Maximum effective ISO is an estimate of the highest sensitivity at which a camera can capture excellent quality photos.
Cameras with higher effective ISO will be better choices for indoor photography, night shooting, and indoor sports photography, especially if you intend to make large prints.
You can learn more at our glossary entry.
Maximum effective ISO test data courtesy of DxO Mark.
A7R test data on DxO Mark EOS M5 test data on DxO MarkCameras with more dynamic range allow you to take photos with dramatic differences in highlight and shadow areas while retaining detail in both.
Think of a brilliant sunset on a rocky beach: Bright sunset in the background, with dark rocks in the foreground. High dynamic range means more of the extremes will be faithfully reproduced.
Dynamic range test data courtesy of DxO Mark.
A7R test data on DxO Mark EOS M5 test data on DxO MarkIncredibly small body for a fully-featured, full-frame camera; Resolution that rivals a medium-format camera; Excellent image quality even at very high sensitivities; Decent performance bearing in mind its extremely high resolution; Accepts existing Alpha-mount and E-mount lenses, and can optionally crop to APS-C image circle.
Extreme resolution makes focus and lens quality critical; Modest performance; Loud shutter; Lacks hybrid autofocus of the A7; Mediocre battery life when using electronic viewfinder; Slow X-sync; Limited selection of native Sony FE lenses.
Enthusiast-oriented compact camera body; Good image quality in most situations; Built-in electronic viewfinder; Impressive Dual Pixel CMOS AF; Very good overall performance.
High ISO image quality and dynamic range aren't quite up to par with some of its competition; No 4K video recording; Native EF-M lens selection is still limited; Below average battery life.
