I had intended to write a full review, including image qualty tests and performance, but I did not realize the time and effort that that entails. I will do my best, job(s) permitting, to have something out in the coming weeks. For now, this is a review of the shooting experience.
Note: After the review of the Sony A6000 itself, I have attempted to clarify Sony’s lens naming strategy, as it is essential knowledge for anyone buying into any Sony interchangeable lens (ILC) system, as well as those confused by the recent introduction of Sony’s full frame mirrorless line up. I have also provided a link to Sony’s webpage that details which lenses are compatible with its hybrid autofocus, and which are not.
Introduction: Context and Competition
Sony’s latest E-mount series camera, the A6000, stands at the forefront of a revolution in today’s broader photography market. Mirrorless cameras are starting to become real competitors to the two 1000 pound gorillas of the photography world, Canon and Nikon. Some (especially those who frequent this site) would argue that mirrorless cameras have already posed a serious threat to the market’s status quo, but sales figures would seem to suggest that the mirrorless cameras have only recently started to come into their own. Sony’s mirrorless strategy has always been to make more possible in a camera than its size would suggest, and the Sony A6000 is no exception. It’s diminutive size (4.7 in. by 2.8 in. by 2.0 in.) hides a camera thats specifications go toe to toe with the models that are considered to be its heavyweight counterparts.
In order to illustrate this, lets look at the Sony A6000 in relation to the two pro level ASC sized models from canon and nikon focusing on some specific parameters (focusing on specific attributes of each model:
|
Specs |
Canon t5i |
Nikon d5200 |
Sony a6000 |
|
Resolution |
18 |
24 |
24 |
|
Focus points |
9 cross type |
9 cross type/30 non cross-type |
25/179* |
|
Crop Factor |
1.6 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
|
Battery Life (CIPA) |
440 |
500 |
420 |
|
Touchscreen |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Screen Articulation |
Full |
Full |
45 deg./90 deg. down |
|
Current Native Lenses |
197 |
205 |
21 |
*Phase detection (likely non cross-type)/Contrast detection
As you can see, the value that you get for the $650 Sony A6000 body is very competitive (to say the least), at least on paper, with the heavyweights of the industry. Sony is definitely the underdog in this business, and they have really brought their “a” game (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t help myself) to the table to get a shot (OK, i’m going to stop now) at becoming formidable opponent to the likes of Canon and Nikon. Although I do make the case that this ambition is very much realized in the Sony A6000, I think that it would be remiss to put out two caveats to this argument:
A) I have not actually had the opportunity to test either of the other two devices, considering that I had jumped ship from the “big two” before I was heavily invested in either system. I have used the canon t3i extensively, along with my trustworthy sigma 17-70 2.8-4 for years, before taking a quick try at the nikon d3100. At that point, I realized that the two main players were focusing on playing it safe and protecting their corporate image and market share, and not on innovation- a sure sign of dysfunction and industrial decay in any industry (If you don’t like that theory, you can go with an equally plausible theory: that the companies have become “Blackberries”, a (relatively) old player in a new market, whose corporate structure is not designed or equipped to iterate and innovate at the same level as their competition. Even though Sony is an old company, they are iterating at the pace of a much younger one). I sold all of my canon gear, and began an odyssey of micro four thirds models before finally arriving at the Sony a6000. This being the case, I never reached high enough on the totem pole of either company to own any of their more expensive bodies. I am not made of money, contrary to the beliefs of canon/nikon executives, and I was therefore never in contact with their “prosumer- models”. As such,I do not have extensive experience with either of those models.
B) The above models do have an advantage that Sony does not- a huge family of native lenses to choose from. Now, although this is true, it is very hard to find a quality lens from canon (with the exception of the ‘nifty fifty’), and to a lesser extent, Nikon, for a reasonable price. Sony doesn’t have a lot of lenses to choose from yet, so we don’t have a clear idea of their lens pricing scheme (again, no pun intended [a veiled jab at the pricing strategy of other camera companies), but leaks from their product roadmap look promising so far).
