Much better than the sony nex6 - another masterpiece from the sony photographic team. I believe that amazon reviews are usually the most helpful and dependable, so when people choose to rate an outstanding product as '1 star' because they lost the eyepiece, it's being very unfair to the manufacturer - you the lost he eye piece not sonyalso, i think it's helpful to have some context - especially with cameras. In my case, i like to shoot casually; friends and family (kids), with some sports, holidays and cars. I have recently owned: a sony rx100 (simply outstanding), fujifilm x-m1, sony nex6, panasonic gm1 (crazy small and cute but terrible image noise), canon s120 and canon eos40d. What's so great about the a6000?1) it's simply the most ergonomic of all the small apsc cameras anywhere near this price point.
Only the fujifilm x-t1 is better and that's twice the price. It is very compact but also feels very sturdy and comfortable grip for prolonged use. It feels like a real camera. 2) the photo quality is far superior to my rx100 or fujifilm x-m1 in terms of sharpness and more natural looking skin tones - especially compared to the fuji, which tends to make faces look a bit wax-like. 3) for kids, animals and sports it's simply unbeatable unless you pay more than twice the price.
Great camera, fun features, good shots, wish it was metal. I bought this camera as a replacement for my entry level, and fairly basic a200. That said, i had acquired some good lenses and so it wasn't without trepidation that i made the upgrade. The kit lens is useful given its range, and i still use it for wide shots but since buying the camera i have also bought a couple of lenses, a 35mm prime and a 70-210mm zoom. For 90% of the time my camera wears the prime.
It takes in loads of light, is fast and vibrant. Overall, i have been very happy with the purchase, both in terms of the performance of the sensor/processing, and some of the smart 'apps' that come with the camera. My favourite of which is the remote shutter app, which allows you to connect using nfc/wifi and use your phone as a viewfinder and shutter release. This is not only a great party trick, but also very useful for taking group shots etc. The sensor is great, and the additional megapixels very welcome.
Pros
- Much better than the Sony Nex6 - another masterpiece from the Sony photographic team
- Probably the most complete consumer camera ever made!
- but from my first impressions it's a lovely camera that takes great pictures even in the automatic modes
- I bought this camera because of the great reviews and with the idea of replacing my bulky
- One of the best Inter Changeable Lens cameras available.
- For the price, unbeatable.
Cons
- Get a Sony RX10 instead
Negative Review of Sony A6000 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera Body Only - Black (24.3MP)
Features of Sony A6000 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera Body Only - Black (24.3MP)
- Sony's 24.3MP Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor; Fast Hybrid Autofocus system; SVGA Tru-Finder.
- 24.3MP Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor
- Fast Hybrid Autofocus system
- Sharp SVGA Tru-Finder OLED viewfinder
Click here for a larger image
At a glance,
Quicker autofocus than a DSLR, Capture moving subjects in sharper detail with the world's quickest autofocus* - just 0.06 seconds. A superior alternative to bulky DSLRs, thanks to a 179-point focal plane phase-detection AF sensor. So, you need never miss a photo opportunity again, even with a fast-moving subject. The a6000 also delivers superb image quality, courtesy of its large Exmor APS-C image sensor with around 24.3 effective megapixels and a powerful BIONZ X image processing engine. Operation is swift and highly intuitive thanks to an OLED Tru-Finder and two operation dials, while a tiltable LCD screen makes shooting over the top of crowds - or getting low-down shots of children or nature - effortless. And when it comes to sharing your pictures on Facebook, Twitter or by email via your mobile devices, it's simplicity itself with One touch NFC and Wi-Fi.
Quicker autofocus than a DSLR*, Capture moving subjects in sharper detail with the world's quickest autofocus* - just 0.06 seconds - and 11fps continuous shooting with superior AF tracking performance, ensuring the perfect moment is always captured when shooting moving subjects. This speed is made possible by the combination of a 179-point focal plane phase-detection AF sensor, covering nearly the entire image area, plus high-speed, high-precision contrast-detection AF.
Hyper-real image quality, Enjoy big camera performance in a remarkably small body. A large Exmor APS-C image sensor with around 24.3 effective megapixels gives detailed images with rich tonal gradation. And the BIONZ X image processing engine enhances detail, reduces noise and gives hyper-real images. ISO settings range from 100 to 25,600 ensuring great versatility and performance, even at dusk or night time.
