This is the Sony A6500, a 24 megapixel
APS-C sized sensor, interchangeable e-mount lenses,
a viewfinder, a touch panel LCD,
full manual controls. Shoots raw stills and
4k video - pretty much everything I want
packed into a nicely compact body.
At its price point, loved and bought
the A6000 when it was introduced in 2014.
Liked the A6300 when it debuted in 2016.
The A6500 comes with some new features
and a new price point, and this puts it
in a price class with Sony full-frame
models - and considering Sony's full
frame lenses might be your best choice here,
it changes and challenges the full-frame vs.
APS-C decision point. If you'd like to
see a detailed comparison between the
A6300 and the A6500, use the link in the top right
or in the description below, where I link
several related videos about the A6500
and its siblings. According to Sony,
what's new is the touchscreen and in-body
stabilization - more about those in a minute.
For me the real improvement
addresses the A6300's most significant
shortcoming - overheating.
I was curious, so I tested side-by-side.
Although the overheating icon appears at
about the same time, the A6500 continues
to record - at least twice as long as the A6300.
A menu setting - tab six screen two
enables this extension, which I'd leave on
as my default. According to the help
guide, the high setting allows a higher
temperature but may cause low
temperature burns. A tripod is
recommended. After testing,
I think that's an un-necessary warning.
With the high setting, after several
attempts in at 22 degrees Celsius room
I was able to continue shooting for the
62 minutes it took the internal battery to drain.
Then with USB power, the 98 minutes
until a 64 gigabyte card filled up.
Finally the 110 minutes
until the USB power shutdown.
That is a most dramatic improvement
over the A6300. As a result i'm now able
to shoot performances without panicking.
The engineers get a huge thanks for this one.
In high mode the overheating icon, which
appears at 26 minutes and is still
on screen 84 minutes later, is less
a useful warning than a distraction.
It either needs to be recalibrated
for high mode or optionally be removed.
Although slightly larger and heavier than its sibs,
The family resemblance is clear.
I'm enjoying the bigger and more contoured
right hand grip, which keeps my fingers
from blocking the AF illuminator.
It remains small and light,
nicely designed but with some challenged ergonomics.
The screen is flush with the bottom
making it hard to swivel down on a tripod.
The SD card goes in backwards
making it hard to remove. The dual action
controller causes inadvertent mode switches.
It would be nice to have two control dials
for manual shooters. But there are
some improvements. The viewfinder eyecup
is more secure. The custom buttons are
better positioned, and there are now 3,
with plenty of options to simplify access
to my most used features.
The touchscreen, which operates in both
LCD - called touch panel - and the viewfinder
- called touchpad - serves as a focus assist.
These can be individually activated from
the menu. Touch the screen to focus
on an object, then press the shutter to snap.
While shooting video, I can change focus
by touch or dragging my finger, making
rack focus simple. It's a great aid for video.
And touchscreen works even when an
external monitor recorder is connected -
As long as you're in HD mode and the
hdmi info display is off. When the screen
is touched, the focus changes.
"Spot focus" flashes on screen. When focus
is achieved the mode changes from AFC
to manual. Touch the center button,
or the finger icon on screen to return
to the previous focus mode.
The touchpad area can be the whole,
the right half or right corner of the screen.
And it can be separately disabled.
In viewfinder mode it works as detailed in
the manual - but touch can't take photos
or operate the menus unlike most
touch-enabled cameras.
That's disappointing.
There are several other improvements and
new features worth mentioning - like burst speed,
stabilization, slow frame video rates,
bluetooth and a new menu.
The high-speed burst shooting
(manual exposure and focus with fine jpegs)
rattles off 283 shots in 34 seconds -
over eight per second before it hits the buffer.
