Sony Alpha a6000

[wickidwombat]

Dont get me wrong in good light the AF speed is truely amazing for a mirrorless accuracy seems reasonable
I havent tried it in AF-C mode yet personally, my dad did but he is not experienced so the bad results are unlikely a reflection of the camera's ability in this regard. For someone like my dad thats coming from shooting with phones this is a great step up. and the zeiss 16-70 f4 is really nice and well made. ISO 100 Raw files are amazing for a crop sensor EXCEPT for the rubbish colour (which i'm not talented enough to fix easily and not really patient enough to work out how right now). In good light the EVF is good too. My point is mainly that this camera and the much vaunted sony sensor the internet love so much is hardly the holy grail they make it out to be

 

[wickidwombat]

I thought I had better add (to avoid confusion) that the poor high iso performance seems limited to the jpeg files
the raws seem pretty close to the EOS-M possibly a little less noise and the high resolution helps a bit.

here are a couple of 100% crops of unedited raws from the a6000 and EOS-M at iso 6400

 

[wickidwombat]

and for some perspective here is a 5Dmk3 iso 8000 100% crop

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I thought I had better add (to avoid confusion) that the poor high iso performance seems limited to the jpeg files

Thanks for posting the images ... I agree about the jpeg files, even the a7/a7R suffers the same issue with jpeg files ... I think it is the in-camera jpeg processing that is screwing up the images in my a7, somehow Sony is not able to work out a good in-camera-processing system for those jpeg files ... but the raw files are great ... so, I suppose a6000 also suffers from the same issue.

 

[wickidwombat]

I thought I had better add (to avoid confusion) that the poor high iso performance seems limited to the jpeg files

Thanks for posting the images ... I agree about the jpeg files, even the a7/a7R suffers the same issue with jpeg files ... I think it is the in-camera jpeg processing that is screwing up the images in my a7, somehow Sony is not able to work out a good in-camera-processing system for those jpeg files ... but the raw files are great ... so, I suppose a6000 also suffers from the same issue.

yeah it's a pain since my dad has no interest in raw but i've told him to shoot raw and jpg then i can process any shots he likes for him from the raws.

but with LR the iso 6400 raw shots clean up pretty well and are totally useable just need quite a bit of NR added. its pretty much on par with the EOS-M at 6400 for raw except the extra resolution helps the a6000 keep a bit more detail after NR so processed images are probably a tad better if pixel peeping.
Not pixel peeping you cant tell the difference.

 

[sagittariansrock]

I thought I had better add (to avoid confusion) that the poor high iso performance seems limited to the jpeg files

Thanks for posting the images ... I agree about the jpeg files, even the a7/a7R suffers the same issue with jpeg files ... I think it is the in-camera jpeg processing that is screwing up the images in my a7, somehow Sony is not able to work out a good in-camera-processing system for those jpeg files ... but the raw files are great ... so, I suppose a6000 also suffers from the same issue.

yeah it's a pain since my dad has no interest in raw but i've told him to shoot raw and jpg then i can process any shots he likes for him from the raws.

LOL! I had such a hard time from my wife for shooting RAWs (she has no control over posting the pictures, for I have to 'process' them first) until I bought the 5DIII...

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I thought I had better add (to avoid confusion) that the poor high iso performance seems limited to the jpeg files

Thanks for posting the images ... I agree about the jpeg files, even the a7/a7R suffers the same issue with jpeg files ... I think it is the in-camera jpeg processing that is screwing up the images in my a7, somehow Sony is not able to work out a good in-camera-processing system for those jpeg files ... but the raw files are great ... so, I suppose a6000 also suffers from the same issue.

yeah it's a pain since my dad has no interest in raw but i've told him to shoot raw and jpg then i can process any shots he likes for him from the raws.

LOL! I had such a hard time from my wife for shooting RAWs (she has no control over posting the pictures, for I have to 'process' them first) until I bought the 5DIII...

