On the off chance that you’re searching for a little, novice well disposed camera for the two stills and video, then the A6100 is truly outstanding around. Its primary assets are its picture quality, battery duration, and class-driving self-adjust.
The way that it acquires many elements from Sony’s altogether more costly APS-C cameras implies it can likewise develop with you. The main genuine drawbacks are a few taking care of eccentricities and nearly dull support while shooting consistently, however, it’s generally a fabulous delay setting it up for your preferences.
Sony has governed the passage level mirrorless camera classification since presenting the a6000 back in mid-2014. While the first a6000 model is as yet a strong entertainer, the new a6100 gives the best reason to overhaul: a self-adjust framework that is uncannily great at locking regarding the matter of photographs and recordings.
Somewhere else, this camera overhauls as of now extraordinary parts of the a6000, further developing variety delivering and detail in its 24-megapixel pictures and moving forward video execution from HD to 4K (the last option restricted to 30fps).
While it has a couple of unpleasant edges in the design, the a6100 is the best mirrorless camera for buyers searching for supportive grade execution for under $700, and quite possibly the best camera in general.
Construct and handling
In general, we truly partook in our experience with the Sony A6100. We matched the camera with two or three marginally better quality focal points – the FE 24‑70mm f/4 and FE 35mm f/1.8 – which are both a reasonable size and weight match.
Contingent upon the focal point, the A6100 is sufficiently little to squeeze into a coat pocket. This is thanks to its structure factor – it remains at simply 67mm high and has an exceptional level profile without the pentaprism ‘bump’ seen on rivals like the Fujifilm X-T3.
The polycarbonate body feels strong and the outside controls are vigorous, while the finished hand and thumb grasp gives a firm hold. Acclaim be for the somewhat bigger hold than the one in the A6000.
Taking into account the conservative size of this camera, a powerful number of controls and elements are stuffed in. You get a spring-up streak that can be tipped back by hand for circuitous fill light.
There’s a hot shoe to join discretionary embellishments, for example, an outside mouthpiece, which is then associated with using the receiver port as an afterthought. (Obviously, there is no space for an earphone jack).
There’s likewise an underlying EVF, which is an or more for a camera costing this much. It’s not the simplest to utilize and the goal stays at a typical 1.44 million specks. To get the most recent high-goal EVF, you’ll have to fork out extra for the Sony A6400 or Sony A6600.
The slant LCD touchscreen can be pulled out and up, and afterward flipped upward over the camera into selfie mode. By the present guidelines, the 3-inch screen has a generally unobtrusive 920,000-spot goal. It’s a 16:9 screen as well, implying that full goal 3:2 photographs don’t fill the presentation and in this manner show up on the little side – a comparative situation likewise occurs on the 16:9 presentation on the Fujifilm X-A7.
Given the A6100 is a section-level camera, it is maybe a little unreasonable that its touchscreen capabilities are so restricted. The screen can be utilized to choose the AF focuses and track subjects, in addition, to squeezing to-zoom and sweeping a picture in playback.
However, you can’t explore menus or make setting determinations. In any case, AF choice is seemingly the most accommodating touch capability.
Minuscule, fiddly buttons are much of the time a trap of such little cameras, yet at the same not here. The buttons are all plainly marked and sensibly measured.
There are two control dials – both are on the back and are normally controlled utilizing your thumb. One more dial on the top front would have been extremely free to bring your pointer into play all things being equal.
420-shot battery duration is exceptionally cutthroat at this level. We utilized the camera during cold weather months and found that battery duration depleted a little speedier than anticipated. Nonetheless, USB charging is enormously useful. It’s important here that there is no battery charger included with the A6100, simply the USB link.
Cost and accessibility
The Sony a6100 went marked down in late 2019. The a6100 costs $600 (body just), or $697 with a 16-50mm unit focal point. Hope to see bargains on this camera, as well as more seasoned Sony mirrorless cameras, for example, the first Sony a6000 is presently evaluated at around $550 with the 16-50mm power-zoom unit focal point. (Sony’s site no longer records the a6000, yet models are as yet copious with retailers.)
Controls Cover the Basics
The a6100 keeps it essential to the extent that control buttons. The top plate houses the screen discharge, power switch, Mode dial, control dial, and adaptable C1 button. Of course, C1 sets the self-adjust mode, however, you can reconfigure it whenever wanted.
The Record button is at an odd spot, settled in at the right half of the back thumb rest so that it’s practically on the right half of the camera. You can incapacitate one-contact video recording if you need to, as it is feasible to squeeze it coincidentally — on the off chance that you do as such, you’ll have to switch the Mode dial to the film position to move the video.
Other back controls are all the more customarily situated. There’s a level order dial with a button at its middle and four directional presses — Display, ISO, EV, and Drive/Self-Timer.