There's a minor interruption to
the display.Then there's high plus -
30%t faster. It goes for 255 shots
in 23 seconds - better than 11 shots
per second, but slower screen refresh.
the downside of this endurance is the
longer than average recovery time even
with an SDXC you three or 330 cards over
a minute to clear the buffer you can
continue to shoot or use the phone menu
but the main menu is locked out
Sony's embody five access stabilization
is quite wonderful as these handheld
screens illustrate just try using the
expanded view manual focus without it
it's nearly helpless stabilization works
with Sony's optically stabilized lenses
but also provide stabilization for
adapted third-party lenses of course the
proof is in the shooting and I love
blurred pedestrians but of course the
background should be blurred handheld
and I'm not the steadiest guy with
shutter priority and auto ISO shot at
one-fifteen one-ten 161 quarter and one
half second which is five stops more
than the 160th I feel as my usual and
was surprised i tried one second and
even there was lucky on a few shots
video frame rates are found on the snq
slow and quick menu and provide a
variety of frame rates from 120 frames
for
slow motion to one frame per second for
speeded-up action these recordings rhd
not 4k set the record rate which I would
have named the playback rate as it's the
rate the video plays back 24 30 or 60
for the output then set the recording
rate to control the number of frames
recorded per second the combinations
range from five times slow motion when
record is set to 24 frame and rate to
120 frames although most recorded 50
megabits faster rates have lower bid
rates as low as 12 megabits when
recording at 24 120 the other extreme is
60 x quick when record 60 is matched
with one frame
incidentally all of these modes are
silent and although some like 60 and one
frame will record for longer than 2950
they won't record a file that's longer
than 2950 for example 224 frame 120 rate
stops recording at six minutes the
standard HD video recording also has a
120 frame rate and is not silent as a
data rate of 100 megabits it could be
slow to 151 plate at 24 frames than 100
is / 5 gives the data rate of 20
megabits however the SSU mode creates
the effect in camera slowing down
standard footage requires editing
software with the flow feature after
setting the two parameters activate snq
from the movie sm to function and like
standard video recording 24 exposure
modes are available bluetooth on tab 3
screen to connect the camera to a
smartphone or gps location information
which is saved with the photo activate
by turning blue tucson and then pairing
with the phone once paired use lockinfo
link set to connect and retrieved
location data as well as time and
timezone from the phone the viewfinder
is bright and clear press disk to view
the histogram or the horizontal level
for a higher refresh rate use tab to
screen six to move from the standard 60
frame refresh to 120 the LCD which fills
up and
on but doesn't swivel around has its own
customizations with one additional panel
the viewfinder complimentary data screen
easter egg here press fun to make this
screen interactive let me quickly cover
the basics of exposure focus in color if
you'd like a bit more detail try my a
6300 review these features are very
nearly identical quality fine as the
default i recommend extra-fine or raw
raw and JPEG safe fine raw files are
compressed 14-bit 12 when using the
silent shutter there are three shutter
options the default electronic front
with 1-click mechanical front with two
or with electronic front on silent which
is silent to also suppress the focus
sleep turn audio signals off now
completely silent
please use this information with good
intentions
there are five meter mode selected from
the fun menus their standard
multi-pattern matrix center-weighted and
spot with two options standard and large
than entire screen and highlight which
sets exposure based on the brightest
object just perfect for the distillery
life vest and then again sometimes you
do want to blow out the highlights like
the candles that the ravine gold metal
plates dinner
incidentally there are two ways to use
the fun menu highlight and spin the
control wheel or highlight and press the
center button the former is easier but
only the latter sometimes provides the
additional options like white balance
custom set and leaves more of the scene
visible for interactive adjustments good
on-screen feedback for setting shutter
and aperture a meter in manual mode and
the histogram the zebra setting usually
considered a video feature is also a
good exposure setting guide set to 100%
it alerts me when the exposure is over
press the bottom of the control wheel
for easy adjustments a large tents top
range as the illustration in the bottom
right shows
those by default the top dial set the
aperture the control wheel shutter
ranging from bulb available only in
manual 214 thousands so in this scene
were in manual mode in the dark and as
always we turn down the life you can
assign bright monitoring to a custom
button then when it's dark and urine
manual focus press the button so you can
see to focus really useful for long
exposure at night
iso 100 to 25,600 with three extended
range settings to 51.2 is that hi there
