The view from the fence.

[David A]

I'm interested in theses new fangled whizz bang little cameras like the a6000 that everyone in the on-line world seems so impressed with.

After seeing a couple review videos (particularly Gary Fong's) I'm intrigued by the AF system and face detect.

Would a camera like this really be a substitute for a DSLR in fast shooting situations like an event ?

Can the a6000 mix it up with the big boys in low light ?

 

I get the size issue and see where a kit that consists of a mix of a couple a6000's and maybe and A7R with various lenses would be a lot

less lugging than my Nikon kit.

But can it do the same job ?

 

Some concerns -

 

The Sony's use SD cards and they're the only sort I've ever had a problem with.

CF's have been 100% reliable on the other hand.

Single card slots - duel card with one acting as a back-up provides great peace of mind for when an SD fails.

 

Lens choices are limited, though the planned stuff looks pretty good.

I've read various Sony lens reviews that mention indifferent build quality.

 

Lens tests data I've seen would indicate some general corner sharpness issues in the a6000 with all lenses.

Not a deal breaker, but something that might be corrected in the (rumoured) a7000 ?

 

Sony seem very confused about what direction to take in the camera market and their line-ups are not clear.

 

What do you think ?

 

 

 

[Si1966]

Hi,

 

I cannot speak for the A6000 as I have never used it but the reviews all rate it as a very good camera.  As for Sony's direction I personally think it is very clear, they are moving their interchangeable range up market and will only produce high quality Zeiss and G series lenses for them.  I think the A mount will eventually be phased out in favour of the E mount.  As an A mount user I am not concerned as by the time it comes to replace my camera body, Sony A99, I can rely on either adapters to mount my current lenses on E mount bodies or have the necessary funds to fully invest in E mount mirrorless system.  The only issue I have would be with my third party lenses, Sigma, and their use with further adapters if required.  We will see them catch up in lens front adding the much needed weather sealing.

 

I agree their current line up is not entirely clear but they are in a transitional phase with the A7 series marking the start of the new era and the A7x or A9x A mount possibly being the last of the A mount.

 

I for one feel very comfortable with being a Sony A mount owner and I think the future looks very bright.

 

Si

[dp2014]

Well the autofocus isn't that great in low light so that's something you'll have to worth around.

 

If you aren't investing the Alpha full frame and can wait a bit, I would maybe try to see the next version since if it has slight better AF it might give you the best of of both worlds since the A7 AF isn't class leading.

 

I doubt with the sensor technology in the a7000 being much different from the a6000 except maybe the megapixel count unless there is some new sensor technology (again that's probably next year at the earliest). I also wouldn't expect much changes in their memory card choice/configuration anytime soon.

 

I was never into Canon/Nikon DSLRs but do none of them have any face detect? Just curious..

 

 

I'm interested in theses new fangled whizz bang little cameras like the a6000 that everyone in the on-line world seems so impressed with.

After seeing a couple review videos (particularly Gary Fong's) I'm intrigued by the AF system and face detect.

Would a camera like this really be a substitute for a DSLR in fast shooting situations like an event ?

Can the a6000 mix it up with the big boys in low light ?

 

I get the size issue and see where a kit that consists of a mix of a couple a6000's and maybe and A7R with various lenses would be a lot

less lugging than my Nikon kit.

But can it do the same job ?

 

Some concerns -

 

The Sony's use SD cards and they're the only sort I've ever had a problem with.

CF's have been 100% reliable on the other hand.

Single card slots - duel card with one acting as a back-up provides great peace of mind for when an SD fails.

 

Lens choices are limited, though the planned stuff looks pretty good.

I've read various Sony lens reviews that mention indifferent build quality.

 

Lens tests data I've seen would indicate some general corner sharpness issues in the a6000 with all lenses.

Not a deal breaker, but something that might be corrected in the (rumoured) a7000 ?

 

Sony seem very confused about what direction to take in the camera market and their line-ups are not clear.

 

What do you think ?

[David A]

No face detect on my current Nikons, or Canons I've had in the past.

 

I've always used single shot AF for everything.

