JP Owens
Well-known
A lot of people shoot short films with the 5N. It has great image quality. But, anything but short clips cause increasing problems. Some people have removed the decal from behind the LCD and that seems to help a little. Others say that if you keep the lcd moved away from the body, that will help. A lot of discussion on the web.
I don't use Sony cameras, but as popular as they are for video, it is surprising that they haven't addressed the problem, despite all of the discussion of it.
I don't use Sony cameras, but as popular as they are for video, it is surprising that they haven't addressed the problem, despite all of the discussion of it.
L. M. Tu
Established
I've had a NEX-5 and now a NEX-5t and have had problems with both cameras overheating while shooting video, depending on the environment. I believe the 29-minute limit on video clip length is an artificial one, having been imposed by European Union regulations. But.....!! If you shoot a lot of short clips in the course of an event, the cameras will overheat before the 29-minute limit is reached. These problems occur because these cameras are built for stills, not video. I'm shooting more and more video these days - live music, mostly - and so I got a camera built for video, the NEX-VG30, which has the same sensor as the 5n, 5r, 5t and 6 bodies, but with much better cooling and no limit on clip length, and an optional battery that will last for over 6 hours of continuous shooting, among other features. I couldn't be happier.
Lss
Well-known
The 2014 model Sony Alpha A6000 has been superseded by the early-2016 model A6300 (most notably with 4k video) and the late-2016 model A6500 (with 5-axis stabilisation and touchscreen). It is still available quite widely. The sad news is that the price has not changed since end of 2015 despite the release of the newer bodies, and the European pricing is therefore quite the rip-off as long as we consider life in Sony land. The camera should however remain extremely competitive against some of the alternatives by Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic.
I purchased one about a year ago for $400. You could not get a better-specced new camera for the price, and this may remain true even today.
Was this a smart buy? In many ways, yes. I certainly needed a replacement for my Sony NEX-5N, which had become largely unusable. My original plan however was to get a replacement with 4k video, and I am now stuck with this 1080p model. On the other hand, I don't see enough value in the A6300/A6500 cameras beside the 4k support to pay the premium.
It's not all good, though. Here's a list of key usability issues that I pretty much hate on the A6000. They seem not very well addressed on the newer bodies either.
Main issues:
Minor issues:
The good:
Improved over NEX-5N, but still nothing to write home about:
Your mileage may vary and all that, but perhaps there are some points here to consider for prospective buyers of the A6xxx range. For current 5N users, my suggestion is to make the switch. There are only two things that make the 5N more desirable in my books. Well, one thing and one unknown factor. There is obviously a size advantage with the 5N. The A6000 is larger, and that may be a problem for some. The unknown part is performance with rangefinder lenses. The 5N was pretty good, the A6000 I have actually not properly tested yet, although I have owned the camera for about a year.
I purchased one about a year ago for $400. You could not get a better-specced new camera for the price, and this may remain true even today.
Was this a smart buy? In many ways, yes. I certainly needed a replacement for my Sony NEX-5N, which had become largely unusable. My original plan however was to get a replacement with 4k video, and I am now stuck with this 1080p model. On the other hand, I don't see enough value in the A6300/A6500 cameras beside the 4k support to pay the premium.
It's not all good, though. Here's a list of key usability issues that I pretty much hate on the A6000. They seem not very well addressed on the newer bodies either.
Main issues:
- Auto-ISO implementation. This is a long-standing issue with Sony. You have very little control over the feature, which is unforgivable on a camera with this much customisation options and a menu system that makes many a novelist doubt their productivity.
- Eye-sensor. It kicks in too easily when you turn the camera for a difficult angle and/or tilt the screen resulting in missed shots or just general annoyance. The EVF is slow to wake, too, which is probably part of the reason the eye-sensor is so sensitive.
- Out-of-focus pictures with AF confirmation. This is a problem with all AF cameras to some degree, but Sony continues to knock it out of the park with every new model. I'm pretty sure they have a department dedicated to implementing this problem in otherwise fairly good AF systems. The lesser evil is the AF focusing on some tiny high-contrast spec in the background, when about 99% of the AF box covers the intended subject with good contrast and which looks to be in focus. Annoying yes, but sometimes you can blame yourself, too. The bigger evil is the "nothing in focus" phenomenon. I had this problem with the NEX-5N, I have this problem with the RX1R, and I now sure have it with the A6000 as well. Many pictures come out with nothing in focus, although the focus confirmation is there and the picture looks fine on the screen or in the EVF when you take it. Then something just happens, and you get an unusable file. I have no explanation for this. It is a focus issue, it is not a shutter speed, camera shake, or IS issue.
