VITALSTATISTICS SONY A6400 (ILCE-6400) $1499 body only
Type: Fully automatic digital mirrorless camera
with Sony E bayonet lens mount.
Focusing: Automatic via hybrid phase-detection
and contrast-detection system. 425 points for
phase-detection and 425 points for contrast
detection. Focus points may be selected manu-
ally or automatically by the camera. One-shot
and continuous modes with auto or manual
switching (the latter with a predictive function
and auto tracking). Face detection/recogni-
tion and ‘Eye AF’ tracking. Direct Manual
Focus (DMF) manual AF override. Wide, Zone,
Centre, Flexible Spot, Expand Flexible Spot and
Tracking: Expand Flexible Spot area modes.
Sensitivity range is EV -2 - 20 (ISO 100). AF
low light assist provided by built-in LED illu-
minator. AF micro-adjust. Manual focus assis-
tance via image magnification (up to 11.7x)
and focus peaking displays (Yellow, Red, White
or Blue; High, Mid or Low intensity).
Metering: 1200 pixels multi-zone evaluative,
centre-weighted average, ‘entire screen aver-
age’, spot (standard or large zone), highlight
bias and P-TTL flash. Metering range is EV -2
to 20 (ISO 100/f2.0).
Exposure Modes: Fully automatic (‘iAuto’ or
‘Superior Auto’), continuously-variable program
(with aperture/speed shift), shutter-priority
auto, aperture-priority auto, metered manual,
TTL auto flash and TTL flash. Subject programs
(Scene Selection) for portrait, sports action,
macro, landscape, sunsets, night scene, hand-
held twilight, night portrait and anti-motion
blur.
Shutter: Electronic, vertical travel, metal
blades, 30-1/4000 second plus ‘B’. Flash sync
to 1/160 second. Sensor-based ‘electronic first
curtain’ shutter also available. Exposure com-
pensation up to +/-5.0 EV in ½ and 1/3-stop
increments.
Viewfinder: 1.0 cm OLED-type EVF with 2.359
megapixels resolution. Coverage = 100% verti-
cal/horizontal. Magnification = 0.7x (35mm
equivalent). Adjustable for brightness and
colour balance. Eyepiece strength adjust-
ment built-in. 7.5 cm LCD monitor (921,600pixels) adjustable for tilt and with touchscreen
controls. Adjustable for brightness and colour
balance.
Flash: Built-in pop-up unit with GN 6 power
(ISO 100/m) and 16mm (24mm equivalent)
coverage. External flash units connect via
‘Multi Interface’ hotshoe. Flash compensation
up to +/-3.0 EV in 1/3 or ½ increments. Flash
bracketing over three, five or nine frames.
Auto, fill-in, red-eye reduction, slow sync, rear
curtain sync, high-speed sync and wireless TTL
commander modes.
Additional Features: Magnesium alloy
bodyshell with weather sealing, auto exposure
bracketing (over three, five or nine frames
and up to +/-3.0 EV), AE lock, multi-mode
self-timer (two, five or 10 second delays, with
one, three or five frames), audible signals, auto
power-off.DIGITAL SECTION
Sensor: 25.0 million pixels ‘Exmor’ CMOS with
15.6x23.5 mm imaging area. Sensitivity range
equivalent to ISO 100-32,000. Expandable to
ISO 102,400.
Focal Length Increase: 1.5x.
Formats/Resolution: Three JPEG compression
settings and RAW output (lossless compres-
sion), plus RAW+JPEG capture. Three resolu-
tion settings at 3:2; 6000x4000, 4240x2832
and 3008x2000 pixels. Three resolution
settings at 16:9; 6000x3376, 4240x2400 and
3008x1688 pixels. Three resolution settings
at 1:1; 4000x4000, 2832x2832 and 2000x2000
pixels. 24-bit RGB colour for JPEGs, 42-bit RGB
colour for RAW files.
