Sony a6400 review

Does everyone who visits this site live exclusively in the Amazon rainforest? When does all this shooting in the rain take place, because looking through the galleries here, I don't see any shots that even look damp....

Ah yes, I've forgotten. Anything more than 500 yards away from the car just isn't photogenic.

@avatar77 - I am glad you know which is good for you. Good luck with your switch!

FYI, your "ergonomic shortcomings" is not reflected by the brisk sales of Sony's cameras all over the world. In most places, the ergo issue is a non-issue. Sony's FS also shows they are doing way better than Canon in spite of the latter selling more cameras. That means that Sony is selling more expensive "ergonomically bad" cameras.

Speaking of Canon (and other cameras), why do people continually harp about Sony's ergonomics? The M6 is even worse as the m100 and older models. Even Fuji's XT-x0 series is not exactly a model of ergonomics! Even Oly's Pen cams have questionable ergos. But nobody throws the ergo complaints against them. It seems most people are just finding something to complain about.
As for control, I find Oly's or Fuji's menu system confusing. So, this is a matter of training and just getting used to. If you program Sony's Mymenu, & buttons, you don't really use the menu anymore.

@avatar77 well the a6400 has completly new menu system.

"it's popular with novice consumers who have never used a proper DSLR"

lol.. I owned a Nikon d300 and canon 7d Mark II before..
the a6400 is a much better camera for professional use

Same - left from a NEX-6.

Plenty of people here complaining that DPReview highlighted the mediocre ergonomics - but I completely agree. I wanted one more control dial. Yes often you don't need two, but whenever I did, and Sony didn't have a body that offered it, I got frustrated. Two Fuji bodies later I am very happy with my decision.

Not saying that should apply to everyone, but as a user who left the system, clearly there are legitimate ergonomic concerns for a large number of people, and Sony are pretty much the only manufacturer who don't offer a choice of body styles for either of their formats.

As a former A6000, I truly enjoyed using my camera. Yes, tt wasn't perfect but, it was enjoyable.

For all the complaints about usability, and lens availability, I did love travelling with the Nex-6.

16/12mm 2.8 + PZ + 35mm 1.8 was a great tiny travel kit.

I was incredibly excited about the A6000 when it arrived, but I don't have the money or inclination to buy FF primes for a compact APS-C kit, and honestly that lack of a front control dial killed it for me. 90% of the time the camera would get it right in aperture priority, but the 10% of the time when it didn't, or I wanted to do something creative with exposure comp and needed to menu-dive, left me feeling bitter and confused as to why Sony wouldn't just give it's users something so simple.

I'm guessing if you asked the right person at Sony they'd explain that the second dial mechanism would eat into the battery compartment, and they've kept costs down by recycling the same design since 2011... but still... back then I was ready to chuck cash at them for that dial...

I would pick the A7 III over the A6400 every day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

For the basic lens options, alone.

@Harold_Lee, the a7iii is getting the full time Eye AF, but will not be getting the real-time tracking.

Actually, we're just really really busy, and aligning schedules to shoot real sporting events out of office hours is always a bit of a hurdle, and unfortunately, we have to keep covering new camera announcements which will push a review back. Rest assured, the final review is coming.

Final review is coming, hopefully without blue ice zombies 😁

"any announcements since the RP????"

Leica Q2, Panasonic G95

//how much time can it possibly take to do camera announcements//

A lot, actually, but I think I'll stop short of listing out everyone on staff's daily tasks. Suffice it to say, we are all juggling different cameras, lenses, accessories and pieces of content related to them, and I promise that we're doing our best to be as speedy as we can while maintaining our significant emphasis on accuracy.

You forgot VAT

US prices are always without VAT. So depening on you country you have to add another 19-25%

I think that the Euro prices include taxes like VAT whereas the US Dollar prices exclude taxes? Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

In the US sales taxes (much the same as VAT) vary from 0% to 9% depending on where you live. For that reason they are excluded from the listed price.

Also, prices generally move more freely on Europe than the US. Within, say, two months of hitting the shelves it's pretty common for cameras to drop below their MSRP in Europe but stay at MSRP in the US.

