Sony NEX6 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera 16.1MP with 16-50mm Zoom Lens - Black

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Another manual focus-related feature found on the NEX-6 (and several of its peers) is focus peaking. This puts a an outline around the areas in the frame that are in focus. You can adjust both how strong the peaking effect is, and the color of the outline. Continuous Shooting

E-mount lenses have tended to be on the large side compared with Micro Four Thirds equivalents, but Sony has redressed the balance with the launch of a new collapsing 16-50mm f3.6-5.6 powered zoom which is substantially smaller and lighter than the 18-55mm kit zoom of the earlier NEX models and similar in size and weight to Panasonic’s 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 power zoom. With the new lens attached the NEX-6 has a much more compact profile and the power zoom is better suited to video shooting. ISO 400 again shows only minor added softening in a few areas, but otherwise exceptional image quality. Detail and color are terrific at 20 x 30 with good wall prints possible up to 30 x 40. Next, is the dedicated movie record button. In response to criticism about the ease with which the NEX-7’s button could be accidentally pressed, Sony has moved it ’round the corner’ on the NEX-6 and recessed it. It’s now quite difficult to start movie recording, even when you want to, I’m not sure whether that counts as an improvement, but there you are. Below are our standardised ISO test shots, starting with the Sony NEX-6”s lowest standard setting of ISO 100 and rising incrementally to the top setting of ISO 25,600. Odd artifacts and false color interpretations become entirely too obtrusive here in the NX20, while the NEX-6 remains fairly consistent in comparison.To test the NEX-6 I fitted it with a freshly formatted 16GB Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-1 SD card. In continuous shooting mode with the quality set to fine JPEGs, the NEX-6 continued to shoot for over 100 frames and probably would have continued until the card filled, had I not stopped shooting. The first ten frames were shot at a rate of just under 3.5fps and the average for the hundred frames was just over 3fps. Switch the camera to MF mode and this same ring automatically controls focus instead, with zoom control operated by the slider. After extended use we much prefer Sony's ring/slider design over the dual lever approach in the Panasonic 14-42 power zoom, where we can never tell by feel whether we're about to zoom or focus the lens. While the Sony lens is of a focus-by-wire design, the action is dampened just enough to approximate a 'feel' of connection to the lens elements with responsive operation. And with MF assist enabled, an initial turn of the control ring brings up a magnified scene view for focus confirmation. Hybrid AF system speed and accuracy still lags somewhat behind higher-end DSLRs; Wi-Fi features still rudimentary (join the club); LCD is not a touchscreen; User interface foibles. Price and availability

While the new powered zoom kit lens proves flexible in use, we did find that it was a little soft when used at its maximum aperture. Nudging it down a couple of stops visibly improves sharpness and fine detail. Distortion at 16mm is pronounced, although the in-camera processing does manage to rectify this to a reasonable degree. Some chromatic aberration is also visible in both Raw and JPEG images.I wish you the best in your photo ventures. I look forward to my “early Christmas present”. Hope to get some tips from you about my forthcoming a6000 as I’m sure I’ll need them. ISO 200 is a carbon copy of ISO 100, with just the slightest softening in our target red swatch. Still quite good here at 24 x 36. Squeezing into Sony's compact system camera lineup between the acclaimed NEX-7 and the NEX-5R, the NEX-6 stands on its own as a high-performing hybrid -- marrying exceptional speed and image quality with more consumer-friendly features and controls. While it gets a bump down in resolution compared to the NEX-7, the 16.1-megapixel APS-C sensor still delivers photos with sharp detail and good color, contrast and exposure. And though the NEX-6's "Fast Hybrid AF" system lags somewhat behind higher-end DSLRs, it's nonetheless pretty fast and decisive, especially on stationary and normal moving (not sports) subjects. Lightweight and compact, sharp and fast, advanced and easy-to-use: What more could you want from a camera at such an affordable price? Pros