Best cameras under $2000 in 2024

Will Cheung and the AP team pick out the best cameras under £2000 / $2000. Here’s how to make the most of your budget and pick up a bargain.

If you’re looking to buy the best cameras under £2000/$2000, you’re in luck. This is a sweet-spot of a budget, enough to get you an absolutely outstanding enthusiast’s camera, or even a professional model if you don’t mind getting something that’s one or two generations old. We’ve scoured the internet to bring you what we reckon are the best sub-2K cameras across all the major manufacturers. The resulting list is a mix of new and old cameras, including some that can be bought second-hand.

We’ve tested and reviewed the products on this list, and in order to earn a spot, a camera needs to have impressed us. This budget isn’t a small amount of money, after all, and if you’re going to spend up to £2,000 / $2,000 on a camera, it should deliver some pretty impressive imagine potential. Some of the cameras on our list come in well under budget, leaving you room to pick up some lenses, while others push up right to the limit.

If your budget is a little lower than this, check out our guide to the best cameras available for under £1000/$1000 and best cameras under £500/$500. Alternatively, if you need to save even more, we also have guides to the best cameras under £300/$300 and the best cameras under £200/$200.

How to choose the best camera under £2000 / $2000

If you’re picking in this category, you’re realistically going to be choosing between a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, and there are pros and cons to each camera type. Many photographers prefer the DSLR for the connection with the subject that an optical viewfinder provides and their handling characteristics, but it’s with mirrorless where huge investment has gone in recent years. Their electronic viewfinders (EVFs) might not have the purity of view that DSLRs give but the latest variants have very high-resolution finders that have an optical ‘feel’. And of course, being able to see a live preview of the shot before you press the shutter button is a huge bonus.

The other big consideration is sensor size. A budget of £2,000 / $2,000 is enough to get you a full-frame camera, which is the professional standard sensor size and will ensure you can capture images of outstanding depth and quality. However, opting for a camera with a smaller sensor like APS-C or Micro Four Thirds may well mean you can get a newer model and still stay within budget, meaning you’re more likely to get up-to-date features like subject-detection autofocus.

There’s a lot more to say on both these subjects, so you can find out more about different camera types here and also take a look at our guide to APS-C, Full-Frame, and Micro Four Thirds sensors.

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Best cameras under £2000 / $2000

Now that you know what you’re looking for, take a spin through our full list of cameras that cost less than £2,000 / $2,000. There’s a mix of models here, some that come in well under budget and some that push up right to the limit.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II

At a glance  

• Full-frame 26MP sensor
• Dual Pixel AF for stills and video
• 6.5 fps continuous shooting
• Articulating 3in touch monitor
• Price: £1,349 / $1,399 body-only

While Canon has been working hard on moving its mirrorless offerings forward, it still has a strong hand in DSLRs and if you want to go full-frame in a cost-effective way the Canon EOS 6D Mark II could be for you. It’s a well-made camera with a healthy list of features to appeal to the keen photographer and its price puts it well under our £2000 / $2000 ceiling, so the rest of the budget can be set aside to buy a lens or two.

Resolution is good at 26MP and high ISO performance compares well with rivals. Viewfinder AF is handled by a 45 point all cross-type sensor, but these points are centrally based so dealing with off-centre subjects needs you to focus lock and reframe which is not so convenient.

The EOS 6D Mark II is a perfectly capable and usable DSLR with a great deal going for it, but it faces tough competition from comparable mirrorless models.

Pros: 

• Weather-proofed, well-built body
• Performs well at higher ISO settings
• Dual Pixel AF

Cons:  

• Limited working AF area
• Low-light AF could be better (except in centre)
• Only 6.5fps burst, and 4.5fps in Live View

Read our Canon EOS 6D Mark II review

Best camera under £2,000/$2,000 for: DSLR users

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Canon EOS R7

At a glance  

• 32.5MP APS-C sensor
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF II
• Up to 30 fps burst with electronic shutter
• Dual SD card slots
• Price: £1,349 / $1,499

Earlier this year, Canon introduced its first two APS-C format cameras using the RF full-frame lens mount, the EOS R10 and EOS R7. This means you can use full-frame RF lenses although they are bulky by comparison, and so far Canon has introduced just two native RF-S lenses, an 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM and an 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM.

However, the ability to fit full-frame lenses on the EOS R7, with the benefit APS-C format 1.6x crop factor, has made it popular among nature photographers. Another key attraction of the EOS R7 is its AF system which features technology cascaded down from the EOS R3 flagship with deep learning AI and the ability to recognise people, animals and people.

Stocks are limited currently so if this is your dream sub-£2000 budget camera, keep an eye out and be ready to pounce with an order when you see it available.

