Sony A6700 Review | Trusted Reviews

Verdict

Regardless of being Sony’s first new APS-C flagship in 4 years, the Sony A6700 doesn’t make any grand makes an attempt to interrupt the mould. Nonetheless, a dearth of dramatic design or characteristic adjustments doesn’t detract from the truth that it is a very robust hybrid mirrorless digicam with first-class autofocus implementation, a wide selection of video choices and a high-quality sensor that performs properly in most conditions.

Introduction

Sony’s full-frame fashions are the celebrities of its mirrorless digicam providing, needing little introduction amongst photographers and videographers – however the firm additionally makes an oft-overlooked collection of mirrorless fashions with smaller APS-C sensors.

That choice simply bought a bit of wider with the arrival of the Sony A6700, the model’s first new flagship APS-C mannequin in round 4 years.

Lighter and extra compact than a full-frame digicam, the A6700 is a hybrid mannequin with lots to supply on each the video and photograph fronts. It packs a brand new 26-megapixel sensor, a strong BIONZ XR processor, separate AI processor and a (comparatively) cheap price ticket.

Has Sony lastly delivered an APS-C mannequin capable of lure the highlight away from its beloved full-frame vary? I’ve put the A6700 by its paces, and right here’s what I’ve found.

Design and dealing with

• 122 x 69 x 75.1mm dimension and 493g weight
• Splash- and dust-proof design
• New tilt-and-flip display design

Sony’s APS-C fashions have attracted criticism prior to now for his or her considerably idiosyncratic design, however little or no has modified on this regard. The A6700’s physique continues to be boxy and compact, and customers with bigger palms would possibly discover it fairly uncomfortable to carry – at the least in comparison with a DSLR-style physique.

That stated, the A6700’s hand grip has been barely bulked up in comparison with the A6600, and I (with my medium-sized mitts) had few points with dealing with, significantly with a bigger lens hooked up.

With a small lens bolted on, nevertheless, the setup is attractively compact and light-weight even by mirrorless digicam requirements. Ergonomically talking, I nonetheless favor the traditional DSLR form over this, nevertheless it’s not even near the deal-breaker some vocal critics have advised it’s. It’s additionally properly constructed; there’s no IP score or something, nevertheless it’s rain and splash-resistant and its magnesium alloy shell feels strong.

The OLED viewfinder is situated far to the left aspect of the A6700’s rear panel, which takes a little bit of getting used to when you’re accustomed to the extra central EVFs employed by extra conventional digicam our bodies, however once more there’s nothing significantly egregious about it; it even has a decent-sized rubber eye cup to relaxation your face towards.

The three-inch display now flips out to the aspect fairly than instantly upwards, which is a serious improve on the A6600. When dealing with ahead, it’s not fully obscured by something you’ve mounted on the new shoe – however your view might nonetheless be barely blocked by any USB-C, microphone or headphone cables you’re utilizing.

Connectivity is as you’d anticipate: along with the aforementioned bodily ports, you get a micro HDMI socket in addition to Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band Wi-Fi for wi-fi networking. There’s a single SD card slot, which feels a bit uninspiring on a supposedly premium mannequin – however I do perceive that area is proscribed on such a compact physique.

There are additional optimistic tweaks made in relation to controls, particularly the brand new swap that immediately shifts the taking pictures modes between photograph, video and S&Q (gradual and fast); above it, you continue to get the usual PASM dial too. The video report button is now located on prime of the digicam too, in a a lot simpler to succeed in spot than the A6600’s which is awkwardly positioned on the nook of the again.

Options and efficiency

• AI-assisted, 759-point autofocus system
• 11fps steady taking pictures
• Sturdy battery life from NP-FZ100 battery

Just like the A6600 earlier than it, the Sony A6700 comes with 5-axis in-body stabilisation, and it’s been barely improved with the addition of a brand new Energetic mode designed for video. This does reduce digicam shake a bit of, however crops out fairly a little bit of the sensor floor which implies you’ll match noticeably much less within the body. Stabilisation is strong right here – you get about 5 stops of compensation based on Sony – nevertheless it’s not particularly efficient when in comparison with rival fashions just like the Panasonic GH6.

One factor that Sony arguably does higher than anybody else, nevertheless, is autofocus, and the A6700 advantages from a really robust utility of the model’s hybrid section and distinction detection system.

Not solely are there 759 detection factors unfold throughout the sensor’s floor, however AI help lends a hand in relation to topic recognition. The digicam can now recognise not solely human faces and eyes, however human physique shapes – to not point out different topics like birds, animals, bugs, automobiles, trains, airplanes and bikes.

You merely set AF to search for your chosen topic sort and it’ll find it when it’s in body, sticking to it like glue after you have a lock. It’s a vastly spectacular system each when it comes to accuracy and velocity, and works properly with each video and pictures.

The digicam can shoot nonetheless pictures repeatedly at 11fps, which is respectable however no quicker than the A6600. What it could possibly do is retailer extra pictures when taking pictures this manner, due to a bigger buffer that helps as much as 1000 JPEGs or round 60 lossless RAW recordsdata. You can even now shoot HEIF format pictures (a primary on a Sony APS-C digicam) along with JPEG and RAW format pictures.

When it comes to battery efficiency, the A6700 makes use of the tried and examined NP-FZ100 battery, and has a CIPA score of 550 pictures or 95 minutes of video recording on a full cost. You’ll doubtless get greater than that out of it, so general I’m impressed with its stamina. 

Not like some Sony fashions, there’s no cooling system right here (once more, most likely as a result of compact physique dimension). That implies that you’ll threat overheating the digicam when recording lengthy video clips, significantly at 4K high quality and better body charges. You need to nonetheless get round half-hour of footage earlier than it shuts itself down to chill off.

Picture and video high quality

• 26-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor
• 4K video at as much as 120fps
• A number of image profiles to choose from

The Sony A6700 is predicated across the identical 26-megapixel APS-C sensor beforehand seen on the Sony FX30 Cinema Line video digicam, however being a hybrid digicam is understandably extra balanced in its strategy. The FX30 didn’t have a viewfinder or a mechanical shutter, as an example, however you’ll discover each right here.

It’s a effective sensor, and regardless of its comparatively small dimension in comparison with Sony’s array of full-frame sensors it delivers very spectacular picture high quality in most conditions. Dynamic vary, color copy and element are all robust, and stay pretty punchy even in decrease gentle conditions.

Your selection of lens will play an enormous a part of course (nearly all of the pictures you’ll see in our examples right here have been taken with Sony’s new high-end 70-200mm F4 zoom lens), however typically we’ve few complaints about picture high quality for both pictures or video. You’ll get higher dynamic vary and low-light efficiency with a full-frame digicam, positive – however you’ll even be paying extra and lugging round a heavier load.

The A6700 additionally provides customers numerous picture choices to play with. I’ve already talked about that pictures may be shot within the space-saving HEIF format utilized by iPhones, however movies may be recorded with 10-bit 4:2:2 color depth and in a wide range of color profiles together with Hybrid Log Gamma and Sony’s fashionable S-Log2 and S-Cinetone, boosting the digicam’s attraction for severe videographers.

It could possibly report common 4K clips at body charges as much as 60fps, and 4K gradual movement footage at as much as 120fps for clean frame-by-frame playback.

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