DSLR-style operation, The a6000 is more like a DSLR in terms of operation. The Intuitive dial operation lets you make swift adjustments while looking through the viewfinder and there are buttons that enable you to customise your preferences. There's an improved user interface that can be customised for quick access to your key functions and a Multi Interface Shoe that accepts a wide range of accessories. A built-in flash and tiltable LCD screen complete the high-spec line-up.
See the whole picture with the OLED Tru-Finder electronic viewfinder, The viewfinder on the a6000 features an optical system with four double aspherical lenses that deliver a wide viewing angle (approx. 33) and clear visibility from corner to corner. Together with high contrast and resolution, this system dramatically improves visibility. By maximizing the characteristics of the OLED - such as rich tonal gradation, faithful colour reproduction and high contrast - the viewfinder displays true-to-life images that look natural and are easy to view.
Easy sharing with One touch NFC and Wi-Fi, Shoot, touch and share - in an instant. With One touch NFC and built-in Wi-Fi, all it takes is a quick touch to wirelessly transfer photos and videos directly to an NFC-enabled smartphone, or tablet. You can even turn your phone or tablet into a remote control to control the camera and take photos. If you want to see the images on your TV, simply transfer them wirelessly. And when you want to get creative, you've a range of PlayMemories Camera Apps** to choose from. Box Contains
Shoulder strapAC adaptor (AC-UB10)Micro USB cableEyepiece cupRechargeable battery pack (NP-FW50)Body capPower cord
But From My First Impressions It's a Lovely Camera That Takes Great Pictures Even In the Automatic Modes. Only had this for a week so i'm still getting used to it, but from my first impressions it's a lovely camera that takes great pictures even in the automatic modes. It handles well even with the larger zoom lens (50-210 mm). We also looked at the a5000 for its compact size but preferred the handling of this one. Plus we wanted the mode selection dial rather than accessing those via the screen. The digital view finder is very handy too when shooting in bright outside conditions. Wi-fi connectivity are handy and we love the near-field-communication; however this drains the battery, so we have disabled it and only turn it on when needed. .
Great Camera!. I've had the camera over a week now and has some opportunity to test it and also use it for genuine photos rather than just test shots. I've got a sony nex 5n and last year bought a sony rx100 - mostly for its small size. Although i have other cameras those are my main comparison cameras. My main reason for buying the sony a6000 was the sony marketing of supposedly amazing auto-focus capabilities and also for the electronic view finder - which neither the nex 5n nor rx100 have. As well as landscapes i do also like to take occasional action shots of my dog and also wild life - a couple of years ago i went on a sea safari and got some excellent shots of dolphins and seals with my nikon d700. *** auto focus ***the sony a6000 has 179 af points which the sony marketing implies can quickly track any moving object in the frame and get perfect focus every time. My young labrador never stays in one place long enough and its a challenge getting action shots of her - hence my excitement when i saw the sony marketing of the super fast autofocus system of the a6000 and the videos i saw on the internet of the a6000 easily tracking fast moving subjects and every shot being in focus!it looked like all i need do was whip out the camera, switch it on and it'd be able to automatically shot rapid action shots of my fast moving dog. If only my experience matched the marketing. Instead the sony struggled to even spot my small brown labrador in outside locations ( fields, muddy paths etc ). Leaving it up to the sony camera i was lucky to get any shots in focus!its very good at rapidly shooting 20 or 30 shots - all out of focus as far as my dog was concerned - though the grass and path behind were nicely focused!this certainly didn't match the marketing and i was very disappointed and almost ready to give up on the camera. I think the issue is my dog is too low contrast and not big enough to get the sony's attention - put her in a high visibility jacket or get a large white dog and i suspect it would work much better. To be fair to the camera i've only tested with my dog so far and it may well work very well with more high contrast subjects. After lots of attempts and playing with the settings i abandoned letting the camera make decisions and used central focus af - as long as i kept her inside the spot when she was running towards me then i'd say more than 60% of the shots were in focus. Which given how fast she runs this is not too bad at all. Also a reasonable amount of depth of field helps!i did try the tracking facility and that did notice my dog and track her but the hit rate was no better - probably worse - than me manually tracking her. With that disappointment out the way i realised the af system was not going to perform the miracles shown in online marketing videos. On the plus side the af is very fast and generally fairly accurate as long as its focused on the right thing. The af also