grainy mushy and often have a color cast
there's multi-frame iso which combines
several exposures into a single image so
let's see this is iso 51.2 straight and
under the same lighting multi-frame auto
you decide
turn the light up again slightly auto
ISO minimum and maximum can be set all
the way to 51.2 the auto ISO triggering
shutter speed can be set through the
entire shutter speed range from one for
thousands to 30 seconds or choose from
standard fast faster which prefers a
faster shutter speed or slower slow for
higher quality lower ISO here standard
delivers a shutter speed of 1 over 80
iso 12.8 faster one over 320 51.2 slower
one over 20 with 3200 this flexibility
makes auto ISO extraordinarily powerful
and flexible in body pop-up flash died
number six and it tilts up to bounce and
the sony proprietary multi interface /
shoes with the options you need to
control it and wireless slashes three
stops of EV compensation up and down now
some of my screen captures in the
following scenes have maría which
regardless of the settings appears on
the hdmi output but not on the a 6500
LCD or in the images and it only appears
in stills mode not in video with the
super 35 aspect either in HD or 4k
recordings an odd artifact in addition
to touch the regular focus options are
single continuous and automatic which is
single until it detects movement manual
and dynamic manual which allows manual
adjustment after auto setting for
area-wide zone and an inflexible center
spot three sizes a flexible spot and
expandable flexible in case the subject
moves out is the spot lock-on AF with
expandable spot place the spot on the
subject
press the shutter and the focus follows
the subject i actually prefer centerlock
on found on menu tab one screen five
it's a little more clear about what is
following or use touch too
select the subject this feature also
works in video mode and for quick access
I assign it to a custom button which
makes it simpler to activate even while
recording there's an additional option
for video tab to screen to to select
standard or responsive when it's not
racking as quickly as I like in general
focus is fast and accurate as you can
see by the reaction of the focus spots
all across the screen even in low-light
with a high iso and a large aperture
same coverage face detect is also a
focus mode tab one screen 14 on with
registered face priority and smile
shutter when the subjects miles huh
and when the subject takes off her
glasses and smiles yes eight phases can
be saved and rank for priority
you may have trouble registering faces
with glasses last thing and this works
even with face detection off press the
center button to find and focus on the
subjects I or for even more accuracy use
the focus magnifier tab1 screen 13 press
select the spot magnify magnify again
and then focus on the exact spot it's an
option also on-screen 13 called AF
InFocus mag I've designed a custom
button to the focus magnifier for quick
access
there's a button to press and hold for
manual focus customize it to toggle my
preference the same button can
optionally be customized for back focus
adjusting focus in manual displays
expanded view in stills modes anyway
position using the controls i'll expand
again by pressing the center button i
use that custom button to use this focus
aid in video also only one magnification
video modes for white balance you can
set white balance to a preset use
degrees kelvin and you set to capture a
white balance and save it to one of
three custom settings and make further
adjustments 29 steps along the amber
blue
axis 57 long green magenta four
occasions when low light levels tend to
skew the scene to amber use priority set
auto white balance to wait or use
ambience for the opposite effect
this image was taken with a custom white
balance captured at 2800 degrees Kelvin
then with auto white balance standard
ambience and white
these are useful settings to have
especially for food photos in minimally
live bistros although I often use the
white plate as a reference for a custom
white balance as i did a ravine the
creative style menu provides color
presets for a selection of seen types
and image effects which can be
customized for contrast saturation and
sharpness picture effects which are not
compatible with raw provide filters they
range from interesting and useful too
gimmicky and other can't be too hard on
these though i do like watercolor
illustration and HDR painting too
gimmicky we did burst but other modes
include to five and ten second-timers
with three or five shots as well as an
extensive selection of exposure brackets
single and continuous points3 that three
EV up to nine images also white balance
and dynamic range brackets there are no
interval modes although there is a
downloadable app that offers time-lapse
functionality and I don't know is
panorama drive mode or a scene mode
whatever it gets his own mode dial
position and remains the standard to
judge others standard wide for
directions the a 6500 shoots 4k video no
longer such an astounding feature it
shoots at 24 and 30 frame rate 60 is not
supported the only aspect ratio sixteen
by nine the wider DCI cinema standard is
not supported both ntsc and pal are the
24 frame mode is captions as super 35
millimeter on the sensor
this is nearly the same dimension as a