Design and User Experience
With comparisons and context covered, its time to get to the camera itself. As noted above, despite it’s powerful set of specs, the Sony A6000 feels light in my hand, but not in a bad way. Weighing in at just 344 grams (without the lens), including the battery, it feels like it was meant to be used in one hand (which is a theme that we will be revisiting multiple times in this review). This feeling of lightness is enhanced by a camera grip which feels extremely comfortable in my hand, aided by a comfortable rubbery faux-leather grip. My old canon t3i, in comparison, weighs 570 grams without the lens, and I remember it getting very heavy in the hand during long photo sessions. Its grip was also well suited to my hand, but there is only so much one can do to disguise such a heavy weight. The A6000 is definitely far better suited for my favourite hobby: nature photography, where I now find myself able to use one hand to lean on an outcrop of rock, while using the other hand the take a picture.
As mentioned above, it seems clear that Sony engineers specifically looked for the camera to be used with one hand, as absolutely every control feels accessible and comfortable in my hand, and I never feel the need to use two hands for anything, unless I am stabilizing the camera for a slower shutter speed. (The antithesis to this is Nikon, who places a function button near the lens release catch, which is essentially requiring you to use the camera with two hands). This, to me, is one of the main points of mirrorless cameras- I no longer have to be all kitted with heavy (and conspicuous) gear to take great pictures, I can get the same result from a less burdensome form factor. The function button, custom control buttons, and both of the dial were all in easy reach of my thumb when holding the camera with my other fingers. I do have bigger hands, but I felt like this was designed intentionally with this in mind, and I appreciated it. All of the buttons, in fact were easily accessible, with the notable exception of the movie record button, whose tiny size and mushy response feel definitely felt like bit of an oversight on the part of Sony’s product design team. I was able to reach the button with my thumb, but the effort required always required me to recompose the shot afterwards due to the movement of the camera. As an added note on the body design, the flexibility of the built in flash was one of those features that literally changed how I approach photography. Although this feature is neither unique nor new to the mirrorless camera market, it still merits notice as a poignant commentary on the stagnation of players like canon and nikon in this market. I can finally use a built in flash without the classic “I used a straight on flash when I shouldn’t have and I am thereby announcing that I don’t know how to shoot professionally” effect.
Sony’s approach towards in-camera photo processing takes it several steps beyond the competition, much to my satisfaction. While other manufacturers content themselves with features such as in camera hdr, Sony takes things several steps further. For example, there is an iso level in the menu called “ISO AUTO NR”. This setting has the camera take several pictures in order to use the multiple images to reduce image noise, and this works to a significantly effective degree. The scene modes are also contain useful modes, in addition to the standard modes meant for beginners. The “hand held twilight mode” also blends several exposures together for better dynamic range and noise reduction. These features are useful to those who want good pictures straight out of the camera, without resorting to lengthy post processing workloads.
Another part of my positive feelings towards the A6000 comes from the EVF. An viewfinder is an essential part of any camera for me, and was my only gripe about one my all time favorite compacts, the panasonic lumix lx7 (yes, you can get a mounted evf, but I didn’t (and still don’t) have the money to plunk down for it). My first encounter with an EVF almost turned me off of them completely- the sad, poor excuse for an EVF that’s found on the Sony DSC HX300. While that viewfinder gave me a grainy, pale view of whatever I was looking at, the A6000’s EVF was a measure in contrast to that, offering me a crisp, vibrant perspective. With that being said, I could still make out lines of resolution on the EVF, and it is a step down from the NEX-6, which the A6000 presumably replaces. This was a bit puzzling to me, until I put some other missing pieces of the A6000 together, which lead me to the hypothesis which can be found at the end of this article.
This then, brings me to some of the more lackluster aspects of the a6000. The most startling omission on the A6000 is the lack of a touchscreen. The screen itself is beautiful and bright, with a 3 inch, 921,600 dot resolution, which was usually visible in direct sunlight (though not always).The lower level NEX 5n featured a touchscreen, and it was a much lauded feature of the camera. This is a feature that is extremely useful in focusing, both in stills as well as in movies, and its omission is egregious, at least in my opinion. It has now become an unusually cumbersome process to change focus points, much harder than the process needed on the t3i. Additionally, I missed the fully articulating screen of the t3i, as I usually like to shoot from unusual perspectives,although that was about the only thing I missed from the t3i, so no harm done.I should, however, mention a slight bug in the firmware, in which the EVF sensor would shut off even if the screen was extended, which made it impossible, for instance to get a perspective facing up from a field of grass. To my mind, the screen being articulated necessarily means that the EVF is not being used, and the camera should therefore be disabling the EVF proximity sensor.
