Sony A6000 Review

Sony A6000 Review

With the mirrorless Sony Alpha 6000 or just Sony A6000 system camera, Sony not only replaces the NEX6 but they also replace the previous top model, the NEX 7.

This seems daring, as Sony is only calling for half the price for the Sony A6000 that was once due for the NEX 7. On paper, however, the Alpha 6000 can stand up to its older, bigger sister: Its sensor has a resolution of 24 megapixels, and the Sony A6000 also promises a continuous shooting rate of eleven photos per second with full focus tracking.

Sony must have started the red pencil somewhere in order to be able to offer the Alpha 6000 at such a lower price. Our test report not only clarifies where Sony has saved on the Alpha 6000 but also shows how the Sony A6000 has proven itself in photographic practice.

Sony A6000 Pros And Cons

Pros

• Great price-performance ratio
• Good ergonomics
• Extremely high continuous shooting speed including tracking AF
• Excellent image quality

Cons

• Setting wheel too smooth-running, danger of incorrect operation
• SELP 1650 lens with pronounced resolution edge weakness
• Elimination of the artificial horizon
• Somewhat simple plastic housing

Ergonomics and Workmanship

Even though the NEX cameras were always part of the Alpha family at Sony, the mirror-less cameras were largely perceived as independent.

This is now over, Sony says goodbye to the name NEX, and the system cameras now only carry the Alpha logo. And so the NEX 6 is followed by the Alpha 6000, which also replaces the previous top model NEX-7. OK, maybe not quite, because the A7 or A7R, (we investigated the differences in this article) the first system camera with a 35mm sensor, can also be considered the successor of the NEX 7.

But back to the Sony A6000, which is what this is about. Sony’s latest offspring largely takes over the housing of the NEX-6, the design is reminiscent of a large compact camera. This impression is reinforced by the fact that Sony has lowered the mode dial, which is now flush with the top plate.

The Alpha 6000 is available in classic black and now for the first time also in black/silver. This bright version gives the Sony A6000 a touch of retro look but makes it even clearer than the black version where Sony has saved money: The housing of the camera is noticeably made of plastic. It looks quite robust, but metal isn’t what shines seductively on the silver camera.

Sony has also saved on the electronic viewfinder, which is located on the far left outside. The EVF resolution of 1.44 million pixels is much lower than that of the NEX-6 and NEX-7. Fortunately, you don’t notice anything of this saving measure, on the contrary: The EVF of the Alpha 6000, which is based on OLED technology, differentiates contrasts much better than its counterpart in the NEX 6, and there’s nothing wrong with the color rendering either.

The fact that Sony has redesigned the eyepiece with a total of five lenses and quite elaborately constructed it certainly also contributes to the good detail reproduction. For some spectacle wearers, however, the distance between the eyes is still somewhat tight, but thanks to the generous dioptric correction, it is possible to look into the viewfinder without visual aids.

Thanks to its handle which is pulled far forward, the Alpha 6000 lies like a glove in your hand. The leather-like cover and a small hollow for the thumb provide further support. Sony has attached the video trigger to the far right of this recess so that you don’t accidentally start a film recording. At the back there are a lot of control elements, but they are just big enough. The problem remains, however, that the rear dial rotates far too easily, unintentionally changing the ISO number or an individually assigned setting.

 

Sony has thoroughly renovated the operation of the Alpha 6000, it now basically follows the concept introduced with the A7/A7R. This means that there are seven buttons that can be assigned one of 44 functions. In addition, there is a quick menu whose ten memory locations can also be assigned according to taste.

Once you have set up the Sony A6000 as you wish, you will usually be able to leave the main menu on the left.

By the way, this main menu breaks with the NEX tradition in a particularly radical way: it is now clearly divided into tabs, no command list reaches beyond one screen page, there is no annoying scrolling in lists of miscellaneous positions with the Sony A6000.

 

In practice, a further savings measure has proven to be cumbersome: The Alpha 6000 has omitted the artificial horizon, which can be placed over the viewfinder image on the NEX-6 but also on the compact RX100 II.

The grid lines, which can still be displayed, more than compensate for this abandonment. Apart from that, much has remained the same: The rear display has a fine resolution of 921,600 points and can be folded up or down. The two interfaces for HDMI and USB connection disappear under a plastic flap, which is hinged with a spring hinge.

Battery compartment and memory card compartment are accessible from the underside of the camera, the tripod thread is correctly seated in the optical axis. One battery charge is sufficient for a maximum of 360 shots (according to CIPA), after which the camera must be connected to the charger.

A separate charging cradle for the battery is only available as an optional accessory, with the included charger the battery can only be charged in the camera via USB connection.

Equipment And Features

 There are few innovations in the equipment of the Alpha 6000. After all, the NEX 6 already scored well with a wide range of features. Like its predecessor, the Sony A6000 is designed for experienced photographers as well as those who want to take impressive pictures quickly.

Two fully automatic systems should fix it. While the “intelligent automatic” selects a suitable scene program in the classic way depending on the scene, the “superior automatic” goes one step further: If necessary, it switches to a “compound program” that visibly improves the image quality by combining several shots.

