The current NEX-6 controls you see here on the back will remain almost unchanged on the soon to be announced A6000.
–
A couple of sources told me that one of the very big improvements of the new A6000 is the autofocus speed and accuracy. The A6000 has the best AF of all E-mount cameras and the sources told me that you really “feel” the improvement.
And yes, the new A6000 will replace both the NEX-6 and NEX-7 models even if the new A6000 has the NEX-6 layout (no Tri Navi of the NEX-7). There will be also no new FE lenses yet but as I told you a couple of times now I expect Sony to make a major A and E-mount announcement before the NAB show in Las Vegas. This means some time in between mid March and early April.
Reminder: A6000 has 24 MP sensor with phase detection pixels on sensor.
Follow Sony announcement live on SAR: Readers should be ready to take some time off on Wednesday at 4-5am London time to follow the event live on SonyAlphaRumors!!!
—
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
—
Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!
0 Responses
Is it already known if it will have Olympus’ 5-axis IBIS?
Admin said it won’t.
Even if the pictures on the Sony websites were to predict what’s soon to come for the E mount cameras, we’re looking at 2 axis stabilization, because they clearly show compensation for horizontal and vertical motion only.
well, actually “5 axis” is a misnomer, because it “5 axis” sensor actually moves by two axes and rotates around the third. Two additional axes are for close-range compensation, processed by camera brains and unknown to unit which moves the sensor.
Hope it has the feature to turn off the prefocus view like the A7.
It is still not yet clear what the body would look like not just a mirror of nex-6.
Hope to see the actual specs too.
I want to know the video specs. I’m *sure* the stills will be great, but does it have better codecs than every other Sony camera? Does it have a mic-in and the levels’ control of the A7 and RX10? Pleeeeze?!
Very good questions. Unfortunately Sony tends to try and cripple their still cameras when it comes to video for fear of cannibalizing their camcorder sales. In the end the big question is what manufacturer will come out with a still camera that shoot video with a global shutter… That would be an innovation.
One of these days they are going to get it all right in one model! 🙂
I hope the dark corner issues of the NEX-7 is taken care of!
no touchscreen?
no Tri-Navi… 🙁 🙁 🙁
By now they should have already switched to QuadNavi even
What’s the advantage of Tri-Navi? Never used it, so just asking. I have 5-R — the top wheel works for aperture and the click wheel works for shutter in manual mode. ISO control is a click. In Tri-Navi what’s the assignment?
One dial for aperture, second dial for shutter speed, third back dial for ISO.
No clicks just use it without ever moving your eye from the EVF.
There is also additional “manual focus”/AEL button.
That is sweet. Looks like A7 doesn’t have Tri-Navi either.
A7 does. It’s has 3 dials + 1 EC dial.
That on-sensor PD-AF: Will it just improve AF with E-Mount lenses, or is it good for focusing A-Mount lenses, too?
On the a99 it only works with compatible lenses, but that’s presumably because it needs to be calibrated per lens to reconcile 2 sets of pdaf data. At a guess it would probably work with a mirrorless adapter…
If the one shot AF (not bothered about tracking) is roughly as fast and accurate as a m43 body – eg EM-5, I’m sold!
How would you measure it. OMD doesn’t accept E lenses. NEX doesn’t accept m43 lenses. More powerful engines are major advantage of m43 lenses in that regard.
Meanwhile, Panasonic is unleashing a best tomorrow. 4K at 96fps?!?!?! http://www.43rumors.com/first-panasonic-gh4-images/
I very much doubt those two figures go together though.
Max resolution of 4k and max frame rate of 96fps and max bit rate of 200Mbit/s, yes, but not all at the same time!
Still, very good camera. If only Panasonic would see decent f2.8 and better lenses at prices that don’t look cheap only if you compare them to full frame!
Panasonic’s flagship micro 4/3 GH3 and now GH4 offer features in video others don’t. However, when I bought my a65 I was upgrading from a Lumix (ironically) to get better video. How much video have I shot with it? Almost nothing.
Stills? I’ll stick with Sony in a heartbeat.
Plus, I love the colors in classic Minolta glass so one advantage to me in Sony is large legacy of lenses to pick from.
If I were mostly about video, sure, Panny looks interesting.
So what does that mean for a higher end apsc? Will the emount annoucement be apsc in april apsc or not?
Great! A really fast AF for the rumored price would be really appealing.
Any more details on the body? Plastic, magnesium? Weather-sealing? What buttons are on it?
Since you insist that it replaces 6 and 7 you already now that there will be no other high-end APS-C alpha E-mount camera (what a mess) at NAB?
