Sony ILCE-6000 - first thoughts (from last night's Sony dinner)

Christine Tham · 06-17-2014, 10:32 PM

I spent a LOT of time on the A6000 last night - kit lens, plus I put in the FE55 and FE35 lenses on it as well.

My thoughts?

Focusing - incredible, really incredible. I have shot with the Canon 1DMk3, 1DMk4, D800E and in terms of focusing speed and confidence this camera beats them. I can't fully describe the experience, but it feels really really good. Love the dancing focus points - remind me a lot of Canon.

Burst rate and buffer size - camera quite usable in burst (unlike previous models) but buffer size is small. I am using a low end memory card (4GB freebie from Sony) and the camera pauses rather awkwardly when the buffer is full and it needs to write out to card.

Viewfinder - I don't like it. I have weird eyes that don't focus very well (one of the reasons why I gave up on optical viewfinders) and my eyes do not focus well on the viewfinder. I think it's a step down from the NEX6 or the A7 series.

I think I will probably buy this camera. Unfortunately it only comes in black in Australia, no silver. I was pestering the Sony guy about it and he said unfortunately the demand for silver bodies are very low in Australia. He said Sony may be able to do a group buy and bring a batch into the country if they can get a bunch of people interested. Fingers crossed.

Here's a selfie taken on the A6000 - notice I am using the LCD screen rather viewfinder:

Example of low light focusing:

One of my favourite pastimes - photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer.

Sony's 4K recording rig, featuring the A7s - okay, I don't see myself using this!

**Mikesul** · 06-18-2014, 05:20 AM

Originally posted by Christine Tham

I spent a LOT of time on the A6000 last night - kit lens, plus I put in the FE55 and FE35 lenses on it as well.

My thoughts?

Focusing - incredible, really incredible. I have shot with the Canon 1DMk3, 1DMk4, D800E and in terms of focusing speed and confidence this camera beats them. I can't fully describe the experience, but it feels really really good. Love the dancing focus points - remind me a lot of Canon.

Burst rate and buffer size - camera quite usable in burst (unlike previous models) but buffer size is small. I am using a low end memory card (4GB freebie from Sony) and the camera pauses rather awkwardly when the buffer is full and it needs to write out to card.

Viewfinder - I don't like it. I have weird eyes that don't focus very well (one of the reasons why I gave up on optical viewfinders) and my eyes do not focus well on the viewfinder. I think it's a step down from the NEX6 or the A7 series.

I think I will probably buy this camera. Unfortunately it only comes in black in Australia, no silver. I was pestering the Sony guy about it and he said unfortunately the demand for silver bodies are very low in Australia. He said Sony may be able to do a group buy and bring a batch into the country if they can get a bunch of people interested. Fingers crossed.

Here's a selfie taken on the A6000 - notice I am using the LCD screen rather viewfinder:

Example of low light focusing:

One of my favourite pastimes - photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer.

Sony's 4K recording rig, featuring the A7s - okay, I don't see myself using this!

You will love the camera. Sorry about the vision issue because I find the evf superior to those on the 6 and 7. Maybe you will like it better with a little more use. I completely agree with your other assessments. It is a very good camera.

rawr · 06-18-2014, 01:24 PM

It's interesting to hear about the confident AF in low-light.

According to the specs (0-20 EV for both AF and exposure), the AF sensitivity and exposure metering of the A6000 are unchanged from previous NEX's like the F-3, 5N, 6 and 7.

Christine Tham · 06-18-2014, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by rawr

It's interesting to hear about the confident AF in low-light.

According to the specs (0-20 EV for both AF and exposure), the AF sensitivity and exposure metering of the A6000 are unchanged from previous NEX's like the F-3, 5N, 6 and 7.

Specs don't mean much. I've had pretty good experiences focusing in low light, even on moving subjects on my various NEX bodies and also A7r.

The room we were in measured anywhere from EV4 to EV-1 on a light meter. I can confirm all the Sony cameras I tried had no problems focusing even on the darkest subjects in the room.

The real issue is that previous generation NEX cameras tend not be very discriminate when focusing in low light. The camera knows it has focused on something, it just doesn't know what or where.