My last disappointment concerned the wifi interface, which let me down in a number of ways. The first time I tried to connect my smartphone to my camera, it took me a number of tries until I even found the correct menu option on the camera. After that, the camera would not allow me to connect to my phone without signing up for a Sony entertainment account. That is an utterly ridiculous move on Sony’s part, especially considering their infamous leak of user data in 2011. I don’t want to give Sony my information, and I shouldn’t have to sign up for an account to connect my phone to my camera. Secondly, and even more outrageous, I couldn’t even create an account on either the camera or my phone! The camera directed me to use my computer, which wasn’t available, and and when I tried to use my phone (a samsung galaxy S4 running CM11) to create an account, the webpage refused to render properly for me. The real painful moment came at the end though, after I had finally signed up for an account on my laptop. I had to enter my username and password using a qwerty keyboard on the camera display, and controlled by the scrollwheel on the camera! I was appalled at the clunkiness of the implementation of this feature, as I had to painstakingly roll over to every character of my email address, (with a separate level of the keyboard reserved for numbers, too), and password. I sat there, stunned by the ease with this could have been accomplished with a touch screen, and hurt by how awful the process was without one. I felt a distinct impression that this camera had indeed been designed with a touchscreen, only to have it ripped out in a cost cutting move, until a different scenario entered my mind:
The Sony A6000 is not meant to be the flagship e-mount device. There is (assumedly) going to be another device that will come to take its place atop the Sony e-mount line up, which will feature a better EVF, a touchscreen, and likely more phase detection points (a more thorough discussion of this particular point will have to wait my next part of the review: image quality and performance.
Overall, though, I think this camera is an extremely refined iteration of the Sony mirrorless camera product line, the result of years of refining and perfecting, and I think that this camera will be my main workhorse for years to come. Quibbles aside, I think this another sensational hit from Sony, and with the widespread interest that the camera has generated, the lens selection will grow rapidly, if not by Sony, then by a third party such as sigma or tamron (although I suspect all three will participate).
Addendum
The A6000 comes into Sony’s lineup amidst a major overhaul of their naming strategy and product lineup, leading to a somewhat confusing camera and lens naming system:
(Warning: the following paragraph is intended not for for the faint of heart, if you lose track at one point read the tl;dr at the end) The NEX brand no longer exists, and all of Sony’s interchangeable lens cameras, mirrorless or SLT, ASC or full frame, now carry the alpa moniker. In a bit of confusing twist, though, Sony’s lens architectures remains separate and sometimes incompatible, with A-mount lenses being used in SLT cameras (all of which carry ASC size sensors), E mount series lenses being used for ASC sized mirrorless cameras, and FE mount series being used for full frame mirrorless cameras. Mirrorless cameras can use all mirrorless lens types (although cropping or severe vignetting will occur when using E mount lenses on a full frame camera). A-mount series lenses are not able to be used on mirrorless cameras, without using an adapter, which, if you’re not already confused, is another rabbit hole in it of itself. While this all make sense in physical terms, seeing as Sony is currently invested in two camera architectures, the naming structure is somewhat tortured and confusing, and can easily result in a newcomer buying an incompatible lens for his or her new camera. Additionally, not all lenses are compatible with Sony’s recently developed Hybrid Autofocus system, and you have to check the compatibility of a given lens’ ability to communicate with the phase detect autofocus point system. What comes out of this mess is the following (tl;dr): This camera is only compatible with Sony’s E or FE mount lenses, so do not buy any A-mount lenses, unless you plan on using an adapter. Also, check out this list from sony before you buy a lens, and make sure that you are buying one that will give you fast autofocus.
Sony A6000 store link list:
Sony A6000 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT, WexUK.
Silver A6000 at Amazon US, BHphoto, WexUK.
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore, Sony Canada, WexUK.
Silver A6000 with lens at Amazon US, BHphoto, WexUK.
