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Sony A6300


c230k
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Who is buying the NEW Sony A6300?

 

Would like to use this thread for those buying this camera and their impression after buying. So the rest of us can plan on buying and give our A6000 a rest. Comparing the A6300 to the A6000 should be very interesting and fun. I am still not sure if I want to make the move just yet, but sure is tempting!

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1222744-REG/sony_ilce6300_b_alpha_a63000_mirrorless_digital.html

"Click on Video"

http://bcove.me/jmn94jh7

 

Tom :cool:

Edited by c230k
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If I was a betting man, I would have won. Would be nice to get the first batch

and not have to wait, the reviews look good and the A6000 will still be a great backup. Would be nice if the Gariz half case would fit the A6300.

 

 

Tom :cool:

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Not that I expect to have a budget or a good argument to the war dept. to upgrade, but I'd be curious if they are addressing the overheating sensor issue of the a6000.

 

It reared it's ugly head again yesterday - while in a helicopter flying over extinct volcanoes.

 

Now that I'm aware of it, I've been trying to keep to 1-2 minute clips at most with stills in between - but 1hr into the flight it shut down and it took a few minutes to get rid of the overheat message.

 

But the video I got looks pretty awesome thru the eyepiece!

 

(And the experience bordered on religious - a lot of money very well spent I must say - Kauai is quite a place!)

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I should follow up that my evil plan currently is to "accidentally" dunk the missus' Pentax while kayaking tomorrow - then "suggesting" she should use my a6000 and I'll just get another one - that way we can share lenses and it'll be more efficient. "Hey honey, I just noticed there's a new model - I think I'll just get that instead..."

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I should follow up that my evil plan currently is to "accidentally" dunk the missus' Pentax while kayaking tomorrow - then "suggesting" she should use my a6000 and I'll just get another one - that way we can share lenses and it'll be more efficient. "Hey honey, I just noticed there's a new model - I think I'll just get that instead..."

 

You forgot to add the evil "Bwahahahaha...." laugh. :)

 

 

Nice hands-on by Chris at the Camera Store site. Always enjoy his honest assessment of plusses and negatives.

 

 

Dave

Edited by pierces
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I've now seen at least two video tests in 4K mode by reviewers who have stated that they had no overheating problems. Sounds good for video shooters - I suppose in a very hot climate in the summer with a lot of video shooting it might still pop up, but it sounds less prone to do so than the A6000. As someone who never shoots video, it never bothered me!

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Today, my used 70-200/4 arrived. Looks to be in good shape.

My a6300 is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

 

Not sure when I'll really get to use it all. I have a paid engagement shoot this weekend... Not the best time to test new gear, and I assume there isn't even raw support yet for the a6300. But maybe I'll bring it with me and take a few shots with it. (My go-to for engagement shoots is my d750 with 85/1.8)

 

Weather has been great... So at some point, hope to give the a6300+70-200 combo a real workout this weekend.

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I should follow up that my evil plan currently is to "accidentally" dunk the missus' Pentax while kayaking tomorrow - then "suggesting" she should use my a6000 and I'll just get another one - that way we can share lenses and it'll be more efficient. "Hey honey, I just noticed there's a new model - I think I'll just get that instead..."

Pentax survived... drat. :-(

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Pentax survived... drat. :-(

 

You forgot - the trick to 'accidentally' getting around Pentax's weather sealing is to 'accidentally' drop the camera into the water while you were changing lenses. Nice open lens mount will always defeat any form of weather sealing!

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Top Ten New Features of Sony a6300

 

http://briansmith.com/top-ten-new-sony-a6300-features/

 

Tom :cool:

 

His list:

1. Improved 4D FOCUS

 

Big thumbs up. It definitely is stellar.

 

2. Silent Shooting Mode

I tried it, it definitely works.

 

3. UHD 4K Video Recording in Super35 Format

Irrelevant for me. I seldom shoot video and don't have any 4k capable display devices anyway.

Also, the lack of IBIS hampers the video function somewhat. You really need a tripod for decent video.

 

4. Custom Color Profiles and S-Log3 Gamma

I'm not really sure what all that even means. I saw the profiles available. But as a raw shooter, I don't know that they really impact stills at all. Seems more like a video improvement.

 

5. Improved XGA Tru-Finder

Yes, big improvement. And he cites the 120fps mode, for extra smooth viewfinder. But can someone tell me, why wouldn't you always use the 120fps viewfinder? You need to switch to the 120 mode. But is there ANY reason not to use it?

 

6. Improved 24.2MP Exmor CMOS Sensor and BIONZ X Processor

There may be a very slight improvement in image quality, but not enough to really upgrade from the A6300. The big benefit is the faster speed, which is what allows live stream at 8fps.

