography, the Nikon Z5II is the best bang for your buck you can get right now, and is our all-around number-one choice as a camera for photographers. An extremely reasonable asking price of $1696 / £1599 body-only gets you an extremely capable full-frame shooter, with sensibly laid-out controls that make it feel great to use. This is one of the best cameras I have reviewed recently – so good, in fact, that once I was done with my test unit, I desperately wanted to buy one.

Image quality is fantastic, obviously. Nikon knows what it’s doing with the Z series by this point, and the Nikon Z5II is capable of producing excellent, vivid, detailed images. The matrix metering gets things spot on pretty much every time, to the point where I’ve rarely if ever felt compelled to mess with the exposure compensation dial, and the Auto settings generally do a very good job across the board – settings like white balance can usually just be left alone.

The 24MP sensor practically has more than enough detail for most purposes, and delivers clean images throughout the majority of its sensitivity range. When shooting in low light, I was able to push up to ISO 12,800 and still get clean-looking images, and even settings as high as ISO 32,000 produced images that were useable with a little post-processing work.

Burst rates are highly respectable, with full-resolution raw files possible to capture at up to 15fps with the electronic shutter. Sure, Nikon’s more specialised cameras can go faster, but for the vast majority of photographers, 15fps is comfortably more than you need for basically any subject. The Z5II also benefits from superb autofocus, with a new faster processor enabling subject recognition, as well as dynamic-area and wide-area modes that can lock onto even the most challenging and erratically moving subjects. Stabilisation is also hugely effective, with up to 7.5 stops of effective compensation making it easy to use slower shutter speeds hand-held (though, of course, a steady hand is still needed).

I can’t think of a better-value camera in the full-frame mirrorless space right now. The Nikon Z5II is an astounding achievement, and any photographer who’s looking to achieve top-tier results without spending a fortune should put it at the top of their wishlist.

Read our full Nikon Z5II review.

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Best APS-C camera for photography: Fujifilm X-T5

Specifications at a glance:

Built for stills photographers through and through, the Fujifilm X-T5 is a magnificent machine. An APS-C mirrorless model and one of the crown jewels of the fabulous Fujifilm X system, this camera arrived to great acclaim among stills shooters. Priced at a level that pitches it towards enthusiasts, the Fujifilm X-T5 is nevertheless stuffed with enough high-end features to rival professional models – and of course, it produces fantastic images.

The key appeal of the X-T series has remained basically unchanged since the Fujifilm X-T1 – a combination of a powerful feature-set and tactile, dial-led controls that give the camera a retro, analogue-style feel to operate. The result is a machine that’s just fun to use – but despite its retro appearance, on the inside, the Fujifilm X-T5 is absolutely cutting-edge. It benefits from features like AI-powered subject detection, 5-axis in-body image stabilisation up to 7 stops and an electronic shutter with maximum speeds of up to 1/180,000sec.

Fully featured and fun to use, at a much more reasonable price than its pro-spec rivals, the Fujifilm X-T5 is the camera to beat for enthusiast photographers.

Fujifilm cameras, including the X-T5, are noted for the high quality of the JPEGs they produce. If you prefer to shoot in JPEG than in RAW for the immediacy and convenience, a Fujifilm camera like the X-T5 is a perfect choice as it gives you the best quality straight out of camera (that’s why Fujifilm topped our guide to the best camera brands for JPEGs). For extra style, you can also take advantage of Fujifilm’s Film Simulation modes to emulate the looks of classic film stocks.

If the X-T5 is out of your price range, then consider the more recent Fujifilm X-T50 – some say it’s a mini version of the X-T5. Following Fujifilm’s tradition of releasing slimmed-down versions of its flagship cameras, the X-T50 takes the imaging guts of the X-T5 and puts them in a smaller body. It lacks an ISO dial, has a smaller viewfinder and its screen doesn’t tilt in three directions – but it still takes the same amazing pictures as the X-T5.

Read our full Fujifilm X-T5 review

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Best budget camera for photography: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV

Specifications at a glance:

This tidy and tiny Micro Four Thirds camera is a fantastic beginner’s way in to mirrorless cameras, and comes at a bargain price, too. The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV is absolutely bursting with cool photography features, including a touchscreen interface, stylish Art Filters, and sophisticated Live Composite for long exposures. When we reviewed the camera, we almost ran out of time to try out all its features, there are so many to play with.