- Settings changing on their own. This can be a rather fine camera, when you keep it in your hand. It becomes a machine for applying random settings, when you fling it over your shoulder. When you grab the camera again and need to shoot fast expecting to use the settings you left on the camera, the aperture, the shutter speed, the exposure compensation, the ISO setting, and on a few occasion even the drive mode may have changed on its own. You miss the shot or it comes out very different from what you intended. It's ridiculous how often this happens for me. I seldom had a similar problem with the NEX-5N (which of course didn't have too many wheels and buttons to move inadvertently). There is a wheel lock function that I use sometimes to avoid the problem. It however takes too long to switch on and off to be really useful. Give a faster lock, Sony, and this becomes a minor complaint.
Minor issues:
- Battery life. It's poor. I need a minimum of three batteries for a day-hike when no video is shot. I would be happy with needing a maximum of two. Three with heavy video shooting. With better battery life, you could use features such as Pre-AF.
- Manual focus assist (with AF lenses). The minimum two-second limit is too high for confirming framing in dynamic scenes. Give some control over this, Sony.
- Video button placement. I know many people had problems with the NEX-5N, where the camera would start recording video on its own. I used the camera for several years, and it never happened. After it happened three or four times on the A6000, I set the video button off by default.
The good:
- Face detection. When face detection kicks in, I have never had a grossly out-of-focus picture. It's fast and seems to follow subjects relatively well. And it's only improving on the newer bodies.
- Fps. Simply fast enough for general use. Three settings for continuous drive.
- Image quality. Sometimes matches the Sony RX1R which is my personal reference camera for the high end. Often produces better objective image quality than the Leica M8. The latter was seldom the case with the 5N, despite what the Internet says. 24 megapixels is good, and the sensor ain't bad. Of course, a lot depends on the lens choice.
- Tilting screen. Basically a must for general use video-capable camera. The implementation is good, but the screen should tilt more downwards. Selfie crowd would love tilting all the way to face front, and this should not be too complicated to add on this level camera. I think some lower-end Sony models do this.
- Video implementation (although no 4k). If you care about video, look at Sony and Panasonic. The stupid part on the A6000 is that you need to actually engage the video mode every time, as the video button needs to be killed by default on this camera.
Improved over NEX-5N, but still nothing to write home about:
- Build quality/design. It's good, perhaps great considering the current price point. Seems much heftier and overall better built than the 5N. The flimsy battery door remains. I expected it to break on my 5N, and it did develop some issues. I hear the A6500 provides an improvement here. Something should be done about the wheels and buttons having a life of their own.
- EVF/Handling. The handling is much more like a real camera than the 5N, which was fine for a waist/chest-level video shooter. The integrated EVF plays a big role here, and the larger size of the body and the button placement also helps. The EVF is usable, but it's not excellent.
- Customisation. I have already forgotten if there was any real customisation on the 5N. The A6000 offers quite a lot, but accessing many fairly useful features remains complicated regardless of how you set the thing up. You may arrive at a fairly usable compromise when you simply decide to not use certain functionalities, and set up the key ones as well as possible. I know this is sufficient for many people, but I want to have something better. Can't complain too much at the 400-dollar price point, though.
Your mileage may vary and all that, but perhaps there are some points here to consider for prospective buyers of the A6xxx range. For current 5N users, my suggestion is to make the switch. There are only two things that make the 5N more desirable in my books. Well, one thing and one unknown factor. There is obviously a size advantage with the 5N. The A6000 is larger, and that may be a problem for some. The unknown part is performance with rangefinder lenses. The 5N was pretty good, the A6000 I have actually not properly tested yet, although I have owned the camera for about a year.
willie_901
Mentor
Right now the SONY alpha a6300 is just under $1,000 US. If this is the camera Lss is referring to, he got a wonderful buy at $400.
Besides the features Lss lists above, the SONY alpha a6300 has a dual-gain data stream. The dual gain data stream was developed by Aptina and increases the capacitance of each sensor photo site at 800 and above. This allows more signal to be recorded when the shutter is open (a.k.a. exposure) compared to conventional data streams. Since the read noise remains essentially constant, the signal-to-noise ratio goes up. The Fujifilm X Pro-2 and X-T2 also use this technology.
Here is a thread to an earlier thread discussing dual-gain technology.
Here is a link to a PhD dissertation in case anyone is curious about the science and engineering.