There may be if we are lucky a new concept entirely: A7000/ A5 which will utilise the tri navy and construction of the n7. It seems pointless to build such a good camera (n7) and then not continue it??
Perhaps sales of the NEX-7 have been disappointing.
I wouldn’t be suprised if there were no APS-C NEX-7 successor. Maybe Sony will make another NEX7 style camera with a FF sensor? If priced like the A7, I think this makes more sense, to push the former NEX7 consumers up to FF.
Touchscreen?
Sony had said in the past that they think touchscreen is only for cameras without EVF. So I doubt that they will come with a camera with EVF and touchscreen, but everything is possible.
I personaly do not like touchscreens, but I see why others like them, so I think it would be good if Sony put the touchscreen on the A6000…
I know some people really like touchscreens, but on my 5R Inever use it. At lleast it doesn’t get in the way and make using the camera harder than it needs to be, like on the EOS M.
On the 5R the one time I do want to use a touchscreen is also really frustrating – when you need to use the onscreen keyboard. It takes what seems like a full second for key taps to register and the cursor to advance. This is worse than the original Newton MessagePad from the 1990s on much weaker hardware. If the A6000 has a touchscreen, the software really needs to be improved to make it worthwhile.
Too bad, it is perfect to set the focus point and the magnification view started! How do you do this on an EVF? If EVF would be everything, what for is the back screen there anyway? So if providing a screen, offer the whole program and don’t get cheap. What would a smart phone be without a touch screen. Jesus.
Not difficult to achieve it at all as all e-mount camera were not strong in speed of AF…..
Indeed !!
Maybe not strong but also not bad compared to the other APS-C offerings and with a steady progress in every model… and I think that is what we will see here. Better than the 6 and a little bit better than the A7.
I am sure you haven’t used an A7 much. I am quite impressed by the tracking capability in AF-C mode, coming from the NEX-7 this camera really didn’t track well.
I think a lot of people give up on their cameras a bit too easy without realising its full potential.
Yep. That is because I only have a NEX 6 and I tested the PDAF in almost every way I could. I am sure that I know what it can do and can not do.
I only know what the reviews and people in the forums say about the A7: It is faster the the current NEX cameras but not as good as the E-M1 or a DSLR. Is that wrong?
How can u be so sure I haven’t used it a lot？A7 is my first partner already along with my EM1 ; There is no doubt that AF is much faster with EM1 and we hope that Sony will improve this area asap; For Fuji, it has been improved from very slow of XE1 to quite fast in XE2; and XT1 is expected to be very fast and is a great threat
Sony should compete with other brands instead of doing slight improvement over her previous models
Pls remove AA-filter
I hope the 24MP sensor is much better than the NEX7 one…
TriNavi would have been great T____T. I would have persuaded me to upgrade from my NEX5…
This what I need.. fast, hopefuly accurate af and good low light performance 🙂 . Thanks SONY.
This what I need..small size, fast, hopefuly accurate af and good low light performance 🙂 . Thanks SONY.
Say this new model comes with a fast AF (not super fast, just fast would be great) AND a touch screen and yes, it will be worth upgrading from the original NEX5…
I’m hoping that they are using a meaningful metric to measure AF speed. Most mirrorless cameras I’ve tried have reasonable speed as long as you focus on a static object. In typical test videos where someone switches between focussing on a close object and on an object far away, mirrorless cameras usually don’t perform much worse than DSLR’s.
However, I still haven’t seen any mirrorless camera sufficiently mastering continuous autofocus on a moving object. The real challenge is to capture a child that’s running towards you right in the movement (with open aperture & nice background separation).
The autofocus on my NEX7 for example is nice enough when taking pictures of static scenes. But what does that help? If the scene is static, a slow AF or MF would also work. But capturing my 3-year old son has become an impossible challenge with that camera. And that’s exactly where I would need to rely on AF.
You should probably go for a Canon 1Dx then.
Capturing 3 yr olds with the N7 is exactly what I have been doing for two years. While it’s not techically impossible, I can certainly feel your frustration. Either you adapt your shooting style to the camera, learn MF, try to favorise those times when the child is being calmer, or you adapt the camera to your shooting needs, by getting a fast focusing set-up. Either way works. Sure, I don’t take the action shots of my daughter (now 5, 3 when I first picked up a NEX) that I used to with my D700. Otoh, I got maybe my best shots of her with the N7.
That’s why there are Canon and Nikon sir: proper cameras, no useless specs on paper.
I hear you. I sold my nex 7 and lenses a year ago because of the slow af compared to my high speed 2 year old. I went SLT and though I miss the smaller size of NEX, have never really looked back.