appears to be able to operate in slightly lower light than the af of the nex 5n. The af is certainly a step up from the nex 5n and rx100 in terms of focusing speed and number of frames per second. *** electronic view finder ***my other reason for the a6000 was the electronic view finder - and i have to say the a6000 evf is excellent - bright and clear and copes well in low light. Having said that i don't have much experience of other evfs but i was very happy with the sony a6000 evf. *** image quality ***the next question i had was image quality of a6000 vs nex 5n vs rx100. At the lower end of the iso scale - 800 and less - they were all pretty much the same. Very careful pixel peeping sees the a6000 and 5n being very, very slightly better than the rx100 but in reality you'd never notice the difference. But the advantage the a6000 has is 24 mega pixels vs 20 of the rx100 and 16 of the nex 5n. So the a6000 wins in the sense you get bigger images ( and prints ) but with no significant loss of image quality in terms of low iso noise. Of course 99% of the time you won't notice - you need to be creating 4 foot by 5 foot posters to start to notice!at the high iso end of things the rx100 - while providing excellent images at iso 1600 - 6400 - is still a bit grainier than the other cameras. Not so bad as to be an issue though - you really have to look hard at 100% image size. But there's no doubt the nex 5n and a6000 produce less noisy high iso images. On the other hand the difference between the a6000 and nex 5n is much, much smaller. You really have to look hard to notice any difference. The in camera high iso jpgs are slightly better on the nex 5n. Re-sizing the a6000 images to 5n sizes improves them but i still feel the 5n has the advantage. The a6000 jpg noise reduction has a habit of making images a bit too smooth and smeary with a loss of detail. But raw images are slightly better from the a6000 than the 5n. I used the lastest version of the sony image data converter software to process the raw images as well as lightroom 5. 4i tested with some iso 3200 images and without noise reduction applied they look pretty bad! but the a6000 marginally less bad. Applying noise reduction with the sony image data converter software set to auto noise reduction improves things massively but the a6000 images come out looking better when viewed at 100% on screen. Slightly less smeary and more pleasing looking noise on the a6000 vs the 5n. Again at normal size prints you won't notice the difference - its only pixel peeping you notice these things. So in terms of image quality the a6000 is very similar to the other cameras but wins because its 24 mega pixels allowing for larger prints. One thing i did notice was the a6000 image was slightly brighter than the nex 5n image. Even though i shot the same thing at the same time in the same light with the same lens, shutter, iso and apatures. Maybe its a fluke but perhaps the sony sensor is slightly more light sensitive at the same iso. It'll be interesting to see expert reviews with proper tests. *** ease of use ***where the a6000 definitely wins over the nex 5n is its ease of use. The menu structure and navigation is so much easier on the rx100 and a6000 which share similar menus structure. I personally found the nex 5n's interface a nightmare to use and never really liked it. The a6000 is also much more customisable than the nex 5n. It has 3 buttons you can assign to your own commands as well as being able to customise things like the wheels, dials and some of the menus. I've not used the 5n in a while and was swearing a bit trying to navigate its menus ready to set it up for testing!sometimes its silly little things that help. For example if you go in to image playback on the nex 5n and then press the menu button it'll go back to the last menu used. Do the same thing on the a6000 and it goes automatically to the playback menu with the delete menu highlighted - so you then just select the delete menu and then choose what to delete. On the nex 5n you go back to the previous used menu and then have to navigate to the delete multiple images menu - all of which takes time. Sounds silly but just makes the camera easier to use - and there are lots of little improvements like this that make the a6000 an easier to use camera. *** battery life ***battery life on default settings seems quite poor - certainly compared to my sony rx100 which just keeps on going! i can go on a week's holiday with the rx100 and take a few hundred shots and still have 50% power left. The a6000 seems to be down to 40% power after 1 day and 100 shots. However i switched off the pre-af feature to save power and this has definitely helped reduce battery consumption. Pre-af continuously focuses at whatever the camera is pointing at when on. When off the camera only focuses when you half press the shutter button. For most things leaving it off is fine and saves power. Only if you are trying to shoot fast moving/changing things like children and dogs would it be a good idea to keep the pre-af switched on. However i'd still strongly recommend getting a spare battery. *** movies ***movies. Until now i've always preferred a dedicated camcorder to using a camera for video. But i've done a few test videos with the a6000 and one word - wow! video quality is surprisingly good - even