I was worried about dust, but no problem. I changed lenses about 10 times and cleaned the sensor twice. I don't see any artifacts.
But then the battery - it eats batteries like crazy!! I went through a full charge in a single day. I carried two batteries and a solar charger. I was OK for the 8 days, but add the weight of the charger to your backpack! (I needed the charger for my iPad mini as well and was the local "power broker" for others on the hike to re-charge their iPhones - I traded charges for chocolate :)
I am still looking for a better manual for the camera. I still don't some of Sony's control names and what it does.
Still very pleased!
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Original Posting: The usual background: I normally use a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR camera (5D) as a recreational camera - not professional, but I sure like to take good photos. I had upgraded from a Nikon D80 a few years ago and really appreciated the full sensor size and the much better low light on the Canon. I also have a Nikon Coolpix AW100 underwater camera when I need something rugged and really water proof.
But taking a 4 pound camera on backpack adventures was too much, so I have been looking for a light weight camera that could give me as close to the same capabilities as the Canon 5D - a high standard.
I have purchased and used a dozen or so of the point-and-shoot cameras. Canon Elf, Powershot, Nikon, Lumix, etc. They are not good enough for any of my serious photos - due to both the lack of viewfinder in bright scenes, the crappy controls for exposure/aperture/ISO shooting, and the compression artifacts on the captured scene. The Nikon Coolpix AW100 doesn't take great photos, but better than an iPhone. They just don't do raw. And you need real glass to take good pictures. I will continue to bring my waterproof Nikon camera with me for those really wet experiences, but I wanted something more than a point and shoot and less than a 4 pound professional camera.
I wanted a camera that gave me a viewfinder - outside the LCD screens of all cameras just doesn't work (additionally I need glasses to see up close and it was not easy taking outdoor shots and needing to put on my glasses to see the silly screen - or not see the screen in bright sunlight). I wanted light weight, RAW capture, full manual control in addition to shutter priority/aperture priority. I wanted one that could do decent video and focus during the shot while zooming.
I wanted one that I could recharge via USB (I bring solar power with me for iPad GPS use - I have power to spare).
I wasn't sure if interchangeable lenses was important. A good built in would have been OK. Flash? Well OK if it was there - most built in are marginal at best, but in the back country it might be the only thing I had.
So I settled on the Sony A6000. I went ahead and got two lenses - the starter lenses (16-50mm and a 55-210mm). I also got an extra Sony brand battery (more on this later).
Canon 5D: 3.75 pounds (70-300mm lens, one extra battery)
Sony A6000: 1.7 pounds (55-210mm lens, one extra battery) - but I will probably bring both lenses which brings it to 2.0 pounds and I will also have 16-50mm lens.
So a 2 pound saving in weight - an expensive 2 pounds, but you also get the flash, a wifi remote control to an iPad, real video, and with an app the ability to do time lapse capture. And it is smaller. Much smaller.
While I continue to think that the pictures from the 5D are better (especially in low light), the A6000 gives it a run for the money. The 5D can do spectacular video, but the 5D doesn't do autofocus while capturing and I can's see the back panel in daylight making the 5D almost useless for amateur event capturing. A6000 wins hands down for video for me - I focus on still images with an occasional video thrown in.
I was concerned about not having through the lens SLR viewing, but honestly I like the A6000 just as much. The on-screen viewing and information is all I need to know the framing, the expressions, if I have focus and how the exposure is going to turn out. The resultant pictures are always much better than what I see through the viewfinder. This is a big win for me. (I do wish there was an easy control to turn the big screen on/off - I want to conserve power so I use viewfinder only, but there are times I want to see the screen - the menu seems to be the only way to get there. Minor bitch. If Sony cares they could fix it in software.)
The A6000 has a reasonable number placement and number of on-camera controls. Menu keys and quick access seems OK - not perfect, but nothing is. I don't use it in auto mode - strictly A, S or M mode and they work just fine. I didn't buy it to be a point and shoot. Pictures have been stunning so far. I will know more after my extended hike, but so far I'm pleased. WAY better than any other point and shoot I have owned.
So there are some short term problems - I am an Apple Mac user so the software from Sony does not work on the latest operating system so I need to remove the SD card. So what -- it's what I do most of the time with all my cameras. Apple has not released the software to read A6000 raw images so I only use the fine compression JPEG. Actually better than I expected, I will go to raw when the Mac software is upgraded.
The A6000 does seem to really drain batteries. My 5D lasts a good week on a single charged battery and I don't think A6000 will make it through a full day - but again I will know more after my extended trip. I purchased some spare cheap batteries, but the A6000 rejected them with a menu screen saying they were incompatible. I paid three times more for the Sony official battery - it worked. I also got an external charger - a good purchase.
The A6000 has built in WiFi (no GPS) for communication to iPad/iPhones (and probably other devices). It's cool to control and see what the camera sees and move pictures to a better display. Of course you can also take pictures with the iPad. Could just be a toy, but I like it. It is not that easy to set it up - but OK. It's an ease of use thing...
