A6600 vs A6700 or go FF?

[Pentaborane]

Hey i had my 6600 for a year now and 26k pics later i was thinking about my options for an upgrade and primarily focused on 6700 as i can keep using my APSC glass.

However with the price of new Sigma f1.8 zoom being more expensive than f2.8FF standard zooms im starting to wonder could an A7RIV or A7IV not be a better solution for everything sub telephoto range where i love the compact nature of sony 70-350 that allows me to take it to so many more places than the huge 200-600 Sony that takes an extra backpack to carry with me instead of shoulder strap.

Ideal solution seems A7RV but its way out of how much i want to spend on a new body with prices exceeding 4.5k usd for body alone and i have used sony A7IV and AF seemed faster than on my 6600 and i liked the EVF more.I could get 6700 for around 1500$ A7IV/A7RIV for 2-2.5k.

TLDR how much of an advantage is the BSI sensor and improved AF on A6700 vs A6600?
My assumption is that 6700 and a7rV have the same sensor tech just one is smaller so it would have same parameters vs old sensor on 6600 dating 10- years back to a6000?

 

[ZilverHaylide]

Hey i had my 6600 for a year now and 26k pics later i was thinking about my options for an upgrade and primarily focused on 6700 as i can keep using my APSC glass.
However with the price of new Sigma f1.8 zoom being more expensive than f2.8FF standard zooms im starting to wonder could an A7RIV or A7IV not be a better solution for everything sub telephoto range where i love the compact nature of sony 70-350 that allows me to take it to so many more places than the huge 200-600 Sony that takes an extra backpack to carry with me instead of shoulder strap.
Ideal solution seems A7RV but its way out of how much i want to spend on a new body with prices exceeding 4.5k usd for body alone and i have used sony A7IV and AF seemed faster than on my 6600 and i liked the EVF more.I could get 6700 for around 1500$ A7IV/A7RIV for 2-2.5k.
TLDR how much of an advantage is the BSI sensor and improved AF on A6700 vs A6600?
My assumption is that 6700 and a7rV have the same sensor tech just one is smaller so it would have same parameters vs old sensor on 6600 dating 10- years back to a6000?

Though the camera companies push full frame, most people, for most uses, are adequately-served (often better-served) by smaller formats. The smaller formats provide quality adequate for most uses by most users, save the user money, and are less troublesome to carry. (And a camera left at home because it is too big or heavy provides far fewer pictures!)

While you've provided more information than many questioners do, it is still far less than is needed for persons here to give good advice appropriate to YOUR situation.

For example:

Do you print, or aspire to do so? If yes, how big? Or will you simply display via social media? View on a 4K display?

What are your significant subjects? You mention telephoto. Is that for wildlife, relatively-static human subjects, or simply fully-static subjects such as compressed-perspective landscapes, cityscapes, architectural details? If wildlife, will that include birds in flight or other fast-moving wildlife? Or other fast-moving subjects such as sports? For fast-moving subjects, fast sensor readout speed, high frame rate, good tracking, and minimal EVF lag can all be important.

Do you shoot much in low light environments?

How often and to what degree is your present camera problematic? Is the problem AF, tracking, image noise levels, or what?

With a bit more information from you, someone here should be able to offer more-focused advice, including whether you are likely to see any benefits from full frame.

 

[oldthor]

I shoot both the A6600 and the A7IV and both have their good and bad points. The lens for the A6600 are lighter, cheaper but fewer options so I tend to substitute FF lens when I need to especially if I'm shooting wildlife. The A7IV is heavier both the body and the FF lens and more expensive. I'm an amateur and tend to shoot wildlife and landscapes, since buying the A7IV I rarely use the A6600 except in rare situations such full daylight birding where I take advantage of the crop factor with my 200-600mm lens. That being said overall the A7Iv in general consistently shoots better photos at least for me, autofocus is far superior on the A7IV especially in cloudy or low light situations. In the future I won't invest anymore funds in APC lens or bodies because for me full frame is just far superior for my use. I have zero interest in video which seems to be best use case for APC bodies and the reason why Sony doesn't support is as deeply as full frame anymore and leaves it to Sigma to produce more lens

 

[number_5]

Sony added AI chip to all their alphas to help the AF, starting with the 7RV, and then 6700, 7CR, 7CII, 9III, and 1II. The AF should be better on those, but how much, don't know.

 

[Pentaborane]

Though the camera companies push full frame, most people, for most uses, are adequately-served (often better-served) by smaller formats. The smaller formats provide quality adequate for most uses by most users, save the user money, and are less troublesome to carry. (And a camera left at home because it is too big or heavy provides far fewer pictures!)

While you've provided more information than many questioners do, it is still far less than is needed for persons here to give good advice appropriate to YOUR situation.

For example:

Do you print, or aspire to do so? If yes, how big? Or will you simply display via social media? View on a 4K display?