Well, if I would like a fast & bulky camera, I would buy the LA-EA2 and use my old A-mount glass on my NEX7. But I would like to have a fast & small camera…
I had the same experience in the night trying to take picture of my family/relative sledding down a hill. Until I turned on object tracking! You have to set your focus on your object once and all my images were in focus :D. Use the awesome tools the camera has. The is also AF-S (single focus shot) and AF-C (continues focus). I would definitely recommend using [Object Tracking]. Point the little square at you 3yr old hit the center button for OK and hold that shutter button down as long as you want. All your shots will be in focus*(assuming you set a fast enough shutter speed to prevent blurred images). Know what to do and set up, and you will love your camera !
TriNavi would have been the killer feature. If this is the highest-end short of FF, that’s really desirable. I think many people want low-cost cameras with reasonable amounts of control. Perhaps that’s for A-mount?
Good for me! I like the controls of the NEX6, I like the 24mp sensor of the NEX7 and I miss the faster AF! I’m in!!!
+1
+3
I don’t know why anyone would prefer the controls of the NEX6 to the NEX7. You lose nothing with the NEX7 but gain one more dial. Even if you don’t use it much, it’s nice to have the option of configuring the extra dial.
I often turned the N7’s wheels accidentally and changed the settings unintentionally. Never happened with the N6.
If the A6000 has the back layout of the NEX-6 and extra dial on the front like the A7, then the dial layout is already better than the NEX-7, and I come from a beloved NEX-7. The A7 dial layout is better than the NEX-7.
There are two things I am regretting if true:
1: The termination of the iconic NEX-5 line. (WHY?!)
2: The omission of mag alloy body parts of the NEX-7 (but an A7000 will likely come)
A lot of N7 fans happen to like the N7’s layout over the A7’s layout. I know I do.
Indeed, it is sad if there’s no NEX-5N / NEX-5R anymore – the smallest possible body with the full functionality of the APS-C line. Sony seems to have concluded that the best way to attract new customers is to degrade and cripple every popular model.
Wishlist:
– TriNavi
– Touchscreen
– GPS
All not mentioned in any of the rumors, looks like I have to wait another year for my perfect camera. 🙁
Waiting for your perfect camera?? I’m having fun with my less “perfect” 5N… sure it have some limitation, but I know my 5N and how it’s behave… I can bring the best from it.
how can you deal with gps tagging with no gps? thats why we need gps, this is small light travel camera, it should have a GPS!
for my work, im using hx50v for collecting data project progress for its GPS FUNCTION.
Why cant ALPHA 6000?
Easy use your phone to geo tag the odd image, them import the non GPS images to the same location and delete the original image
same here, i’ll have to hang out a little longer with my 5n, i can bring the best from it just like wali did. a year wouldnt be that long with a new lens, sooooo 2014 might be the year of a new lens for me
but well see, sony always surprice me, thats why in SONY I BELIEVE
Yup, 2014-year of a new lense.
Well, I don’t think there is ever a perfect camera. I must say that the built-in GPS isn’t great. I thought it would be a useful feature. It only works outdoors and lowers already poor battery life. Smart phones work far better for GPS.
Hopefully Sony lsitened to us customers and delivers:
– Menue: like A7
– more flexible customization of physical controls / buttons
– better sensor compared to nex-7
– improved viewfinder (brighter, larger magnification, for people wearing glasses)
– improved focus peaking (there is already a significant difference between nex-6 and A7)
– faster focus speed in particular for continuous shooting
– support of UHS-II cards
A dream on top would be
– built-in stabilization which would give a boost for my Minolta manual glasses
– weather sealing
– raw video output
The Pany GH4 is a completely differenty concept and will be twice the price.
Comparing that to an A6000 is rather pointless (?).
The A6000 will be small, yet has an APSc sensor, fast AF, 2MP OLED EVF => 800 USD … nothing compares.
GH4 is rumored to be around 2k, A6000 around 650$ body only so that’s more than 3 times the price.
So, how can I change aperture, shutter speed and ISO, without going into menus or having to click a button before performing an action?
You know, camera is about taking photos, and those are the controls we must use to make them.
I see two dials, so, how do I change ISO without fumbling through the menus or having to do an extra click, select, click?
Can I select a focus point without having to click a button first or fumble through the menus?
Why are they creating cameras that do everything wrong for a person that just wants to take photos?
That is why tri navi was important, it allowed a person to take photos by controlling:
1. Aperture
2. Shutter speed
3. ISO
4. Select focus point when focusing on auto
5. Turn on or off zoom focus on manual focusing
That is why everyone is talking about switching to Fuji. Their cameras allow a person to take a photo without having to reprogram the damn thing or do a thousand and one click for one simple operation.