I am not impressed with the placement of the SD card in the battery case. It is right against the door so my fat fingers have trouble grabbing the card. I fixed it by putting a tag on the card so I can pull/hold it. That fixed it. Just a design flaw with an easy fix.
I have noted that the sensor seems to attract dirt. I have needed to clear the sensor more than once. (I could see the dust footprint in images.) I don't know if the static properties of the sensor are not resistant to dust or the placement of the sensor or I'm just a dirty person. I have not had this problem with the 5D. I'm going to the dusty grand canyon next week and it will be a real test.
I'm pleased with the two lenses. I might get another prime lens, but I'm a bit worried about the dirt aspects. I am pleased the A6000 has interchangeable lenses. I do wish the A6000 was a bit more weather resistant, but I would trade light weight for the weather aspects. I would like to get rid of the back display - the viewfinder works just fine for me. I turn the back display off anyway to save batteries - and put it in airplane mode.
I have not tested the flash.
I really like the time lapse application that you can buy from the Sony App store. That looks like fun. I wish it could do 2fps capture, it seems to be minimum of 3 seconds per capture. It claims 1/second, but that didn't work for me. I probably have some setting wrong.
Sony uses strange language on their menu items. Probably all camera manufactures use non-standard language - so I will need to buy some book to explain what they mean. The users guide is useless IMHO. (i.e. DRO/Auto HDR -- Compensates automatically for brightness and contrast. - so what does THAT mean?)
All in all I'm very pleased with the A6000. I will continue to bring my 5D and my Nikon Coolpix AW100 underwater camera when I don't need to go super light weight, but the A6000 can capture great images.
If I learn more after a few hiking adventures I'll share that in the future.
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Update: I took the A6000 on a 10 day Grand Canyon adventure - three days off the grid with no power-up. It's not a fair test since I had both the A6000 and a 5D. I primarily used the A6000 for video and time lapse capture. The 5D became my primary camera for still pictures - I really like that camera. [I will update this again after a 7 night off the grid hike in July with ONLY the A6000.]
Battery Life: What I learned is that the A6000 in time lapse mode is power hungry. It will record about 2 to 3 hours of time-lapse and the battery will be drained. Good news is a 10W solar panel brings it back to life in a short time - few hours. I never ran out of juice with this combo while taking MANY time-lapse sequences. Your battery mileage may vary, this is NOT the reason I got the A6000 - I got it for still photos in the back country. I will really test that on the next hike.
Dirt: I was pleased that with all the dust encountered I did not have a serious problem with sensor dust. After coming back I did a quick test and found a few dust areas, but within acceptable range. I will bring either a small can of air or a air duster with me to clean the sensor after a few lens changes. There is a sensor cleaning mode - hard to find in the menus - but I can't tell if that or the air duster is cleaning the sensor. I think it is a problem for Sony to address in the future.
Ruggedness: This is not a really rugged camera. The camera was mounted on a tripod and a wind gust slammed the camera into the ground - an area with small rocks. The lens hit first and was damaged beyond repair. Just a slight bending of the adjustment rings and it was history - no glass damage. The little motors that move the lens in/out just can't overcome the -now- oval (not round) rings. I now have a nice paper weight for home (PS I registered the camera with my homeowners policy after purchase and was given a full replacement - no deductible. Thank you State Farm.) The body was not hurt. Bottom line, these are more delicate lenses than you find on a good professional SLR. I suspect the same for water / moisture - not that rugged.
Viewfinder: The viewfinder is very acceptable. No where near as good as an SLR, but still acceptable. Framing and focus works great (my biggest concern) and the exposure information is better than an SLR (Sony calls it a zebra display). It is hard to see very dark regions of the scene and it does blow out the highlights - not like looking through glass. I would like image review to be on the screen and not in the viewfinder. It looks like I'm going to turn off image review in order to keep the viewfinder live between shots - I will miss this confirmation review - but turning off the viewfinder for 2 seconds after each shot means I might miss the next shot.
Manual Controls: Hey, it works! I can quickly get to all the needed settings - ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed, exposure, manual/shutter priority/aperture priority, etc. in a quick and simple way. Yes, it takes some use to learn where they are, but it works. This was one of my big concerns - I wanted a real camera that can take the difficult and challenging exposure shots. The A6000 meets my needs!
Image quality: This is the reason I got the camera. The sensor is not as good as the 5D by a long shot. At ISO6400 there is noticeable grain. Not unacceptable, but not the clean low light performance of a full frame camera (that costs 4X). I also notice color fringing - well the lenses are not prime. [Note to self - get a prime lens.] I'm shooting RAW again (Apple updated the software) so I'm pretty pleased with the image quality. I don't hesitate bringing the A6000 when I want to get good pictures - especially given the light weight/size of the camera.
Bottom line: I'm still pleased. It is head and shoulders above any other point-and-shoot I have used. It does what I want for exposure control. It's not as good as a full-frame sensor SLR, but fits a great spot in my image capture tool lineup.
Someone asked an interesting question "Is this a good starter camera?" I think the answer is yes, but only if you are planning to learn about photography and plan on spending significant time to grow into the camera and what it takes to capture complex images.
More to come after 7 days of backpacking end of July...
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