Four advantages and three disadvantages of Sony A6400 - review after a month

The Sony A6400 is an advanced enthusiastic camera, the successor to the A6300. I spent over a year with my predecessor, so I was very happy to take the latest Sony corps into my hands.

Sony A6300 was the camera on which I worked for over a year. I used it for professional work on Spider's Web, as well as in commercial orders carried out outside. I made 113 movies and over a dozen thousand photos with it. I think I got to know all the strengths and weaknesses of this camera well.

When Sony A6400 made its debut on the market , I watched it with great interest. Although in the meantime I changed to Sony A7 III , I wanted to check how many ills the A6300 managed to eliminate in the successor.

In this review I will devote more space compared to the A6400 to the older A6300, and less to the very possibilities of the new body. I assume that if you are considering buying one of these two cameras, you know exactly what picture is generated by the modern APS-C matrix.

What is the difference between Sony A6400 and A6300?

First of all, the A6400 is the successor to the A6300. The nomenclature already suggests that it is on offer below A6500 and so it is in fact. The main distinguishing feature of A6500 is the stabilized matrix, which is not found in A6400 and A6300.

The most important list of new products in the A6400 is as follows:

• new Bionz X image processor increasing the speed of the camera,
• significantly improved autofocus system with Eye-AF function,
• a touch screen that can now be tilted 180 degrees,
• updated menu known from A7 III, including the "My menu" tab,
• the "Help" function explaining every element in the menu (which is to explain),
• adding the timelapse function,
• removing the 30-minute limit for video recording,
• less heating of the body when recording in 4K.

Let's move to the strongest and weakest Sony A6400 pages.

Plus No. 1: tilting and touch screen.

The screen in the Sony A6400 can be tilted 180 degrees at last, which helps, for example, in selfies, but also in vlogging. In addition, the screen is finally touchable, although - as with Sony - in a limited scope. You can use the touch to set focus, the most important element, but you can not control menu items.

Many people will definitely complain about the fact that the screen tilts up, not to the side, as in Panasonic cameras. It has advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage is that the microphone placed on the hot shoe covers the screen, therefore an adapter must be used to mount the microphone on the side of the body. The advantage is the way of photographing with the hip level, which is much more convenient in the system used by Sony. In my case, such a screen hinge works better in pictures, but worse in video.

Plus No. 2: autofocus is extremely good.

Autofocus is one of the most important Sony A6400 points. Many functions have been transferred directly from the A9 model, which means that autofocus is even better than in the much more expensive A7 III model. First of all, the AF system is incredibly fast and reliable. There are also new options for setting the AF. It is their true quagmire, so you can customize the AF very precisely to your needs.

https://youtu.be/JXWOdO_h0U8

The new Real-time Tracking function is virtually flawless. In addition, we get eye tracking, which is the biggest boon in the entire AF system. It works perfectly, and if the eye is covered for a moment, the camera instantly switches to face detection and returns to the eye as soon as it is exposed. You can even define whether you want to track the right or left eye! This is a big step forward towards the predecessor.

The camera also has a very fast serial mode of 8 fps with image preview between frames and as much as 11 fps in the absence of a live view.

Plus No. 3: corrected menu.

It might seem like the most frivolous element of the camera, but this is not the case with Sony. The menu has so many functions that it is difficult to find it even when you know the camera well. Sony A6400 uses a new layout of tabs, which is (somewhat) more logical and better ordered. In addition, there is a tab "My menu", in which you can create a list of your own options.

The built-in help is also important, meaning a brief description of each function in the menu. Many of the features are very advanced, and they are described with abbreviations, so the help will be useful even to more advanced users.

Plus no. 4: Sony A6400 works better in video than its predecessor.

When it comes to image quality, there are no major differences. This is not a complaint, because the Sony A6300 generated a great image quality in both pictures and video. Similarly in A6400. Movies in 4K are extremely sharp.

However, Sony has fixed one of Sony A6300's biggest problems: heating up the body. The temperature of the A6400 even when recording in 4K is kept at a much safer level than in A6300.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1M6c1hSukk

Video made entirely using Sony A6300, with a flat S-Log 2 profile.