Besides the features Lss lists above, the SONY alpha a6300 has a dual-gain data stream. The dual gain data stream was developed by Aptina and increases the capacitance of each sensor photo site at 800 and above. This allows more signal to be recorded when the shutter is open (a.k.a. exposure) compared to conventional data streams. Since the read noise remains essentially constant, the signal-to-noise ratio goes up. The Fujifilm X Pro-2 and X-T2 also use this technology.
Here is a thread to an earlier thread discussing dual-gain technology.
Here is a link to a PhD dissertation in case anyone is curious about the science and engineering.
Lss
Well-known
No, it's the A6000 that came out before A6300 that I have. $400 is the current US price point for this camera. It dropped there for the Black Friday deals last year. Three cameras in the A6xxx range are available at the moment.
JP Owens
Well-known
I tried the A6000 hoping it was the answer for a small, powerful APS-C mirrorless camera. Ultimately, I sold the camera and went back to Micro 4/3.
A major problem for me is that I wear glasses, and the A6000 finder was a total fail. It has poor eye relief and the eyecup is a large, deep, rigid rubber that makes it impossible to block the sun from the EVF, washing it out much of the time.
The other major problem was that I shoot video often while shooting stills, and the A6000 overheats badly when shooting video. In the hot Texas sun, it would sometime only go five or 10 minutes before shutting down with an overheating warning. My Canon's and Panasonic cameras will shoot video continuously, as long as you like, with no overheating. The A6300 and A6500 share the same problem. On the A6500, Sony has allowed you to override the overheating warning and keep shooting, but the camera gets VERY hot and most still shut down around 30 minutes. There seems to be a great deal of variation from one example to another, though.
It took a lot of study of the not very helpful manual to figure everything out. The menu options are extensive and deep. I don't understand why Sony doesn't just rip off Canon's menus.
The image quality was very good, but the color science not up to other cameras I use. Autofocus was good with most subjects. And I loved the physical size of of the camera. Low ISO performance was great!
In the end, it was just a frustrating camera to use day to day.
A major problem for me is that I wear glasses, and the A6000 finder was a total fail. It has poor eye relief and the eyecup is a large, deep, rigid rubber that makes it impossible to block the sun from the EVF, washing it out much of the time.
The other major problem was that I shoot video often while shooting stills, and the A6000 overheats badly when shooting video. In the hot Texas sun, it would sometime only go five or 10 minutes before shutting down with an overheating warning. My Canon's and Panasonic cameras will shoot video continuously, as long as you like, with no overheating. The A6300 and A6500 share the same problem. On the A6500, Sony has allowed you to override the overheating warning and keep shooting, but the camera gets VERY hot and most still shut down around 30 minutes. There seems to be a great deal of variation from one example to another, though.
It took a lot of study of the not very helpful manual to figure everything out. The menu options are extensive and deep. I don't understand why Sony doesn't just rip off Canon's menus.
The image quality was very good, but the color science not up to other cameras I use. Autofocus was good with most subjects. And I loved the physical size of of the camera. Low ISO performance was great!
In the end, it was just a frustrating camera to use day to day.
jarski
Mentor
I posted year ago and told having a5100. Since then upgraded also to a6000 and its only modern camera I currently own. Am not doing video, don't see any point of better a6x00. Second body would be nice to reduce need to lens changing.
Sony gets complaining about their batteries. Am happy that they keep this one type that fits to so many different bodies. Having few spares is much less of an issue, rather than carrying different types of chargers.
Sony menu system is another that often gets attention. It could be better probably, but once the camera has been set up, it rarely needs drastic changes. Using custom profiles helps too, so no need to go poking every setting one by one.
Sony gets complaining about their batteries. Am happy that they keep this one type that fits to so many different bodies. Having few spares is much less of an issue, rather than carrying different types of chargers.
Sony menu system is another that often gets attention. It could be better probably, but once the camera has been set up, it rarely needs drastic changes. Using custom profiles helps too, so no need to go poking every setting one by one.
Lss
Well-known
I agree and disagree. The eye relief is short. While I don't wear glasses, I often wear sunglasses (many different types), and I haven't had problems with the viewfinder in this sense. I do stick the glasses pretty firmly against the eyecup, though, and sometimes get visible marks that need to be cleaned. I guess the eye relief is short enough for the type of glasses and the shape of the user's face to make a difference.
I have not had overheating problems with this camera (or the 5N), although I shoot a lot of short videos. I am in conditions comparable to Texas heat only 1-3 months a year, though. I think people in cooler countries will generally be fine.