There are additional fastens to get to the menu, lock openness, play and erase photographs, and to get to the on-screen Fn menu. The mechanical delivery for the spring-up streak is likewise on the back, similar to the EVF diopter.
The Fn menu is exceptionally helpful. It gives speedy on-screen admittance to your decision of twelve settings, with a very decent default setting that allows you to calibrate the center settings easily, change the metering, and change to a highly contrasting or another variety profile, among others. While the LCD upholds contact, the Fn menu is just safe through buttons.
Performance
Where the A6100 sparkles most brilliant is through its fast and solid self-adjust framework for both photography and video. It has a similar AF framework as the lead Sony A6600, a camera that is two times the cost.
There are a few Focus Modes and Focus Areas to browse. After messing with these settings, we chose nonstop AF with the ‘Following: Expand Flexible Spot’ center region for practically all situations.
With this AF arrangement in play, centering for general activity – family shots, a particular subject inside the casing – is very dependable. Truly, there were times that we failed to remember that this is a section-level camera because the A6100 is so dependable for sharp centering.
A burst method of 11fps is, on paper, strong. In any case, being used to the truth of ‘persistent high’ shooting is a bit disheartening. As far as we can tell, the length of blasts doesn’t exactly match the cases of up to 67 edges. Likewise, the camera sets aside some margin to support those groupings before full execution is accessible once more.
Despite the Bionz X processor, the constraints of a UHS-I SD card space are clear. We found the 6fps ‘Constant Mid’ giving mode a more reasonable decision. The A6100 is still extremely serious at this level, yet the Olympus E-M5 Mark III is just somewhat more costly and offers UHS-II similarity with limitless burst shooting.
The A6100 utilizes a 1200-zone evaluative metering framework. Much of the time – and obviously, this is to taste – we found openings somewhat brilliant and picked to dial in around – 0.7EV openness pay.
For our purposes, the Imaging Edge Mobile application gave an issue-free association and functioned admirably for picture transfers and controller shooting. The equivalent can’t be said for all brands, so praise to Sony here.
LCD and EVF
The 3-inch LCD is mounted on a pivot, and can flip up and forward to effortlessly approach selfies — the camera naturally enters a selfie mode, complete with a three-second commencement clock. The actual screen is enough sharp, 921k specks, and its default brilliance is fine for most shooting. There’s a radiant climate mode accessible that lights up it fundamentally, open through the menu.
- Lightweight and small
- Integrated EVF
- LCD with tilting touch
- Outstanding autofocus
- Several options for lenses
- Between 11fps raw recording
- Video in 4K
- EVF with low resolution
- Wobble can be visible in 4K footage
- Battery life is not impressive
- There is no USB-C charging port
The electronic viewfinder is situated at the corner. It’s an OLED board, with punchy differentiation and varieties, and enjoys one major upper hand over optical locaters — the capacity to review the scene similarly as the picture sensor and focal point see it. It’s enormous as well, with a 0.7x amplification rating, however not excessively sharp at 1,440k specks — you can see the network design on the screen while making or surveying pictures in the EVF. The a6400 has a more keen locater, a similar size yet with 2,359k spots.
Imaging and Video
The a6100’s 24MP picture sensor isn’t new — Sony, and others, have been involving varieties of it in various cameras for a long time. It’s a similar chip and picture processor mix utilized in the two current-age sister cameras, the a6400 and a6600.
There’s little negative to say regarding the picture quality it conveys. Sony has tended to grumblings about its JPG motor, further developing its variety generation, and pictures areas of strength for the show from its most reduced ISO 100 awareness through ISO 3200. There is an extremely unobtrusive drop in lucidity at ISO 6400, the top setting the camera will use out of the crate.
You can set the top programmed ISO setting as high as the camera goes, ISO 51200, for photography in the exceptionally faint light, yet picture quality endures. Fine detail is smeared beginning at ISO 12800, and yield is foggy at ISO 25600 and 51200.
The crude catch is additionally a choice. The sound decrease isn’t applied in-camera, so pictures are grainier at higher ISOs, yet they show prominently more detail when you push the camera to ISO 12800 and 25600. The quality is very harsh at ISO 51200, however, that will be normal.
The a6100 drops the level and HDR video profiles presented in the a6400 and a6600, however, don’t compromise in any case. It catches great 4K film at your decision of 24 or 30fps at a 100Mbps recording rate and can record at 1080p too.
Video quality is phenomenal, albeit the more established picture sensor’s more slow readout implies that 60fps 4K isn’t a choice, and movement can show odd relics because of the moving screen impact.
Final Thoughts
The Sony a6100 is an affordable, entry-level camera that won’t let you down in terms of performance. The autofocus performs well whether you’re recording video or snapping photos, and the speed of the touchscreen interface and auto-focusing lends itself to pulling off some nice video tricks. You lose out on some video recording features, but if you’re just looking to dip your toe into the world of 4K Hollywood video, then this camera is right for you.