Sony’s mirrorless cameras have long been some of the best you can buy. Its new A6300 is positively loaded, and pleasingly compact. And it will cost you.
The new update to the years-old A6000 brings a lot to the table. The top-line feature is 4K video capture. It will also shoot 1920 x 1080 Full HD video at up to 120 frames per second, so you can make some slow-motion footage if you want.
According to Sony, the camera has the world’s fastest autofocus, which you should be very wary of, since basically every manufacturer always claims their camera has the fastest autofocus. In particular, Sony claims that this camera can lock on in as little as .05 seconds, which admittedly is very fast.
How does the camera do it? By packing more autofocus sensor points on the image sensor than any other interchangeable-lens camera. Using these new points, the camera adds one new focus mode, called “high-density Tracking AF”. In short, this mode activates a very high number of focus points around a subject — 7.5 times more densely on the A6000. This should result in some accuracy improvements, especially in situations where you’re tracking a moving subject and making use of the top continuous shooting speed of 11 shots per second, as Sony points out in the press materials.
Like all of Sony’s (relatively) inexpensive mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, the A6300 sports an APS-C sensor. Like its predecessor, this sensor has 24 megapixel resolution. The Bionz X processor allows you to shoot at an ISO sensitivity of up to 51200, which is quite impressive, even if I don’t quite believe photos at ISO 51200 will look any good.
On a final note, Sony has upgraded the viewfinder to 2.4 million dots — nearly twice the resolution of the previous model. A good viewfinder really makes the difference on a mirrorless camera, which by definition doesn’t have an optical viewfinder.
Though Australian pricing is unavailable, the camera body will cost $US1000 ($1413) when it drops in March, which continues Sony’s trend of inching its prices up. (The A6000 started at $US800 [$1130].) It’s annoying to pay more money, but can you blame Sony? It makes great cameras that people are buying!
This isn’t the first mirrorless camera to offer 4K, and it has tough competition from some pretty beastly Panasonic shooters. Still, Sony’s newest offering should be one of the top contenders for your mirrorless dollar. We’ll let you know how it goes when we try it.