As a Sony user (not E Mount) I find Sony cameras eminently enjoyable to use.

twinfighter,

You are obviously wrong. For left eye dominant people, the Sony design is terrible. That is a fact an not subjective. Your face end up blocking the few controls the camera has.

tbcass,
A mount cameras are very nice and are fun to use. The old A55 was a nice size with a good grip.

@Scotty - I literally have never understood this point of view, and no one has been able to clearly articulate it...

If you are left-eye dominant, why is it better to have a centered viewfinder that is even further right? Doesn't that just mash your face directly into your right hand that's gripping the camera and pressing controls?

At least with the left-side "rangefinder style" EVF, your face is biased a bit to the left, so it's not quite so disruptive, even for left-eye users.

The only argument that I've heard make sense for centered EVFs is with respect to muscle memory for people who are used to tracking distant animals with a spotting scope or a rifle, so having your eye on the optical axis is an intuitive requirement.

But none of the ergonomic arguments for centered EVFs make a lick of sense to me. Maybe you can explain better?

Androole - I'm a left-eye user (half-blind in right eye).

With a central viewfinder my nose is to the right of the touchscreen and doesnt interfere with it. Some controls are still a bit awkward but as I have to shoot left-eyed that's something I have to accept.

With a left-corner viewfinder, my nose is against the touchscreen so I have to disable it. That isn't an issue with cameras equipped with an AF joystick, but if a camera is touchscreen-reliant for AF, it is a major problem (less so, with the advent of object recognition as per a6400 and a9). The other controls are easier to access with my thumb.

Continued.....

You are correct about muscle memory and the fact that tracking a subject visually with a central on-lens-axis viewfinder is much more intuitive. For the same reason, a tilting on-lens-axis Sony-Nikon type screen is much better than the fully articulated Canon-Panasonic type.

Given the choice, I'd always go for a central viewfinder and a tilting screen. I think Fujifilm have the best solution, combining central EVF, tilting touchscreen and an AF joystick.

How does that corner EVF work for right-eye dominant people? I can see it being fine with a smaller, lighter lens, but with a 70-200 or 100-400, aren't you having to reach quite a long way to the right (with your left hand) to support the lens? I've never used a camera with that VF configuration, but it looks a little uncomfortable.

@Slideshow Bob - as a right-eye shooter with a RF-style camera, it's absolutely wonderful. Your nose is out past the side of the camera so it's not in the way, and for heavy lenses it's very easy to cradle the lens with your left elbow braced against your abdomen to create a stable tripod configuration with your face and right hand grip. And your right hand has a lot more room to adjust controls, even on a compact body.

Honestly, it's ergonomically exceptional, and I'm very convinced that most people dislike it simply because it wasn't possible with 35mm SLRs that most photographers grew up shooting with (and which all current DSLRs were patterned after).

Thanks for that. I see your point about bracing the left hand against the body. I'm left eye dominant, but one of these days I'll have to try that for myself.

I am left eyed and have no problem with the corner EVF placement. I actually prefer it as the camera blocks my right eye and I don't need to squint.

Suggest considering rhinoplasty if you have a problem with it.

I'm left eyed too and the corner viewfinder is better than center. And if you're using touch pad, the center is much more problematic as you end up with a finger in your right eye to move the af point around. Add glasses to the mix and it's just a no go.

AlanG - What an utterly moronic comment.

Tell me, after following your instructions to have my perfectly average nose given plastic surgery, would you also like me to have my one remaining (left) eye removed, and just hope that the camera was clever enough to compose the photographs for me??

PAntunes - Yes I would imagine that with a tiny camera such as the Sony a6400, it would be quite easy to poke yourself in the eye with your thumb. This is one of the reasons why I prefer a larger camera.

Even with bigger cameras, if you have to use the touchpad and the viewfinder is in the center, it's a nightmare. It simply doesn't work.

PAntunes - Which is precisely why I loath touch-screen AF, and greatly prefer using an AF joystick that I can reach without poking myself in the eye with my thumb.

I completely accept that as a left-eye user I'm in the minority and I don't expect any manufacturer to alter their designs to accommodate me.

I'm merely stating that for me personally, a larger camera with a central viewfinder and a separate AF joystick is far more usable than a small camera with a corner EVF and touchscreen AF.

And to get to the relevant point, that is the *main* reason I wouldn't buy a Sony a6400 or any other camera with a corner EVF.