I gave up telling my wife and kids to shoot RAW ... coz they kept coming to me with tons of images to be processed, in the begenning I didn't mind but after a while it was getting too much for me to handle ... so I said, screw it, just shoot JPEG

 

[sagittariansrock]

I thought I had better add (to avoid confusion) that the poor high iso performance seems limited to the jpeg files

Thanks for posting the images ... I agree about the jpeg files, even the a7/a7R suffers the same issue with jpeg files ... I think it is the in-camera jpeg processing that is screwing up the images in my a7, somehow Sony is not able to work out a good in-camera-processing system for those jpeg files ... but the raw files are great ... so, I suppose a6000 also suffers from the same issue.

yeah it's a pain since my dad has no interest in raw but i've told him to shoot raw and jpg then i can process any shots he likes for him from the raws.

LOL! I had such a hard time from my wife for shooting RAWs (she has no control over posting the pictures, for I have to 'process' them first) until I bought the 5DIII...

I gave up telling my wife and kids to shoot RAW ... coz they kept coming to me with tons of images to be processed, in the begenning I didn't mind but after a while it was getting too much for me to handle ... so I said, screw it, just shoot JPEG

;D ;D ;D

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Just got the a6000 yesterday ... got it with the kit lens 15-50+55-210 ... the local Sony store gave me a really good deal (paid $950) along with free Sony camera bag and a Sony 16GB card. Have just done some random "test" shots and can say that it puts fun back into photography ... one has to use it to understand how fast and accurately it auto focuses even with the little pancake zoom lens. For times when weight is an issue, especially on business trips etc, the a6000+16-50+55-210 make for a great little package to carry around without worrying about weight and space and still get great images. The optional $5 camera apps (which can be directly installed into your camera wirelessly) make this camera a stellar performer for beginners who have no interest in post processing ... even the $10 timelapse app makes child's work of getting awesome timelapse videos without having to do any post processing whatsoever. The good part is that you don't have to buy these apps, when you upgrade to another Sony mirrorless camera including (even when you decide to go full frame), once the app is purchased it can be installed on 10 cameras.

 

[mrsfotografie]

Just got the a6000 yesterday ... got it with the kit lens 15-50+55-210 ... the local Sony store gave me a really good deal (paid $950) along with free Sony camera bag and a Sony 16GB card. Have just done some random "test" shots and can say that it puts fun back into photography ... one has to use it to understand how fast and accurately it auto focuses even with the little pancake zoom lens. For times when weight is an issue, especially on business trips etc, the a6000+16-50+55-210 make for a great little package to carry around without worrying about weight and space and still get great images. The optional $5 camera apps (which can be directly installed into your camera wirelessly) make this camera a stellar performer for beginners who have no interest in post processing ... even the $10 timelapse app makes child's work of getting awesome timelapse videos without having to do any post processing whatsoever. The good part is that you don't have to buy these apps, when you upgrade to another Sony mirrorless camera including (even when you decide to go full frame), once the app is purchased it can be installed on 10 cameras.

I quickly tried out the a6000 at a local electronics retailer, and the AF is stunningly quick with the 16-50. It gave me a real shock how relatively slow my NEX-6 is. How is the AF speed with the 55-210 by the way? That lens is optically not a stellar performer but I'm curious how fast it can AF.

And how about the menu structure? I like the controls on my NEX-6 but the menu structure is inefficient and exposure compensation is a little bit fiddly.

I was surprised how square-edged the a6000 body is; I prefer the NEX-6 in that sense. I do have to convince myself that I don't need the new fast AF because I use mostly manual primes with the 6 but yeah the new camera has made me a little itchy.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Just got the a6000 yesterday ... got it with the kit lens 15-50+55-210 ... the local Sony store gave me a really good deal (paid $950) along with free Sony camera bag and a Sony 16GB card. Have just done some random "test" shots and can say that it puts fun back into photography ... one has to use it to understand how fast and accurately it auto focuses even with the little pancake zoom lens. For times when weight is an issue, especially on business trips etc, the a6000+16-50+55-210 make for a great little package to carry around without worrying about weight and space and still get great images. The optional $5 camera apps (which can be directly installed into your camera wirelessly) make this camera a stellar performer for beginners who have no interest in post processing ... even the $10 timelapse app makes child's work of getting awesome timelapse videos without having to do any post processing whatsoever. The good part is that you don't have to buy these apps, when you upgrade to another Sony mirrorless camera including (even when you decide to go full frame), once the app is purchased it can be installed on 10 cameras.