Sony should focus camera business toward people that take photos and not toward kids that already have their mobile phones for the selfies.
They should call it the ‘A good reason to stick with my old camera’ instead of dropping the NEX name
and innovative concepts.For evolutionary boredom I can go to the Canon waiting room!
Also, in 3 months or so, they will announce a 4k Asomething to catch up with the Lumix 4k.Lets fill up the electronic garbage lots in the meantime!
I like the spin Sony is leaking to SAR: “The A6000 has the best AF of all E-mount cameras and the sources told me that you really ‘feel’ the improvement.”
Since Sony is replacing NEXs including the NEX-7 you’d expect some performance improvement. No-brainer. Maybe there’s some surprise they’re boasting a cheaper compact out-performs the a7/a7R flagships but then we’d hope so based on the mediocre reviews on those cameras’ AF. Since Sony is, for whatever reason, releasing products in 2014 from low-end to the high-end, again, you’d expect the a6000 to be at least as good as the entry-level a5000.
What Sony isn’t saying is it’s better than the competition. That it’s industry-leading or even matches the competition. No jaw-dropping stat like Fuji released for the XT-1. Just you’ll “feel” the difference. Deep in my soul maybe? Placebo affect? 😉
I know Sony thinks it’s being cute dribbling out leaks to peak interest in CP+ and their 2014 line-up but it isn’t working. Reading comments there’re just creating more confusing, prompting more questions, and frustrating fans. Just release the info. Show off the camera for the first time at some presser and CP+. Get samples into the hands of reviewers ASAP, post pictures, etc. Quit being cute because we’re only a week out. It isn’t working so it’s worse than pointless. You need to build excitement.
I get that what Sony is revealing of their line-up this year thus far are incremental refreshes. That’s fine. What’s starting to worry me is Sony is withholding info because they’re starting to realize they’ve drop half a step behind the competition.
fastest of all e-mount? bleh bleh bleh….
hope it’ll increase on la-ea4 too, bleh bleh bleh…
WHY removing 3navi?
why PSAM dial? im using only A and M and i rarely touch that dial, exp comp would be much helping us for 3 navi replacement.
im waiting for a7000 to replace my 5n
bleh bleh bleh
ooopss sory, i thought that PASM dial was on a6000, i hope that dial replaced by exp comp.
The camera market is a very hard market to compete in just now:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2014/02/06/cipa-2013-report-shows-first-time-decline-in-interchangeable-lens-camera-sa
I’d still pick an OMD EM5 over this any day.
I am glad you like the EM5. It’s a great camera (though there are lots of great cameras).
Thanks. I don’t own the EM5 yet but I’ve shot with it. I have the PEN1 and will upgrade in the next week. I’ve been consolidating all of my lenses and cameras. So, I still have all my FF zeiss glass and a900 but now I’m going 43rds for the small stuff. I’m really impressed and I agree- there isn’t to many cameras where you can go wrong with these days. I think we are already beyond the limits of what’s necessary to have a technically excellent picture.
I want that super gorgeous, razor sharp, nutella creamalisheous bokeh…
85mm F1.4G E mount prime lens.
ADMIN is there anymore news on it?
APS-C please.
The FE 55 will give you about 85mm FOV on aps-c cameras. It’s been highly rated.
I would want a lens built specifically and optimized for apsc to perform at its best. I read that the 55 FE didn’t do as well on apsc as it did on FF.
Another question for someone with experience/experiment… does a FF lens become faster when put on a cropped APSC? For example would the FE 55 F1.8 become like F0.8 when put on an APSC sensor? Lets say a FF lens is like a 1.8in tube of light on a FF sensor that is like a 2in tube. So the FF 1.8in tube can max out 1.8in pass of light = 1.81.6 therefore, there is more light coming at the APSC sensor?
Does it make sense?
Wow my message got screwed up. Its missing words and symbols. The numbers supposed to be 1.8in is greater than 1.6in.
I still hope that new firmware update will come to old nex 6 users. I wish sony will give me the ability to change what the second dial control and can perform back button af (af on).
Infuriating as it is, I think Sony has made it crystal clear they have no intention of EVER releasing firmware updates to add functionality to released cameras or to improve controls/interfaces. The only exception I can think of since 2010 is the one that added focus peaking and more custom buttons to my original NEX-5 — I really don’t think the NEX-7 update to allow disabling the video button counts as another.
i hope it hasn’t got an AA filter. any rumours on that?
Will be interesting to see the final specs. From this article, it seems like an iterative upgrade and probably not worth an upgrade for an existing NEX-6/7 user, unless you are someone who over-prioritises the importance of specs and hardware.