Using the Micro Four Thirds system means you’re working with a smaller sensor than APS-C cameras like the ones from Fujifilm. However, it does give you access to a huge catalogue of Micro Four Thirds lenses, those made by both Olympus and Panasonic (and others), and also the 2x crop factor gives you a good deal of extra reach, effectively transforming a 50mm lens into a 100mm one. One of my personal favourites is the affordable Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens, as it makes an excellent lens for portraits with blurred backgrounds.

Stylish and likeable, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV is an ideal mirrorless camera for beginner photographers on a budget, and those who just want a lovely little camera to use.

Read our Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV review

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Best camera for wildlife photography: Nikon Z8

Specifications at a glance:

A slimmed-down cousin to the professional flagship Nikon Z9, the Nikon Z8 is right up there with the best cameras you can buy for wildlife photography. Priced a little more favourably for enthusiasts, the Nikon Z8 is still an expensive camera to be sure (look out for offers!), but is worth it for those who can afford it. Super-fast burst-shooting speeds can be achieved even when shooting at the full-resolution of the 45.7MP sensor, in RAW format, which is going to help when you want to capture wildlife in crisp detail at speed. You’ll need to invest in expensive CFexpress cards to truly benefit from these dizzying speeds, the Z8 is unlike the Z9 in that it least gives you the option to use a cheaper SD card if you prefer.

The camera’s build feels rugged in the hand, perfectly suited to those long days out in the field tracking elusive wildlife subjects, and the control layout is intuitively designed.

Naturally, the fast burst mode wouldn’t matter if the Z8 didn’t have everything else it needed to nail the shot, but its AI-powered subject-detect autofocus is essentially cheat mode for wildlife photography. The tracking on the AF is also eerily good, being able to identify the most important subject in any frame and follow it around no matter where it moves. Image quality is also absolutely gorgeous in both JPEG and RAW. As we found in our review, the Z8 delivers brilliant detail in punchy images all the way up to ISO 25,600.

The Nikon Z8 is not the only camera well-suited to nature, however. Be sure to check our guide to the best cameras for wildlife photography for more excellent suggestions. If you want a similar camera to the Z9 without the sky-high price tag, try the Nikon Z5 II, or the APS-C Nikon Z50

Read our full Nikon Z8 review

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Best camera for portrait photography: Canon EOS R5 Mark ll

Specifications at a glance:

The Canon EOS R5 Mark II succeeds the six-year-old Canon EOS R5, with a huge array of updates and improvements. Launched in 2024 alongside the sports-focused Canon EOS R1, it’s designed to be a highly capable professional all-rounder, that can handle almost any task for either photography or video. It sports a 45MP sensor, can shoot at up to 30 frames per second, and record 8K video at 60fps. 

Like the Canon EOS R1, it is based around a concept that Canon calls ‘Accelerated Capture’. This means that they combine a stacked, backside-illuminated sensor with a DIGIC X processor that’s boosted by a new DIGIC Accelerator processor. This enables new autofocus features, faster video shooting, and generally more responsive operation.

Other major updates include Canon’s unique Eye Control Focus technology, as previously seen on the Canon EOS R3, and a built-in heat-dissipation pathway. The latter promises to fix the original EOS R5’s Achilles’ heel of overheating, which limited it to short video recording times at high resolution, and long recovery times.

Check what lenses are available for the Canon EOS R5 Mark ll in our guide to the best Canon RF mount lenses

Read our full Canon EOS R5 Mark ll review

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Best camera for sports photography: Canon EOS R1

Specifications at a glance:

This is an utterly remarkable camera that you almost certainly do not need to own. The Canon EOS R1 is an astounding sports camera. It’s capable of shooting 40fps bursts for up to 300 frames, and it has a hyper-intelligent autofocus system equipped with Action Priority, meaning it can lock onto the area of the frame where the action is taking place. It’s built like a tank, with one of the best electronic viewfinders I’ve ever seen.

The EOS R1 provides a huge array of controls, giving you multiple means of accomplishing pretty much any adjustment or setting you need to make. It’s got highly effective in-body stabilisation, rated up to 8.5 stops, and it also boasts Canon’s unique and powerful Eye Control focus, which sets the focus point by determining what you’re looking at in the high resolution viewfinder.

Its relatively low-resolution 24MP sensor may sound disappointing when compared to some of the high resolution offerings here, but it helps to keep file sizes down and is more than enough for printing at fairly large sizes. Pair it with one of the best Canon RF lenses for sports and action photography and you’ve got one hell of a setup on your hands.