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon, BHphoto, SonyStore. In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
0 Responses
Your comment about confusing names and lens systems seems confused. The A99 is a full frame SLT using full frame A mount lenses. The same vignetting would occur in a 99 if non-full frame A mount lenses were used. Needing to pick lenses carefully isn’t a new phenomenon (nor is it unique to Sony).
Re: the soft keyboard for entering Wi-Fi IDs and passwords, etc. I don’t think it’s a marketing ploy to get users to trade up to the (so far nonexistent) camera above the A6000 in the Sony APS-C lineup. PlayStation users will recognize it’s exactly the same soft keyboard used in game consoles. This is just code reuse on Sony’s part. On a TV size screen with a joystick controller, this input method is at least tolerable. Agreed: On a camera size screen with only a wheel controller, the Sony corporate keyboard is a torture device.
This is where I say that Sony is missing an opportunity to exploit the fact its cameras are based on the open source Linux operating system. If Sony allowed more access to the underlying camera SW, users could download alternatives to standard applications, the way you can download replacement soft keyboards for your Android phone or tablet.
Interesting. I havent used a playstation since the original, back when I was a kid (wow, free time… good memories… I couldn’t agree with you more though, especially considering that went through all of the trouble to create an actual app platform.
What are current native lenses? Sony has more than 21 lenses only in APS-C. There are also FE lenses. On top of that, if we are comparing to a DSLR, I would personally consider every A-mount lens as being native.
1. No IBIS
2. Even LA-EA1 price is quite high
We are doing a comparison here. Out of the 200 lenses for either Canon or Nikon, how many are stabilized? As to the price of the adapter, the a6000 shouldn’t be compared to entry-level DSLRs to beign with, imho.
dpreview tool says 13 out of 17 canon ef-s lenses are image stabilized.
a6000 sits in the price category between 700d and 70d, closer to 700d. Which should it be compared to?
if you count all A-mount lenses as native, why not count EF lenses too, because there is many adaptor EF-NEX, and they allows OIS to work.
All A-mount lenses are not FF lenses, they could be included.
But one thing the author didn’t said is : You can technically use ANY lens using an adaptor and that’s a huge selling point IMHO.
That’s explicitely stated in the review.
No it’s not, he’s only speaking for Sony lenses (A and E mount). I didn’t said “any sony lens”, but “ANY”, as in any lens of any manufacturer.
Yes you’re correct.
what about 55-250 in Nikon mount? Which adapter?
I don’t know, just search for a Nikon to Nex/E-mount 🙂 (Novoflex, fotodiox, etc.)
*I DON’T KNOW*
all these adapters are just metal, so OIS and AF won’t work. And of course even those adaptors (canon-nex) which support AF have very slow AF (Sony didn’t share all autofocus intricasies). So this capability means little to average user.
Nikon sells much more cameras despite longest flange distance, and threads “how to adapt this lens to Nikon F” are quite common.
You are right, and I did consider writing that, (in fact, if I recall correctly, I did write it, but then I erased it). My concern was twofold; first, the experience with adapter seems to be less than stellar, although I have not personally used one (for example, extrapolating from the a7/a7r read this http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6018399843/using-third-party-lenses-on-the-sony-a7-a7r). Secondly, I though that the paragraph might be confusing enough as it is, so I didn’t want to add to that. You are definitely correct however.
Your post is really confusing with the A and E-mount note. You should have just said that you can mount any Sony lens with an adapter (although not cheap), it’s simplier that way.
You are also mixing FF with APSC, which is irrelevant because you can also mount a FF lens on a APSC body.
Great post by the way 😉 (please make more distinct paragraph, it’s easier to read, but that’s me whining 🙂
Precisely, not so many lenses are stabilized. Most aren’t, so I do not see a6000’s lack of IBIS as an issue, as far as the comparison goes. I would count the A mount lenses as native, as you can access pretty much all of their features through an adapter made by the same company. Also, because if we are comparing to DSLRs we are obviously putting aside any size savings. As to the EF adapter, while it does provide all the functionality, some of it is subpar – AF.
The a6000 has an EVF that is simply a better experience than any entry-level OVF, I’d dare say even any APS-C one. It has a significantly better LV than any DSLR, great AF etc. I would certainly compare it to high-end APS-C.