Video Recording: XAVC S format (MPEG-
4/H.264 AVC compression) at 3840x2160 pixels
(4K UHD), 25 or 24 fps and 16:9 aspect ratio
(100 Mbps);
3840x2160 pixels (4K UHD), 25 fps and 16: 9
aspect ratio (60 Mbps); 1920x1080 pixels,
100 fps and 16:9 aspect ratio (60 Mbps);
1920x1080 pixels, 50 or 25 fps and 16:9 aspect
ratio (50 Mbps); 1920x1080 pixels, 50 fps and
16:9 aspect ratio (25 Mbps); 1920x1080 pixels,25 fps and 16:9 aspect ratio (16 Mbps). AVCHD
format at 1920x1080, 50 fps (interlaced) and
16:9 aspect ratio (24 Mbps); 1920x1080 pix-
els, 25 fps and 16:9 aspect ratio (24 Mbps);
1920x1080 pixels, 50 fps (interlaced) and 16:9
aspect ratio (17 Mbps). Built-in stereo micro-
phones with adjustable levels and wind-cut
filter. Stereo audio input.
Video Features: 4K/FHD video streaming
via the HDMI connection (4:2:2, 8-bit YCbCr
or RGB colour), eight ‘Picture Effects’, 13
‘Creative Style’ presets (with adjustable
parameters), six ‘Style Box’ customisable
‘Creative Style’ presets (contrast, sharpness
and colour saturation),ten ‘Picture Profile’
cinema presets (Black Level, Gamma [Movie,
Still, Cine 1-4, ITU709, ITU709 800%, S-Log2,
S-Log3, Hybrid Log Gamma, HLG1-3], Black
Gamma, Knee, Colour Mode, Saturation,
Colour Phase, Colour Depth, Detail, Copy,
Reset), zebra pattern generator (adjustable lev-
els), variable frame rates for slow/fast motion
(1 to 100 fps), time coding (SMPTE compliant)
with Rec Run and Free Run modes, focus peak-
ing display, movie marker, HD proxy recording.
Recording Media: SD/SDHC/SDXC (with UHS-I
support), Memory Stick PRO Duo/PRO HG Duo
(single dual-format slot).
Continuous Shooting: Up to 11.0 fps for 99
frames with JPEG/large/extra fine capture (and
continuous AF adjustment), up to 64 frames
with RAW capture. Mid speed at 6.0 fps and
low speed at 3.0 fps. Up to 8.0 fps with full
EVF monitoring.
White Balance: TTL measurement. Auto cor-
rection with Standard, Ambience Priority or
White Priority modes. Ten presets each with
fine-tuning (magenta-to-green and amber-
to-blue), three custom settings, and manual
colour temperature setting (2500 to 9900
degrees Kelvin). White balance auto bracketing
over three frames.
Interfaces: USB 2.0 (micro, Type C), HDMI
(micro, Type D), 3.5 mm stereo microphone
input..
Additional Digital Features: Sensor cleaning,14 ‘Creative Style’ modes (Standard, Vivid,
Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape,
Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, Black
& White, Sepia and Style Box 1-6), ‘Creative
Style’ parameter adjustments (contrast,
sharpness and colour saturation), six user-
defined ‘Creative Styles’, 13 ‘Picture Effects’
(Posterisation – B&W/colour, Pop Colour,
Retro Photo, Partial Colour, High Contrast
Monochrome, Toy Camera, Soft High-Key, Soft
Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-Tone Monochrome,
Miniature, Watercolour, Illustration), Adobe
RGB and sRGB colour spaces, ‘Dynamic Range
Optimiser’ (Auto, Levels 1-5), multi-shot HDR
capture (Auto, 1-6 EV in one-stop steps), long
exposure noise reduction (On/Off), high ISO
noise reduction (Off, Normal, Low), multi-frame
noise reduction, in-camera panorama stitching
(Standard or Wide formats, in-camera lens
corrections (Peripheral Shading, Chromatic
Aberration, Distortion), intervalometer (up to
9999 frames), ‘Smile Shutter’ auto trigger,
auto bracketing modes (exposure, flash, white
balance and DRO), dual-axis level display, grid
patterns (choice of three), real-time histogram
in live view, dual-axis level display, luminance/
RGB histogram displays, highlight/shadow
alerts, adjustable image display time, auto
image rotation, slide show (with variable dis-
play times), playback zoom (up to 16.7x), 12/30
thumbnail displays, copyright information, WiFi
and Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity. Print
Image Matching and DPOF support.