super 35 millimeter motion picture
frames about 23 x 13 millimeters and
it's a larger field of view than the 30
frame internal recordings RX avcs 8-bit
422 color the maximum data rate is 100
megabits and that's 420 430 and the 120
frame HD mode au3 or v30 card is
required for 4k and 120 note that in HD
24 30 and 60 are all super 35 millimeter
however for HD i'd recommend shooting 4k
and using editing software to down rest
it offers both additional flexibility
and higher-quality wherever I shoot
under controlled situations and grab and
run the quality of the footage is
outstanding there are lots of settings
and capabilities i posted a quick start
video if that helps all of the exposure
focus and color settings work in video
mode although a few picture effects do
not and Sony offers one setting that's
not available elsewhere shutter speeds
slower than the frame rates just nice to
have and an auto slow shutter mode which
slows the shutter under low-light
conditions here in program mode exposure
isn't happy at 130th turning auto slow
on sets 120th for an acceptable exposure
we've already looked at zebra fur
exposure but there's also focus peaking
for those who prefer that although a
mono monitor setting is not available
but there are variety of marker settings
center crosshairs aspect ratio guides
and eighty or ninety percent safety note
that in 4k the LCD screen is darker and
monitor brightness tap six screen one
with the super bright sunny weather
setting is not available track picture
profiles tab one screen 11 I'd add them
to the fun menu if you're going to use
them contain multiple settings to adjust
the cameras response to light and color
the nine presets are samples navigate
right to see the various sub settings
offering combinations and variations
numbering into the overwhelming Sony's
online help guide for creators provides
few specifics so there's a lot of trial
and error to determine my favorite
settings or the appropriate settings for
specific scene but there's absolutely no
need to use the video recordings of
extraordinarily high quality without
profiles if you are mildly interested
use profile three or four to look like
video five or six to look like cinema
seven eight and nine are useful when the
exposure range of the scene usually an
exterior like this shot of Toronto's old
city hall with a bright sky behind looks
either too bright with overexposed
highlights or too dark with money
shadows but no one wants to see this
washed-out colorless image so it needs
to be adjusted graded in editing 789 use
s log 2 and 3 a response curve that can
do a better job of capturing a wider
range they also introduced a lot of
noise particularly in the darkest part
of the image the minimum iso with seven
eight and nine is 805 find both eight
and nine with s log too noisy exposure
also becomes tricky and both Instagram
and zebra will perform differently than
you're used to
I would advise you to create a look in
camera to be extensive it's possible
8-bit reporters don't have a lot of
range to make post-production
adjustments
it's pro to have s log but this is still
a consumer camera
incidentally there's a monitor setting
on tab six screen one that compensates
for the s long gamma curve is used in
seven eight nine so there better
represented on screen if the screen is
lost as the colors look odd check this
setting
I've described profiles and gamma in
more detail in other videos but let me
repeat a few things with s logs two and
three a wider lighting latitude can be
captured as displayed on the DSC labs
I'll chart basic profiles capture a
range of about seven or eight stops
that's a range that until HDR 4k screens
with rec 2020 become less expensive
about all our displays can handle with s
log to that range increases to 11 or 12
s log 3 14 or 15 so now i can capture
more range but it has to be flattened in
editing
there's a misconception that using
profiles or s log automatically makes
your footage look better
sorry no and using it indoors where the
dynamic range is already less than seven
or eight stops will reduce quality and
before using these settings shoot some
tests try it out to see how it changes
the scene and determine what the shot
looks like once the color grading is
done the a 6500 is subject to the bend
the effects of a rolling shutter its
noticeable when I do this but I've never
observed it in a shot
sony provides the best support for
external monitors and recorders although
I do wish the micro HDMI connector have
a cable protector or was the larger
mini-sized the hdmi settings on tab six
screen four sets the output resolution
toggle the info display which is not
available in 4k mode turns time code on
and activates the cameras record button
as a trigger for an external recorder
timecode options are here to encounter
mode the screen shows the last time in
the bottom-left TC mode shows the
timecode to record real-time use user
bits and on page to turn the user bit
time on recording 24 frame on an
external recorder like the atoms shogun
seems as easy as selecting it from this
menu
sadly no first option is to use the 4k
output select to hdmi only 24 frame
that's what I'd recommend to also record
internally change the record-setting to
memory card plus hdmi the hdmi out
switches based on tab to screen1
