Sony A6000, is it good please?

[LouiseTopp]

I love my Nikon D5300 but I also have a compact which I use for when I don't want to carry a bulky SLR around. I would like to upgrade it to a Sony A6000. Can you tell me if this is a good camera please?

[charzes44]

Louise,
The quote below is from the conclusion of the review by techradar.com. If it further whets your appetite, look up this review, plus any others that you can find.


Once again Sony has brought something intriguing and exciting into the compact system camera territory. Those who spent the latter part of 2013 gazing longingly at the A7, balking at the high price tag, will probably be especially be tempted by the A6000.

This camera comes very close to being the perfect compact system camera. It's so close it's frustrating.

A big part of this is the fact that setting the AF point is just too laborious, especially for a camera of this calibre. While it may seem like a small issue, it can slow down the process of taking pictures, and, that's pretty much the most important thing. I remain hopeful that Sony might be able to correct this problem with a firmware upgrade, as it's much easier to set the AF point using the A7/R. Focusing speeds are excellent though, only dropping a little when shooting in low light.

On a more positive note, the other elements of using the camera are very good. It's nice to be able to customise the various buttons to control what you want them to, while the scrolling dial for altering aperture and shutter speed is nicely reachable by the thumb.


Good luck!

[rpcrowe]

The A6000 is a very good camera but, while Sony is still producing and selling this camera, the A6000 is actually a bit outdated. There have been three A6xxx versions coming down the Sony turnpike since the advent of the A6000: the A6300, the A6500 and the most recent A6400.

The A6xxx family of mirrorless cameras are all quite similar but, each of the successive cameras has a few more bells and whistles but, is accompanied by a steeper price point.

There are any number of YouTube videos stating the differences between the various A6xxx family of cameras. Here is one that is quite comprehensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vTBpbrzJNk
This video doesn't include info on the A6400 since that camera was just introduced last month...

The A6300 replaced the A6000 but, the A6000 was kept in production. The A6500 superseded the A6300 but the A6300 was kept in production. Sony has just introduced the 4th model of the A6xxx series, naming it the A6400... A lot of the differences between the various cameras have to do with their video capability, such as whether of not they are 4K video capable.

Other differences in capabilities are in the focusing systems, buffer and whether the camera has IBIS (only available on the A6500).

I like this system of cameras and have been using an A6500 for about six months. I am quite happy with this camera (of course it is the most expensive of the Sony A6xxx cameras).

The A6000 with the 16-50mm kit lens runs about $600 (note: all prices are given in $ U.S. Dollars) new from Amazon or B&H, the A6300 with lens runs about $850 or so while the newest A6400 costs about $900 for the body only. If you are willing to buy used or refurbished you can pick up an A6000 with 16-50mm kit lens for around $400 on eBay.

I use an A6500 which I purchased used for about $900 with a Sigma MC-11 adapter (allowing me to use some of my Canon mount lenses on that camera) along with several batteries and an external charger and a SmallRig video cage. BTW: although I can use some of my Canon lenses, the focusing capability doesn't match that of native Sony glass. But, the image quality with my Canon glass (such as this with the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens and MC-11 adapter) is really good...


I like my A6500 for several reasons. One reason is the really excellent image quality that a small form factor camera like this produces...


I also like being able to adapt vintage lenses to the camera. I use these vintage lenses not to save money but for the specific image rendition that they are capable of; such as this old Russian 58mm f/2 Helios lens with its swirly bokeh...

The M-42 to Sony E-mount adapters run anywhere from $8 to $20 on eBay. They are dumb adapters since the M-42 mount lenses are all manual focus and do not provide EXIF informaton to the camera. However, manual focusing with an A6xxx camera is fairly easy since the focus peaking available on those cameras is a great aid.

I suppose that the answer to your posting is, Yes! The A6000 is a very good camera. However, there are other cameras in the A6xxx line that offer added bells and whistles. It all depends on what you want to do with the camera and what you are willing or able to spend.

BTW: I don't own the 16-50mm kit lens. I shoot with mostly prime lenses on my A6500. The 50mm f/1.8 OSS lens is a nice portrait lens for the A6xxx line of cameras. I spent about $125 for my used copy.


For family photos, I generally use the Sony 28-70mm which is a kit lens for the full frame Sony mirrorless cameras. I think that it is sharp enough for my needs in that area and the 28mm short side doesn't bother me because I don't like to go much wider when shooting people. I also spent about $125 for my used copy of this lens.

[Tri Danimal]

I will most likely be looking to purchase an A6000. This camera fits perfectly into what I want the camera for. This camera will be mounted on a star tracker (so there is no need for IBS or OSS) and it will be use solely for astrophotography. For right now I will be using my Sigma 150-600 and Tamron 28-75 for astrophotography.

As others have said the A6000 camera is a good camera if you know its limitations and they work with what you want to do.

[MrB]

Louise, the following points might be totally irrelevant to you but might be of interest to someone. I have been using Pentax APS-C DSLRs for about 8 years but I don't use huge lenses - the biggest I have is a compact 55-300 zoom that weighs about a pound - and all my lenses feel so well-balanced on the Pentax bodies. A few years ago I was interested to read about the Sony A6000 and so I bought one for similar reasons to yours - to replace my compact camera, a very capable Lumix LX7, and I also thought it would be good to be able to attach my other lenses via an adapter. However, although the A6000 is an excellent image capture device, I never enjoyed using it. It just didn't feel right in my hands - not an easy thing to convey to someone else but, with anything more than a pancake lens or the retractable kit lens, it always felt like holding a lens with a little body attached. After persisting for over a year, I exchanged it for a new compact camera, a Lumix LX100. Obviously this issue is a very personal thing, but I would suggest that you attempt to find a way of trying any new camera with various lenses before you commit to buying one.

Philip

[PhotoAmateur]

A6000 is really a great camera and as of now you can get it relatively cheap. Aside from photography, if you are going to shoot longer videos be aware that many compact mirrorless Sony cameras have an annoying overheating problem. Also, Sony & Canon have the best on the marker autofocus systems. Actually, I find that Canon's dual pixel AF is even better than Sony's. Other than that the A6000 for a reasonable price is a great choice.

[rpcrowe]

A6000 is really a great camera and as of now you can get it relatively cheap. Aside from photography, if you are going to shoot longer videos be aware that many compact mirrorless Sony cameras have an annoying overheating problem. Also, Sony & Canon have the best on the marker autofocus systems. Actually, I find that Canon's dual pixel AF is even better than Sony's. Other than that the A6000 for a reasonable price is a great choice.

I agree with you that the Canon Dual Pixel AF is at least as good, if not better than the Sony. The one drawback, as I see it, for the Canon Dual Pixel AF is that it must be used in live view and it cannot be used in TTL viewing. I personally prefer through the lens viewing because I have a hard time seeing an LCD in the bright sun, I adapted my Canon 6D2 by adding a SwiVi viewfinder which allows me to view the LCD in the brightest light. The problem is that it makes the camera quite bulky and a bit heavy,

OTOH the Sony mirrorless cameras can use either the eye level or the LCD for focusing and viewing.