I don't print as i mostly live in completely digital form but in the future i'm thinking about printing a A2 or A3 size so 40x60cm at most.

What are your significant subjects? You mention telephoto. Is that for wildlife, relatively-static human subjects, or simply fully-static subjects such as compressed-perspective landscapes, cityscapes, architectural details? If wildlife, will that include birds in flight or other fast-moving wildlife? Or other fast-moving subjects such as sports? For fast-moving subjects, fast sensor readout speed, high frame rate, good tracking, and minimal EVF lag can all be important.

This is the problem because its either wide travel and portraits that would be better with FF or birds and insects that would make me take a 200-600mm and basically have an extra backpack in the mountains just for the lens what other long range telephoto options in SonyE should i take a look.

Perfect solution would be A7RV with crop mode but that camera is out of my price range.Currently size and weight difference of bodies is irrelevant between FF and APSC its just 200g at most ut lenses are gigantic moving from 70-350 that weighs 650g to Tamron 150-500 at 1725 is huge.I have tested a tamron 50-300 that was basically identical to Sony 70-350 it could be an option with a high density

Do you shoot much in low light environments?

Quite a lot and this is my problem with sensor in 6600 that very quickly bumps against the iso wall as soon as light levels go down even with 2.8 tamron zoom a remedy for it might be the new sigma 1.8 but its more expensive than FF standard zooms.From my understanding of how sensors work there is no difference in illumination at a given F stop regardless of sensor size but bigger pixels on most FF cameras provide and advantage.

Also 6600 has a very dated sensor a 10 yo one i think FSI so moving to BSI should provide a significant advantage in low light performance ( a stop of light extra? iirc)

How often and to what degree is your present camera problematic? Is the problem AF, tracking, image noise levels, or what?

AF can always be better recently i was shooting dragonflies and took around 1000 pics to get a handful of keepers turns out these are way worse than birds in flight when it comes to focusing and as far as i know all sony cameras with exceptions of bionzX chip use the same AF since 2018?
I used A7IV the prior weekend and it focused noticeably faster so i must be wrong about AF systems.

With a bit more information from you, someone here should be able to offer more-focused advice, including whether you are likely to see any benefits from full frame.

I could get a A7RIV around 2k but new AI AF seems like a real upgrade rather than marginal 20% faster focus id say i felt with A7IV as when shooting portraits or humans AF is mostly meaningless unlike insects and birds they don't run away when they spot me and seem to listen to commands.

 

[A74Me]

I own and use both the a7iv and a6700 professionally. they are both great cameras, the AF on the a7iv is flawless, its a tough choise now sigma has just realeased the 1.8 zoom ,i need the 2 card slots for my main camera so the a7iv is a must have. image quality is very close ,but the a7iv is class leading from any brand. just look at your main priorities you really cant go wrong with either.

 

[Planterz]

AF can always be better recently i was shooting dragonflies and took around 1000 pics to get a handful of keepers turns out these are way worse than birds in flight when it comes to focusing and as far as i know all sony cameras with exceptions of bionzX chip use the same AF since 2018?
I used A7IV the prior weekend and it focused noticeably faster so i must be wrong about AF systems.

The A7RV and a6700 both have the BionzXR AI chip with better autofocus, tracking, and subject recognition, including an insect mode. I haven't tried it in the real world yet (on my a6700), but I've tried it with pictures of bugs on my TV. The "animal" mode works, as does the "insect" mode. It seems to do especially well dragonflies - it instantly recognizes then and focuses right on the head. Other various insects can have mixed results (ie: body in general rather than head, or has difficulty recognizing it as an insect), unsurprising as there's so much variety in morphology in insect Class. Interestingly it can recognize other creepycrawlies like spiders and centipedes, although you're better off with the less specific "animal" setting, which seems to work on most all arthropods I thought of off the top of my head (spiders, scorpions, shrimp).

I've found the subject recognition on my a6700 to be kinda crazy. It doesn't just focus on an airplane or helicopter, it'll try to focus on the cockpit like it's the "eye".

I haven't tried an older Sony ILC, but I have used my RX100 VII some (it has the BionzX chip), and while it has the "animal" subject recognition, it seems to really only work well with cats and dogs - the less cat-like or dog-like, the less likely it'll work. Tried it on dragonflies (again, just pictures of them) and it didn't recognize them at all.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Hey i had my 6600 for a year now and 26k pics later i was thinking about my options for an upgrade and primarily focused on 6700 as i can keep using my APSC glass.
However with the price of new Sigma f1.8 zoom being more expensive than f2.8FF standard zooms im starting to wonder could an A7RIV or A7IV not be a better solution for everything sub telephoto range where i love the compact nature of sony 70-350 that allows me to take it to so many more places than the huge 200-600 Sony that takes an extra backpack to carry with me instead of shoulder strap.