 

7. Zebra and Gamma Display Assist

Another video improvement... doesn't really affect me.

 

8. Time Code and User Bit Settings

Video again...

 

9. Auto ISO with Minimum Shutter Speed

My Nikon already had this. This is a huge feature for those who shoot in A-priority. Without this feature, if I was shooting sports for example, I absolutely had to use M-mode. Because I wanted to control the depth of field, but I also had to make sure the camera didn't set the shutter speed too low. This lets you set a shutter speed floor, to be used in Aperture and Program priority modes. It really makes it much easier to stick in A-mode all the time.

 

10. External Battery Power Option

Sony a6300 can also be powered via a USB connection to a computer or external battery for extended shooting when shooting video or time lapse. This connection can also be used to charge the battery.

 

Interesting... but primarily a video benefit. I didn't really know about this improvement.

 

Other improvements that are more important in my mind:

- Continuous eye-AF

- An extra custom function button essentially

- HFR video. I don't do a lot of video, but the super slow motion video is nifty.

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5. Improved XGA Tru-Finder

Yes, big improvement. And he cites the 120fps mode, for extra smooth viewfinder. But can someone tell me, why wouldn't you always use the 120fps viewfinder? You need to switch to the 120 mode. But is there ANY reason not to use it?

 

I would guess the biggest reason NOT to use it all the time is to conserve battery life when it's not necessary. For example, if I'm just on a normal travel trip, walking around a city snapping buildings and people, the refresh of the EVF isn't crucial to getting the shot, so I'd probably stick with the 60f mode to conserve battery life, with brightness dialed down for the same reason, and an aggressive sleep setting. When I'm out shooting birds in flight, the higher refresh rate will be preferred for tracking/panning and such, so the increased battery usage will be acceptable to get the smoother view.

 

 

9. Auto ISO with Minimum Shutter Speed

My Nikon already had this. This is a huge feature for those who shoot in A-priority. Without this feature, if I was shooting sports for example, I absolutely had to use M-mode. Because I wanted to control the depth of field, but I also had to make sure the camera didn't set the shutter speed too low. This lets you set a shutter speed floor, to be used in Aperture and Program priority modes. It really makes it much easier to stick in A-mode all the time.

 

Agreed - lovely addition to this line of camera. From what I read, it has the ability not only to choose a shutter speed floor, but also to select a 'faster''slower' 1-over-shutter average as well which will adjust by focal length used - which could be nice when using a long zoom lens like 150-600mm on LA-EA3 adapter...the ability to set 'faster' where it might use a 1/2x shutter setting - 1/300 at the 150mm end but jumping up to 1/1200 at the 600mm end, would be a nice mode to use.

 

 

Other improvements that are more important in my mind:

- Continuous eye-AF

- An extra custom function button essentially

 

I agree with you on the video stuff - I have no interest in video so those top-10 wouldn't have any sway on me at all. Some of the ones that are mentioned above are certainly nice on my list - the improved tracking AF, AF sensitivity, slight sensor improvements, extra custom buttons, extra features that can now be added to those custom buttons, shutter floor in Auto ISO, and improved compatibility with LA-EA3...those are all biggies. I also consider the following to be nice improvements (all comparing to the A6000):

 

- AF adds a specific mode to choose CDAF (179pts) or PDAF (425 points) with the focus selection mode.

 

- Expandable Flexible Spot focus mode - allowing nearby focus points to activate if subject strays out of selected point.

 

- Bracketing options expand to 3/5/ or 9 frames, with 9 frames at 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, or 1 EV intervals

 

- FPS modes expanded to 11, 8, 6, or 3 (A6000 didn't have the 8fps mode)

 

- MR modes now accessible right on the dial

 

- Beefened lens mount for heavier lenses

 

- Bright Monitoring mode - allows a slow shutter speed to be used in exposure simulation on screen or EVF for display purposes only to help when composing in extreme dark conditions. This can also be set to a custom button so it can be easily accessed when needed.

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Here I sit looking at my recently arrived Sony A6300. At first glance, it’s nearly indistinguishable from the A6000 sitting next to it. At second glance, the slightly textured finish of the magnesium alloy body and the return of the AF/MF switch just under the mode dial do supply some visual cues. Looking at the top plate seals it since there is a distinct A63000 label. So, if it is virtually the same camera, why did I buy it?

 

Turning it on, spending 20 minutes in the menu and playing with autofocus provided at least half of the answer. This is not a technical leap like the A6000 was when it first appeared but it has solid improvements that based on personal needs or preferences, may or may not justify the $400 difference between it and the still-available A6000. The justification depends a lot on how and what you shoot. If you use your camera for video at all, it’s a done deal since the improvements in that department make it one of the most capable video cameras in its price range. If not, your decision may be a bit more difficult. Not because the A6300 is in anyway lame, but because the A6000 is still to be considered a fantastic camera.