Pros: 

• Portable high-resolution shooting
• Very capable AF system
• 7EV benefit in-body image stabiliser

Cons:  

• Electronic shutter suffers from rolling shutter
• Digital noise at higher ISO speeds
• New rear control wheel won’t appeal to everyone

Read our Canon EOS R7 Full Review

Best camera under £2,000/$2,000 for: beginner wildlife photography

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Fujifilm X-H2

At a glance 

• 40.2MP APS-C sensor
• Pixel Shift High Res mode
• 15 fps full-format shooting rate
• Dual card slots – SD and CFexpress Type B
• Price: £1,879 / $1,999

Fujifilm’s X-H2 is one of the highest-resolution APS-C format camera ever launched, sitting alongside its sister in the X-series, the Fujifilm X-T5. The X-H2 is home to Fujifilm’s fifth generation X-Trans CMOS sensor that boasts 40.2MP, and it brought a fair few exciting innovations to the table, being the first X System camera with a high resolution pixel-shift mode. Mount the camera to a tripod and it can take 20 shots in quick succession, and when the Raws are merged on the computer, this results in 160MP files.

Other key attractions include 15 fps shooting with the mechanical shutter, 20 fps with the electronic shutter in 1.29x cropped mode, 5.76m dot EVF, seven custom modes, great customisation potential and an incredible top shutter speed of 1/180,000sec with its electronic shutter. The X-H2 also offers much more for the video user than the X-T5, with internal ProRes recording and the capacity to output 12-bit RAW video via HDMI.

Pros: 

• Sophisticated hybrid AF with subject detection
• Pixel Shift High Resolution mode
• Advanced video features

Cons: 

• Top-plate layout not as user friendly as X-T models
• Battery life could be better

Read our full Fujifilm X-H2 review.

Best camera under £2,000/$2,000 for: 

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Fujifilm GFX 50S

At a glance 

• Medium-format 51.4MP sensor
• 3.2in tilting touchscreen
• ISO 100-12,800
• 3.69m dot EVF
• Dual SD card slots
• Price: around £1,700-1,800 / $1,900-2,100 used, body-only

Going digital medium-format is a serious commitment but it is possible with the £2000 budget if you shop for a used model. Pre-owned Fujifilm GFX 50S and the GFX 50R cameras are both available within our £2000 / $2000 budget. They share the same 44x33mm 51.4MP sensor but have different design concepts. The GFX 50R seems to have all but dried up from the second-hand market for the time being, but the GFX 50S is still pretty plentifully available.

Where the GFX 50S really excels is in image quality and its Raw files are super rich in detail, and have wide dynamic range so offer great potential for contrast adjustment in post. The camera body itself isn’t too large, but it’s dust- and weather-sealed, making the GFX 50S a truly practical outdoor camera. For landscape shooters who want the ultimate in detail and can’t live without that distinctive medium-format ‘look’, the GFX 50S is an outstanding choice, and you can get it on the used market for less than you’d pay for a lot of new full-frame cameras.

Pro:  

• Superb image quality
• Lovely to use
• High resolution

Cons: 

• Size of the body and lenses
• Limited lens range and cost
• Suffers from rolling shutter with electronic shutter

Read our

Best camera under £2,000/$2,000 for: ultra-high resolution shooting

Read our Fujifilm GFX 50S review.

For great second-hand prices on the Fujifilm GFX 50S, check out our list of recommended used kit dealers:

• Wex Photo Video
• Park Cameras
• MPB
• Clifton Cameras
• Ffordes Photographic
• London Camera Exchange
• CameraWorld
• Worldwide Camera Exchange
• Mifsuds Photographic
• Grays of Westminster (Nikon only)
• KEH (USA)
• B&H Photo Video (USA)
• Adorama (USA)

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Nikon Z5

At a glance 

• 35mm full-frame
• 24.3MP
• 100-51,200 ISO range
• Five axis VR
• Price: £1,249 / $1,096

It might be Nikon’s entry-level full-frame mirrorless camera but it’s not short of great features and will easily satisfy most demanding users. At the Z5’s heart is a 24MP full-frame sensor capable of detail-rich pictures with low digital noise even at high ISO speeds. Its native range tops out at ISO 51,200 so you can tackle the grimmest lighting with decent results. Plus, you get help from the five-axis IBIS system with a claimed 5EV benefit.

Autofocus is handled by a system of 273 points that cover virtually the whole image area and with powerful eye-detect AF, the Z5 will quickly and precisely latch onto your people subjects regardless of where they are in the frame. Whether as a main body or as a back-up the Z5 is a great value and travel-friendly full-frame camera. The Nikon Z5 comes in well under our budget price, leaving you room to pick up a couple of fantastic Nikon Z-mount lenses.

