APS-C Cameras Dominate List of 2025 Best-Sellers

Japanese retail analyst BCN+R has shared the top 10 best-selling interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras of 2025, and Canon and Sony traded spots in the top five.

As is always the case with BCN+R data, it is worth explaining what it captures. The BCN Ranking is a point-of-sale database that compiles sales data for electronics, including cameras, across approximately 40% of Japan’s entire retail market. It includes sales from major electronics retailers and online stores in Japan. Generally, as will be evident in the list below, BCN Rankings capture more mainstream consumer purchases than sales charts at individual photographic retailers.

The best-selling interchangeable lens mirrorless camera of 2025 in terms of actual sales volume, which includes different kits and SKUs, was the Canon EOS R50. This entry-level APS-C mirrorless camera launched in early 2023 and is essentially Canon’s EOS R-series EOS M50 II replacement. The EOS M50 II was one of Canon’s best-selling ILCs ever and lasted many years into Canon’s new EOS R mirrorless system.

Landing in second place is the vlogging-oriented Sony ZV-E10 II. This camera, launched in mid-2024, delivers a significant upgrade over its predecessor and is a great APS-C vlogging camera. It actually got even better last month with the release of a free upgrade that added 4Kp120 recording.

Canon returns to the list in third place with the EOS R10, yet another APS-C camera. The Canon EOS R10 launched in 2022 and offers very competitive features and specs, including 15 frames per second shooting with the mechanical shutter, impressive autofocus, and enthusiast-oriented controls.

It’s Sony’s turn again in fourth spot with the original ZV-E10 vlogging camera and fifth place with the venerable a6400. For those keeping score at home, that’s five APS-C cameras so far.

In fact, there is only one full-frame camera on the top 10 list, the Sony a7C II in eighth place. The Nikon Z50 II (sixth), the Fujifilm X-M5 (seventh), and the Nikon Z30 (10th) are all APS-C camera models. The only other camera on the list, the Olympus PEN E-P7, finished ninth and is a Micro Four Thirds model, so even smaller than APS-C. The PEN E-P7 has been a very popular camera for Olympus, now OM System, since it launched in 2021. It remains baffling that it was never released in the U.S.

PetaPixel‘s Take

For as much as photographers discuss the benefits of full-frame cameras and why they are superior to APS-C and Micro Four Thirds models for a wide range of reasons, APS-C cameras remain extremely popular with consumers, even models made by companies that are fully dedicated to full-frame cameras and lenses, like Canon, Nikon, and Sony.

While it is true that full-frame cameras, all else equal, offer superior imaging performance compared to their crop-sensor competitors, it is also true that APS-C and Micro Four Thirds models routinely deliver a compelling combination of performance, value, and size.

When looking at 2025 sales charts for a dedicated photo retailer, like Map Camera, full-frame cameras fared better, but APS-C was still king. The Nikon Z5 II was the third-best-selling camera at Map Camera in 2025, but it was sandwiched by five APS-C models, all from Fujifilm. Then there was the Ricoh GR IV and GR IIIx, two APS-C fixed-lens premium compact models. Rounding out Map Camera’s top 10 were the Sony a7C II and Canon EOS R6 Mark II, a pair of full-frame cameras.

It’s interesting to see the disconnect between the cameras that photographers are most excited by and discuss most online and the cameras that are actually being purchased at the highest clip.

Candidly, having reviewed 50-plus cameras over the years, ranging from compacts with teeny-tiny sensors to full-fledged Phase One medium format systems, the performance gap between Micro Four Thirds, APS-C, and full-frame is rarely as large as the price gap. Micro Four Thirds and APS-C cameras routinely deliver superb photographic experiences, great image quality that holds up in decently large prints, and pleasant form factors. I’m not surprised at all that photographers buy so many APS-C cameras, and I wish that companies that spend so much effort on their full-frame models would give APS-C models more attention. Consumers sure are.

Image credits: Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.