Sony A6400 review

Sony A6400 is a mirrorless camera that boasts a 24 Megapixel APS-C sensor, powerful autofocus tracking, 4k video, a built-in viewfinder, and a flipping touchscreen that rotates 180 degrees to face the subject.

It was introduced in January 2019, and the official succeeds the A6300. You will discover that it is more tempting than other pricier models in the market because it provides you all the features you need without bankrupting you.

The A6400 has the same built as the A6300. Its features, which include a viewfinder, shutter mechanism, battery, controls, single card slot, etc., are quite similar to the rest of the A6000 series, but what sets it apart is the new screen.

This screen has a mechanism that enables the panel to tilt out and angle 180 degrees to face forward. This is similar to what is found in the recent RX100 models. It also boasts a hot shoe that can be used to mount an external microphone that other camera bodies lack. This is quite beneficial for Vloggers and bloggers.

Sony A6400 review

Sony A6400 is not only stable and fast, but it is also versatile and compact. It is a dream come true for photography lovers because this APS-C-format mirrorless camera by Sony employs so many features that are usually reserved for full-frame lineups.

The A6400 is a great innovation from Sony as it includes an autofocus acquisition of .02 sec, Real-time Tracking capabilities, Real-time Eye AF, silent shooting up to 8 fps, an updated BIONZ X image processing engine, high-speed shooting up to 11 fps, the ever famous tilting LCD touchscreen, no pixel binning, UHD 4K movie recording, internal recording for time-lapse videos, and much more.

All of this within an affordable price provides great value for money and makes it worthwhile to invest in.

Let us go into detail about this beauty and provide you an in-depth analysis of the features it offers:

Sony A6400 Overview

The A6400 by Sony is designed for both photographers and videographers. It is well-suited for amateurs as well as professionals. It sports a BIONZ X image processor and a 24.2MP Exmor CMOS sensor, which results in excellent and clear image quality.

It offers a wide sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 102,400 –  together with accelerated readout speeds for internal 4K24. Additionally, it comes with a Full HD video recording together with a full pixel readout.

The processor also has numerous advantages for videographers. It includes a Slow and Quick Motion setting, allowing users to capture Full HD video at frame rates ranging from 1-120 fps. Moreover, it has a plus Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), which supports both S-Log2 and S-Log3 and HDR workflows to allow color grading flexibility.

It also benefits Stills shooters due to the processing speed, which allows continuous shooting at 11 fps till 116 JPEGs, 44 JPEG and raw frames in a burst, 46 raw images, or 14-bit raw file output.

The combination of processor and sensor also avails 4D FOCUS, giving wide coverage of the 425-point phase-detection system, which covers about 84% of the photo area and provides a 425-point contrast-detection system which leads to precise and quicker focusing performance.

Real-time eye AF

The focusing system also allows Real-time Eye AF, thus delivering enhanced accuracy, tracking Eye AF’s performance and speed, enabling the eyes of your subject to be automatically detected.

Moreover, Real-time Tracking uses AI-based object recognition, which processes subject distance, pattern, and color as spatial information, which ensures that the subjects are captured with complete accuracy. Lastly, the body is amazing; it is compact, light, and is weather-sealed to protect it from dust and moisture.

Thus, all these features make the a6400 an imaging tool that is fast and precise for multimedia capture and makes it increasingly versatile and fully capable of working in both video and photo realms.

Here are some features that set it apart from other cameras:

Body

A robust magnesium-alloy body complements the imaging assets above. The buttons and dials in the body are sealed to protect it from dust and moisture. It also has anti-dust functionality, which protects the optical filter.

It has a compact profile, but it consists of a high-resolution XGA Tru-Finder. The viewfinder is a 2.36m-dot OLED electronic screen, which is clear, bright, and eye-level viewing. This Electronic Viewfinder also includes a 120 fps viewing mode, which enables smooth tracking of fast-paced subjects.

Now coming to the exceptional screen, it sports a rear TFT 3.0″ 921.6k-dot touchscreen LCD monitor, which can tilt 74° down and 180° up so that users can benefit from high and low angles. The monitors are designed in such a manner that it allows for spontaneous touch-to-focus control.

Moreover, this camera also sports a wireless remote control. It can share images online, as it comes with an in-built Wi-Fi and NFC, which allows linking it to a mobile device for instinctive wireless control.

