Sony a6400 review: a good camera braked by an aging design

If you had to solve a CAPTCHA challenge every time you opened an app on your phone, would you still use this app? That's what I felt when I used Sony's new a6400, where navigating through pages of settings and submenus to change essential settings makes a mirror-less, otherwise solid, disappointing and frustrating camera use.

The Sony a6400 follows the a6300, three years old, and shares some features with the more expensive a6500. It has many strengths, such as reliable image quality and a fast hybrid AF system, but these positive features are hidden under a plinth of intricate menus and awkward ergonomics. Everything that is great about this camera is hidden under a menu, overshadowed by warnings, or nonexistent.

The main features are real-time AF focus with eye and tracking, an updated image processor and a 180-degree rotating touch screen. At $ 899 for the case alone, at $ 999 for the lens of the 16-50mm kit or at $ 1,999 with a 18-135mm zoom lens, the a6400 has the assets to be the perfect compact engine for any amateur of photography or vlogger, but he lacks the execution.

Using the a6400 in recent weeks, I discovered that it was not quite the revolutionary compact mirror-less camera I was hoping for, but rather a harmless camera with some great qualities.

The majority of improvements in the a6400 revolve around its updated hybrid AF system with more focus points; total of 425 contrast points and 425 phase detection points, surpassing the 169 contrast AF points of the a6300 and a6500. It can even hold Sony's best full-frame cameras, covering 84% of the image area, compared to 93% on the Alpha A9.

Sony claims a focus acquisition of 0.02 seconds, and I can confirm that the autofocus of the a6400 is really fast, reacting immediately to half-pressing the trigger and correctly identifying its targets most of the time.

Apart from the number of focus points, the new AF system of the a6400 is essentially based on the new AF functions in real time to the eye and AF on tracking. Real-time tracking on the a6400 uses Sony's algorithms and artificial intelligence to recognize topics and track them.

Similarly, "AF on Real-Time Eyes" follows the subject's eyes and body using AI, and will be updated to help animals later this year. Both functions are useful in portrait photography, in which one model can be moved progressively or fully to another area of ​​the frame.

The real-time auto focus function of the eyes meant that I simply had to follow my subject with the camera, making sure that the picture was framed as I liked, rather than having to re-focus each time and adjust the settings if my subject ever moved.

But before I can do anything, I have to activate the features, which are not enabled by default. It should not be so difficult, right? After browsing fourteen pages of fixed photography settings (do not worry, there are 14 more pages just for the video) using only the navigation buttons, I could enable automatic autofocus, eye and subject tracking throughout the frame. It's March 2019 and Sony still refuses to let the touch screens on their Alpha cameras work with the system menus, for unknown reasons that I can not understand.

If you're wondering about image quality, it's solid. This has not changed for some time in Sony's Alpha cameras. The a6400 is no exception and uses much of the same image sensor as the a6500. Bright colors, objects and subjects look crisp, ISO sensitivity can be set between 100 and 32,000 in native mode, with an extended ISO sensitivity of up to 102,400 for variation scenarios. Most of the shots look great in my test scenes, but the quality drops significantly around 12,800 ISO, where the details seem stained. The effect is attenuated with RAW images compared to JPEG images (RAW images are always better suited for editing), but this is to be expected because of the additional data available in the file.

Videographers should be aware that the a6400 is not the best suited for video, despite its support for S-Log 2, S-Log 3, and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). There are also 4K 24/30 fps shooting modes and they look great, but there is no headphone jack – there is only one micro port – which is disappointing and essential if you want to check the audio status of the video you are recording.

In addition, the a6400's SD card slot only supports speeds up to UHS-I, which means that if you have newer UHS-II SD cards, you will not be able to write files as fast. than the previous, not the last.

If you hold down the shutter button in 11 fps continuous shooting mode, you will get a buffer of 116 images in standard JPEG format or 46 compressed RAW images when writing to the SD card. Having a small buffer did not interfere with shooting, but compared to the 300 and 107 RAW pads of the a6500, it's a lot less.