record-setting regardless of the hdmi
settings and in X a VCS HD according to
the Shogun all record-setting 6030 24
n120 are outputting 1080p60 if you want
1080 24
change the hdmi resolution from auto to
2160 1080 and only then does the 2460
frame selection actually work to change
224 should be dimmed out in other
settings note that in 4k the LCD goes
black when recording starts in HD
there's no display on the LCD if the
info display is on when it's turned off
both screens display and the touchscreen
LCD works would be nice if it worked in
4k mode even if only in the touchpad
mode like the viewfinder the menu is
color-coded with six tabs covering a
total of thirty-five screens counting
only the highest level there are hundred
and fifty three selections but many open
submenus with their own lists
sony has taken a lot of flack for the
previously overly complicated menu here
it's nice to see that they're all
organized and although some
inconsistencies remain overall it's
easier to find what I'm looking for the
reorganization of movie features is
particularly welcome with the addition
of a screen 1 of X indicator not sure
what value the dots at the bottom
provide what this complex menu does
provide is a degree of functionality and
flexibility that as a total package is
not available elsewhere let me go
through some of the highlights the spot
metering mode can be centered or link to
the focus point a useful feature the
sensor cleaning feature that vibrates
the camera to shake off dust i have the
feeling this will work better than
previous versions but if you do
regularly change lenses you'll likely
also need a blower and a loop there are
three custom buttons with a long list of
available functions and the function
menu can also be extensively customized
if you eliminate the items in screen to
the menu collapses to a single row i'm
not a big memory settings fan i'm
switching to many things way too often
while I'm shooting for a review but with
gloves on in the winter i started to
preset a couple of configurations before
leaving the house after making the
adjustments i lock tab one screen for
save the setting
review the settings by scrolling down
positions 1 and 2 can be recalled from
the motel and 124 from the menu but only
with the mode dial on one or two one and
two are stored in the cameras internal
memory so are lost when you reset and
124 are stored on the memory card in the
sony folder so can be saved and I
suppose transferred to another 6500
tethered shooting is available with
Sony's free remote camera control app
connect the camera to the computer's USB
and then select to save images on the
computer or both
jpg raw or both and there's Wi-Fi for
transferring images from the camera to a
smartphone using Sony's free
PlayMemories app the app also includes
remote video shooting for bloggers who
are otherwise missing the capability to
swivel and strip the LCD to shoot from
the front after reviewing the a 6300 i
made a wish list of features that I'd
like to have in the next version also do
with video after all I'm pretty happy
with the still functionality high hopes
for faster video bit rates higher bit
depth and better color it's not raw than
at least 10 minutes with hundred and
fifty to two hundred megabytes the new
card formats needed to really take
advantage of SEO eliminating the
30-minute time limit better battery life
a movie specific fun menu across from
memory settings or video and few little
things like a headphone jack hdmi cable
points but stop me if you've heard this
but even if they didn't deliver on those
there's a great deal that the 6300 and
now the 6500 get right especially for
video support for external reporters but
the atoms shogun is best-in-class it's
lovely to have these features in this
category and even with its limitation to
picture profiles and the s law gamma
curves provide advanced functionality
that's far above expectations in this
group the just a note on USB power which
is a very useful feature while connected
both sources you use which extends the
life of the otherwise short-lived into
no battery and reduces its heat output
delaying the appearance of the
overheating icon
however the internal battery still runs
out before the external power is
exhausted extending the shooting time
from about 60 minutes to over a hundred
minutes
playback is sony's afterthought
I think they're the only manufacturer
not to offer an in camera raw to jpeg
conversion there is a capture is still
from a video file function but on the
other hand no other camera manufacturer
offers downloadable apps i agree they're
not be easiest to use but they add
interesting and useful capabilities from
the remote to star trails they add a lot
of nice functionality apps can be
downloaded directly to the camera or
using your computer from the Play
memories site there are a few more
cabinets i didn't mention yet while
using digital zoom
not all meter modes are available and
picture effects are not compatible with
raw three weeks then like a 6500 more
than i expected to if you can get past
the price point you're sure to enjoy
this high-quality feature-rich
extraordinarily customizable camera
great for stills and with the near pro
video mode that invites comparisons to
more expensive cameras
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