Pros: 

• Compact
• Growing system of Z lenses
• Sealed body
• Good EVF
• Dual SD card slots
• Great value entry into the Nikon Z eco-system

Cons: 

• Continuous shooting at just 4.5 fps
• 4K video is cropped
• Electronic shutter suffers from rolling shutter

Check out our Nikon Z5 review.

Best camera under £2,000/$2,000 for: travel photography

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OM SYSTEM OM-1

At a glance 

• 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor
• Blackout free 50 fps with AE/AF tracking
• 5.76m-dot EVF
• Twin SD card slots
• Dust and splash-proof build
• Price: £1,999 / $1,999

The OM-1 was the first camera from the OM SYSTEM brand, the business that purchased the Olympus Cameras in 2021. It is without doubt a seriously capable and impressive picture-taking machine that’s rich in features and great to use.

Its sensor is a 20MP stacked BSI unit and has 80 million individual photodiodes to give a super-fast readout, fast enough to enable a Handheld High Resolution mode which captures a dozen images to give 50MP in-camera Raws. Put the OM-1 on a tripod, engage High Resolution mode and you get 80MP files.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves because high resolution shooting is just a small facet of a multi-talented camera. The OM-1 body is weather sealed and houses an 8EV benefit IBIS system, its highly advanced AF system uses 1053 Cross Quad Pixel sensors to cope with complex scenes and it can shoot full size Raws at 120 fps and at 50 fps you get AE/AF tracking with certain lenses.

All told, the OM-1 is a stunning flagship with massive potential for almost every photo genre and just under the £2000 ceiling too.

Pros: 

• Compact, rugged and portable body
• 50 fps with AE/AF tracking
• High resolution capture modes
• Subject detect modes
• Versatile and customisable AF

Cons: 

• Modest 20MP resolution
• Small sensor means high ISO performance is okay but not exceptional

OM System ‘Olympus’ OM-1 Full Review.

Best camera under £2,000 / $2,000 for: speed shooting

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Panasonic Lumix GH5 II

At a glance

• 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor
• 3.69m dot EVF, 3in touch screen
• IBIS with 6.5EV benefit
• UHD or DCI 4K 10-bit video
• Price:

The video-centric Lumix GH5 proved very popular among content creators so the GH5 II had big boots to fill, but it has done very well in this respect even though the refresh isn’t that extensive. Key changes on the GH5 II include a more powerful image processor that offers more focusing sophistication with face/eye/body and animal recognition. Its IBIS system has also been given a lift with the GH5 Mark II delivering up to 6.5EV benefit compared with the 5EV of the original model. And of course, its video skills have been upgraded with 10-bit DCI/UHD 4K 50p/60p, V-Log support, live streaming options and the ability to shoot upright format footage.

Image quality is very good in stills and 4K video. In stills the GH5 II turns in a good showing at its higher ISO speeds and JPEG output is sound too. For a more comprehensive update, and if you don’t mind paying a little more, Panasonic has also released the impressive Lumix GH6.

Pros: 

• Impressive video features and quality
• USB charging
• IBIS works really well for stills and video

Cons: 

• AF in video can’t always be relied on

Read our Panasonic Lumix GH5 II review.

Best camera under £2,000 / $2,000 for: video and filmmaking. 

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Panasonic Lumix S5 II

At a glance

• Full-frame 24.2MP sensor
• ISO 100-51,200 (standard)
• C4K 60p video recording
• 779-point phase detection autofocus
• Accepts L-Mount lenses
• Price: £1,999 / $1,999

With more and more content creators flexibly shooting both stills and video, cameras are increasingly being designed to be jacks of both trades. One of the most accomplished in this regard is Panasonic’s sublime Lumix S5 II, announced at the start of 2023 and released shortly afterwards. After years of waiting, it’s the Panasonic camera that finally gave users and reviewers what they were crying out for: phase detection autofocus. That’s right, Panasonic is no longer stubbornly sticking with that aging contrast-detect Depth from Defocus autofocus system, and the Lumix S5 II is all the better for it.

The Lumix S5 II impresses in a lot of other areas too. Thanks to a cooling fan above its sensor it can deliver unlimited video recording times without overheating, and it shoots 4K video at up to 60p, in 4:2:2 10-bit colour, or you can push it up to 6K 30p. Stills-wise, the Lumix S5 II delivers gorgeous full-frame images at a resolution of 24.2MP, with a broad ISO range and impressively snappy burst modes. It’s basically a camera that can turn its hand to anything, and the best part is, it just about slips into our £2,000 / $2,000 budget.