Power: Rechargeable 7.2 volt, 1020 mAh
‘InfoLithium’ lithium-ion battery pack (NP-
FW50 type). In-camera recharging.
Dimensions (WxHxD): 120.0x66.9x49.9 mm
(body only).
Weight: 403 grams (body only with battery
pack and memory card).
Price: $1499 body only. $1699 with E PZ
16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom lens.
Available in silver or black finishes.
Distributor: Sony Australia,
telephone 1300 720 071
or visit http://www.sony.com.auON TRIAL SONY A6400
II/U3 (Speed Class 3) ‘2000x’
memory card, the A6400 fired off a
sequence of 107 JPEG/large/extra
fine frames in 9.893 seconds which
represents a shooting speed of
10.81 fps. For the record, the test
file size averaged 20.5 MB.
As with the A6300, when
shooting at 11 fps the EVF can’t
keep up so you don’t get continuous
live view. This comes at 8.0 fps,
which is still pretty quick. However,
full AF (and AE) adjustment is
maintained at 11 fps and, again,
the autofocusing performance is
impressive, especially with the
improvements to the tracking
accuracy and reliability. Response
times are instantaneous and the
image simply snaps into focus.
Eye AF works brilliantly, quickly
adjusting to even the smallest
movements of a subject’s head and
easily keeping track when a subject
was on the move.
Straight out of the camera JPEG/
large/extra fine files exhibit crisply
defined fine detailing, smooth
tonal gradation and excellent
colour fidelity across the spectrum.
Obviously, the ‘Creative Style’
presets allow for the tweaking
of saturation and contrast to suit
personal preferences. The dynamic
range is good without resorting
to any expansion processing, and
retains tonality well into the brighter
highlights. Sony’s DRO – which
primarily adjusts the tone curve
to enhance the dynamic range,
but doesn’t increase the ISO (so
noise isn’t increased) – helps
extend detailing into the darker
shadows without compromising
the highlights. DRO’s five manual
settings provide finer control, but in
practice the auto processing is very
effective, particularly in contrasty
situations. Noise is well managed
up to ISO 3200 so the definition
and colour saturation are still very
good at this sensitivity setting,
and still hold together pretty well
at ISO 6400 although some slightcolour-noise blotchiness is evident
in some areas of continuous
tone. From ISO 12,800 upwards
softness and smearing become
more progressive, although all the
top end of the native sensitivity
range is still useable if you don’t
need big reproductions. In terms of
having a 24 MP resolution ‘APS-C’
size sensor, the A6400 still puts in
a very solid high ISO performance.
RAW files have more definition,
detailing and dynamic range but,
not unexpectedly, are also a little
grainier than JPEGs captured at the
same ISO settings.THE VERDICT
The A6400 has some solid com-
petition especially if you throw in
the comparable Micro Four Thirds
cameras, and the basic platform of
body and sensor has been around
for a while. But, like the first-gen A7
cameras, it’s ageing well and the
upgrades, chiefly to the processor
and autofocusing, represent asignificant refresh and further
enhance the value-for-money propo-
sition. The various boosts to the AF
performance are all significant, and
the image quality is superb.
New features such as the
touch controls for AF, additional
metering measurements and
the intervalometer add further
zest to the mix, as do the many
small revisions here and there
which are designed to improve
functionality and efficiency. All this
further enhances the appeal of
the A6400’s small size and lighter
weight, no-nonsense control layout,
comfortable EVF and generally
effortless ergonomics. Throw in
the wide choice of E mount lenses
from budget-priced to premium
performance, and that’s an awful
lot of boxes ticked. If your heart
is doing the decision-making
then there are more emotional
alternatives, but if you’re letting
your head rule, the Sony A6400 is...
er... a no-brainer.