I could go on – and indeed, in our full review we lovingly detailed everything that’s great about this astonishing camera. However, with a price exceeding the $6,000 mark, the Canon EOS R1 is almost certainly beyond the budget of pretty much everyone reading this – and honestly beyond the needs. Unless you are photographing world-class sports events for top publications, you simply don’t need the level of power this camera is offering. 

Read our full Canon EOS R1 review.

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Best camera for landscape photography: Sony A7R VI

Specifications at a glance:

This superb high-resolution camera is a fantastic choice for landscape. A key reason for this is its very high-resolution 66.8 megapixel sensor – the highest you’ll find on our list, and the highest you’ll find outside of medium format cameras. That super high resolution sensor is ideal for landscapes, and, being packed into the relatively small body of the Sony A7 series, means you can carry it around to reach all sorts of photogenic locations without troubling your back too much (depending on the lens you choose).

Although you may want to use a tripod for landscapes, if you want to keep it light, you’ll also benefit from 5-axis image stabilisation. If you do pack that tripod, making use of Pixel-Shift Multi Shooting to create an even higher resolution composite image is likely to be tempting to serious landscape photographers.

If you like to photograph other subjects, as well as landscapes, the A7R VI is also a fantastic all-rounder with 30fps shooting for action and wildlife shooters. The 3.2inch screen with 2.1m dots, and super high-resolution electronic viewfinder, with 9.44m dots make this stand out when checking for detail.

There are other cameras which I’d recommend for this genre – make sure to take a look at our best camera for landscape photography guide to find out more.

If you want to save money, you could look at the older model Sony A7R V, which shares many of the strengths for landscape photography – a high-resolution image quality using a 61MP sensor, versatile articulated screen and impressive viewfinder – as long as you don’t mind losing the all-rounder qualities such as fast shooting, which is a little lower at 10fps. If you’re happy with that exchange, you’re looking at around half the price with the A7R V.

Read our full Sony A7R VI review.

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Best camera for macro photography: OM System OM-1 Mark II

Specifications at a glance:

This Micro Four Thirds mirrorless model offers a number of clever computational features that are unique among its peers, such as a digital Live Grad ND filter that’s fully adjustable makes it easy to control bright skies for balanced exposures when shooting outdoors. The autofocus system has also been upgraded compared to the previous OM-1, and a deeper buffer allows you to keep burst-shooting for longer – at the maximum rate of 120fps, the OM-1 Mark II can capture up to 213 RAWs.

While it’s not a huge departure from the previous model (which is still available, and cheaper), the OM-1 Mark II makes a lot of clever additions for specialised photography. Macro shooters can benefit from in-camera focus stacking and bracketing, and with a range of macro lenses to choose from, there’s a reason why this camera is so popular with macro photographers. The greater depth of field offered by Micro Four Thirds is also handy, as macro shooters tend to want all the depth of field they can get, in order to get as much of the subject in focus as possible!

You also gain access to a wide range of Micro Four Thirds lenses with this camera, making it a great choice for those looking for compact or budget lenses.

Read our full OM System OM-1 Mark II review

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Best camera for street photography: Ricoh GR IV

Specifications at a glance:

There’s been one camera that has dominated the imaginations of street photographers over the past few years – the Fujifilm X100VI. However, I reckon that the new Ricoh GR IV is going to be a better alternative for a lot of people. Both of these are lightweight, street-shooting compacts, pairing fixed prime lenses with APS-C sensors. However, the Ricoh GR IV is cheaper than the X100VI, with a starting RRP of $1,499 / £1,199 compared to $1,599 / £1,599, and continued stock shortages mean it may well also prove to be easier to get hold of.

The main thing that struck our reviewer, Matty Graham on testing out the GR IV is that it’s just an incredibly easy camera to pick up and use. Weighing just 262g, it’s light enough to slip in and out of a pocket and is designed expressly for one-handed shooting, with a well-designed grip that doesn’t protrude too much, and controls oriented towards the right-hand side. The new battery lasts well and charges up very quickly, making it practical to give the camera little top-ups between shooting sessions.