Imaging assets

The a6400 inherits many features of its autofocus system from Sony’s line-up of the many technologies in full-frame cameras such as the a9, a7 III, and the a7R III models. As discussed above, it consists of 425 contrast-detection AF points and 425 phase-detection AF points, which are placed closely over the whole image area.

They cover approx—84% of the area. The tracking AF system has a very high speed and high performance and is paired with a BIONZ X image processing engine. These two enable the camera to attain focus in less than 0.02 seconds and efficiently manage the subject lock.

Please see this video review by Michael the Maven for an even better understanding of this jewel camera:

https://youtu.be/STrNuKs2TLg

This ensures that even the fastest moving subjects can be easily tracked and captured, and you never miss a single Decisive Moment.

The next amazing feature this a6400 has introduced us is the advanced Real-time Eye AF. This is Sony’s latest version of Eye AF technology, and it employs artificial intelligence-based object recognition. This leads to the detection and processing of eye data in real-time, thus improving speed, accuracy, and tracking performance.

This is available in all autofocus modes, and the camera automatically detects the subject’s eyes and activates the Eye AF by just half-pressing the shutter button. With the AF-A or AF-C mode, the subject’s preferred eye can be chosen as the focus point.

Choose the desired eye to focus on

There are many choices, including Auto / Left Eye/ Right Eye and even a Switch Right / Left Eye option, which provides you a custom function. This technology innovation has been very beneficial. It frees the photographer from worrying about the sharp focus and makes them work solely on composition as they trust that camera to focus tack sharp on the subject’s eye. Sony A6400 <- Affiliate Link 🙂 also includes animal Eye AF support, which is useful for wildlife photographers.

Another debuting feature of this a6400 by Sony beholds is Real-time Tracking.  This feature uses Sony’s algorithm, which includes artificial intelligence-based object recognition and enables the processing of color, depth, and brightness, ensuring that the subjects are captured with perfection.

Moreover, when video graphing and photographing or human’s and animal’s eye position and face has become easy, AI recognizes the information and then monitors the subject’s eye in real-time with high precision. This only requires only a half-press of the shutter button to activate. It can also be assigned to a custom function.

Speed

The overall shooting speeds that this camera can shoot is up to 11 fps with full AF/AE tracking if making use of the mechanical shutter and up to 8 fps with full AF/AE tracking if using the silent shooting mode.

At each of these speeds, it can capture up to 46 frames of raw compressed/116 frames JPEG Standard, which greatly improves the chances of capturing the perfect moment.

Image Quality Advancements

The a6400 by Sony comes with a 24.2MP APS-C image sensor paired with an advanced BIONZ X processor to deliver enhanced color reproduction and image quality in all shooting conditions. Its Standard ISO range is up to ISO 32,000 in stills and movies, and this range is expandable up to ISO 102,400 for still photography.

It has amazing noise reduction at high and medium sensitivities. Even most of the Image Quality Advancements are inherited from Sony’s full-frame camera algorithms. The additional things are noise suppression while preservation of resolution and improvement in texture depiction.

4K Movie Recording with Fast Hybrid Autofocus

The a6400 is versatile because not only is it good for images, but it is also a solid video camera. It offers an internal 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) movie recording with a full pixel readout. There is no pixel binning in collecting about 2.4x the amount of data needed for 4K movies.

The 4K footage is of high quality with complete detail and perfect depth. Focus even while movie shooting is stable and fast due to the upgraded Fast Hybrid AF technology. Thanks to this technology, the camera keeps the subject in smooth and constant focus, even when the object crosses in front of the user.

Together with this advanced AF and touch focus functionality makes this camera a suitable choice, especially for video creators and vloggers who want both good quality videos and ease of updating and sharing videos online.

Time-lapse movie creation

This camera supports in-built interval recording for time-lapse movie creation. This can be set anywhere between 1 and 60 seconds, and the total number of shots can be set from 1 to 9999.

The AE tracking sensitivity can be tuned to “Low,” “Mid,” or “High” when interval shooting, thus resulting in reduced changes in exposure over during the shooting interval.

Additionally, it has a Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) picture profile, which is the first time for a Sony APS-C mirrorless camera model. This feature supports a spontaneous HDR workflow and allows HDR-compatible TVs to present true-to-life and beautiful 4K HDR imagery.