I quickly tried out the a6000 at a local electronics retailer, and the AF is stunningly quick with the 16-50. It gave me a real shock how relatively slow my NEX-6 is. How is the AF speed with the 55-210 by the way? That lens is optically not a stellar performer but I'm curious how fast it can AF.

And how about the menu structure? I like the controls on my NEX-6 but the menu structure is inefficient and exposure compensation is a little bit fiddly.

I was surprised how square-edged the a6000 body is; I prefer the NEX-6 in that sense. I do have to convince myself that I don't need the new fast AF because I use mostly manual primes with the 6 but yeah the new camera has made me a little itchy.

The 55-210 is just as fast as the 16-50 and the image quality is a tiny bit better then the kit lens. I have 4 E lenses (28-70; 24-70: 16-50 & 55-210) and the AF speed of a6000 with any of those lenses is lightning fast.
The menu structure is same as my a7, so I found it easy to navigate. The a6000 with the 16-50 kit lens is so much fun to use and easy to carry around. It seems to give the best image quality when paired with my EF 85 f/1.8 & EF 70-200 f/2.8 L II IS (using metabones adapter), so much so, I am planning on selling my new EOS 70D :-\

 

[mrsfotografie]

Just got the a6000 yesterday ... got it with the kit lens 15-50+55-210 ... the local Sony store gave me a really good deal (paid $950) along with free Sony camera bag and a Sony 16GB card. Have just done some random "test" shots and can say that it puts fun back into photography ... one has to use it to understand how fast and accurately it auto focuses even with the little pancake zoom lens. For times when weight is an issue, especially on business trips etc, the a6000+16-50+55-210 make for a great little package to carry around without worrying about weight and space and still get great images. The optional $5 camera apps (which can be directly installed into your camera wirelessly) make this camera a stellar performer for beginners who have no interest in post processing ... even the $10 timelapse app makes child's work of getting awesome timelapse videos without having to do any post processing whatsoever. The good part is that you don't have to buy these apps, when you upgrade to another Sony mirrorless camera including (even when you decide to go full frame), once the app is purchased it can be installed on 10 cameras.

I quickly tried out the a6000 at a local electronics retailer, and the AF is stunningly quick with the 16-50. It gave me a real shock how relatively slow my NEX-6 is. How is the AF speed with the 55-210 by the way? That lens is optically not a stellar performer but I'm curious how fast it can AF.

And how about the menu structure? I like the controls on my NEX-6 but the menu structure is inefficient and exposure compensation is a little bit fiddly.

I was surprised how square-edged the a6000 body is; I prefer the NEX-6 in that sense. I do have to convince myself that I don't need the new fast AF because I use mostly manual primes with the 6 but yeah the new camera has made me a little itchy.

The 55-210 is just as fast as the 16-50 and the image quality is a tiny bit better then the kit lens. I have 4 E lenses (28-70; 24-70: 16-50 & 55-210) and the AF speed of a6000 with any of those lenses is lightning fast.
The menu structure is same as my a7, so I found it easy to navigate. The a6000 with the 16-50 kit lens is so much fun to use and easy to carry around. It seems to give the best image quality when paired with my EF 85 f/1.8 & EF 70-200 f/2.8 L II IS (using metabones adapter), so much so, I am planning on selling my new EOS 70D :-\

Well you can't really beat love at first sight as I think was the case with you and the a6000 Thanks for the info. At least I know my AF lenses aren't the limitation for AF speed should I upgrade my NEX-6 at some point

I would assume the AF speed with Metabones adapter and Canon lenses isn't great, or am I wrong?

 

[freecanon]

Re: Sonay Alpha a6000

Dam....In 1st video, I thought I saw this mirrorless cam tracking subject running toward to the camera

Apply this new AF tracking feature into next FF mirrorless, I'll dump my Canon crap ;D

The benefit of Sony's E mount is that there is a Canon adapter that allows you to use Canon lenses even with autofocus. So you only have to dump the Canon bodies, but can keep the Canon lenses.