under low lighting. I'm really impressed. *** summary ***to sum up this rambling review. . If you own a sony nex 5n then the main reasons to upgrade to the a6000 are:* the excellent electronic viewfinder* faster frames per second and slightly faster af* higher mega pixel sensor* better menu structure* easier to use with customisable buttons* marginally better high iso raw images but high iso in camera jpgs not quite as good. Maybe sony will improve this in a later firmware update. * wifi - i've used the sony remote control app on my android phone and it works quite well. I wouldn't say image quality is a reason to upgrade unless you really need a 24 megapixel sensor and its not that necessary except for very large prints. The easier interface, af speed and evf would be the main reasons to update. If you own an rx100 than the advantages of an a6000 are similar - except the menus which are common to both cameras. But you lose the amazing battery life of the rx100. Downside is the a6000 while not a big camera is much bigger and heavier than the compact sony rx100. Still way lighter than my nikon d800 though!after using the sony a6000 for around 10 days i'm really pleased with it. There's a lot to learn but its generally easy to use and gives you a lot of creative options. I'm still learning many of them!**** update ****having spent the weekend away in bath taking lots of photos i wanted to give an update. Image quality is great - though i sense 24mp is the maximum for that sensor - sometimes some slight noise can be seen at low isos where there are shadows in the photo as well as bright areas. No big deal and only visible with careful pixel peeping. I suspect the sensor is better than the sensor on the nex 5n but not a massive leap better - sony taking it to 24 mega pixels vs the nex 5n 16 mega pixels is pushing the boundries. But over all this camera does take great photos. Exposure is generally spot on as is auto focus. Auto focus does a good job in low light - it gets quite dark inside some parts of the roman baths but the af never faltered at any point. I was also impressed how far jpgs could be processed in adobe lightroom and still look good. A tourist had taken a shot of me and my partner - and unfortunately we didn't spot till later it was way over exposed. I assumed it was for the recycle bin but i had a quick play in lightroom when i got home and mostly using just auto settings was able save the shot and it looked both natural and correctly exposed. The iso auto multi image noise reduction does a good job of minimising noise at high isos while retaining detail. This feature is absent on the nex 5n though it does have other multi image noise reduction options but i they don't seem to work quite as well as the a6000s. The viewfinder is a real bonus over the nex 5n's lack of view finder. I'm finding i'm using it a lot - especially on bright sunny days. The nex 5n screen becomes very hard to see when its really sunny. The movies i filmed with the a6000 have really impressed me. I recorded a short clip of some practice singing in wells cathedral and despite it being very dark the image has come out really, really well!and to my surprise the sound quality from the in-built mic is also really good. I also tried again one morning in some fields to shoot my dog running using the multi-point af detection facility. Not sure what name sony give it but the idea is the camera spots what you are trying to photograph and automatically tracks it as it moves - making it easy for you to take a rapid succession of perfectly focused shots of moving objects. Despite it being a really bright day and me using f8 at 1/500 of a second at 70mm i am still not having much luck photographing my dog with the automatic facilities. After a lot of experimenting i think the problem is the camera is not looking for a moving object - which is what i assumed it was doing. Instead its hunting the image for the main subject. It defines main subject as the closest high contrast thing in the image - regardless of whether its moving or not. I suspect its also using face detection and would prioritize a human being in the image. Which is why people taking photos of other people are having much more success than me trying to photo a dog. In my first attempt i was kneeling down with the sun was behind me and the dog running towards me. On viewing the shots taken i realised it'd taken 10 perfectly focused shots of my shadow in front of me! obviously this was much higher contrast than my brown down on green grass. I tried again in a different location and this time it focused perfectly on the patch of lighter green grass my dog ran past!the solution is obvious - i need a higher contrast dog! she's a medium brown small labrador - the sony can't cope with that unless i'm zoomed in enough for her to be the only thing in the frame. My sony 16-70mm doesn't allow for that - i need something with more reach that allows me to stand some distance away but still have her zoomed right in. The other option is to use the tracking facility - which can be challenging as the dog runs at high speed towards you. I found using centre focus spot and tracking manually is actually easier. I do have a 2 year old sony e 55-210mm f4. 5-6. 3 which i will update with v2 firmware and report back when i've done some more tests. .
