S Both the viewfinder and monitor live view display can be configured
with a guide grid, a dual-axis level indicator and real-time histogram (but
the latter two are separate screens).
S Replay/review options include
thumbnail displays with a full set
of RGB and brightness histograms
and with both highlight and
shadow warnings.
S The menus remain extensive with
a total of 35 pages, but are logically
arranged and easy to navigate.
However, the new ‘My Menu’ can
be created to bypass a lot of this
duringeveryday shooting.
SONY A6400 ONTRIAL
has been a Sony staple for a long
time, ‘Soft Skin Effect’ which
automatically retouches portraits
and ‘Auto Object Framing’ which
crops more tightly when, for
example, you’re shooting portraits
or close-ups. In-camera panorama
stitching can be performed with
either Wide or Standard horizontal
sweeps, delivering image sizes of
12,416x1856 pixels or 8192x1856
pixels. Vertical panoramas are also
possible.
The A6400’s ‘Fast Hybrid AF’
has been given a bit of an overhaul
so it still has 425 measuring points
for phase-difference detection
autofocusing, but also the same
number for contrast-detection
measurements (up from 169).
Frame coverage is 84 percent.
Additionally, low-light sensitivity
now extends down to EV -2.0 at
ISO 100. New algorithms – and
presumably faster data processing
- enable what Sony calls ‘Real
Time Tracking’ which has more
advanced subject recognition
capabilities so reliability is
significantly improved (but it’s
not quite in the same realm as
Olympus’s AI-based ‘Intelligent
Subject Detection AF’ which
employs deep learning). As well
as faces and eyes, ‘Real Time
Tracking’ is able to recognise
colour, pattern and the subject
distance. Sony’s much-lauded ‘Eye
AF’ – which is also being driven by
the ‘Real Time Tracking’ – is now
active all the time so, if the subject
is human, it will automatically
focus on one of their eyes and then
track any movement accordingly.
It will automatically switch to
normal tracking if eye contact is
lost – if, for example, the subject
turns away from the camera – and
resume ‘Eye AF’ tracking when it’s
re-established. Coming soon via
a firmware upgrade is the same
facility for animals.
Topplatelayout
comprises(fromleft)a
hotshoe,built-inpop-up
flash,mainmodedialand
frontinputwheel.
Mainmodedialincludessettingpositionstodirectlyaccessthe
in-camerapanoramastitchingfunction,the‘Slow& Quick’movie
framerates(S&Q),thesubject/scenemodemenu,and‘Memory
Recall’(MR)forselectingoneofthreeuserset-upsstoredin-camera
(whileanda furtherfourcanbecard-based).
Hotshoeincorporatesthe‘MultiInterface’couplingsoit
canaccommodate(and,if necessary,power)a rangeof
accessoriesotherthananaccessoryflash.
Pop-upflashhasbothlow-speedandhigh-speed
syncmodesandcanserveasthe(optical)
commanderin a wirelessTTLset-up.
There’s the choice of manual
or automatic switching between
single-shot and continuous AF
operation plus Sony’s ‘Direct
Manual Focus’ (DMF) which allows
for manual fine-tuning along with
autofocusing. There’s a selection
of five area modes called Wide,
Zone, Centre, Flexible Spot and
Expand Flexible Spot plus Tracking:
Expand Flexible Spot when in the
continuous AF mode. The Flexible
Spot option allows the focusing
zone to be adjusted to one of three
sizes to better suit the subject. In
the Expand modes a surrounding
point is automatically selected if
the subject subsequently moves
with, obviously, full tracking with
continuous AF.
Low light/contrast assist
is provided by a built-in LED
illuminator.
Manual focus assist is provided
by a magnified view (up to 11.7x)
and a focus peaking display which
now has the option of a blue
setting along with red, yellow
or white, all with three levels of
sensitivity (high, mid or low). The
focus magnifier can be set to
operate continuously or for timed
durations of two or five seconds.
Usefully, both the enlarged view
and the focus peaking display can
be used together which makes fine
focusing adjustments a breeze.
Additionally, the focus magnifier
can be engaged in the AF modes
too.
WORKING THE LIGHT
The A6400’s metering is Sony’s
1200-points sensor-based system,
but with some additional meas-
urement patterns for taking
fully-averaged or highlight-biased
readings (as on the latest A7 series
cameras). These join the stand-
ard multi-zone, centre-weighted
average and spot measurements,
the latter now with a choice of
standard or large size zones.
Low-light sensitivity is again down
to EV -2.0 at ISO 100.
The standard set of ‘PASM’
exposure control settings is
supplemented by nine subject/
scene modes which again include
‘Anti Motion Blur’ and ‘Hand-Held
Twilight’. These both employ multi-
shot capture with the frames then
combined in-camera in order to
reduce noise. ‘Anti Motion Blur’
uses high ISOs to enable faster
shutter speeds while ‘Hand Held
Twilight’ uses higher ISOs to
allow shorter exposures than
would normally be the case when
shooting in low light conditions.
There’s also an ‘Intelligent Auto’
(iAuto) mode which performs
automatic scene mode selection
based on the analysis of subject
data from the AF and AE systems.