Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm Lens, Graphite (ILCE-6000L/H)

Criteria: The evaluation of this product was based primarily off of user friendliness, durability, image quality, video quality, the system, and speed. Review: The Sony a6000 camera is my first journey into the mirrorless camera world, and so far I have been nothing less than pleased with its’ performance. I am not an expert photographer, so it was important for me to find a camera that it was high quality, but also approachable. With this in mind, the first major criteria I was looking for were user friendliness, durability and a good system working behind the scenes. The top dial makes it easy to shift between operating modes that include aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, two auto modes and video or panoramic. The a6000’s ‘auto scene’ modes have produced very nice pictures if I am looking for a quick snapshot and don’t have time to mess with any settings. The viewfinder is very useful for sunny days where the standard viewing screen may be hard to see. The viewing screen, however, also is very handy with adjustable angles for flexible viewing of the pictures you’re taking. The only knock on the screen is the lack of touch screen, which is becoming more common in higher quality cameras. The overall layout of the camera is very user-friendly and never felt overwhelming to me. I was a little concerned before ordering of how durable it would be, however it feels solid and I don’t anticipate problems with it holding up with responsible use. The camera’s system and default settings are nice out of the box, but prepare to do a bit of tinkering to figure out which settings work best for you. It’s not always easy to scroll through all the menus to find what you need, however Sony gives you tons of control over your images if you are willing to take the time to make the adjustments. The system and camera layout would be useless if the end result was a bad image, however I can assure you compared to any cheaper cameras you may have used before, it will certainly impress. The autofocus on this camera is blazing fast and allows for great images at a high shutter speed. Just be sure to warn anyone taking a picture for you not to hold the button down too long, or you’ll end up with tons of duplicates in no time. The cameras sensor is 24.3 megapixels and allows for superb quality for the price range. The provided lens (Sony E 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 PZ OSS) is decent, but you’ll want to consider adding others to your arsenal down the road. This isn’t a big issue however as the E-mount system is easy to find adapters for nearly any lens that you may want or already own. The image/video quality paired with the lens versatility that the a6000 offers was a major selling point for me. The bottom line is the Sony a6000 provides very nice image/video quality, versatility, user friendly physical layout and a customizable system for whatever your needs may be. I still haven’t had a chance to do anything with longer exposures or a ton of video, but I have been encouraged by the quality of the camera and its’ pictures so far. If you are looking for really nice quality at a price point that may be less cringe-inducing than a lot of DSLR’s, this is certainly one you’ll want to consider. Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Mirrorless always made sense to me. Let's face it, if you were designing a digital camera from scratch, why on earth would you put a mirror box in it? DSLRs were always a transitional idea. This is a great camera, on several reviewers best in class lists, and deservedly so. I won't live long enough to figure out every feature, but fortunately, I won't have to. I took it out of the box a few hours ago and already taking perfectly good pictures (after waiting most of that time for the battery to charge). It helps that I already have a good Sony point-&-shoot. This is a lot better camera, but the concepts and terminology are similar, I can see where they improved and built on what I'm used to - but it wouldn't be hard for a beginner either, just put it on 'intelligent auto,' start shooting, and progress at your own pace. One change over the point-&-shoot is the panorama mode, which flows better and makes better pictures, but doesn't go as wide, and isn't as sharp in the details. There is also an 'intelligent auto plus' mode, which I guess is better. I got the kit lens, which will be fine for everyday daylight stuff, and the 50mm / 1.8 portrait lens, which I highly recommend. The camera uses an APS-C sized sensor, so if you grew up with 35mm as I did, multiply by 1.5 - the 16-50 kit lens will be what you'd expect from a 24-75, and the 50mm is like a 75 in the 35mm world. With my old Canon film gear, I used my 85/1.8 as much as anything, so I plan to get a lot of use out of the Sony 50mm. The attached pic is with the 50mm lens at f2.0 (reduced, the original was 3008 x 2000, which is the smallest 3x2 pic the camera will take). The camera can be set to automatically soften ('defocus') the background by various amounts, which as you can see works well with the 50/1.8. It didn't work nearly as well with the kit lens, which only goes down to f3.5 at the wide end, and f5.6 when zoomed to 50mm. An enthusiast-level digital camera that can compete with 1970s-era 35mm gear in portraiture is great if you ask me, and a long time coming. I didn't get one of the bundles, I bought only the chinese knock-offs I wanted separately, including a spare battery and desk charger, and UV filters to protect both lenses. The camera kit includes a tiny 1.5 amp charger, with a usb cable to charge the battery in the camera, but no way to charge a spare battery out of the camera. I also bought a class 10 SD card (recommended by Amazon) before seeing that the manual says class 4 or better is fine. I download to the computer often, so don't need a huge card - a 16 Gb card will hold about 900 pics at largest size (24M) / RAW+JPEG, about 8,900 at 6M (3000 x 2000) 'fine' quality JPEG, and over 10,000 at 'standard' quality. Panoramic shots will consume more space, movies a lot more. 3000 x 2000 will make decent prints on letter size paper. Brightness, in-camera processing, color, and just plain 'camera-smarts' are just about perfect, and I can't imagine anything you can't control or reset if it's not right for you. Very nice. UPDATE - Still learning. There are many tutorials on youtube, and some topic-specific user manuals (one, for example, on what the various auto-focus modes do) that will turn up in internet searches. Explore. Have fun.

