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. Nevertheless, a dearth of dramatic design or characteristic adjustments doesn’t detract from the truth that it is a very sturdy hybrid mirrorless digital camera with first-class autofocus implementation, a wide selection of video choices and a high-quality sensor that performs effectively in most conditions.

Introduction

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

That choice simply received a bit 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 digital camera, the A6700 is a hybrid mannequin with a lot to supply on each the video and photograph fronts. It packs a brand new 26-megapixel sensor, a robust BIONZ XR processor, separate AI processor and a (comparatively) affordable 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 means of 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 screen design

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

That mentioned, 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, notably with a bigger lens connected.

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

The OLED viewfinder is positioned far to the left facet of the A6700’s rear panel, which takes a little bit of getting used to for those who’re accustomed to the extra central EVFs employed by extra conventional digital camera our bodies, however once more there’s nothing notably egregious about it; it even has a decent-sized rubber eye cup to relaxation your face towards.

The three-inch display screen now flips out to the facet fairly than instantly upwards, which is a significant improve on the A6600. When dealing with ahead, it’s now 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 restricted on such a compact physique.

There are additional optimistic tweaks made in the case of controls, specifically the brand new swap that immediately shifts the taking pictures modes between photograph, video and S&Q (sluggish and fast); above it, you continue to get the usual PASM dial too. The video file button is now located on prime of the digital camera 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 Lively mode designed for video. This does reduce digital camera shake a bit, however crops out fairly a little bit of the sensor floor which suggests you’ll match noticeably much less within the body. Stabilisation is strong right here – you get about 5 stops of compensation in keeping with Sony – however 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 sturdy utility of the model’s hybrid part and distinction detection system.

Not solely are there 759 detection factors unfold throughout the sensor’s floor, however AI help lends a hand in the case of topic recognition. The digital camera 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 upon getting a lock. It’s a massively spectacular system each by way of accuracy and pace, and works effectively with each video and pictures.

The digital camera can shoot nonetheless pictures repeatedly at 11fps, which is respectable however no sooner than the A6600. What it may well do is retailer extra pictures when taking pictures this fashion, due to a bigger buffer that helps as much as 1000 JPEGs or round 60 lossless RAW recordsdata. It’s also possible to now shoot HEIF format pictures (a primary on a Sony APS-C digital camera) along with JPEG and RAW format pictures.

By way of battery efficiency, the A6700 makes use of the tried and examined NP-FZ100 battery, and has a CIPA ranking of 550 pictures or 95 minutes of video recording on a full cost. You’ll probably 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 signifies that you’ll threat overheating the digital camera when recording lengthy video clips, notably at 4K high quality and better body charges. It is best to nonetheless get round half-hour of footage earlier than it shuts itself down to chill off.

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

It’s a high-quality 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 sturdy, and stay pretty punchy even in decrease gentle conditions.

Your alternative of lens will play an enormous a part of course (the vast majority 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 normally we now have 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 digital camera, certain – however you’ll even be paying extra and lugging round a heavier load.

The A6700 additionally offers customers a variety of picture choices to play with. I’ve already talked about that pictures could be shot within the space-saving HEIF format utilized by iPhones, however movies could 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 digital camera’s attraction for severe videographers.

It might file common 4K clips at body charges as much as 60fps, and 4K sluggish movement footage at as much as 120fps for clean frame-by-frame playback.

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