Moreover, it supports both S-Log2 and S-Log3, increasing Zebra functionality, color grading flexibility, proxy recording, and Gamma Display assist. The camera is also capable of recording Full HD at 120 fps for up to 100 Mb/s.

This allows reviewing and eventual editing of footage into 4x or 5x slow-motion video files using Full HD resolution with AF tracking.

Upgraded Build for Increased Versatility

The camera has an upgraded outlook and builds, which increases its versatility than its predecessors. It has a design that offers a high level of customization and functionality, leading to the maximization of shooting freedom.

One of the best things about this camera is its fully tiltable 180° LCD screen, which has 921,600 dots of resolution, enabling simple yet effective selfie-style shooting in both videos and still captures. This capability is what vloggers can utilize to monitor and check the composition throughout the creation process.

The LCD screen employs touch functionality, which provides numerous options like TouchPad, Touch Shutter, Touch Focus, and Touch Tracking. All of them quickly activate, thus providing “Real-time Tracking” via the touch screen.

Lastly, this camera boasts a top-quality XGA OLED Tru-finder viewfinder. This EVF has extensive customization as it comes with 89 functions, which are assignable to 8 custom keys.

It has My Menu and My Dial functionality, which enhances overall menu usability. It consists of a help screen for menus and includes star ratings for images and numerous other features that truly make it perfect for a seamless shooting experience.

Solid-body built

Like the body, it is also built with a solid magnesium alloy and is designed to be stable. It consists of a durable shutter that is rated for approx. 200,000 cycles. Moreover, it holds the capability of seamlessly transferring files to a tablet or smartphone when it is connected to the new application called Imaging Edge Mobile.

In case you are curious about what’s inside the camera and where to find each setting, enjoy this video by Alin Popescu who recorded the full menu system with explanations of the new Sony A6400:

To conclude, I would say that the features of this camera are beyond ordinary. It is one of its kind and is worth having in your photography kit. Be it professional or beginners, this camera is perfect for all as it is simple to use, yet it provides complete functionality.

You won’t need any other accessories to support it because it has everything in-built. So go for it if you need a camera that has it all!

Sony A6400 Specifications:

• Lens Mount: Sony E-Mount
• Camera Format: APS-C
• Actual Pixels: 25 Megapixel
• Effective pixels: 24.2 Megapixel
• Max Resolution: 6000 x 4000
• Aspect Ratio: 3:2, 16:9
• Sensor Type: CMOS
• Sensor Size 23.5 x 15.6 mm
• File Formats: JPEG, RAW
• Movies: MP4, AVCHD 2.0, XAVC S
• Audio: AC3, Linear PCM, Dolby Digital 2ch,
• Bit Depth: 14-Bit
• Dust Reduction System: Yes
• Memory Card Type: SD, SDHC, SDXC
• Image Stabilization: None
• Video Recording: Yes, NTSC/PAL
• Video Formats: 3840 x 2160p at 24/25/30 fps (100, 60 Mb/s XAVC S)
• 1920 x 1080p at 24/25/30/50/60 fps (50 Mb/s XAVC S)
• 1920 x 1080i at 50/60 fps (24, 17 Mb/s AVCHD)
• 1920 x 1080p at 100/120 fps (100, 60 Mb/s XAVC S)
• 1920 x 1080p at 50/60 fps (25 Mb/s XAVC S)
• 1920 x 1080p at 25/30 fps (16 Mb/s XAVC S)
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Audio Recording: Built-in Mic with Video (Stereo)
• Focus Type: Auto and Manual Focus
• Focus Mode: Automatic, Continuous-Servo AF, Direct Manual Focus, Manual Focus, Single-servo AF
• Autofocus Points: Phase Detection: 425
• Contrast Detection: 425
• Viewfinder Type: Electronic
• Viewfinder Size: 0.39″
• Viewfinder Pixel Count: 2,359,296
• Viewfinder Coverage: 100%
• Viewfinder Magnification: Approximately 1.07x
• Diopter Adjustment: -4.0 to +3.0 m
• Display Screen: 3″ Touchscreen Rear Screen Tilting LCD
• ISO Sensitivity: 100 to 32000
• Extended Mode: 100 to 102400
• Shutter Type: Electronic and Mechanical
• Speed: 30 to 1/4000 Second
• Metering Method: Average Metering, Multi-Zone Metering, Center-Weighted Average Metering, Spot Metering, Highlight Weighted
• Exposure Modes: Aperture Priority, Auto, Shutter Priority, Sweep Panorama, Intelligent Auto, Movie, Manual, Program, Scene Selection, Superior Auto,
• Metering Range: EV -2.0 to EV 20.0
• Compensation: -5 EV to +5 EV)
• Flash Modes: Auto, Fill-In, Hi-Speed Sync, Off, Rear Sync, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync, and Wireless
• Built-in Flash: Yes
• Guide No: 19.69’ / 6 m ISO100
• Max Sync Speed: 1 / 160 Second
• Flash Compensation: -3 EV to +3 EV (in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps)
• Dedicated Flash System: TTL
• External Flash Connection: Hot Shoe, Wireless
• Self-Timer: 2, 5, 10 Seconds
• Interval Recording: Yes
• Wi-Fi Capable: Yes
• Battery: 1 x NP-FW50 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Pack
• Operating Temperature: 0 to 40°C/32 to 104°F
• Dimensions: 120.0 x 66.9 x 59.7 mm / 4.7 x 2.6 x 2.4” (W x H x D)
• Weight (with battery and memory card): 403 g/14.22 oz.

