The last in a fairly long line of small mirrorless cameras have arrived, it’s the Sony A6600. Following the steps of the previous A6 series, it brings a lot of small improvements on the table alongside a couple of big ones.
This series of cameras share a long love history with most of the YouTube scene, being able (at least in the last few generations) to deliver a cheap and reliable 4K videos while offering a good post-production workflow thanks to S-Log as well as some amazing low-light capabilities typically associated with all members of Sony’s lineup. Jason Vong is going to dive in with a first look at the brand new Sony A6600, so let’s dive down with him!
At first look, the camera may seem to inherit the body of its predecessors. It has been a common practice since the A6000 to have a quite similar design and form factor, and if the looks are more or less the same, more than something has changed.
#1 HEADPHONES
A new port has appeared on the A6600! You now have the option to monitor audio through a headphone jack. This has been a long-time request from all of the users of the previous A6 series, and finally, Sony has addressed this flaw.
#2 BATTERIES
Furthermore, the company improved (we hope so at least) the battery life. The A6600, in fact, does not keep the previous battery, the W series, instead it implements the bigger Z series one. We hope it should hit around 2,2x the runtime of the W batteries.
#3 BETTER GRIP
Whatever turns out to be the real duration of these batteries, we have one improvement for sure. The bigger battery requires more space, thus leaving more space for a better grip. On such a small body, this has been a serious issue in the past.
#4 SD CARD (?) AND FILE LIMITS
The A6600 has, unfortunately, only one SD slot. It’s a bummer for all of those that hoped to find a dual slot on the new model, but we’ll have to make do. It’s still unclear what will be the compatibility of the slot, though (UHS-I or UHS-II). We’ll know it as soon as the camera hits the shelves.
Whatever card it may be, there is another great news: the 30 minutes limit is no longer present!
We had almost lost any hope of this happening, but instead, here we are. The camera does not have a thirty-minute limit as it was before. This is a very huge improvement for all of those that shoot events, weddings and work in similar situations when having a long runtime can be a game-changer.
Just think of someone that has to record an interview or any other long-running event. You can have one camera keeping the wide-angle without having the nightmare of rushing to push a button again after 30 minutes.
#5 AUTOFOCUS
It somehow feels like in this iteration Sony has taken upon itself the responsibility of answering the desires of all the customers throughout the years. The recording limit is the tip of the iceberg! The camera still has live video eye-AF, working even when there is a monitor plugged in through the HDMI.
And lo and behold… The internal screen does not turn black! Finally, Sony abandoned this silly function that was only meant to bring customers to upgrade to higher-end models.
#6 NO 60P
So, is this camera perfect? Not by a long shot, but we’re making some strides in the right direction. The 4K60p recording is still off the table. Sony A6600 shooters only have access to 4K30p or 1080p 120fps, just as in the A6300.
#7 NO FEATURES FROM A7R4
Some of the features we hoped could be inherited from the flagship sibling the A7R IV were left out like the double function menu (still and video) or the profile saving on SD cards.
#8 BYE BYE FLASH
We can finally say farewell to the onboard flash. Is it good news? It’s hard to say. Those who use flash would never use the on-board one, and the others, well… they don’t use flash at all. It’s probably for the best, but still, it’s strange once you’re so used to see it all the time.
#9 NO SCREEN DIMMING
This is a problem most folks have always dwell on. When shooting on the previous A6 series, if the camera was set in 4K, you’d have the screen dim down while recording. Why you may ask? Who knows. Finally, this annoying issue (feature?) is gone.
#10 IBIS IS BACK, BABY!
The long-awaited internal image stabilization is finally on the A6600! You can bet that this move from Sony will have a great impact on the pros and cons list of all those who are thinking of buying their first mirrorless when it comes to shooting video.
So, that was a small walkaround of the first ten things that jump at Vong’s eye immediately after looking closely at the A6600. It’s a nice camera, and most of all, it’s a sign that Sony listens. They often ignore, but luckily not this time.
[source: Jason Vong]
Order Link:
Sony Alpha a6600 Mirrorless Digital Camera (B&H)
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