Where that falls down is shooting near wide open in low light with fast lenses and subjects moving that little bit between focusing and taking the shot.

(Live music photography is a great example)

 

The face detect, with spot metering seems like it could be a good solution for this - but maybe it's not quite there yet ?

Gary Fong suggests that the camera can do what we're trying to do ourselves with metering & focusing, but much quicker.

 

So I imagine, setting the face detect to a singer and then just blasting away only worried about framing while the camera does the AF and metering for that face.

[benmao]

 

 

Well the autofocus isn't that great in low light so that's something you'll have to worth around.

 

What do you mean with "not great". Too slow or not focussing at very low light?

 

I am only a hobbyist fotographer but for me the autofocus at low light is very good. Using the Nex-3N plus SEL1650 lense I had sometimes problems with focussing, but not anymore with the Alpha 6000 (SEL35F18). I don't know how the situation is if you use a lense without ability to support the phase detection AF, like the SEL1628.

Which lense did you use?

 

Which cameras are better here? DSLR or other mirrorless?

 

I was never into Canon/Nikon DSLRs but do none of them have any face detect? Just curious..

In principle they could have it using the life view. But using the mirror it is not possible if the camera does not have an half transparent mirror like the sony SLT have.

If they would offer face detection they would force people to use the mirrorless life view mode. Maybe this is not what Canon or Nikon wants.

 

I have here another example where mirrorless is better. Imagine that I could not see the monkey w/o camera! Only by correction of the exposure by 5 stops I could see that there was a monkey in the shed. If I would have used a DSLR I even would not have seen that there is a monkey because of the optical view finder. Which autofocus is better? [emoji1]

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[dp2014]

What do you mean with "not great". Too slow or not focussing at very low light?

 

I am only a hobbyist fotographer but for me the autofocus at low light is very good. Using the Nex-3N plus SEL1650 lense I had sometimes problems with focussing, but not anymore with the Alpha 6000 (SEL35F18). I don't know how the situation is if you use a lense without ability to support the phase detection AF, like the SEL1628.

Which lense did you use?

 

Which cameras are better here? DSLR or other mirrorless?

 

 

Sorry, I'm not an expert in this area so I'll defer to someone with more technical detail.

 

But just that it hunts quite a bit in low light. I usually try the 50 1.8 in low light but I heard some people say that the AF in it is slow, but no idea if that's true or not.

[David A]

Benmao,

 

Your experience with the monkey is very interesting.

I'm not sure if the technology in the mirror less cameras have made them better than DSLR's yet, but I have little doubt they're not far off.

The questions is - switch now or wait for CaNikon to respond ?

[amac1302]

I just recently purchased the A5100 for my wife and I have the Canon 6d full frame. We had two full days of photo taking, the first was to compare the two. I am really impressed with the A5100.

 

Pros, it is fast with base lens, in medium low light. We are using Superior Intelligent Auto. If you want even faster response, use the other modes, the Superior Intelligent is fast enough for most. Keep in mind we use S Auto for most of the shots.

 

Pros: low light, upto 3200 ISO is impressive.

Great size.

Very high percentage of great shots in that mode. Right now, when I try to use other modes, I don't do as well.

Use of 210mm, in scene to prevent motion, 3 shots are awesome in low light, but noisy because of 3 shots sound. Does better in this situation hand held than my 6d.

The limited digital zoom (<2x) is nice to have.

 

Negative: tends to use ISO 100 or 3200, rarely between, if at all.

JPEG compression is too high even in fine. The photos are much smaller than the 6D. Most are about 3-5 mb.

The image tends to be soft on high ISO, highly filtered. The images appear "clean", too clean compared to 6d. On some situations, this is really bad, need to use raw.

The raw Sw - capture pro express for Raw processing does not match the camera. Image appears much sharper, but not cleaned up like the camera.

Mac OS does not recognize this raw format(for now?)

No raw for some shots when it takes multiple shoots for the picture.

 

Overall, excellent camera without giving too much up when going small. Superior to almost all PS. But seiously, consider the A6000 for the viewfinder.

 

Al

 

 

 

 

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