Sony Alpha 6000
What do you get if you cross the A7R with the NEX-6? Amy Davies sees if the Sony Alpha 6000 has the best of both worlds
With the launch of the Alpha 6000, Sony has introduced what amounts to an APS-C version of the fullframe Alpha 7. At the same time, two old NEX lines, the NEX-7 and the NEX-6, have been discontinued. Sony expects the NEX-7 owner to upgrade to the A7 range, while the A6000 is designed to meet the needs of the NEX-6 owner, sitting at the top of the company’s APS-C enthusiast line.
Small and sleek, the A6000 has a similar look and feel to the A7. It features a newly designed 24.3-million-pixel APS-C CMOS sensor. It competes pretty closely with the likes of the Fujifilm X-E2, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the Panasonic Lumix G6.
features
Along with the new sensor, the A6000 is equipped with the Bionz X, Sony’s latest processor, which is also found in the newest full-frames like the A7, the A7R and the A7S. Sony claims that the Bionz X is three times faster than the previous generation. The image sensor has 179 phasedetection autofocus points. There are also 25 contrast-detection AF points for the hybrid autofocussing system. At the time of launch, Sony claimed that the camera had the fastest AF in the world among cameras with an APS-C sized sensor. On the back of the A6000 is a tiltable LCD screen, which is joined by an electronic viewfinder: the same 0.39inch, 1.4-million dot device found on the RX10 premium bridge camera.
Reflecting the broader trend, the A6000 comes complete with built-in Wi-Fi and NFC. Like several other Sony cameras, it is customisable with apps downloadable from Sony’s cloud-based photo storage service PlayMemories ( www.sony.net/ Products/playmemories).
As its standard kit lens choice, the A6000 comes with a 16-50mm f/3.55.6 power zoom – the same lens that is packaged with the A5000. You can also buy it body only, giving yourself the freedom to choose from the large range of different E-mount lenses now available. Perhaps the perfect all-round lens for this camera is the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 optic, but that comes with a £799 price tag – quite a bit more than the camera itself.