First of all I was lucky to get this for $435 before the price went up again. Still worth it at its current price. First of all the reputation of this camera speaks for itself, so I'll focus on details other people may have not covered. It's a beautiful camera with a great sturdy feel. The images are excellent and the kit lens not bad! The controls are all good and viewfinder does the trick, while not great it works. Here are the cons- - documentation is beyond horrible, even with the hard to locate complete manual on sonys strange website. It's impossible and not user friendly. -menus complex and confusing, but way better then the Nex series -play memories app and portal beyond complicated to setup, like it's just ridiculous. But it's fairly simple to work, however still faster to take out SD card and use the SD to lightning adaptor for iPhone. - the lack of proper documentation and instruction for the myriad of options and customization has driven the price of the best guidebook for this camera to over $700 yes that's right, $700 for a book on how to use camera. Documentation is THAT bad. Thankfully most of it is fairly easy to figure out but if you wanna get deeper into it a good manual would have been godsend. Sony sucks in this department but many other cameras suffer as well like Olympus. Still with all that being said camera is a BEAST for this price, expect DSLR quality images with a small body. I can't wait to get the $400 35mm Lens for this bad boy.

LOVE this camera!! Debated between this and the A5100 prior to a 10-day trip through all parts of Peru (from Lima, Cusco, and Iquitos - temperate, high-altitute and cold, to jungle climates). Here are my key takeaways: - The viewfinder is a MUST and provides a better representation of the photo or video you're actually taking. - The LCD screen is great, but will be difficult to use if you're basing a shot (in manual mode) on what you're viewing. Plus the screen is difficult to view in sunlight - The size is perfect! Another guy on our trip was shooting with a Nikon DSLR and he continually complimented the compact size and quality - The intelligent settings are very impressive and make it easy to quickly capture images in varied settings - though manual mode was the primary mode I shot in. - It is durable. I hesitated to use the camera in Iquitos because it's a jungle and relatively humid (though it was "winter" with less humidity than summer), but it performed excellent. Even with some light mist, it had no issue. - The WiFi connectivity to my iPhone was a god-send! I was able to download pictures as we wanted them, but also loved the ability to remotely "shoot" from my phone. I also purchased a mobile tripod specifically for this which came in handy for family and friend pictures - no one left out! - Only downside? The mic does not capture audio that well, assuming due to the compact body. Regardless, we opted to use "Voice Notes" to record audio on my iPhone, then sync with the video after uploading. Honestly worked great and most people have their phone. This is not enough of a "con" to discount a high rating - external audio seems to work best anyway. - Lastly, the kit lens worked well for most needs on this trip. Granted, I'm new and learning, but I noticed I was not able to create the favored "depth effect" for portrait shots that a different lense will produce. But, the compact size was necessary for this trip. Nothing a different lense won't fix! Overall, cannot recommend this camera enough! This is my first time purchasing and using an advanced camera. I was able to study a few YouTube video tutorials and practice a couple days prior to our trip. I am grateful for the precious moments this camera captured and I will be buying additional lenses! PS; yes, I captured several beautiful shots of Machu Picchu on this camera. Many friends are asking for RAW JPGs to print out as posters.