 

After a couple of days, I’ve compiled a list of the changes (so far) that justify my choice for getting an A6300 and moving the A6000 to the second body position in my travel kit.

 

1. Focus : Autofocus is incredible. 425 phase-detect focus points on the sensor cover most of the frame and allow for vastly improved focus tracking. Face recognition is fast and accurate. Improved eye-AF tracks focus on a subject’s eyes so the face is always in focus. Huge value for weddings and such. One feature I hadn’t heard mentioned but stumbled across in the menu was “AF In Focus Mag.” It allows you to magnify the focus point while in an AF mode other than DMF as you would in manual focus and a half-press on the shutter activates autofocus while remaining zoomed, allowing for a critical focus check. Another pleasant surprise is that the on-sensor phase-detect is now available to my A-mount 16-50 f/2.8 SSM via the LA-EA3 adapter. Focus speed seems little different, if at all, from native lenses. AF-A is disabled, as is DMF and the specific MF setting but manual focus is always available.

 

2. Viewfinder: The A6300 has nearly double the number of pixels as the one in the A6000 and while the difference is noticeable, it isn’t an oh-my-God difference. What is very noticeable is the 120hz refresh on the viewfinder which eliminates image tearing and lag. I’m also happy to see the return of the electronic level as a viewfinder and LCD overlay. Unlike its predecessors that display the last image shot in a rapid (but lagging) slide show during burst shooting, the A6300 offers a real-time live viewfinder display at 8 frames per second with full auto-exposure and focus tracking that makes action shooting much easier. It really brings EVF tech one step closer to eliminating the need for any optical component to the viewfinder beyond letting light in through the lens.

 

3. Silent Shutter Mode: is truly silent. Its potential for use in a solemn situation like wedding ceremonies is pretty awesome. I did some research on the tech behind it and found an interesting article related to the A7x series cameras that warn of the time it takes to read out the image once the electronic second shutter is triggered. If panning aggressively or if a subject were to move suddenly an effect similar to the “jell-o legs” in CMOS video may manifest. Concerned, I went out and did some testing and found that though setting the shutter to silent limits burst shooting to “Low”, even aggressive panning didn’t distort vertical lines in any of the situations I tried. My guess is that the electronic second curtain terminates the exposure very quickly and the 1/20 sec. or so for readout and reset for a single frame, while taking a little extra time, is done after the exposure is recorded and the distortion doesn’t come into play as it does in video.

 

4. Build: Not a tank but definitely, at least, an IED-resistant Humvee. Reminiscent of the NEX-7, actually. The magnesium alloy feels solid (but so does the A6000’s polycarbonate) and its pebbled texture is somehow, “comfortable”. The grip now has a slight indentation at the bottom on the lens side right where your middle and ring fingers rest. The indentation on the grip sharpens the ridge a bit and makes it slightly easier for my medium-sized hand to hold (IMHO). The body is 4mm thicker front to back than the A6000 and along with the extra 2 ounces of heft makes the camera feel a little more substantial but unless you have a body in each hand, the additional weight isn’t really noticeable. Except for the aforementioned AF/MF switch, the controls are identical.

 

5. Sensor: Another evolutionary rather than revolutionary list of improvements. The shallower photosites made possible by using copper rather than aluminum in the sensor circuitry should improve light gathering a bit (demonstrated + 1 stop-ish) and compatibility with wide-angle lenses (theoretically). Copper wire is a better conductor than aluminum which may explain the much-reduced or even eliminated overheating with video that has been reported. (I suspect something buried in the extra 4mm thickness of the body may play a part in that improvement as well). The big thing is the phase-detect autofocus array and associated image analysis for tracking and overall speed. Of all the improvements, this could be the One Big Thing when looking for a reason to choose the A6300 over its older sibling.

 

That’s it for now. I’ll be doing some shooting this weekend and will post some results.

 

Dave

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Agreed - lovely addition to this line of camera. From what I read, it has the ability not only to choose a shutter speed floor, but also to select a 'faster''slower' 1-over-shutter average as well which will adjust by focal length used - which could be nice when using a long zoom lens like 150-600mm on LA-EA3 adapter...the ability to set 'faster' where it might use a 1/2x shutter setting - 1/300 at the 150mm end but jumping up to 1/1200 at the 600mm end, would be a nice mode to use.

 

Correct, it does have the "faster" option as well. I use them for unstabilized lenses.... Going with the 1/fl rule if I have a stabilized lens, but faster if the lens isn't stabilized.