What’s in the Box?

• Sony Alpha a6400 Mirrorless Digital Camera (Body Only)
• AC Adapter
• NP-FW50 Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Battery (1020mAh)
• Power Cord
• Body Cap
• Shoulder Strap
• Accessory Shoe Cap
• Micro-USB Cable
• Eyepiece Cup
• Limited 1-Year Warranty

Pros:

• Latest autofocus technology
• Eye-detection for animals
• 4k video
• Compact
• Numerous phase-detection autofocus points
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth,
• Tilting LCD screen
• Silent shooting options
• XGA OLED Tru-finder viewfinder
• Weather sealed
• Solid magnesium alloy body
• Real-time Tracking capabilities
• Real-time Eye AF
• High-speed shooting up to 11 fps
• Affordable

Cons:

• There is no headphone jack
• There are no dual card slots
• The screen gets blocked when mounting the microphone
• Can have better battery quality
• Lacks built-in stabilization

Final thoughts

Summing it up, from the sensor inherited from Sony’s lineup, which equips this A6400 with an array of inherent phase-detection autofocus points to 11fps burst shooting and continuous AF feedback, everything is just perfect.

With only a few drawbacks, majorly, the lack of the built-in stabilization that A6500 possesses has everything. The latest autofocus technology by Sony, which enhances tracking and enables eye-detection for animals, is worth the praise.

Completing the perfect combination and providing you with a perfect package is the XGA OLED viewfinder, support for S-Log 2 and 3, 4k video, silent shooting options, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, interval timer facility, and external software that allows assembling images into a time-lapse movie.

So, for me, this A6400 is a mid-range mirrorless camera that is as solid as it can get. The APS-C sensor, which delivers excellent quality 24 Megapixel images and 4k video, is something worth investing in. The improvements in the autofocus system are also commendable and mean that tracking and focusing on subjects becomes enhanced.

It is a camera that gives more features than any other camera in a similar price range. My verdict is that whether you want a camera for shooting stills or filming a video, this camera is the best up to date.

The fast burst speeds make it better suited for action than most competitors, and the flipping screen makes it ideal for vlogging. In contrast, the rare ability of recording beyond half an hour makes it perfect for events photography and interviews.

There is a disadvantage of blocking the screen if you mount your microphone on the hot shoe, but this problem can be resolved using a cabled or bracket microphone instead. The ability to power the camera over USB is beneficial for long videos and is another feature that makes this camera a must-have for photography lovers.

Conclusion

It is the latest innovation that is greeted with open arms because the features justify the praise.

I prefer Sony A6400 over all the other cameras because of its improved focusing, selfie-screen, and longer recordings. Even though it has a hot shoe limitation, the upgrades are worth the price.

The 4k video and fast bursts make it better than its predecessors and competitors and make it the best option for every photographer worldwide. Personally speaking, this A6400 is fit for any filming and is very compatible with every style of photography.

It is a solid camera for its price range, and I happily recommend it <- Affiliate Link 🙂  It fulfills my purpose perfectly, and I hope it turns out to be the best choice for you as well.

So have a nice time clicking beautiful images with this top-notch camera!