I have been using the a6000 long enough to have an initial opinion. Overall I am pleased with this camera and the far reaching capabilities available through settings/prefs. I am also pleased that this camera has some pre-set defaults that will many times exceed my knowledge of establishing settings for the scene being photographed. I have to admit that its tempting, however I will likely not purchase a telephoto lens for this camera at this time and continue using my Canon DSLR telephoto lens cameras for a while longer. Likely with it's digital processing capability the a6000 requires a substantial amount of current from the battery. A single battery on a photo shoot might last long enough. With the discharge rate a recharge might be necessary which one would not want to do in the field. I carry along two extra batteries just in case. They are not expensive and I recommend that you get the charger that plugs directly into the wall & vehicle utility power jack and the battery mounts directly on the charger. The included charger charges the battery in the camera. Probable one extra battery would do, however I am a conservative minded person. My rational is that I have spent, for me a considerable amount of money for a good camera and I don't want to be at the mercy of a dead battery to ruin a perfectly enjoyable day of photographing. I am pleased with this camera which yields excellent photos. In the "Superior Auto" mode this camera will sometime recompose & save a secondary photo which is superior to the shot I had originally composed. Being an old guy I feel that this is ignominious at times to think that the camera can compose a scene better than I. A picture tells all without a conscious. I like the hotspot and WIFI capabilities of the camera. The feel of this camera in my hand is good. I like the viewfinder plus the tilt screen. There are 10 major selections on the thumb-wheel and of course many options under some of the selections. Well anyway, buy one and there is a high probability you will be pleased with this entry level mirrorless Sony DSLR 24.3 MP interchangeable lens camera with the supplied 16-50 mm lens.

My fourth digital camera over the years, obviously the most completely competent. I mean, it is stunningly good at doing things that we had no idea we had to have even five years ago. You're reading this because you're thinking of buying one? In your search for info you should go to U Tube and search under the camera name...TONS of top of the line pro reviews, etc. Some are a pain to watch but most are very good. I'll stress keeping "what is right for your specific intended uses" as what should be your underlying mantra while doing your pre purchase research. For me...vacation/travel/family/image quality/value for investment/use of old lenses...were what was most important. I got the silver body and kit lens, a nice bag, Wasabi charger and 2 batteries and an extra Sony 32 GB fast memory card for a stunning $550 just after New Year. The camera is rated as best in class for a wide variety of functions and 'as good as' on most others...up against darn near anything. Often out does current gear costing 3 - 4 times as much. Jack of all trades...master of a bunch as well. Nice. Example: I have an OLD Olympus 50mm f1.2 prime and a classic Vivitar 70-200mm zoom of incredible quality...and I can use them via a $25 adaptor. And they work WELL thanks to several of the a6000's unique focusing features making the required manual focus thing do-able. I started out in the 70's with the fabulous Olympus Pen FT half frame I carried all over Viet Nam in my cargo pocket. A roll of 36 got me 72 shots. The lens was about 38-40mm f 1.2 as I recall...a stunner for resolution. Now we do digital with Light room and memory cards and sensors and mega pixels and whatnot. Sweet! What a wonderful world. And in that world there are very few cameras that will do that this camera does especially when it has good glass on it. As a well rounded, vastly usable, bang for the buck camera, IMHO it's the king.