Plus, the real highlight of the coffin for the video recording capabilities of the a6400 is its lack of image stabilization in the body. This is the biggest difference between the a6400 and the a6500, and it's really something that deserves to be taken into account when choosing between the two. The lack of stabilization in the device means that you will have to rely on your lens and its own stabilization functions, which is fortunately the case for about three dozen Sony lenses.

A persistent problem is another problem that I have encountered while recording a video. If you simply pan with the camera, you will get a crisp 4K image, with a jelly-like motion.

The 921k's dot-resolution display on the a6400 is bright, crisp, and capable of moving 180 degrees to the selfie position, but I have more than a few blunders to do. Besides the lack of touch control in the menus, the screen knocks in the viewfinder's eyecup when you try to get the 180 degree position. You can work around this problem by removing the eyecup, but you are now able to lose it.

The design of the hinge also makes it difficult to use the a6400 for vlogging. Videographers often place a shotgun microphone on the shoe mount of their cameras. If you flip the screen up, it means that the microphone completely blocks the screen, thus rendering it useless. The solution to this is a hinged screen with a hinge mounted on the side of the camera, but Sony will then rethink the microphone and USB inputs, which are currently on the left side of the camera.

Also, if you want to use the a6400 primarily for video, I recommend setting the "C1" programmable button on your video recording button. It is located right next to the trigger and is much less annoying than the default option that is placed in the middle of the handle.

A compact housing is one of the advantages of a mirrorless camera in DSLR projectors. But the problem is that lenses add weight, leaving you with a camera weight disproportionate, with a grip even more reduced. Ultimately, the a6400 will work better with smaller lenses, such as the E 10-18 mm F4 OSS super wide angle lens or the Vario-Tessar T E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS compact zoom lens.

Otherwise, if you choose a heavier accessory like the $ 2,200 FE 2.8 / 16-35 GM Zoom with which I'm testing the camera, the small grip of the a6400 will seem too uncomfortable to take advantage of the extra weight in glass. Most of the camera's handles are occupied by buttons, which leaves little space for the user's thumb and, in the case of a person wearing a glove, none. For myself and some of my colleagues on the video team, the little grip of the A6400 was just oversized and uncomfortable.

During one shot, I realized that attaching a claw flash and that the zoom lens was attached at the same time proved to be even more cumbersome. So I ordered the bigger lens and switched to a Carl Zeiss 24mm f / 1.8 wide-angle lens. That's where the a6400 shines, mainly because of the weight reduction. Now it is possible to hold the camera with one hand and really feel like having a tool both powerful and manageable.

On the plus side, the a6400's case is moisture and dust-proof – like the a6300 and a6500 front – but only Sony's large and expensive lenses are also waterproof, so you have to check your goals before leaving. to shoot in the next shower.

Battery life is another problem, though. The a6400 uses the same battery as the three-year-old a6300, so it's only rated at 360 shots, which I found accurate because it died in the middle of a shoot with friends. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to find inexpensive third-party versions of this battery. I recommend that you get some spare parts to keep in your bag.

The Sony A6400 is a well-equipped camera with a solid image quality and a favorable price considering its features. I was impressed by the real-time tracking of AF capabilities and tune-ups, but it's far from perfect. Some of the new features of the a6400 (such as real-time tracking) are particularly interesting for a camera of this size and price, but its flaws like the screen and the menu system are nuisances that the prevent being fooled

It's really as if Sony had reached the end of the line with what he could do with this camera design. The a6400 has much the same physical design as the NEX cameras that debuted nearly 10 years ago, and it struggles to adapt to larger lenses or new shooting styles. video, such as vlogging.

Sony has updated the technology of its APS-C cameras, including the autofocus system, but now needs to focus on the camera and the user interface. If all goes well, then there may be the ultimate camera for photography and video at the enthusiastic level.

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