In terms of its image quality, the Ricoh GR IV impresses. If you want to produce JPEGs straight out of camera, they’ll look nice and natural with authentic colours, and if you prefer to dig into DNG raw files, you’ll have plenty of tonal data to play with. There’s also a dedicated Ricoh GR IV Monochrome version for black-and-white fans. Sharpness of the fixed 28mm lens holds up well, even when you bang the aperture wide open to f/2.8, and it’s likely many users will prefer to keep the aperture at this setting for shallow depth of field.

The Ricoh GR IV really is a ‘less is more’ kind of camera – one that gets out of the way and helps you focus on the fun bit of image-making. As such, it’s a brilliant pick for street photography.

Read our full Ricoh GR IV review.

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Best camera for wedding photography: Canon EOS R6 Mark III

Specifications at a glance:

A good wedding camera needs to do a bit of everything, and do it well enough to dazzle some of the most demanding clients out there. Something that perfectly fits that bill is the Canon EOS R6 III, a full-frame all-rounder that’s more affordable than the headline-grabber EOS R3 or R5. The EOS R6 Mark III gets a substantial resolution bump from the original EOS R6 (32.5MP rather than the slightly stingy 20MP), and also benefits from subject-detection autofocus.

Capable of shooting at 12fps with the mechanical shutter or up to 40fps with the electronic, in full-resolution RAW, the EOS R6 Mark III is a tough camera to miss with. The deep buffer can go to 330 JPEG or 280 CRAW files in a single burst, too. Image stabilisation is rated at up to 8.5 stops of effective compensation, which is handy when light starts to get low.

It also received a major overhaul from the previous 4K resolution, and it now records raw video internally in 7K 60fps, and 30p in Open Gate mode that utilises the full sensor. There’s also 4K 120p, Full HD 180p available for slow motion footage.

Its ability to shoot, well, anything, means the EOS R6 Mark III won’t disappoint. It’s on the expensive side for an enthusiast’s camera, but at the same time, it’s difficult to think of another at this price point that’s this good of an all-rounder. Build up a solid set of RF lenses and you’ll get a setup for every situation.

If you’d like to know more about shooting weddings, take a look at our guide to the best kit for wedding photography.

Read our Canon EOS R6 Mark III review

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Best camera for travel photography: Fujifilm X-E5

Specifications at a glance:

The Fujifilm X-E5 is the best camera for serious travel photography. Some might prefer the ease and convenience of a compact, but I think if you’re serious about getting fantastic travel images, you need to go mirrorless and open yourself up to the flexibility of interchangeable lenses. The X-E5 is the perfect way to do it, blending the slimline charms of the X100VI with the ability to take full advantage of the fantastic X-mount lens selection.

It also has what I think is one of the most important and perhaps most under-discussed qualities of a good travel photography camera: it’s just enjoyable to shoot with. It’s a pleasing, aesthetic object, and it has those customary Fujifilm analogue-style controls, with physical buttons and dials that are so much more tactile and immediate than a touchscreen. There’s no weather-sealing, but it feels premium in the hand, and the grip has been intelligently thought out.

Where the X-E5 also shines is in one of Fujifilm’s well-known strengths: its JPEG output. When you’re travelling, you likely have neither the inclination nor the capacity to edit raw files, but you may want to share shots before getting home and processing them. Thanks to Fujifilm’s peerless colour science and fantastically addictive Film Simulation modes, the X-E5 is one of the best cameras in the business for producing punchy, shareable shots at the moment of capture.

While the X-E5 is our top travel pick, we have a full list of the best travel cameras with options for different needs and budgets.

Read our full Fujifilm X-E5 review.

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Best camera for underwater photography: OM-System Tough TG-7

Specifications at a glance:

While the Olympus (or OM-System) Tough TG-7 doesn’t quite fit the definition of an action camera, it performs many of the same functions and is a compelling alternative for anyone who prefers the idea of a more traditional camera format. The Tough TG-7 is a tough compact, meaning it can take an absolute pounding and a soaking – there are a few of these on the market, but the TG-7 is generally regarded as the best.

As well as a more comfortable, grippable form factor, the TG-7 has one key advantage over traditional action cameras – a 25-100mm f/2-4.9 equivalent zoom lens, giving you much more compositional flexibility and an ability to get in close to distant subjects. It’s also got a nice big 3-inch 1.04m-dot LCD screen, which provides a much more pleasant composing experience than any of the small screens on traditional action cameras. It allows you to capture stills in RAW format, and this is worth doing for the best results (with additional time spent on post-processing, of course).