So this will be the high-end APS-C offering from Sony for 2014? Hmm… I looked through my old note of “things I’d like my next camera to have”, which included things like front/rear IR receiver, wireless flash support (never actually worked out if my NEX-6 does this), dedicated exposure compensation dial – doesn’t look like this new camera really addresses any of these – just adds a better MP count and some AF improvements.
My photography is not being held back by the speed of AF in my camera or the MP count – and I’d encourage others to question the same about their own proficiency and what really holds them back.
In a way, an incremental upgrade is good. It means that Sony reached a more stable and clear perspective of the e-mount line-up. The fact that it is called A6000 and is 800$ in a kit leaves a LOT of headroom over it. It is easy to imagine two cameras filling the gap between 650$ (a6000 body only) and 1700$ (a7 body only). This leaves room for a high end APS-C AND a low end FF.
650 euros body only, not $650… Prices are higher in US dollars these days. I would guess $750 body only. Still it’s a pretty low price point.
Well, if this one’s got the new EVF I’d say that’s a pretty big deal still. I tested the new one vs the N6 one side by side and I like the new one much better (but the old one is already good enough for me).
gintony, by “the new one” you mean the one in the A7/A7R? I thought it was spec’d the same as the N6/N7 & add-on EVFs, can anyone fill me in on the differences?
afaik the nex 6 should be able to do wireless flash with either optical trigger (f20m or f43m for ratios in ttl) or third party radio triggers of which some can do ratios and ttl ( but some might need adapter for the new hot shoe). at least the a-mount cameras can do those things.
If you can feel the improvement over the A7, that’s a real achievement. If you can only feel the improvement over the NEX-7, not so much.
GPS WTF?!
Even the 200 € Nokia Lumia 625 has build-in GPS. But not the upcoming Sony 650 € APS-C camera.
And those whining about battery life can always turn it off.
So, metal body is out of question I suppose at this price. I would hav paid for it, but oh well…
Touchscreen is very useful for me on the 5R, but again, Sony does not seem to be a fan…
I am glad if they keep the mode dial, but for the love of Akatosh, please ad C1 C2 custom modes! I really really need those and I suppose it’s not rocket science? I have them on my travel zoom compact camera.
The A7-like menu is also very likely, isn’t it? That’s maybe my most wanted upgrade besides the touchscreen and faster af.
I never understood that logic: Either touchscreen or EVF.
Clearly, a touchscreen is useless when you actually use the EVF. But who says you will, even when it is there?
Ok, let’s ask Sony to lose some sales to Pana and Oly because you don’t understand something.
How would including a touchscreen on cameras with an EVF cause them to lose sales to Panasonic and Olympus? I’m not big on the touchscreen on the NEX and would gladly live without it, but this makes no sense. Sony is also in a better position in terms of logistics to get them for cheaper as well.
I guess they’re lose sales from either/or purists like yourself?
Why would Sony lose sales when integrating a touchscreen regardless of the presence an EVF?
Btw, the Sony’s camera touchscreens are not the best in the market. But with a good capacitive one like in the Canon 70D or every modern smartphone, changing of settings, setting of focus points and reviewing photos is a pure joy.
I have been looking for an upgrade to my NEX 5R and waiting for NEX 7 successor. Looks like this is the camera I will get, hope the controls is as good as the NEX 7. Admin, is this the new flagship APSC E mount camera?
Oly needs to copy this look. They need to design a professional PEN camera and get with it. I llove the omd look but I’m saying there is a huge place for this design. stick the evf built in and on the side with a big chunky grip.
I wonder if they are really using the NEX-6 body, or building it on a NEX-7 frame with NEX-6 controls. The proposed price suggests the former. But one could hope for the latter.
Of course, the ultimate would be an A& body with the new sensor. But that’s too much to hope for at this point in the A7/r life cycle.
“Dump the rectangle”
If this A6000 can do sports photography, i will be putting down my credit card asap!
The AF is very slow on Sony 70-400/4.0-5.6 G II but not on ATG Sony 70-400/2.8-3.5 G II when using the Sony LA-EA4. Little faster when used with ATG AL-EA4+ Adapter.
“The A6000 has the best AF of all E-mount cameras” is not the same as you compared with the ATG Canon EOS-1D C, Canon EOS-1D C or Nikon D4s.
Reviewers are adding too many fancy words on their reviews.
Like the latest is the ONE INCH sensor which we all knew it not even close to be 25.4mm sensor.
12.80mm width X 9.60mm length on the Sony DSC-RX100 II.
When was the last time that anyone ever call a 1.97 inch lens, instead of a 50mm lens?