Most of CaNikon lenses that need, are stabilized.
Does A6000 support, at least, phase AF with A-mount lenses? (from common sense it seems it’s much easier to do that compared to E-mount lenses where exit pupil position is much more variable).
LA-EA2 price is more than for entire camera, A37!
Who cares who makes it? I bought chinese polarizer instead of Sony’s because their price seems unreasonable
A6000 is not “weather sealed” unlike high-end models.
This is going nowhere. Did you even read what I wrote? Your IBIS complaint might make sense on its own, but not in this comparison, when neither competitor has it anyway. Which leaves us to compare how many and which lenses are stabilized in each brand. I don’t trust that number from Dpreview you gave, but even if Canon has indeed 13 stabilized APS-C lenses, some of them redundant for sure, the Sony has 11. Which really doesn’t look bad when you consider how much newer the mount is. And, by the way, which lenses need to be stabilized depends entirely on the usage one makes of them.
Yes, the LAEA4 (the LAEA2 is APS-C) is more expensive than the a37. What is your point? Are we comparing the a37 or the a6000 here?
And your question about who cares who makes it is bewildering. I just explained to you in my previous comment that there is one single third party adapter that provides all of the functionality of third party lenses, yet that functionality is subpar. You don’t read and on top of that you argue against yourself.
Gee, the a6000 isn’t weather sealed. You found one point against comparing it to a higher-end camera. The 7D and D7100 have fixed LCDs. Now what?
T5i and D5200 have IBIS? or do I miss the point? :/
“lets look at the Sony A6000 in relation to the two pro level ASC sized models from canon and nikon”
t5i and D5200 ??? LOL
While the wording may not be perfect I think these are reasonable models to compare to.
lol @ the pro level.
I’m sorry, and you are correct. The 70D and the D7100 could be called the professional level, although many would argue that anything that is not full frame is not professional. I meant to write mid level DSLR competitors, and I thank you for your correction.
>with A-mount lenses being used in SLT cameras (all of which carry ASC size sensors),
lol. is he claiming A99 a crop camera?
i think it’s a bit unfair to count all including FF lenses for CaNikon. Many FF lenses are meaningless to use on a crop body.
I use FF lenses on my APSC camera and they are better than their APSC versions (except for the SAL1650 which is wonderful).
There are advantages of using FF lenses on cropped sensors, see photozone.de or Kurt Munger website for more info on this.
But how much of an advantage compared to the price, size, etc? That’s what I wonder, so I’ve decided to get the 35mm and 50mm SEL for the OSS and adapt other lenses whether they be Canon, Nikon or even Sony A mount.
good FF lens used on APS-C sensor may outperform mediocre crop lens, but this doesn’t this doesn’t mean any advantages in general.
And a good APS-C lens can easily cosy as much as a FF one. Just look at m43 pricing.
that’s irrelevant. back there in 2009 a m43 camera price was higher than for more complex DSLR with larger sensor. Does that imply that smaller sensor with no mirror raises manufacture costs?
No, my point is that a FF setup doesn’t necessarily cost more and can sometimes even be cheaper. As far as manufacturing costs go, I think the only issue for mirrorless is that they produce in smaller numbers for the moment. Otherwise the crazy prices we see is simply companies making us pay for the novelty.
To the author: Try Ken Rockwell’s site and follow that format and the style. 🙂
Wrong AF info: 25 contrast/179 phase, not vice versa.
The last paragraph says A-mount lenses are “used in
SLT cameras (all of which carry ASC size sensors)” but there are both APS-C and full frame (Sony a99) SLT cameras.
“The most startling omission on the A6000 is the lack of a touchscreen.”
I started out with a NEX-5 and loved that camera. Then a few years later the NEX-5r came along and I bought that camera. One of the reasons was that it had a touchscreen and I thought it would be a feature that could improve the usability of the camera a lot, that it would make it a better camera. But I was wrong.
After the initial excitement went away I hardly ever used the touchscreen again. With buttons programmed to my needs I was just as quick if not quicker to change the settings. The screen became more and more of a hinderance with accidental touches doing things I did not want. In the end I disable the touchscreen altogether.
