Anyone using the Sony a6000

[Simon Denny]

As the title says, anyone using the Sony a6000

I have been researching this camera and I'm very close to getting one but I have a few questions about this camera.

AVCHD: how bad is this on the a6000
Overheating: how bad is this on the a6000 and what's my max run time before this happens.
The kit lens: how good or bad is this on the a6000.

Hope someone can provide some feed back.

[Richard D. George]

I use one, but not for video. I have the Sony/Zeiss 16-70 f/4 with OSS. This is much better than the kit lens, though there are differing reviews of the 16-70. It is not a cheap lens, at around $1,000. I also have the FE 70-200 f/4 OSS G. I use the a6000 for sports, because of the fast AF and the 11 fps.

Battery life is bad for the A6000 (and for the A7s as well). The good news is that the batteries are the same, so I have dual chargers and carry a bunch of batteries, whether I am shooting stills, or video, or both.

For video, I suggest waiting a few more weeks. The widely rumored replacement (for the A6000) should be announced soon, and delivery should be as early as July. It would be likely that the replacement will have XAVC-S codec, and perhaps internal 4K.

The replacement for the a6000 is rumored to have even faster AF (for shooting stills) and more weather-proofing.

The existing RX10 should be much better for video than the existing a6000. The RX10 has a really good lens and built-in ND, and the XAVC-S codec. It is also fairly well set-up for audio, using an external mic.

[Tony So]

I'm using a6000 mainly for video. AVCHD is ok for the work that I do with minor grading.

As for overheating, it tends to get pretty hot with native Sony lenses. But I mostly use it with metabones EF to E adapter and it never overheated with over a hour of continuous recording.

[Simon Denny]

Thanks Richard, yeah rumours are around of a a6000 ??? will wait and see. I have a RX10 which is fantastic.

Thanks Tony, I don't know why the a51000 has XAVCS and the a6000 missed out, very strange. After many hours of net surfing on the a6000 I have come to the conclusion that I really need the A7S or perhaps an updated a6000 if this ever comes out.

[Richard D. George]

Simon:

What features / capabilities are you seeking?

Do you shoot only video, or a combination of stills and video?

[Simon Denny]

The Sony a7s has the features I'm after. Cheers

[Mervyn Jack]

I am, I've used it as my main camera for 2 weddings and love the pictures. It has a 30 minute recording limit, if it doesn't overheat. As I usually have a nice heavy tripod plate on it it seems to be a heatsink and I usually get 30 mins. However I would not trust it unattended. Without the plate I have had it stop recording anything from 8 mins to 30 mins.
The last wedding I did it stopped the recording at a critical moment when I wasn't looking ( was swinging my safety camera to another view (bad idea)). But It may have been the memory card I was using, a Samsung EVO microSD. So I purchased a Lexar 600x which has a much faster recording speed.

For me the images noise levels etc are acceptable and I don't need a mic socket on the camera as I get sound from other sources and sync in post.

Here is a video I made using the a6000 of the Sydney streets at night and Vivid light festival a couple of nights ago.

YouTube (Short URL)

This is the first time I have recorded in 25p, I usually record 50i to match my handycams. I was very happy with the 25p. Used kit lenses 18-50 and 55-210, 1/50s, Auto ISO, manual Aperture and mostly auto focus. Looks great on my 60" plasma.

I would be really happy with a dedicated video camera version of this camera (with audio inputs) for long recording times.

[Simon Denny]

Thanks Mervyn, the a6000 looks great, also seeing some familiar areas really shows how the camera is behaving.

I'm backing off from the a6000 due to the overheating issue and lack of the XAVCs codec.

[Charles W. Hull]

Originally Posted by Simon Denny

Thanks Mervyn, the a6000 looks great, also seeing some familiar areas really shows how the camera is behaving.

I'm backing off from the a6000 due to the overheating issue and lack of the XAVCs codec.

Good move. I have both an a6000 and an A7II that I use almost exclusively for stills. I have done a little video with both cameras, and actually the 6000 outperforms the A7II. The problem with the A7II is terrible aliasing, and the a6000 is pretty normal with low aliasing and moire. But the AVCHD codec clearly limits the a6000; when the A7II does give clean video with XAVCs it is really nice.