Then, for example, the HDR automatic tames motifs with very high contrasts. Or multi-shot noise reduction ensures that multiple shots with a high ISO number are combined to produce a much quieter image. It is also nice that the fully automatic modes can be overridden, the settings for white balance and aperture (depth of field) can be changed, and the exposure can also be corrected.

With so many adjustment possibilities it hardly matters that the Alpha 6000 is somewhat stingy with freely selectable scene mode programs. Instead, Sony relies more on helpful assistance functions. This includes, for example, the automatic panorama function, which works really simply: Just keep your finger on the shutter release button and pan the camera over the scenery. Face recognition is also practical, as it still does its job even if a face that has been captured has left the viewfinder image in the meantime. A new addition is the eye AF introduced with the A7. This focus assistant focuses reliably on the pupil of a portrait, a really practical function.

The Sony Alpha 6000 gives photographers who don’t want to be patronized by automatic systems and assistants a lot of freedom. It goes without saying that it offers automatic program, aperture and aperture control and also allows manual exposure control.

However, it is not a matter of course that the ISO automatic also works with manual exposure control. In this case, the photographer sets the aperture and exposure time, and the Sony A6000 adjusts the exposure using ISO sensitivity. A fine thing, especially since the upper and lower limits of the ISO automatic can also be set.

A great help for correct exposure is the Zebra function, which comes from video cameras. It hatches image areas with a pre-defined brightness value, making it incredibly easy to expose exactly to the lights or a portrait.

When fast image series are required, the Alpha 6000 is in top form. Not because she really shoots fast series – others can now do the same, too. But above all, because the Sony A6000 can track the focus even at the highest continuous shooting rate – read more about this in the “Lens” section.

The Sony A6000 has three continuous shooting modes; in High mode, it races off at a record 10.9 frames per second (fps), whether recorded in raw or JPEG. With JPEG recordings, she can sustain the very high tempo for about four seconds or 43 shots, with raw recording the spurt ends after half the time or 21 shots.

Then the camera falls into a comfortable endurance run with 0.85 fps for JPEG shots and 1.44 fps for raw shots.

In practice, however, the high continuous shooting performance suffers from a shortcoming: The sensor does not switch from recording mode to Live View mode; instead of the current viewfinder image, the Sony A6000 always displays the last shot. This is particularly problematic with pullers, where the scene threatens to emigrate as the duration of the series increases.

If you also want to see the current viewfinder image in serial images, you have to switch to the lowest level with about 2.5 fps. In practice, the fact that the Sony A6000 takes quite a long time to write the contents of its buffer memory to the memory card has also proven to be a nuisance. A 3-second burst with 11 fps takes about 14 seconds. Meanwhile many camera functions are blocked, at least more photos can be taken.

Like its predecessor, the Alpha 6000 also benefits from a sophisticated flash system. Although the on-board flash is quite weak on the chest with a guide number of 5.2, the Sony A6000 can easily take on more powerful flash units via its ISO shoe.

The small camera can handle all types of flash exposure, including the possibility to trigger unleashed flash devices wirelessly. It is a pity, however, that the small onboard flash cannot be used as a control unit, for a wireless flash setup an independent master flash is necessary.

Sony hasn’t been ambitious about the video functions of the Alpha 6000. Filming is possible in practically all modes, which are also available for photos. The Sony A6000 films in full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) at a maximum frame rate of 60 fps.

A new feature of the Sony A6000 is the ability to output the uncompressed video signal via the HDMI interface. In video practice, the Alpha 6000 convinces above all with its tracking AF, which tracks the sharpness gently and without any pumping. If necessary, the AF speed can be increased, which is also new with the Sony A6000. The set lens E 16-50 mm 3.5-5.6 OSS PZ with motorized zoom drive is ideal for video recording. This makes it possible to zoom smoothly without blurring the film shots.

Spartan is the Alpha 6000 – as usual with Sony – with the post-processing options in playback mode. Quickly convert a raw file into a JPEG image? No way! Even the creative effects cannot be applied to an image afterwards – a pity.

The Sony A6000 offers an option that compensates for this shortcoming: its range of functions can be extended via “Camera Apps”. In the partially even free offer is, for example, the App photo Retusche or Retouche depending on the app marketplace, which retrofits painfully missing treatment possibilities.

The Sony A6000 connects to a smartphone or tablet via WiFi, then it can be remotely controlled or transfers current recordings to the mobile device.

Lens Of The Sony A6000

Like the NEX-6, the Alpha 6000 is also available as a set with the Powerzoom E PZ 16-50/F3.5-5.6 OSS.

When not in use, the lens folds up to save space and covers a focal length range of 24 to 75 millimeters for 35mm images. The fact that it zooms motorically with the help of a rocker will not only appeal to climbers of a compact camera – the motor zoom also clearly proves to be an advantage when shooting video.

 

We also tested the quite new Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar E 16-70/4 ZA OSS, also with this lens the Sony A6000 is available as a set. In practice, its wide zoom range of 24 to 105 millimeters (relative to 35mm) and the higher luminous intensity have proved to be particularly welcome.