Also, Sony's E mount has so many adapters to use the lenses of other cameras as well.

 

[freecanon]

Re: Sonay Alpha a6000

This Sony A6000 is now officially on my list for possible selection in the near future as my primary sub-100mm camera.

Question: I know one can put the APS-C E-mount lenses on the A7, but can one do the inverse ... put the full-frame E-mount lenses on the A6000?

Yes, the full-frame Sony FE-mount lenses are fully compatible with the E-mount APSC mount found on the A6000. So, to use an appropriate illustration, it's similar to the Nikon mount where it is the same mount used by Nikon full-frame and Nikon APSC. The mount is the same. The only issue is the coverage of the lens. So, for Sony, E and FE mounts, you can use the FE on the A6000, but if you use the E on the Sony A7, the coverage of the E lenses won't be enough to cover the full frame sensor.

There is one Sony lens - the 10-18 - that is said to have sufficient coverage to use on the full frame sensor for much of the middle of its zoom range, just not the 10 and 18 focal lengths, but a lot in between.

 

[freecanon]

In my view, people out there want DLSR quality in a light weight format, and this means mirrorless. The minute a company produces a camera that meets this criteria of DSLR quality with light weight, that company will have massive sales.

With the A6000, I think Sony have largely achieved that in a small APSC sensor.

As for the Sony A7 and A7R, I think that holy grail of DSLR-FF quality with light weight, I think it is one generation away from that, i.e. perhaps 1-2 years away. From reading the reviews on dpreview, there are just a few niggles here and there which should be sorted out in the next model.

So I think Canon and Nikon have been very foolish to not target the market of people who want DSLR quality with light weight. I am not impressed by the Canon EOS-M and the Nikon 1 system.

 

[freecanon]

Re: Sonay Alpha a6000

Help me to understand why Canon/Nikon full frame cameras don't offer the same wide area coverage of focus points as the Sony A6000???

Because Canon and Nikon are like massive corporations with a monopoly on DSLR. They just give incremental improvements every year to entice us to upgrade every 2 years. Nikon's competitor in the sector is only Canon, and likewise Canon's only competitor is only Nikon. So both don't have to come out with massive radically great technology in one hit. They give it out in little portions.

But if Sony comes out with a game changer, I hope that rattles Canon and Nikon to focus on the aim of DSLR quality with light weight. So far, Canon and Nikon have too much of a monopoly to bother changing.

I have been using SLR and DSLR for decades, but have bought a Sony A6000 plus wide zoom. I cannot now see myself going back to lugging the heavy DSLR and massive lenses. For years, there was no alternative, but for the first time the A6000 is good enough to make me dump my DSLR lens collection, and start over with a new manufacturer.

That is not easy to convince people, who have invested so much in lenses over the decades - but the Sony A6000 has convinced me.

 

[freecanon]

I havent tried it in AF-C mode yet personally

This is the major point that is affecting your opinion. From what I've read on other forums, the AF-S is so so, but the A6000 focus really shines with AF-C. So can you try you dad's A6000 in AF-C and review your opinions?

Also, with AF-C you have to set the focus area to wide (the one with three vertical spaces in the menu system).

Also, there's the lock-on focus feature, which is used with AF-C, that helps you lock onto a person running towards you.

Overall, the reports are that AF-S is not as good as AF-C in the A6000.

 

[Rienzphotoz]

Just got the a6000 yesterday ... got it with the kit lens 15-50+55-210 ... the local Sony store gave me a really good deal (paid $950) along with free Sony camera bag and a Sony 16GB card. Have just done some random "test" shots and can say that it puts fun back into photography ... one has to use it to understand how fast and accurately it auto focuses even with the little pancake zoom lens. For times when weight is an issue, especially on business trips etc, the a6000+16-50+55-210 make for a great little package to carry around without worrying about weight and space and still get great images. The optional $5 camera apps (which can be directly installed into your camera wirelessly) make this camera a stellar performer for beginners who have no interest in post processing ... even the $10 timelapse app makes child's work of getting awesome timelapse videos without having to do any post processing whatsoever. The good part is that you don't have to buy these apps, when you upgrade to another Sony mirrorless camera including (even when you decide to go full frame), once the app is purchased it can be installed on 10 cameras.

