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jects crossing the path of the subject.
The camera can’t follow a subject out
of the frame and back in again. Once
the subject goes out of framing, the
camera searches for a new subject.
This causes the camera to be far off
the focal plane when the subject re-
turns to framing. If you had to operate
the camera on a gimbal, where you
don’t have any free hands to focus,
the autofocus might get you out of a
pinch. When shooting video, without
tracking, tap focus is very responsive
but difficult to use if you are shooting
an active subject.Low light performance
To test the low light performance of
this camera, we started by getting
proper exposure at ISO 100. We then
doubled the ISO while balancing the
increased light with the shutter speed.
Shooting in UHD 4K at 24 fps, we
started seeing noise at ISO 3200 and
wouldn’t recommend shooting above
ISO 6400. We didn’t see a change
in the low light performance when
shooting in HD.Marketplace
Looking at the marketplace, we’re
going to start by talking about thecamera’s value compared to the other
Sony a6000 bodies. Afterward, we’ll
move on, covering cameras from
other manufacturers.
Sony made this camera to go a
little bit above the a6300 and a little
bit below the a6500. That means it’s
priced between them, as well. The
a6400 offers some strengths over both
cameras. However, what’s missing is
in-body image stabilization. Depend-
ing on your lens selection, this could
be more or less of an issue for you.
The a6300 has a short battery life and
the camera has known overheating
issues — like, really bad. The a
has a little bit better battery life than
the a6300. It’s still quite poor, how-
ever, and like the a6300, the a6500 is
known to overheat.
On the bright side, the a6500 does
offer in-body image stabilization.Looking beyond Sony
Looking outside of Sony for an APS-C
sensor camera that shoots 4K, we
find the Fujifilm X-T30. At $900, this
camera has a slightly larger sensor
resolution at 26.1MP. It can shoot
up to DCI 4K at 30 fps and has a log
gamma profile called F-Log. Like the
a6400, the X-T30 also has a tiltingtouchscreen. It uses phase-detect AF
with 425 points.
Next up is the affordable Canon
EOS M50 for just $680. The sensor
is just a bit lower-res at 24.1MP. The
M50 shoots up to UHD 4K and of-
fers Dual Pixel CMOS AF. It has what
Canon calls 5-Axis Image Stabilization,
but it’s not IBIS. Instead, it’s a combi-
nation of electronic IS and optical IS
from the lens. The Canon EOS M
also has a fully articulating screen that
offers much more flexibility than that
of the a6400.
Last up is the Blackmagic Pocket
Cinema Camera 4K for $1,300. It
won’t shoot photos, but for $1,300,
you get a camera that can shoot up
to 4K at 60 frames per second in
Blackmagic RAW. The battery life
is bad; expect 45-60 minutes per
battery. It’s an entry level cinema
camera and doesn’t have IBIS. It
offers only touch AF, and the 5-inch
screen has no articulation. Last but
not least, its micro four thirds sensor
is much smaller than the a6400’s
APS-C sensor.Final thoughts
and recommendations
Sony stuffed in loads of features that
give the a6400 a good value, and
the quality of its image makes it a
good camera. Selfie mode with the
monitor is a nice touch, but hav-
ing it always obstructed by the EVF
and any hot/cold shoe accessory is
a bummer. The lack of a headphone
jack also holds the a6400 back from
pro-use since you can’t monitor
your audio as you shoot without ad-
ditional accessories. However, at this
price, it’s likely no camera will do
everything you want.
In the end, the a6400 sure does
check off a lot of boxes.You can comment on this article by going online:
http://www.videomaker.com/?p=Chris Monlux is Videomaker’ s Multimedia Editor.Sony a
REVIEWCompact body with simple controls384 R02 Sony a6400.indd 12 4/23/19 2:23 PMPANTONE 357CC=88M=45Y=98K=
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