I Bought This Camera Because of the Great Reviews and with the Idea of Replacing My Bulky . I bought this camera because of the great reviews and with the idea of replacing my bulky slr. It is a great little camera and i really really like it. It has two shortcomings, however. The first is that the battery life is rather short compared to my old slr so i purchased a second battery to carry along on day long trips. And secondly, the instructions are pretty thin on the ground in that the camera has an amazing amount of options and an instruction disc or such would have been helpful since as of this writing, i use very little of the camera's full options. .
Product Info
- Product Dimensions: 12 x 6.7 x 4.5 cm ; 286 g
- Boxed-product Weight: 939 g
- Batteries 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included)
- Item model number: ILCE6000B.CEC
- ASIN: B00IE9XHCM
Conclusion of Sony A6000 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera Body Only
I believe that amazon reviews are usually the most helpful and dependable, so when people choose to rate an outstanding product as '1 star' because they lost the eyepiece, it's being very unfair to the manufacturer - you the lost he eye piece not sonyalso, i think it's helpful to have some context - especially with cameras. I have recently owned: a sony rx100 (simply outstanding), fujifilm x-m1, sony nex6, panasonic gm1 (crazy small and cute but terrible image noise), canon s120 and canon eos40d. What's so great about the a6000?1) it's simply the most ergonomic of all the small apsc cameras anywhere near this price point. It feels like a real camera. 4) video is crisp, creamy-smooth panning, and the tracking focus helps the main objects really stand out - which smaller cameras simply cannot achieve.
The only downside is that it looks and feels too big for the camera - that's because the a6000 is so small and light. In summary, it's simply the best all-round camera at this price point, with photo quality to match many full-frame digital slrs and can beat many of them when it comes to shooting kids, animals or sports. The only downside is the lens selection, and the only 2 i would recommend are the sony sel50f18 (50mm) portrait lens and the sony selp18-105g (27-153mm). This is an exceptional camera and you have to work hard to mess up a shot. The camera has 2 auto modes, and all the usual manual settings too.
It also has wifi and nfc which will allow you to both control basic camera functions, have live view using your smartphone and upload as you go. Ok, no camera is perfect so i will mention what i don't like. My final criticism is the lcd screen doesn't articulate as much as other cameras. I have had the camera two months and i am just beginning to get used to it. Even though i am a big amazon fan, i bought my camera locally because i wanted expert advice so paid a bit more.
I promise you, you will not see the difference and if i am wrong, well this is amazon ;-)i hope this helps with your buying decision and happy snappingupdate: i have now had the camera 3 months and if anything, i am even happier with it. After a while you almost forget it isnt a compact camera. I watched a few reviews by professional photographers on youtube who claim it is as good in most situations as their professional £6,000+ cameras. I have been using the camera a lot for video too. The image quality is great and i got around the sound issue by buying a rode smartphone mic ( also great ) and recording off camera.
The camera battery just about lasts for a single outing but i do carry a spare. Update:after nearly 6 months i'm still getting a lot of use from this camera. So overall i am still delighted with the camera. Seems to me mirrorless cameras certainly look set to replace low and medium end dslr s. May 2015 updatei don't have a lot else to add except confirm that i am still as happy with the camera as i was nine months ago when i bought it.
To give you an accurate sense of what the camera can do , all of the images are straight from the camera and there has been no post production processing involved. On the macro shot the camera managed to pick out the sea snails eye clearly. Only had this for a week so i'm still getting used to it, but from my first impressions it's a lovely camera that takes great pictures even in the automatic modes. I've had the camera over a week now and has some opportunity to test it and also use it for genuine photos rather than just test shots. I've got a sony nex 5n and last year bought a sony rx100 - mostly for its small size.
