SONY ALPHA A6000, 16-50MM
More of a ‘compact’ camera, the Sony might feel less intuitive to photographers who are more used to shooting with a DSLR
UNIQUE IN THIS GROUP, THE SONY A6000 LOOKS AND FEELS MORE LIKE A CONVENTIONAL FIXED-LENS COMPACT CAMERA, WITH A SMALL VIEWFINDER TACKED ONTO THE SIDE OF THE BACK PANEL. IT’S BASED ON SONY’S HIGHLY POPULAR E-MOUNT SYSTEM, WHICH HAS EARNED ACCLAIM IN BOTH APS-C AND FULL-FRAME FORMATS.
REPLACING SONY’S ‘NEX’ MODELS, THE A6000 WAS LAUNCHED ALMOST SIX YEARS AGO. IT’S CERTAINLY STOOD THE TEST OF TIME AND IS STILL ON THE MARKET TODAY. THAT’S DESPITE A SUCCESSION OF NEWER MODELS, WHICH ADD VARIOUS FEATURES AND REFINEMENTS BUT TEND TO BE CONSIDERABLY PRICIER, ALL THE WAY UP TO THE A6600 18-135MM KIT AT £1,799/$1,798.
IN THE UK, THE A6000 IS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE IN THE GROUP, WITH ITS 16-50MM POWER ZOOM LENS. EVEN SO, IT COMPETES WITH THE CANON AND FUJIFILM CAMERAS WITH AN APS-C FORMAT 24.3MP IMAGE SENSOR THAT ENABLES HYBRID PHASE/CONTRAST DETECTION AUTOFOCUS, WITH A GENEROUS 179 AF POINTS.
COMPACT AND LIGHTWEIGHT YET SOLIDLY
BUILT, THE A6000 IS AVAILABLE IN BLACK OR WHITE OPTIONS, AS IS THE CANON M50. IT
KEEPS THINGS SIMILARLY SIMPLE UP ON TOP,
WITH A SHOOTING MODE DIAL, ROTARY DIAL AND CUSTOMISABLE FUNCTION BUTTON, PLUS A POP-UP FLASH MODULE. THE BACK PANEL IS RELATIVELY DENSELY PACKED, WITH BUTTONS THAT CAN FEEL A LITTLE COUNTER-INTUITIVE TO START WITH BUT DON’T TAKE MUCH GETTING USED TO.
HANDLING IS PRETTY GOOD OVERALL, BUT THE ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER HAS A LOWER RESOLUTION THAN THE OTHER CAMERAS ON TEST, AT 1.44 MILLION PIXELS. WHILE THE TILTING REAR SCREEN IS SLIGHTLY DOWN ON RESOLUTION COMPARED WITH THE OTHERS, THE SONY IS THE ONLY CAMERA ON TEST TO LACK A TOUCHSCREEN. VIDEO CAPTURE IS LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM RESOLUTION OF 1080P, BUT THERE ARE ALSO DISAPPOINTING LIMITATIONS WHEN SHOOTING AT 4K ON THE CANON AND FUJIFILM CAMERAS. IMAGE QUALITY IS VERY GOOD BUT CAN SUFFER FROM UNDEREXPOSURE AND A LOSS OF DETAIL AT HIGH ISO SETTINGS.