Pros: 

• 30fps burst rate with electronic shutter
• Unlimited video recording times
• 779-point phase-detection autofocus system

Cons: 

• No CFExpress slot

Read our Panasonic Lumix S5 II review.

Best camera under £2,000 / $2,000 for: hybrid photo and video shooters

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Pentax K-1 Mark II

At a glance

• Full-frame 36.4MP sensor
• Maximum ISO 819,200
• Five axis 5EV benefit shake reduction
• Dynamic Pixel Shift mode
• Weather-sealed body
• Price: £1,599 / $1,796

Pentax is not the force that it once was in the camera world and that’s pity because the K-1 Mark II shows what the brand can achieve and it’s a camera that’s great to use. It delivers fine results. This DSLR is based around a very good full-frame 36.4MP CMOS sensor which is optical low pass filter-free for the best possible resolution.

The K1 Mark II sports a five axis sensor shift image stabiliser that brings with it the option of Dynamic Pixel Shift Resolution designed to allow handheld shooting that merges four images for better imaging and digital noise performance.

While the Pentax K-1 Mark II is a capable DSLR and has some excellent features including a rugged flexible monitor, 33-point AF, twin SD card slots and a very wide ISO range.

Pros: 

• Impressive 14-bit Raw quality
• Tilt monitor with innovative structure
• 5EV benefit shake reduction

Cons: 

• Video limited to Full HD and HD
• Slow burst shooting rate

Best camera under £2,000 / $2,000 for: outdoor shooting

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Sigma fp L

At a glance 

• 61MP full-frame sensor
• Monitor viewing only
• Electronic shutter only
• L-mount
• Optional add-on EVF available
• Price: £1,999 / $2,499 body-only (can be bought used for $1,600-2,000)

The Sigma fp L is the world’s smallest full-frame camera available, and despite its diminutive size it is full of great features. A lower resolution and cheaper Sigma fp is also available at £1,599 / $1,899.

A consequence of the fp L’s small stature is that it’s a monitor only camera which can be a hindrance when composing shots in bright sunlight. There is the option of an fp L EVF-11 electronic finder although this does make the camera a bulkier proposition.

Top of the fp L’s feature list is the 61MP backside illuminated sensor. Full-size Raws open to 9250×6328 pixels so there’s plenty of resolution for giant-sized enlargements – and to use its internal crop zoom. The fp L is also well armed in the video department, recording UHD 4K internally in CinemaDNG format and externally with 12-bit Raw in DCI 4K.

Having the L-mount means it will accept lenses from Leica and Panasonic as well as Sigma, so there’s ample choice. Sigma’s fp cameras offer an interesting proposition to stills and video shooters, and the fp L’s super high resolution will appeal to those who want huge files from a pocketable camera. One thing to note is that the new price of the Sigma fp L in the USA Is $2,499, which is a little over our budget. However, the camera is pretty widely available on the used market, with prices ranging from about $1,600 all the way up to $2,000.

Pros: 

• Really compact
• Resolution
• Very good high ISO performance

Cons: 

• No viewfinder
• Handling a little fiddly

Read our Sigma fp L review.

Best camera under £2,000 / $2,000 for: full-frame portability

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Sony A6600

At a glance

• 24.2MP APS-C sensor
• 11 fps with AE/AF tracking
• Five-axis IBIS with 5EV benefit
• 4K video
• Tilting touchscreen
• Price: £1,249 / $1,398

The Alpha 6600 sits at the top of Sony’s APS-C  range and it sports a long list of class leading features. Its 24.2MP APS-C sensor works with the Bionz X processor for a low digital noise performance at its 100-32,000 native ISO range – this is expandable to ISO 50 and 102,400.

It’s in autofocusing where the A6600 really impresses though. Over 80% of the image frame is covered by 425 phase-detect and 425 contrast-detection focus points giving a 0.02sec subject acquisition speed. Subject tracking is handled by AI based recognition algorithms that process colour, brightness and distance data very, very rapidly for real-time eye detect AF for human and animal subjects.

All this technology and picture-taking prowess comes in a portable package supported by a huge selection of lenses from Sony and third party brands.

Pros:

• Excellent AF with eye detect for humans and animals
• Five axis IBIS
• Impressive image quality even at high ISO speeds
• Good battery life

Cons: 

• One SD UHS-I slot
• Handling is not as slick as rivals

See our full Sony Alpha A6600 review.

Best camera under £2,000 / $2,000 for: sports and action on a budget

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Text by Will Cheung, with contributions from Jon Stapley.

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For more great guides to cameras and lenses, including the best that we think you should be looking at buying, have a look at our latest buying guides, or the latest reviews.

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