Of course, the TG-7 is not nearly as wearable as a GoPro, DJI or Insta360 camera, and isn’t as good for capturing POV footage. There is some built-in stabilisation, though it’s not on the level of GoPro’s or DJI’s action cameras.

Read our full OM-System Tough TG-7 review.

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Specifications compared:

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How to choose the best cameras for photography

When you’re picking the best camera for photography, there are a number of key specifications and features worth honing in on. I would advise the main things to keep in mind when making your selection are as follows:

• Camera type
• Resolution & sensor size
• Autofocus
• Image stabilisation
• Frame rate (and speed)
• Handling
• Screen and viewfinder
• Card slots
• Lens range

What are the main camera types?

There are three main types of digital cameras – mirrorless, DSLRs and compacts. Yes, there are other types with more specialist applications, such as action cameras, 360-degree cameras and medium format cameras; however, the majority of people who are looking for a camera for photography or videography are going to be choosing between one of the three main types. Let’s take a quick look.

Compact cameras

A term that doesn’t have anything to do with a camera’s size, compact cameras (or compacts) are a type of camera with a fixed lens that cannot be changed. This has natural advantages in terms of convenience, simplicity, ease of use and affordability. You pay the price on the box, and you get a complete camera-and-lens combo that has everything you need to start shooting.

The downside is, of course, versatility. Whatever lens the compact camera has is the lens you’re stuck with – if it doesn’t zoom far enough, or open up to a wide enough aperture for the kind of work you want to do, then there’s not much you can do short of buying another camera.

Then there’s also the fact that the convenience factor of compacts has been lessened by the fact that everyone carries a portable compact camera in their pocket these days (obligatory link to the best smartphones for photography). As such, the sun has pretty much set on the days of the cheap compact, and now the compact cameras that are still popular tend to be premium ones that offer a demonstrable image-quality advantage over a smartphone. The Fujifilm X100VI, featured above, is probably the most prominent example.

Mirrorless cameras

Mirrorless cameras used to be thought of as a slim and portable alternative to DSLRs (see below). However, they have since risen to become the dominant format of interchangeable-lens camera, with almost all manufacturers prioritising development of their mirrorless lines. Most of the cameras included in this guide are mirrorless, and that’s not something that’s going to change anytime soon.

So, what is a mirrorless camera? The clue’s in the name – where a DSLR contains an internal mirror mechanism that allows it to field an optical viewfinder, a mirrorless camera does not. This in theory allows them to be made smaller and lighter. Instead of the optical viewfinder, mirrorless cameras generally offer an electronic viewfinder or EVF. This used to be viewed as a negative, as EVFs were laggy, low-quality and unpleasant to use. However, they have improved massively, to the point where electronic viewfinders offering 100% coverage and a completely accurate preview of what the camera is going to capture.

The top-end professional cameras released in recent years are exclusively mirrorless, and many manufacturers are also filling out their lines with beginner-friendly, mid-range and enthusiast options. If you want the latest imaging tech, mirrorless is the place to be.

Should I buy a DSLR camera?

Once considered an essential purchase for anyone who wanted to be thought of as a serious photography, these days, DSLRs are something of a retro choice. However, there is still a contingent of photographers who doggedly prefer DSLRs, citing things like the immediacy of the optical viewfinder or the satisfyingly chunky handling. DSLRs tend to be larger than mirrorless cameras (though there’s plenty of overlap), and professional models in particular tend to be built very tough. The Nikon D850, one of the most popular and well-regarded DSLRs of all time, is an absolute tank.

If you want to get started with an interchangeable-lens system camera, there’s a good case to be made for DSLRs as a more cost-effective choice. They still take brilliant photos, they’re often plentifully available on the second-hand market, and the fact that they’ve been on the market so long means that they have built up big rosters of lenses, including older and more affordable options.

Check out our guide to DSLR vs mirrorless if you want to learn more about the differences, and we also have a dedicated guide to the best DSLRs.

Resolution and sensor size

There’s a variety of sensor sizes on the market, from 1-inch type up to medium format. As a general rule, image quality is better from larger sensors, but they make for a larger and bulkier system to carry around; not to mention a more expensive one. The lenses tend to be bigger and more expensive, too. Therefore, consider the weight of kit that you will carry against its potential image quality.

