ON TRIAL
Additionally, if the ‘Superior Auto’
mode is selected, the multi-shot
capture regimes are applied, when
required, to reduce noise and
correct for extremes of contrast
(i.e. in strong backlighting).
The auto exposure overrides
comprise a program shift, an
AE lock, up to +/-5.0 EV of
compensation (applied in either
1/3 or 1/2 stop increments), and
auto bracketing over sequences
of three, five or nine frames.
For the first two, the maximum
adjustment per frame is +/-3.0
EV while, over nine frames, it’s
+/-1.0 EV. Exposure bracketing
sequences can be combined with
the self-timer.
As before, the A6400 has
both a conventional focal plane
shutter and a sensor-based
shutter with the latter available
for silent shooting and as a hybrid
‘electronic first curtain’ option to
reduce shutter lag and vibrations
as well as noise. The speed
range is 30-1/4000 second (plus
‘B’) irrespective of the shutter
setting and with flash sync up to
1/160 second. Sony says that the
FP shutter has been tested to
200,000 cycles.
The camera’s built-in flash has
a metric guide number of six (ISO
100) and its modes include red-eye
reduction, slow and high-speed
sync, first/second curtain sync,up to +/-3.0 EV of flash
compensation, and the auto flash
bracketing is again available over
three, five or nine frames. The
built-in flash can also serve as the
(optical) commander for a wireless
TTL set-up.
Auto white balance control
is supplemented by ten presets- including four for different
types of fluoro lighting and one
for shooting underwater – up to
three custom measurements
and manual control temperature
setting over a range of 2500 to
9900 degrees Kelvin. Fine-tuning
is available over the blue-to-amber
and green-to-magenta ranges,
and the white balance bracketing
operates over a sequence of
three frames. New on the A6400
is a choice of auto white balance
corrections called Standard,
White-Priority and Ambience-
Priority, the latter two primarily
for shooting under incandescent
lighting where they provide,
respectively, the choice of either
a ‘pure’ white balance or retaining
the warmer tones.
In The hand
While Sony doesn’t do the retro
thing like its chief rival in ‘APS-C’
mirrorless cameras, Fujifilm, the
A6400 is nonetheless traditionally
designed with an angular RF-type
styling and a conventional control
layout centred around a main
mode dial (which has some new
setting positions). Alongside is the
front input wheel while the rear
version takes the form of a circular
control that’s also the multi-
directional navigator.
Most of the key capture
functions are directly accessible,
including ISO, exposure
compensation and the drive modes
plus there’s plenty of scope for
customisation via a total of eight
multi-function controls with over
80 assignable roles available for
each. There’s also the option
of creating an ‘Fn menu’ of up
to 12 regularly-used settings –
which then operates as a control
screen – and there’s also a fully
customisable ‘My Menu’ which
is great way of streamlining the
menu operation.EyE AF works
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Sony being Sony, the A6400 is
jam-packed with video goodness;
much more, in fact, than many
users will probably want, but this
makes a nice change as we’re
usually bemoaning the lack of
video features and capabilities in
still cameras.
Essentially, the A6400 has
much the same video capabilities
as Sony’s full-35mm mirrorless
camera, starting with 4K footage
captured using the full width of
the sensor with no pixel binning
so the 24 fps recording is actually
at 6K and the 25 fps at 5K, both
subsequently downsampled
which gives significantly more
detailing and definition. It’s
actually using the ‘Super 35’
format which is essentially the
same width as ‘APS-C’ so there’s
no change to the effective lens
focal length.The 4K clips are in the UHD
resolution of 3840x2160 pixels,
and there are two image quality
settings which represent bit rates
of 100 or 60 Mbps. Full HD clips
can be recorded at 100 fps (PAL
standard) for smoother slow-
motion effects as well as at 50, 25
or 24 fps. Both the PAL and NTSC
standard frame rates are available
and, via the ‘S&Q’ mode (Slow &
Quick Motion) a range of frame
rates from 100 fps down to 1.0
fps can selected along with the
record rate (i.e. 24, 25 or 50 fps) to
create either slow or quick motion
clips. As usual, Sony prioritises the
high-bit-rate XAVC S format with
MPEG-4/H.264 AVC compression,
but AVCHD is also available for Full
HD recording (there’s no longer
an MP4 option). Both S-Log 2 and
S-Log 3 flat colour profiles are
supported – giving an expanded
dynamic range and wider exposure
latitude – along with the Hybrid
Gamma Log (HGL) which is based
on the BT.2020 colour space which
is a new 4K HDR TV standard. The
HLG profile is designed to enable
an “instant” workflow for output
to compatible HDR displays.Again, Sony is offering four HLG
profiles (HLG and HLG1-3). For
straight out-of-the-camera colour
and contrast variations, there
are ten video-orientated ‘Picture
Profiles’ while the ‘Creative Style’
presets are also available.
The A6400 can record 4K video
both to the memory card with 8-bit
4:2:0 colour and also to the HDMI
output with 4:2:2 8-bit colour, at
24 or 25 fps. A ‘clean’ 2K output is
also available at 24 or 50 fps with
8-bit YCbCr 4:2:2 colour. There’s
also time-coding, zebra patterns
(with selectable levels), a gamma
display assist and a focus peaking
display in a choice of colours
and intensities. New is an ‘HD
Proxy Recording’ function which
simultaneously captures a lower-
res version of your 4K footage
when can then be used for faster
editing post-camera with the high-
res clips substituted at the end.
On the audio side, stereo
microphones are built-in with
levels display and a wind-cut filter.
The camera has a stereo audio
input, but no output. The ‘Multi
Interface Shoe’ supports various
dedicated Sony video accessories,including an XLR adaptor module
which provides a pair of balanced
mic inputs.
Video functionality extends to
all the ‘PASM’ exposure control
modes, the majority of the
‘Picture Effects’ and continuous
autofocusing with subject tracking
which is where the touchscreen
controls again prove their worth.
Both the speed and tracking
sensitivity are adjustable when
shooting video. However, image
stabilisation is only available via
Sony’s OSS-equipped lenses.
Interestingly, there’s no time limit
on video clip duration at all, so
only a full memory card will call a
halt to proceedings.
Not surprisingly, the 4K
footage from the A6400 is
superb with beautiful detailing
and great colours straight out
of the camera. If you’re only an
occasional video-maker, you’re
going to more than happy with
what you can achieve with simple
point-and-shoot recording, but
the A6400 also has plenty for
the enthusiast who wants to do
a lot more with his or her footage
post-camera.Sony a6400