Although i have other cameras those are my main comparison cameras. My main reason for buying the sony a6000 was the sony marketing of supposedly amazing auto-focus capabilities and also for the electronic view finder - which neither the nex 5n nor rx100 have. *** auto focus ***the sony a6000 has 179 af points which the sony marketing implies can quickly track any moving object in the frame and get perfect focus every time. My young labrador never stays in one place long enough and its a challenge getting action shots of her - hence my excitement when i saw the sony marketing of the super fast autofocus system of the a6000 and the videos i saw on the internet of the a6000 easily tracking fast moving subjects and every shot being in focusit looked like all i need do was whip out the camera, switch it on and it'd be able to automatically shot rapid action shots of my fast moving dog. Leaving it up to the sony camera i was lucky to get any shots in focusits very good at rapidly shooting 20 or 30 shots - all out of focus as far as my dog was concerned - though the grass and path behind were nicely focusedthis certainly didn't match the marketing and i was very disappointed and almost ready to give up on the camera.
To be fair to the camera i've only tested with my dog so far and it may well work very well with more high contrast subjects. After lots of attempts and playing with the settings i abandoned letting the camera make decisions and used central focus af - as long as i kept her inside the spot when she was running towards me then i'd say more than 60% of the shots were in focus. *** image quality ***the next question i had was image quality of a6000 vs nex 5n vs rx100. So the a6000 wins in the sense you get bigger images ( and prints ) but with no significant loss of image quality in terms of low iso noise. Of course 99% of the time you won't notice - you need to be creating 4 foot by 5 foot posters to start to noticeat the high iso end of things the rx100 - while providing excellent images at iso 1600 - 6400 - is still a bit grainier than the other cameras.
The in camera high iso jpgs are slightly better on the nex 5n. Applying noise reduction with the sony image data converter software set to auto noise reduction improves things massively but the a6000 images come out looking better when viewed at 100% on screen. So in terms of image quality the a6000 is very similar to the other cameras but wins because its 24 mega pixels allowing for larger prints. One thing i did notice was the a6000 image was slightly brighter than the nex 5n image. Sounds silly but just makes the camera easier to use - and there are lots of little improvements like this that make the a6000 an easier to use camera.
Pre-af continuously focuses at whatever the camera is pointing at when on. When off the camera only focuses when you half press the shutter button. Until now i've always preferred a dedicated camcorder to using a camera for video. If you own a sony nex 5n then the main reasons to upgrade to the a6000 are:* the excellent electronic viewfinder* faster frames per second and slightly faster af* higher mega pixel sensor* better menu structure* easier to use with customisable buttons* marginally better high iso raw images but high iso in camera jpgs not quite as good. If you own an rx100 than the advantages of an a6000 are similar - except the menus which are common to both cameras.
Small Camera Big Performance. I purchased this camera after seeing several professionals giving rave reviews about its capabilities and i'm seriously impressed. Light to carry and offering great features at an affordable price. 24 megapixel, low noise and 11 frames per second. I sold my nikon dslr, but kept a nikon 105 macro lens, which works perfectly (in manual mode) with this camera via a lens adapter. I have recently used it for cityscape photography, where the small unobtrusive design and light weight are ideal for hand held street photography. Highly recommended. .
Stunning Camera, Stunning Price. Wow, what a camera! i moved up fro a nex-5n, itself a fairly stunning camera, but the leap in image quality is noticeable, the controls are improved, auto-focus has to be the best in any csc so far, and the evf is far better than i'd expected. I'd say it's almost up there with the canon 70d for all but the fastest moving sports (once you get used to the way it works) - but the image quality is significantly better with the a6000 of course. Controls are sensibly located, plenty of customisation of the buttons is available, and the menu system is logically laid out and easy to access. I've been using this with a mixture of lenses. The sel18200 (beer can) is my general use lens, and seems to have improved on the a6000. I've also had a lot of fun with the sel16, which works as well on this as the 5n, and the sel50 which is even sharper on this body than my earlier nexs. Low-light imaging isn't as clean as i got from the 5n, and low-light auto-focus is sluggish, but that's about the only flaw i can find with the camera. You really won't be disappointed with this camera - i can't believe it's so cheap. It blows some cscs costing twice as much out of the water. .
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