The A6000 was able to pin point focus areas accurately even at very low light. And to do it very fast and confidently.

osv · 06-18-2014, 03:46 PM

that a6000 sounds like a wonderful complement to the a7r... use the same glass, better af, no shutter delay, less worry about field curvature, etc... everything that the a7r isn't, and vice versa.

e-mount crop primes can be incredibly cheap and good as well... those sigma art lenses, for example... the sony 24mm holds up very well in imatesting, if you can afford it.

jcdoss · 06-19-2014, 09:58 AM

Thanks for the report, Christine! I'm thinking about picking one up too. About the viewfinder, did you mess with the diopter adjustment at all? Yours is the first report of the viewfinder being worse than previous models that I've seen, which surprises me since it's supposedly lower spec'ed than the NEX6 one.

Clicker · 06-19-2014, 02:28 PM

Thanks Christine..."must resist ...must resist"

Na Horuk · 06-19-2014, 03:20 PM

Did you get to try the a5000? How does it compare?

Christine Tham · 06-19-2014, 04:28 PM

Originally posted by jcdoss

Thanks for the report, Christine! I'm thinking about picking one up too. About the viewfinder, did you mess with the diopter adjustment at all? Yours is the first report of the viewfinder being worse than previous models that I've seen, which surprises me since it's supposedly lower spec'ed than the NEX6 one.

Yes, I did.

I have to stress - I don't have normal eyes, and my right is worse than my left. I find it very hard to focus on anything except very specific focusing distances. Wearing glasses don't help - my eyes still can't focus and after a while I get a headache. There is nothing much I can do - apparently it's cholesterol damage and it's permanent.

I had to give up using optical viewfinders - some are better than others but I have problems with most - and have sold all my DSLRs.

I also have double vision (in the one eye - basically I see two overlapping images) - makes it very difficult to use rangefinders.

The Sony viewfinders in the NEX6 and A7r seem okay to me, but I find the one on the A6000 a lot harder to adjust to. I think the viewfinder on the RX100Mk3 may be similar - I also found it difficult to use that. Fortunately the A7s uses the same viewfinder as the A7r - no problems using that camera.

06-17-2014, 10:32 PM	#1
Christine Tham Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,269	Sony ILCE-6000 - first thoughts (from last night's Sony dinner) I spent a LOT of time on the A6000 last night - kit lens, plus I put in the FE55 and FE35 lenses on it as well. My thoughts? Focusing - incredible, really incredible. I have shot with the Canon 1DMk3, 1DMk4, D800E and in terms of focusing speed and confidence this camera beats them. I can't fully describe the experience, but it feels really really good. Love the dancing focus points - remind me a lot of Canon. Burst rate and buffer size - camera quite usable in burst (unlike previous models) but buffer size is small. I am using a low end memory card (4GB freebie from Sony) and the camera pauses rather awkwardly when the buffer is full and it needs to write out to card. Viewfinder - I don't like it. I have weird eyes that don't focus very well (one of the reasons why I gave up on optical viewfinders) and my eyes do not focus well on the viewfinder. I think it's a step down from the NEX6 or the A7 series. I think I will probably buy this camera. Unfortunately it only comes in black in Australia, no silver. I was pestering the Sony guy about it and he said unfortunately the demand for silver bodies are very low in Australia. He said Sony may be able to do a group buy and bring a batch into the country if they can get a bunch of people interested. Fingers crossed. Here's a selfie taken on the A6000 - notice I am using the LCD screen rather viewfinder: Example of low light focusing: One of my favourite pastimes - photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer. Sony's 4K recording rig, featuring the A7s - okay, I don't see myself using this!