Maybe for other people a touchscreen is invaluable. I will never say that my experience is the common one. However I do think that with the right setup a touchscreen is hardly providing anything that you could not do just as easy or even easier in other ways.
So now I am the proud owner of an A6000 and have not missed a touchscreen for a single second.
Good point, I have the 5N and 5T and I don’t use the touchscreen much either. I think the way Sony implemented the touchscreen isn’t as smooth as Canon and maybe others, so complaints for lack of touchscreen.
Same here. Never used the thing. With the alpha menu system and the quick function button everything I need is right there and I can make changes without taking the camera away from my face if I choose.
My previous experience was with a Panasonic gx7, which had an extremely well implemented touch screen, and I used it quite a bit for focusing, at least during the short time that I had the camera. This could definitely be a subjective shooting preference however, and I never used the NEX-5, so I have the disadvantage of a lack of context and perspective. Enjoy your A6000, I’m definitely enjoying mine!
Having never used the camera before, I gambled and took it out on a job that involved hiking 8 miles into the backcountry. I have the a7r so the controls were familiar. All in all it was a joy to use and I’m quite happy with the results. On the a7r, if I use the 1st gen Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L, the photos are technically disappointing. It’s apparent that there is an astigmatism and in general, quite soft. I tried the same lens with the a6000 and the lens is totally acceptable. Great little camera!
TL:dr
Totally agree with this: “The most startling omission on the A6000 is the lack of a touchscreen. The lower level NEX 5n featured a touchscreen, and it was a much lauded feature of the camera. This is a feature that is extremely useful in focusing, both in stills as well as in movies, and its omission is egregious.
For the lock-on focus handling in video it is simply a must have. There must be the way to adjust the tracing focus during the clip shooting, in case it fails tracing the required object.
Some degrade in the Color Precision (SMI), compare to the predecessor is a little disappointment either:
Camera model …… SMI
Sony Nex 6 ………. 85
Sony Nex 5N ……. 84
Sony Nex C3 ………. 83
Sony A6000 ………… 82
Huge disappointment! Especially if anyone manages to actually see it.
There are white PDAF pixels which, in theory, with proper software, could be used to improve color precision, however Sony doesn’t seem to expose them in RAW.
likely, that Sony is trying to increase the sensitivity via reducing the filters density. and thus color precision degrade is more likely related to the lighter density of the matrix RGB filters. this is something to regret about
Reading this guest post is 5 minutes of my life, regrettably, I can never get back! ;^)
I am the author of this review, and this is my first camera review. Would you mind sharing the reasons for your discontent with my article, I would love to hear some constructive feedback.
Right now it reads like a comparison that you are entirely making for yourself, including your own confusion, bias and mistakes, not like an effort to help people decide. I mean no offense here, I applaud your effort, but it simply isn’t a proper comparison. Of course, that is just my opinion.
It doesn’t read like a professional review but a fan opinion piece. Sorry. Not particularly informative because it’s largely a rehash of what other e-mount fans have already said with some added comparisons with a few bodies you’ve owned. I’m happy for you that you like your new purchase over other competing bodies you’ve owned.
“I should, however, mention a slight bug in the firmware, in which the
EVF sensor would shut off even if the screen was extended…the camera should therefore be disabling
the EVF proximity sensor.”
That’s not a firmware bug. The camera has no means of sensing the screen’s position.
No need to be a douche earl, you cunt. I enjoyed the article and wait for the full review. I’m assuming there’s more to come, or maybe my page didn’t load properly, because the last thing I could see was about the lens naming system.
“No need to be a douche earl, you cunt.” Seriously? No irony, eh? ;^)
You were asking for a Nikon to E/Nex adapter, there are dozens of them. I never said it was fully functional.
But you can use your old Nikon/Canon/Leica lens with the A6000. Isn’t that a selling point? That was my point to begin with. I never said to drop all your bodies and keep your current lenses to use with the A6000.
Also, old lenses are “generally” manual, so what with AF?
Like I should have said when I replied below, I think the A6000 is not aimed at beginner photographer, but more at advanced/enthusiast photographer or people searching for a lightweight camera and keeping their big DSLR.