I quickly tried out the a6000 at a local electronics retailer, and the AF is stunningly quick with the 16-50. It gave me a real shock how relatively slow my NEX-6 is. How is the AF speed with the 55-210 by the way? That lens is optically not a stellar performer but I'm curious how fast it can AF.

And how about the menu structure? I like the controls on my NEX-6 but the menu structure is inefficient and exposure compensation is a little bit fiddly.

I was surprised how square-edged the a6000 body is; I prefer the NEX-6 in that sense. I do have to convince myself that I don't need the new fast AF because I use mostly manual primes with the 6 but yeah the new camera has made me a little itchy.

The 55-210 is just as fast as the 16-50 and the image quality is a tiny bit better then the kit lens. I have 4 E lenses (28-70; 24-70: 16-50 & 55-210) and the AF speed of a6000 with any of those lenses is lightning fast.
The menu structure is same as my a7, so I found it easy to navigate. The a6000 with the 16-50 kit lens is so much fun to use and easy to carry around. It seems to give the best image quality when paired with my EF 85 f/1.8 & EF 70-200 f/2.8 L II IS (using metabones adapter), so much so, I am planning on selling my new EOS 70D :-\

Well you can't really beat love at first sight as I think was the case with you and the a6000 Thanks for the info. At least I know my AF lenses aren't the limitation for AF speed should I upgrade my NEX-6 at some point

I would assume the AF speed with Metabones adapter and Canon lenses isn't great, or am I wrong?

That is correct, the AF speed is slow with the Metabones adapter (it is just as slow as the EOS-M was before the firmware update, but the main problem with metabones adapter is that it keeps searching for focus even though you had it locked on for the first shot even for a still subject) ... but when I use the adapter, I put my EF lenses on Manual Focus and use Focus Peaking function, which is very fast, accurate and easy to use.

 

[drjlo]

With the A6000, I think Sony have largely achieved that in a small APSC sensor.

As for the Sony A7 and A7R, I think that holy grail of DSLR-FF quality with light weight, I think it is one generation away from that, i.e. perhaps 1-2 years away.

A friend just bought the A6000 with Zeiss 16-50, and AF-C frame rate and shutter are indeed impressive. If Sony can implement a version of this AF system (even at reduced fps) on the next generation A7R, they will get me back as a customer. I really hated the slow, heavy, LOUD shutter of A7R.

 

[MLfan3]

With the A6000, I think Sony have largely achieved that in a small APSC sensor.

As for the Sony A7 and A7R, I think that holy grail of DSLR-FF quality with light weight, I think it is one generation away from that, i.e. perhaps 1-2 years away.

A friend just bought the A6000 with Zeiss 16-50, and AF-C frame rate and shutter are indeed impressive. If Sony can implement a version of this AF system (even at reduced fps) on the next generation A7R, they will get me back as a customer. I really hated the slow, heavy, LOUD shutter of A7R.

yeah entirely agree, but I still have the A7R and the A6000 because I found the A7R still be the best camera out there for now for sheer IQ under 8K or so. I had the D800E for 2 years and I compared the A7R vs D800E several times and I was quite sure that the A7R easily match the D800e if not slightly better. The A7R resolves more minor contrast details than the D800E , and the A7R is slightly better at high ISO. so I really really hope the next gen A7R or A7 gets the AF of the A6000, honestly the A6000 is the only one mirrorless camera that can keep up with my dog running around my yard.......The AF of the A6000 is better than the AF of the A7, the X-T1 , the OM-D EM1 and the GH4, it also competes very well against the AF of the 7D or the D7100, but in extreme lowlight it does not focus as surely as the GH4 or my 6D. anyway, for the price , the A6000 is a steal, easily one of the best mirrorless cameras out there to date.