By the way, both zoom lenses are equipped with an optical image stabilizer, there is no stabilizer per sensor shift with Sony’s mirror-less lenses.

So far, the Alpha 6000 does not offer a good meal. But when it comes to fast image series, it becomes a gourmet: the Sony A6000 can even track the focus at more than 10 fps!

By the way, this even works well when a dog brings the stick back and races directly towards the camera (you know that you need a dog if you want to test a camera). Among other things, this is made possible by a new hybrid AF, whose 179 phase comparison sensors now cover practically the entire viewfinder field.

With such action scenes it is not only important that the autofocus can follow the object fast enough, it must first capture this object safely. And that’s exactly what the new “Lock-on-AF” does brilliantly: As soon as the Sony A6000 has detected a moving object, it frames it in the viewfinder. This gives the photographer maximum control over which part of the image the autofocus focuses on.

Image Quality Of The Sony A6000

Although the Alpha 6000 carries many genes of the NEX-6, its image sensor is closely related to that of the NEX-7. It has a very high resolution of 24 megapixels for an APS-C camera and therefore places high demands on both the lenses and the internal image processing. Whether the two set lenses (each of which is also available separately) can meet these high requirements had to be shown in practice as well as in the test with the test software. It was also a question of how well the Sony A6000’s image processing works.

 

The fact that Sony has mastered sensor design and image processing can be seen at first glance in the laboratory protocol of the Alpha 6000: The luminance noise remains uncritical up to ISO 12,800, up to this ISO level color noise plays no role.

However, these good values are somewhat at the expense of texture sharpness. Nevertheless, it remains high up to ISO 6,400, even very high up to ISO 1,600. ISO 6.400 is also the value at which the signal-to-noise ratio falls just below the critical limit of 35 dB.

If there is anything at all to criticize about the noise behavior of the Sony A6000, it is the rather high grain size of the noise in the red channel. Overall, the grain size remains pleasingly small, so that the Sony A6000 is able to convince with small reductions up to ISO 6,400 in terms of image noise.

The input dynamics of the Alpha 6000 are also very high, falling below the critical limit of 10 EV only at ISO 12.800.

The camera can always convert the high dynamics into a corresponding tonal value richness, which even remains close to the theoretical maximum of 256 tonal value levels per color/brightness channel up to ISO 400. This makes the Sony A6000 suitable for demanding studio productions at low ISO levels.

However, there is something to the contrary that the Alpha 6000 doesn’t take the color rendering so exactly. Orange and red tones saturate it vigorously, magenta tones shift it towards cyan. Fortunately, in practice, these color deviations do not carry so much weight. However, when it comes to reproducing colors as faithfully as possible, the raw format should be preferred.

As soon as the Powerzoom E PZ 16-50 comes into play, the Alpha 6000 shows the resolution potential of its 24-megapixel sensor. At optimum aperture F5.6, it resolves well over 60 line pairs per millimeter (lp/mm) – an outstanding value for a camera with APS-C sensor! However, this very good result is clouded by a pronounced resolution weakness of the inexpensive set lens at the edge of the picture and in the telephoto range.

In the wide-angle position, the loss of resolution towards the edges of the image is almost two thirds, and the power zoom on the Sony A6000 doesn’t resolve the corners any better than a good compact camera. In the telephoto range, the resolution across the entire image field is weaker but more even and reaches acceptable values with almost 50 lp/mm.

The E T* 16-70/F4 ZA OSS Vario-Tessar leaves a much better impression. It doesn’t swing up to quite as high-resolution values as the Powerzoom, but the mark of 60 lp/mm also cracks it.

Much more important, however, is the fact that the Zeiss lens does not lose its resolution towards the edges so much – especially not in the wide-angle range. The only thing that disturbs here is a rather high barrel distortion, which the Sony A6000 can correct electronically if desired.

Also in terms of “chromatic aberration”, the Zeiss is much more good-natured than the small zoom, color fringes at contrasting edges disturb the outer image areas at most.

Conclusions: Is The Sony A6000 Worth It?

The bottom line is that the Alpha 6000 delivers image quality at such a high level that one can confidently ask whether it still has to be full format at all.

Apart from very slight weaknesses in the input dynamics and the attention to detail in conjunction with very high ISO values, this question can confidently be answered in the negative.

This is all the more true as Sony’s Zeiss 16-70/F4 is a really adequate (but also expensive) partner for the Sony A6000.

The Sony A6000 can clearly outperform its predecessor NEX 6 and even the former top model NEX-7. The autofocus performance in continuous shooting is impressive, and the 24-megapixel sensor delivers prick-clean results.

In addition, there is a significantly improved user guidance compared to the faded NEX family as well as some smart innovations, such as the zebra pattern and the eye AF. The fact that the Sony A6000 wears a rather simple plastic dress is easy to see in view of its low entry price, as is the fact that the electronic viewfinder does not have the same high resolution as its predecessors.

But the fact that even the artificial horizon had to fall victim to the austerity dictate is too much. If you can do without this alignment aid, you won’t get a comparable system camera that combines snapshot suitability with professional functions as convincingly as the Sony A6000.