 

 

 

- AF adds a specific mode to choose CDAF (179pts) or PDAF (425 points) with the focus selection mode.

 

I haven't figured out how to make that choice. Have you seen how to do it?

 

 

- Expandable Flexible Spot focus mode - allowing nearby focus points to activate if subject strays out of selected point.

 

I used it for my BIF testing... It works pretty well. You'll love it for how you shoot.

 

 

- FPS modes expanded to 11, 8, 6, or 3 (A6000 didn't have the 8fps mode)

 

 

The irony is that this improvement will cause people to use the A6300 slower than the A6000! Given the choice of 8 fps with live stream, or 11 fps with slideshow.... it's an easy choice. The extra 3 frames per second isn't enough reason to give up a true live view.

 

- MR modes now accessible right on the dial

 

Yup.... I don't use them often, but they are nice to have. I pre-program them for a couple of the jpeg features. Since I usually shoot in RAW, so far I have programmed MR for in-camera HDR.

 

- Bright Monitoring mode - allows a slow shutter speed to be used in exposure simulation on screen or EVF for display purposes only to help when composing in extreme dark conditions. This can also be set to a custom button so it can be easily accessed when needed.

 

Hmm, I didn't know about that one.

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  • 2 weeks later...

To learn more and get all the benefits of the A6300, I bought Gary Fong's video lessons a 5 hour course. A little more expensive compare to his A6000 course, found it fun and very educational on using my new camera. I tried reading but find a video course or youtube better for me.

Have a look.

 

https://www.garyfong.com/products/unleash-power-your-sony-a6300

 

 

Tom :cool:

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I played with the A6300 last night for a few sample shots - with my 70-200mm F4 G OSS lens, and also with the LA-EA3 adapter and my Tamron 150-600mm lens. Focus was spot on and sharp with both, perfect with the e-mount lens, and pretty good with the A-mount lens. If the aperture is stopped down on the A-mount lens, there's a slight delay in the shutter - apparently A-mount lenses will always focus wide open, unlike E-mount lenses - so when it's time to press the shutter, the lens must first stop down to chosen aperture and then fire shutter...the delay is small, maybe 1/10 second, but definitely noticeable compared to the instant response of the E-mount lens. I set the big Tamron to F6.3 (wide open) at 600mm and there was no delay at all - set it to F10, and there's that 1/10 or so delay. Also - AF-S performance is quite good with the long lens on the LA-EA3 - very close to native performance in feel...unless you ask it to focus from infinity to close focus, or vice-versa. If you're way down at the other end of the focus range and try to get it to refocus at the opposite end when at 400-600mm, the AF can bog down for a few seconds, very slowly trying to work its way to the other end. Once there, it will move around easily and refocus easily and quickly on targets - it's only when using very long lenses and needing to drastically change the focus from the nearest end to the longest end. When shooting at 600mm and mostly distant targets, it definitely behooves to set the focus limiter on the lens.

 

Can't wait to really try it out for a full day and good light- I had 30 minutes after work and before dinner to catch a few test snaps in the yard just before the sun went down - so nothing inspiring to share...just a first test.

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I played with the A6300 last night for a few sample shots - with my 70-200mm F4 G OSS lens, and also with the LA-EA3 adapter and my Tamron 150-600mm lens. Focus was spot on and sharp with both, perfect with the e-mount lens, and pretty good with the A-mount lens. If the aperture is stopped down on the A-mount lens, there's a slight delay in the shutter - apparently A-mount lenses will always focus wide open, unlike E-mount lenses - so when it's time to press the shutter, the lens must first stop down to chosen aperture and then fire shutter...the delay is small, maybe 1/10 second, but definitely noticeable compared to the instant response of the E-mount lens. I set the big Tamron to F6.3 (wide open) at 600mm and there was no delay at all - set it to F10, and there's that 1/10 or so delay. Also - AF-S performance is quite good with the long lens on the LA-EA3 - very close to native performance in feel...unless you ask it to focus from infinity to close focus, or vice-versa. If you're way down at the other end of the focus range and try to get it to refocus at the opposite end when at 400-600mm, the AF can bog down for a few seconds, very slowly trying to work its way to the other end. Once there, it will move around easily and refocus easily and quickly on targets - it's only when using very long lenses and needing to drastically change the focus from the nearest end to the longest end. When shooting at 600mm and mostly distant targets, it definitely behooves to set the focus limiter on the lens.

 

Can't wait to really try it out for a full day and good light- I had 30 minutes after work and before dinner to catch a few test snaps in the yard just before the sun went down - so nothing inspiring to share...just a first test.

 

Can you use EFC with that lens? I found that with adapted lenses, it can't actually stop down fast enough if I don't disable the electronic first curtain.

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