Sony A6000 camera review – Sony mirrorless camera

Sony A6000 was my first mirrorless camera and my first step in switching from DSLR to the more comfortable to carry and handle photo gear. I am now a proud owner of the Sony A7RII professional camera – which I wrote a review about – but I will never forget my first love, the A6000.

To see what this jewel can do, in my gallery almost all the photos are taken with Sony A6000. Just click the picture to open in full-page and click ‘i’ at the bottom. If it says on the left side – camera model “ILCE 6000”- then it is a Sony A6000 picture.

Sony A6000 review

Product: Sony Alpha ILCE-A6000

My rating: 5 out of 5

Sony A6000 comes with a 24.3 – effective – megapixels APS-C image sensor. This sensor offers high sensitivity in low light environments and lets you defocus all or part of an image foreground and background. You’ll enjoy the extremely low noise with a sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 25600 and excellent image quality with real color. Most significant detail and smooth tonal levels that reveal all the nuances of your scene.

BIONZ X image processing engine – recreates textures and details as seen by the naked eye.  Visual noise is practically undetectable because of the further advanced area-specific noise reduction.

Full HD movies – the new, improved fast hybrid AF provides fast and accurate autofocusing and tracking while shooting video, with sharpness and lack of noise.With choices  of 60p / 50p, 60i / 50i or 24p / 25p – NTSC/PAL. You can also use P/A/S/M modes to get maximum control over the general image view and zoom with extra clarity, thanks to the Clear Image Zoom.

179 AF points – considerably accurate phase-detection AF points that cover the entire image area practically. They allow enhanced subject tracking and to capture fast-moving subjects, along with improved scene detection and subject size exposure.

11 fps continuous shooting – with AF tracking ensures you capture the decisive moment accurately chasing your subject anywhere on the screen.

AF mode – having the subject in focus assures super-sharp images. Sony A6000 <- Affiliate Link 🙂 is the first E-mount digital camera that offers AF-A and shows the active AF points the same in the AF-C mode, so you can check if you are focusing on the right subject.

High-resolution OLED Tru-Finder – offers 100% frame coverage. It is a new optical system with four double aspherical lenses, which brings a wide viewing angle of about 33° and clear visibility all over the screen. It lets you preview defocusing, exposure, and other effects and adjust brightness in five stages.

Tiltable 3″ LCD screen – which allows you to shoot everything from low to high-angle.

What others have to say about A6000?

Specifications

• Lens compatibility – Sony E-mount lenses
• Sensor type – APS-C type (23.5 x 15.6 mm) Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor
• Effective pixels – Approximative 24.3 megapixels
• Image sensor aspect ratio – 3:2
• Anti-dust system – Charge protection coating on optical filter and ultrasonic vibration mechanism
• Still images format – JPEG and RAW
• Video format – AVCHD 2.0/MP4
• Audio format – Dolby digital (AC-3/2ch) for AVCHD and MPEG-4 (AAC-LC/2ch) for MP4
• Microphone – built-in stereo
• Speaker – built-in, monaural
• Shutter type – Electronically controlled, vertical traverse, focal-plane type
• Shutter speed – for still images 1/4000 to 30 seconds (bulb); for movies shutter speed 1/4000 to 1/4 and up to 1/50 in auto mode.
• Focus type – Fast hybrid AF
• Focus sensor – Exmor APS HD CMOS
• Focus point – 179 points phase-detection AF/25 points contrast-detection AF
• AF mode   AF-A (Automatic AF); AF-S (single-shot AF); AF-C (continuous AF) and DMF – direct manual focus
• ISO sensitivity – for still images 100-25600 equivalent (1/3 EV step); in auto mode 100-25600 with selectable limits; for movies 100-12800 equivalent (1/3 EV step) / in auto mode ISO speed 100-12800 with selectable limits
• Battery life for still images – Approximative 310 shots through the viewfinder and 360 shots with the LCD monitor
• Battery life for movies – Approximative 60 minutes
• Viewfinder type – 1.0 cm color electronic viewfinder
• Number of dots – 1 440 000 dots
• Monitor type – 7.5 cm wide TFT
• Number of dots – 921 600 dots
• Flash – Built-in flash
• Flash synchronization speed – 1/160 seconds
• Print – Compatible standards
• Dimensions – 120 x 66.9 x 45.1 cm
• Weight – 344 g with battery and media

What’s in the box

• AC adapter
• Body cap
• Eyepiece cup
• Micro USB cable
• Power cord
• Rechargeable battery pack
• Shoulder strap

Pronouncement and Tips

Sony A6000 was my trustful companion in my photography journey for about two years. This is why I can say that I have tested it in many ways, and I can give a rightful pronouncement.

It is easy to carry and handle. The quality of the pictures is excellent for such a compact camera. If you think you don’t need to spend thousands of cash for a professional one plus a full-frame lens, this is my recommendation. You can buy it for about £450 with a kit lens, or for less – body only.

If you are low on budget, I recommend to do as I did – buy the body only and one lens you can generally use (from macro to zoom, wide for architecture and portraits and landscapes)

For example only – this one I used myself – Sony Alpha SEL18200 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 Aspherical OSS IS

This is somewhat tricky … If you want to take portrait shots, then the best lens will be some dedicated ones for portraits. If you want macro – the same, some macro lens will perform better than this one.

The advantages of using only one lens for everything are:

• sensor and lens protection – you will rarely need to disconnect your lens
• cost of equipment – if you want a specific glass for each task, you will need at least four of them (macro, portrait, zoom, and wide)
• Size of your bag – not so easy to carry everywhere

As said before, this is only an example. I used to do this because of the low budget, and the upper lens performs in all tasks better than the medium performance lens on the market!!! 

Another tip – when buying a lens for Sony A6000, keep in mind to buy an APS-C lens – not a full-frame. Lens is built for specific sensor type, is good to know. I hope that this was helpful.

Please comment below if you have questions or want to add something to this topic. I am always happy to help and ready to learn more. Thanks for reading to the end!