Sony A6000 Comments
Get the Sony A6000 at B&H Photo.
The 24-megapixel Sony A6000 delivers a very strong feature set for an APS-C mirrorless camera at an aggressive price point of about $648. Its performance with the Zeiss Touit 50mm f/2.8M is excellent. Similar results can be expected from the other Zeiss Touit lenses and the full-frame Sony Zeiss FE lenses.
Here’s what I call out as notable for what I look for (good and bad).
- Electronic first curtain shutter (EFC shutter). With the Sony Wireless Remote Commander (to avoid physical contact), vibration-free exposures are guaranteed, especially critical for its 24MP sensor (which has the pixel density of 56 megapixels on full frame). Its A7 sibling also has an EFC shutter, though the A7R lacks EFC.
- Built-in EVF. Though a visibly less good 1.4 megapixels instead of 2.3MP as in the A7/A7R, an EVF solves all sorts of practical issues.
- A very good built-in grip. A good grip is a Big Deal.
- The 24-megapixel APS-C sensor delivers as much detail as one can expect from the APS-C format while accepting the Sony E-mount, Zeiss Touit and an Sony Zeiss FE mount lenses.
It has some operational negatives (control and behavior). Moreover, a highly desirable shooting feature that is lacking would be the Olympus 5-axis image stabilization brought over to the APS-C format. But the solid grip and EVF allow mass coupling for low shutter speed shooting, which is more than many cameras can claims.
In many respects it is fair to say that the Sony A6000 represents far better value than, say, the Olympus E-M1: while not as well built, it is smaller and lighter, and its 24 megapixels on a much larger sensor go well beyond the 16 megapixels of Micro Four Thirds. Lens selection is the key weakness relative to Micro Four Thirds but the game will change substantially by late 2014. I’d call it a good “tread water” camera for those on the fence just now.
Sony calls out some interesting features, which taking a high level view, show that more and more goodies are being aggressively moved into the lower end lineup.
- Tru-Finder 0.39" 1,440k-Dot OLED EVF
- 3.0" 921k-Dot Xtra Fine Tilting LCD
- Full HD 1080i/p AVCHD Video at 24/60 fps
- Built-In Wi-Fi Connectivity with NFC
- Fast Hybrid AF & 179 Phase-Detect Points
- Up to 11 fps Shooting and ISO 25600
- Multi-Interface Shoe and Built-In Flash
- Auto Object Framing and Multi Frame NR