A compromise on both sides of the debate lands you with a middle-sized sensor (APS-C or Full-Frame), while ultimate portability will leave you with the smallest (one-inch or 1/2.3-inch) and ultimate image quality leads to medium format (or even larger). Resolution is also a key concern – if you’re intending to make big prints, or photograph something with lots of fine detail, extra pixels make more sense. If you’re keen to keep file sizes down, shoot lots of action or in low light, a lower pixel count might be a better option.

Autofocus

Some of the current mirrorless flagship models have incredibly impressive autofocus systems. But they often come at a high price, being targeted mainly at working professionals who need high-speed and accuracy at all times. Most of us arguably don’t need that kind of power, and you especially don’t if you’re photographing mainly still/static subjects such as landscapes, macro or even portraits. Have a think about how advanced an autofocus system you need (and are willing to pay for), and this can be particularly important if your passion is sports, action or wildlife such as birds. If it’s more static subjects like landscapes or travel photography, you probably don’t need the latest AI subject recognition autofocus.

Image stabilisation (or IBIS)

This is another specification that matters hugely to some people, and less so for others. If you’re happy to cart around a tripod with you, or you’re only ever shooting at fast shutter speeds in bright daylight, you’ll be less concerned. However, if you’re into night photography, low-light photography, shooting slowly handheld, or using long lenses, for example, then you’ll want to pay closer attention to IS specs, and look out for In-Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS).

Frame rate

Again, this is something that, for lots of photographers, is a bit of a redundant specification. If you’re shooting static objects, being able to shoot at 20fps is an expensive specification that might barely – or never – get used. Of course, if you’re shooting wildlife, action, sports and similar high-speed action, you might want a fast frame rate and use high-speed continuous shooting every day.

Handling

This is an important one, but it’s not a straightforward one to quantify. Knowing how a camera feels and operates in your hand is ideal – if not necessarily always possible in advance in a world of online shopping. Pay careful attention to camera reviews that tell you how easy (or otherwise) the camera is to operate, hold and navigate around if you’re not able to handle it yourself before purchase. The weight of the camera and lens(es) can play an important factor in how easy it is to take with you, and how much you’ll enjoy using the camera.

Screen & viewfinder

All of the cameras on our list here are mirrorless, and therefore feature electronic viewfinders (EVFs). Pay close attention to the resolution of electronic viewfinders – higher is better, but very high-resolution viewfinders tend to only be found on the most expensive cameras. If you’re happier with optical viewfinders, then a DSLR might well be the camera for you – but you lose a lot of the benefits of mirrorless.

As for the screen, things to look out for are resolution, size, and whether it articulates or tilts. Having some movement is useful for composing from awkward angles, with articulating being the most flexible, but tilting perhaps being the quickest for reacting to certain scenarios, such as street shooting.

Card slots

Having more than one card slot is almost an essential for professional photographers who simply can’t afford to run the risk of not having a backup (especially for special occasions, such as weddings). For most other photographers, it’s a nice bonus to have, but perhaps not essential. That said, if you’re travelling and not able to easily back up your cards, they can also prove useful.

Lens range

If you’re looking at interchangeable lens cameras, it’s wise to pay attention to the accompanying lens ranges that go with them. Newer camera systems might have limited lenses, or they might not yet have specific or niche optics that you’re particularly keen on. Take a look at typical prices too, as again, newer systems might be pricier compared to longer, more-established systems.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Latest updates

• June 2026: Sony A7R V replaced with the new A7R VI.
• May 2026: Specifications tables updated.
• April 2026: Frequently asked questions and specifications table formats updated, prices checked. No new cameras added.
• February 2026: Added additional information in the FAQ section, specifically answering the question as to what is the best camera for Instagram. Canon EOS R6 II updated to R6 III.
• January 2026: Added the Nikon Z5II as the best full-frame camera for photographers, with the Fujifilm X-T5 retaining honourable second-place as the best APS-C option. Removed some cameras deemed no longer relevant or necessary, including the DJI Osmo Action 5, the Nikon Coolpix P1100 and the Nikon Z7II.
• November 2025: Checked all prices. Clarified guide, highlighting key features of each camera, whilst making the guide more concise so you can find the right camera for you more quickly. Older Sony A7R IV updated to newer model, the Sony A7R V.
• October 2025: Added the Ricoh GR IV as the best camera for street photography, replacing the brilliant but more expensive Fujifilm X100VI.

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Related reading:

• How to market yourself as a professional photographer
• How much resolution do you actually need?
• Sensor size – which size is best?

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Need further buying advice? Check out our full selection of buying guides. We also have options for beginners and kids!

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