Zooming in on the… Sony A6000

A quick tour of the camera’s key features

“Sony has come within touching distance of creating the perfect compact system camera”

Creative Styles – a number of which are available as pre-stored settings.

Detail is rendered very well by the A6000. Generally, image smoothing only starts to become problematic for normal printing sizes in shots taken at around ISO 3,200 upwards. Examining images at 100% from around ISO 1,600 upwards, you will find areas of the image that have a painterly effect, but the overall effect is good.

The camera’s metering system does a good job with exposure, although it sometimes struggles in high-contrast situations, when you’ll need to dial in some exposure compensation. Similarly, the automatic white balance system is a good performer, although it can be slightly confused by some artificial light sources.

In good light, autofocussing speeds are very quick, dropping as the light levels drop, but only struggling to lock on at all in very dark conditions.

The 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens is a good all-rounder to get started with, but this is the kind of camera you’ll want to buy additional lenses for. Luckily there are some great ones for the E-mount.

Battery life is better than in the A7, probably due to the smaller sensor, but it’s still worth buying a spare battery if you travel.

A sensor in the A6000’s eyepiece detects when the camera is lifted to the eye Press this button to raise the flash. You can also add an external flash via the hotshoe

Press the function button to access commonly used settings, such as white balance

This dial controls different functions depending on the shooting mode, like altering the aperture

This customisable button can be set to a specific function of your choosing – such as sensitivity

Tilting downwards and upwards, the screen is useful for shooting from awkward angles