For what it is, the camera is great. At the time of this review you can buy body only for 448 dollars, I have to ask, how can you ask for anything more than this camera delivers. Images from the camera are clean, crisp with good colors. Auto Focus is blazing fast, got a 11 fps burst more and in a camera that is light and small. With an adapter it can take old film lenses which is pretty cool also. Had wifi ability and you can control this camera with your phone through a free app from sony. What I don't like: The kit lens is a complete turd. I had hoped they would have improved the kit lens from the NEX 6, they didn't. I wish it were a lower MP camera, something like 16 or 12 so it would perform better at higher ISO's. That being said, I do not regret this purchase at all. My main camera is a Sony A7R and this camera compliments that camera very well. This is smaller, lighter and focuses faster with a better burst rate and they both share the same lenses. When I want to shoot candids, snapshot or portraits with natural light this camera delivers. Is it perfect? No, there are some things I would like changed but for 448 dollars, what more do you want?

I truly believe there is no "best" camera but only the camera that best fits your needs. I am not a professional photographer but photograph dogs and some of my photos have been published in magazines. I take many action shots as I often photograph Sighthounds...and also grandchildren. None of these subjects ever stand still while you fidget with settings. This being said here is what I love about this camera. I have owned mine since its debut at the end of April This camera is incredibly fast. I can get incredible running shots and have yet to miss a midair leap. I needed to get gait photographs showing each step of a dogs gait. This camera was able to give it to me on the first take. It takes great photos in low lighting. There is no good red eye correction for dogs. I can't use a flash but only natural light. Not an issue with this camera. I also photographed my grandson's kindergarten graduation program using a 55-210 lens and again lighting was not an issue. I realize that most DSLR cameras can do this but the great thing about this camera is that you can fit it in your purse. If you have children and dogs the last thing you need is to add a camera bag to all the stuff you have to carry. This is a great camera for moms on the go who want to take incredible pictures and be able to blow them up without loss of quality. It is a great learning camera for those who are teaching themselves photography. Finally it is a great camera for anyone who just can't hold a large DSLR but still want quality photos.

I have this camera for more than two weeks (as of now, when writing this review). I own two other "point-and-shoot" cameras from Sony, but always wanted to have camera of type "semi-pro", so advanced amateur or aspiring-pro range. One where I can setup the camera and all the picture settings manually. This camera gives you all the control, or you can choose also automatic mode, where everything is set for you. It takes amazing and quality pictures in very high resolution (24 Mega-pixels), also even when the light conditions are not that great/optimal. This is not full-frame camera but ASP-C type/size chip which is a little bit smaller than full frame, but still much bigger than regular point and shoot. Because of this the camera is much smaller than any regular full-frame and you can easily carry it with you or put into the luggage, when travelling. That is true for basic lens (16-55mm) which comes with the camera if you do not purchase just camera body, like in case if you already own set of lenses which you would like to use with it. Camera can store images also in RAW format, not only JPG and has many convenient features like Wi-Fi, so you can connect it directly to your compatible TV and play slideshow without uploading pictures to your computer. The camera is easy enough to use right out of the box even if you do not know much about photography and picture or digital camera itself, but as you begin to learn you will see that there are countless options and settings to your disposal and experimentation with the picture to be taken...

First time using this camera l must it's pretty awesome,l previously owned a Canon SLR and will not go back.The images off the sony are clear and very sharp as well this camer is very light weight aND more manageable to use...l love it...thank you.

Que coraje, que farsa! Compré la cámara con descuento, la pedí para Mexico y al llegar venía en japonés y sin opción para cambiarle el idioma! Si quiera aInglés una opción que debería ser universal! Estoy completamente insatisfecha, pedí el reembolso pero claro que la cámara ya subió 8000 pesos

As the title implies the Sony alpha series camera is a beloved staple of the photography industry offering great performance at an attractive price point. Please consider looking at external camera lenses as the default kit lenses may make images look soft and don’t properly reflect the quality that the camera is capable of.

It seems the package was opened, not sure if it's a returned item. Functions are all good so far.