Whether you go APS or 35mm, I recommend Tamron’s 50-300 instead of Sony’s 70-350. It’s about the same size and weight, it’s cheaper, it’s excellent, it has a quasi-macro minimum focusing distance, and it’s a 35mm-format lens. Use it with Crop Mode on an a7RIV for the same reach and pixel count as you’d get from the APS combo.

Ideal solution seems A7RV but its way out of how much i want to spend on a new body with prices exceeding 4.5k usd for body alone and i have used sony A7IV and AF seemed faster than on my 6600 and i liked the EVF more.I could get 6700 for around 1500$ A7IV/A7RIV for 2-2.5k.
TLDR how much of an advantage is the BSI sensor and improved AF on A6700 vs A6600?
My assumption is that 6700 and a7rV have the same sensor tech just one is smaller so it would have same parameters vs old sensor on 6600 dating 10- years back to a6000?

 

[AlexeyK77]

According to tests In low light a6600 a little better that a6700. So new a6700 matrix is fast and good for video, but a6600 low light perfomance is better.

I am using a6600 and don't plan to migrate to a6700, because of lost HDR and MFNR modes in 6700. I am satisfied by a6600, but my next camera will be not from sony. May be Nikon, or m34, depends on computational features and IBIS quality.

 

[Craig Gillette]

Hey i had my 6600 for a year now and 26k pics later i was thinking about my options for an upgrade and primarily focused on 6700 as i can keep using my APSC glass.
However with the price of new Sigma f1.8 zoom being more expensive than f2.8FF standard zooms im starting to wonder could an A7RIV or A7IV not be a better solution for everything sub telephoto range where i love the compact nature of sony 70-350 that allows me to take it to so many more places than the huge 200-600 Sony that takes an extra backpack to carry with me instead of shoulder strap.

If you already have the 70-350 (I do) I don't think I'd replace until sure I'd be going ff all in, that is A7Riv or v instead of A6700. You do get the 50-300 uncropped on the ff bodies. If A6700, still cropped.

Ideal solution seems A7RV but its way out of how much i want to spend on a new body with prices exceeding 4.5k usd for body alone and i have used sony A7IV and AF seemed faster than on my 6600 and i liked the EVF more.I could get 6700 for around 1500$ A7IV/A7RIV for 2-2.5k.

with the other A7 bodies, if sticking to aps-c lenses, you get cropping and that might suggest the A7riv. But you do get the larger fbody, finders, etc.

TLDR how much of an advantage is the BSI sensor and improved AF on A6700 vs A6600?

I have an A6700, seems focus system better than my A6400 was but never did critical testing. I've never tried to do close comparisons of the images from the A6700 or my A7Riv

My assumption is that 6700 and a7rV have the same sensor tech just one is smaller so it would have same parameters vs old sensor on 6600 dating 10- years back to a6000?

For me, casually, I don't think you'd see a major difference in informal comparisons. for the images, features, some handling, menu, etc., the newer is better.

 

[Pentaborane]

Whether you go APS or 35mm, I recommend Tamron’s 50-300 instead of Sony’s 70-350. It’s about the same size and weight, it’s cheaper, it’s excellent, it has a quasi-macro minimum focusing distance, and it’s a 35mm-format lens. Use it with Crop Mode on an a7RIV for the same reach and pixel count as you’d get from the APS combo

I have tested both Sony 70-350 and that Tamron 50-300 and found Sony to be slightly better in focusing on birds in flight but the quasi macro function of Tamron was very interesting.On FF another advantage would be utility of 50-70mm range but on APSC it was only starting at 105 effective so it was too narrow for all around slightly longer lens.
Back then i kept the Sony as it was at 2/3 the price of Tamron due to a sale but both are very interesting lens choices in that range

 

[Craig Gillette]

Whether you go APS or 35mm, I recommend Tamron’s 50-300 instead of Sony’s 70-350. It’s about the same size and weight, it’s cheaper, it’s excellent, it has a quasi-macro minimum focusing distance, and it’s a 35mm-format lens. Use it with Crop Mode on an a7RIV for the same reach and pixel count as you’d get from the APS combo

I have tested both Sony 70-350 and that Tamron 50-300 and found Sony to be slightly better in focusing on birds in flight but the quasi macro function of Tamron was very interesting.On FF another advantage would be utility of 50-70mm range but on APSC it was only starting at 105 effective so it was too narrow for all around slightly longer lens.
Back then i kept the Sony as it was at 2/3 the price of Tamron due to a sale but both are very interesting lens choices in that range

I had both an A6700 and A7Riv and 28-200, so the 70-350, worked for me. With a lower res ff body, some might prefer the shorter but full frame, 70-300s or now 50-300.

These days, though, maybe starting fresh, the 20-70 is also out there and pairing it with the 50-300 (or a 70-300) might for some be a suitable 20mm to 300mm two lens pair.