In addition, Sony abolished the recording time limit. The video will not turn off after 30 minutes, which is great news for people recording interviews and conferences.

Minus 1: Sony A6400 does not fix all video problems.

In the A6400, the largest paradox of the A6300 model still exists. Video in 4K is sensational in detail, but at the same time it is struggling with the powerful rolling shutter effect. There is no problem with recording interviews or more static scenes, but the movement in the frame causes big problems. Just look.

https://youtu.be/mrd5J0CzmLc

https://youtu.be/bBcY8YY9_IE

The second problem is the lack of a headphone jack for audio monitoring. This is an unintelligible step for me. Since Sony - the masters of miniaturization - are able to fit in the miniature RX0 II microphone jack, I'm sure they could fit in the A6400 headphone jack.

Unfortunately, like in the predecessor, the 1080p mode has noticeably less detail than the 4K mode, and this is not due to the difference in resolution itself. When we compare 1: 1 slices, we can see that the 1080p mode is processed in a different way. It has less details and stronger microcontrasts, which makes it look much worse. Between the Full HD material and the 4K rendered to Full HD there is literally a quality gap.

Sony also did not improve the quality of S & Q recording, created, among others, with slow-motion. It offers 100 fps in Full HD at very light image crop (x1.14), but has a low bitrate (about 15 Mb / s) and does not record sound. In slow-mo, it's much better to use the usual recording mode with settings of 1080p and 100fps. We have the same crop in it, but the bitrate is about 60 Mb / s and we have a sound for it.

Also, the position of the record button has not been changed, which is in an extremely unintuitive and uncomfortable place. A battery is also a big problem with video.

Minus 2: we still have the same battery.

The battery remains a weak Sony A6400 component. We find here the NP-FW50 known from the predecessor. This is enough for about 400 photos (not the best, but enough) or the recording time in 4K (very average). If you are recording a Sony A64000, buy at least three spare batteries. It is a pity that Sony has not decided to use its new NP-FZ100 battery, which gives much better results.

In addition, Sony still does not add an external charger to the set, but only a USB cable with a power supply. I understand the desire to save, but in A6400 it goes too far. Do we really need a body released in 2019 with a Micro USB cable? Released a year earlier, the A7 III uses a newer and much better USB-C standard.

Minus 3: there are too few changes in the body.

When I was working on the A6300, I was used to this tiny corps. Switching to A7 III gave me a strong break in terms of ergonomics, which was a trait on the A6400 test.

The body has basically not changed in relation to the Sony A6300, so it is still very small. The number of buttons (including configurable) is really big, but there are still a few important elements missing, including a joystick for AF points and a front dial. Added to this is a really complicated menu with lots of features. A side problem is the SD card slot under the battery cover, which makes it difficult to replace the carrier when using a tripod or (especially!) Gimbal.

All this makes Sony A6400 very well known to squeeze out the maximum possibilities. In this body, personalization of buttons for your operating mode is extremely important. Good understanding and remembering your configuration is a key element for efficient work on this body. It is possible, as I am an example of myself. At the same time, the A6400 is certainly not the pinnacle of convenience, especially if you want to use the most advanced features.

Is it worth buying a Sony A6400?

If you already have a Sony A6300, transfer will be unprofitable. If you are just looking for an advanced APS-C camera, consider the A6400 instead of the A6300. We get incomparably better autofocus here, as well as a tactile and 180 degree screen that works great in practice. The newer camera is also noticeably livelier. All operations, including commissioning, take place in less time. And the 6400 also has several major advantages in video recording.

In turn, if you have a tight budget and are looking for a cheap camera that will take good pictures, the A6300 is still a very good choice. It is currently much cheaper than the A6400, and in terms of the quality of photos, I can not see any differences in relation to the new model. The Sony A6400 is one of the best APS-C bodies on the market, guaranteeing miraculous image quality, especially when combined with good lenses.

At the same time Sony A6400 is a demanding device. The list of defects described above may be overwhelming, but many of them can be circumvented. The condition is, however, to get to know the menu system and service thoroughly. If you can get along with the A6400, the camera will pay off with a beautiful picture in both the pictures and the movie.

A full size photo package can be downloaded from this address .

Four advantages and three disadvantages of Sony A6400 - review after a month