Camera Sony Alpha ILCE-6400 Kit

Briefly about the product

• camera with interchangeable lens support
• mount Sony E
• 25 MP sensor (APS-C)
• shutter speed: 0.00 - 30 s
• sensitivity 100 - 32000 ISO, AutoISO
• 4K video shooting
• 2.95 ′ swivel touchscreen, waterproof housing
• Memory Stick Duo, SDHC, microSDXC, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, microSD, SDXC, Memory Stick Pro Duo, microSDHC
• interfaces Wi-Fi, USB, audio, Bluetooth, HDMI, NFC, microphone input, remote control connector
• weight with batteries without lens 403 g
• 120x50x67 mm

The Sony A6400 is the new mid-range APS-C mirrorless camera. Sony has taken on the design of the a6300 and retooled the LCD to rotate 180 ° (for vlogging and selfies). According to the developers, the case has become more durable.

If these changes are not that dramatic, then the alpha 6400 has a trump card up its sleeve - this is its state-of-the-art autofocus system. In the review of Sony Alpha ILCE-6400, we will take a closer look at the distinctive features of the new product.

Sony a6400 review

Design

For those who have used Sony's a6xxx series cameras, the alpha 6400 will not be a dark horse, since almost all of the controls are in the same places. Despite being the same height and width, the a6400 is deeper than its predecessor, the Sony a6300, due to the details required to fully rotate the LCD upward.

Serious vloggers may not like the fact that the LCD will be completely blocked by an external microphone (or recorder). But even without them, the screen is slightly blocked by the top panel and the EVF eyecup. The A6400 has a magnesium alloy body that is dust and moisture resistant. Sony says the design has been "updated" but does not say how.

LCD display and EVF viewfinder

Looks familiar! The a6400 has a conventional rear thumbwheel with joystick, multiple buttons, and a button that can be switched between AF / MF and AE-Lock by pressing the lever. The camera has eight customizable buttons and dials, and My Menu can store up to 30 of your favorite settings.

The 3-inch 921K-dot LCD still has a 16: 9 aspect ratio, which is fine for video, but results in black bars on both sides of the image when taking photos. But unlike the a6300, the screen is touch-sensitive, which allows you to focus, shoot and track the subject with the touch of your finger.

You can also use the screen as a touch panel to adjust the position of the focus point when the eye is in the viewfinder. The display can be tilted down to almost 90 ° and up to 180 ° all the way. The a6400 uses the same 2.36 million dot OLED EVF with 0.7x magnification as the a6300 and a6500.

Storage and battery

As usual, Sony has placed the alpha 6400's memory card slot on the bottom next to the battery. The A6400 uses SD cards (with UHS-I support) as well as Memory Stick Duo cards (yes, they still make them). It's a bit of a shame the a6400 didn't get a new battery, instead relying on the old NP-FW50.

Official CIPA ratings are 410 shots with LCD and 360 shots with EVF. These are quite decent indicators, in reality you can get more than the nominal number of shots. Charging can be done via USB or with an external adapter (not included).

Sensor

Sony confirms that the APS-C CMOS sensor with 24.2 million effective pixels on the a6400 is the same as on the a6300. This is not bad, since it is already clear that the image quality of the latter is the peak in its class. The Sony A6400 camera includes the latest version of the Sony Bionz X processor, which allows you to expand the ISO range.

The native range is 100… 32000, which can expand to 102800. Sony claims that skin tones and natural colors are improved over previous models. The a6400 has a fully electronic shutter option for quiet shooting. Continuous shooting rates range from 11 to 8 frames per second, but this is more than enough for most photographs.

Sony estimates a shutter life of 200,000 cycles when talking about a shutter. double that of the a6300.Image stabilization with sensor shift, as on the Sony A6500 and current full-frame models, from abs. You won't find IBIS on the Sony a6400, so you have to spend extra money if this feature is important to you.

Autofocus

The a6400 has a hybrid AF system that combines 425 phase detection points with a traditional 165-point contrast detection system. These phase detection points cover 84% of the image area. Nothing unusual so far.

Now comes the fun part. The a6400's autofocus system is heavily based on the sports-oriented a9. At least after receiving firmware updates in spring and summer. In addition to the speed increase over the a6300, the camera can use Sony's AF and Real-time Tracking functions.

The tracking function is claimed to use "Speed ​​X AI", with artificial intelligence truly being the umbrella for a variety of prediction and recognition algorithms, as well as machine learning for face and eye detection. This allows you to quickly recognize and track objects.

The user can specify the subject to focus on by placing it under the AF point, then activate autofocus and make the camera track the subject no matter where it moves in the frame. If the subject is a face, the camera will automatically detect a face and eyes on that subject.

But even if your subject turns away, the camera continues to track it, automatically returning to the more general Live Tracking mode, ready to switch to Eye AF at the crucial moment. And this tracking works well with almost any object: a person, a dog, a soccer ball, etc.

Its performance and usability means that tracking may be the only AF mode you need. With an update this summer, the a6400's Eye AF mode will be expanded to accommodate pets and wildlife.

Real-time tracking uses all kinds of data - color, depth, pattern recognition. Recognition and tracking can be done at up to 11 frames per second.

4K video

The video functions of the a6400 are basically the same as those of the a6300. Using the XAVC S codec, the unit records 4K UHD (30, 25 or 24p) at bitrates up to 100 Mbps. For slow motion video, a 1080 / 120p option is available. As with existing models, 4K 30p video is captured from the cropped area of ​​the sensor.

The only problem is the rolling shutter effect. The a6300 had plenty of that, especially for 24p. And since the a6400 seems to use the same sensor, there is no reason to be optimistic. However, vloggers get many of the benefits of the new autofocus system, thanks to fast speed, subject tracking and adjustable sensitivity, as opposed to the old, not very reliable "Lock-On AF" system.

Capture tools include focus peaking, zebra crossing, timecode, pure HDMI output, proxy recording, and more. The A6400 is the first Sony APS-C camera to offer an 8-bit version of the HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) picture profile, which sits next to S-Log2 / 3. Finally, the a6400 has a time-lapse mode that can be edited in-camera or using the Sony Imaging Edge desktop app.

Ports

In total, the a6400 has three I / O ports: micro-HDMI, USB 2.0, and mic-in. There is also a “Multi Interface Shoe,” which is a hot shoe with electronic contacts for using an external microphone, flash, or XLR adapter. However, it is not possible to connect headphones for audio monitoring.

Anyone looking to transfer their photos to a smartphone will be able to use Sony's new "Imaging Edge" app. The app, which replaces PlayMemories Mobile, offers a new user interface, 4K video transmission and remote control.

In theory, it should support automatic image transfer (with a resolution of 2 megapixels), but currently the company only refers to the Sony a9 as a camera compatible with this feature.
In addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the a6400 also offers NFC for quick pairing with compatible Android devices.As you can see, little has changed since the a6300.