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06-18-2014, 05:20 AM	#2
Mikesul Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 7,594	Originally posted by Christine Tham I spent a LOT of time on the A6000 last night - kit lens, plus I put in the FE55 and FE35 lenses on it as well. My thoughts? Focusing - incredible, really incredible. I have shot with the Canon 1DMk3, 1DMk4, D800E and in terms of focusing speed and confidence this camera beats them. I can't fully describe the experience, but it feels really really good. Love the dancing focus points - remind me a lot of Canon. Burst rate and buffer size - camera quite usable in burst (unlike previous models) but buffer size is small. I am using a low end memory card (4GB freebie from Sony) and the camera pauses rather awkwardly when the buffer is full and it needs to write out to card. Viewfinder - I don't like it. I have weird eyes that don't focus very well (one of the reasons why I gave up on optical viewfinders) and my eyes do not focus well on the viewfinder. I think it's a step down from the NEX6 or the A7 series. I think I will probably buy this camera. Unfortunately it only comes in black in Australia, no silver. I was pestering the Sony guy about it and he said unfortunately the demand for silver bodies are very low in Australia. He said Sony may be able to do a group buy and bring a batch into the country if they can get a bunch of people interested. Fingers crossed. Here's a selfie taken on the A6000 - notice I am using the LCD screen rather viewfinder: Example of low light focusing: One of my favourite pastimes - photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer. Sony's 4K recording rig, featuring the A7s - okay, I don't see myself using this! You will love the camera. Sorry about the vision issue because I find the evf superior to those on the 6 and 7. Maybe you will like it better with a little more use. I completely agree with your other assessments. It is a very good camera.

06-18-2014, 01:24 PM	#3
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913	It's interesting to hear about the confident AF in low-light. According to the specs (0-20 EV for both AF and exposure), the AF sensitivity and exposure metering of the A6000 are unchanged from previous NEX's like the F-3, 5N, 6 and 7.

06-18-2014, 02:13 PM	#4
Christine Tham Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,269 Original Poster	Originally posted by rawr It's interesting to hear about the confident AF in low-light. According to the specs (0-20 EV for both AF and exposure), the AF sensitivity and exposure metering of the A6000 are unchanged from previous NEX's like the F-3, 5N, 6 and 7. Specs don't mean much. I've had pretty good experiences focusing in low light, even on moving subjects on my various NEX bodies and also A7r. The room we were in measured anywhere from EV4 to EV-1 on a light meter. I can confirm all the Sony cameras I tried had no problems focusing even on the darkest subjects in the room. The real issue is that previous generation NEX cameras tend not be very discriminate when focusing in low light. The camera knows it has focused on something, it just doesn't know what or where. The A6000 was able to pin point focus areas accurately even at very low light. And to do it very fast and confidently.

06-18-2014, 03:46 PM	#5
osv Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: So Cal Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,080	that a6000 sounds like a wonderful complement to the a7r... use the same glass, better af, no shutter delay, less worry about field curvature, etc... everything that the a7r isn't, and vice versa. e-mount crop primes can be incredibly cheap and good as well... those sigma art lenses, for example... the sony 24mm holds up very well in imatesting, if you can afford it.

06-19-2014, 09:58 AM	#6
jcdoss Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,768	Thanks for the report, Christine! I'm thinking about picking one up too. About the viewfinder, did you mess with the diopter adjustment at all? Yours is the first report of the viewfinder being worse than previous models that I've seen, which surprises me since it's supposedly lower spec'ed than the NEX6 one.

06-19-2014, 02:28 PM	#7
Clicker Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,241	Thanks Christine..."must resist ...must resist"

06-19-2014, 03:20 PM	#8
Na Horuk Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Slovenia, probably Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,186	Did you get to try the a5000? How does it compare?

06-19-2014, 04:28 PM	#9
Christine Tham Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,269 Original Poster	Originally posted by jcdoss Thanks for the report, Christine! I'm thinking about picking one up too. About the viewfinder, did you mess with the diopter adjustment at all? Yours is the first report of the viewfinder being worse than previous models that I've seen, which surprises me since it's supposedly lower spec'ed than the NEX6 one. Yes, I did. I have to stress - I don't have normal eyes, and my right is worse than my left. I find it very hard to focus on anything except very specific focusing distances. Wearing glasses don't help - my eyes still can't focus and after a while I get a headache. There is nothing much I can do - apparently it's cholesterol damage and it's permanent. I had to give up using optical viewfinders - some are better than others but I have problems with most - and have sold all my DSLRs. I also have double vision (in the one eye - basically I see two overlapping images) - makes it very difficult to use rangefinders. The Sony viewfinders in the NEX6 and A7r seem okay to me, but I find the one on the A6000 a lot harder to adjust to. I think the viewfinder on the RX100Mk3 may be similar - I also found it difficult to use that. Fortunately the A7s uses the same viewfinder as the A7r - no problems using that camera.