Sony A6000 mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera almost has it all

For the successor to its Editors’ Choice-winning Alpha NEX-6, Sony improves the autofocus system, image quality, and design, and delivers a great burst rate for the money.

Coupled with the compact — compared to a dSLR — design and excellent feature set, there’s a lot to like about the Alpha A6000.

While the whole package makes a great impression, though, it’s not best in its price class across the board.

Image quality

The A6000’s JPEG images generally look excellent, though in low light they don’t remain as sharp as photos from some competitors. The new 24MP sensor incorporates the latest gapless microlens technology that most modern sensors now use, coupled with Sony’s latest Bionz X image processor.

Sony Alpha A6000 full-resolution photo samples
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At low ISO sensitivities JPEGs are sharp, with a relatively broad tonal range and good color in the default settings. The neutral setting does render more accurate colors, since it doesn’t push the saturation and contrast as much, but the default Creative Style doesn’t shift hues. Once you hit about ISO 800, all but the most in-focus edges in JPEG images get soft and smeary. That said, I did get printable images as high as ISO 12800, and Sony manages to keep color noise under control quite well. If you shoot raw there’s a reasonable amount of recoverable shadow and highlight detail, at least at low to medium ISO sensitivities.

It’s hard to make direct comparisons with the NEX-6 because the additional resolution adds a level of visible detail. However, I think the cheaper Nikon D3300 outperforms it starting at around ISO 800, as does the slightly more expensive D5300; the Nikon’s OLPF-free sensor simply preserves sharpness a lot better as noise and processing increases.

The video looks quite good, with solid control over artifacts, and the built-in stereo mic is surprisingly clear and warm.

Performance

The big improvement in the A6000 over its predecessor is the ability to shoot continuously at 11fps with autofocus and autoexposure, for at least 50 JPEGs or 22 raw (at 23 it slows a lot, though). That’s one the best I’ve seen in this price class, including similarly priced dSLR kits like the Canon EOS Rebel T5i. Yes, Nikon zips past it, but that’s with a far-lower-resolution, 1-inch sensor.