1. Canon G7 X Mark II review - pocket-sized brilliance
A great concept expertly realised, the Canon G7 X Mark II is very close to perfection.
The Canon G7 X was my favourite camera of 2015. Its image quality was a match for consumer SLRs (with their kit lenses at least) and yet it was small and light enough to slip into a trouser pocket. Key to its success was its 1in sensor and wide-aperture lens, which combined to capture just as much light as consumer SLRs. This meant it was able to compete with them for image quality — not bad for a camera weighing 301g and measuring 40mm thick.
The G7 X wasn’t the only camera to pull off this trick. In fact, Sony invented the concept with its RX100 series. However, the G7 X rose to the top with its more generous 4.2x zoom range, elegant touchscreen interface and lower price than the Sony RX100 III.
In 2016 the market for compact cameras with 1in sensors has picked up in pace. We’ve seen the arrival of the Panasonic TZ100 with its 10x zoom, the 4k-capable Sony RX100 IV, a trio of cameras from Nikon and the Canon G9 X with its incredibly svelte design and aggressively low price. Canon now hopes to up the ante yet again with the G7 X Mark II.
Design and features
The improvements are relatively subtle — a faster processor, a proper grip on the front of the camera, a redesigned hinge on the 3in LCD screen so it tilts down as well as up. Battery life is up from 210 to 240 shots — a welcome improvement but still below average. Extra batteries cost a staggering £49.
The rubber grip is only a few millimetres deep but there’s a well-defined ridge that’s unlikely to slip through fingers. It’s a big improvement on the smooth, featureless fronts of the G7 X and Sony’s RX100 series cameras. Another design tweak is a small lever beside the lens that lets you choose whether the lens ring has a smooth or ratcheted motion. The former makes more sense for autofocus adjustments while the latter is better for aperture adjustment. I can’t say that it’s a life-changing innovation.
For me, the lens ring itself felt a bit out of place on such a small camera, which I prefer to hold with a pincer-shaped grasp in both hands rather than cradling it with the left hand. As a result, I found it more natural to spin the rear wheel to make adjustments. Fortunately, the touchscreen makes it quick to call up settings for adjustment with the wheel.
Using the Custom White Balance function is frustratingly long-winded. Whereas most cameras let you calibrate the white balance by pointing the lens at a white or grey subject and pressing a couple of buttons, the G7 X II demands that you take a photo of said subject and then navigate to an obscurely located menu page in order to perform the calibration. I use this function far more than manual focus, for instance, but it’s manual focus that has a labelled button on the back of the camera.
For most other purposes, the controls are quick and intuitive. There’s a chunky exposure compensation dial on the top plate, and the touchscreen makes light work of moving the autofocus point. I’m a big fan of touchscreens on cameras, and also of screens that tilt up for comfortable shooting at hip-height. The Sony RX100-series cameras have tilting screens, while the Panasonic TZ100 and Canon G9 X have touchscreens, but the G7 X II includes both.
Performance of the original G7 X was unremarkable, but the updated model makes significant improvements. Shots were captured every 0.5 seconds in normal use, with decisive autofocus quickly locking onto subjects. Continuous JPEG shooting was at 8fps for 30 frames before slowing to 5fps — a superb result. Continuous RAW performance was much improved from the dire 1.2fps achieved by the G7 X, capturing 22 frames at 8fps before slowing to 1.9fps.
Video quality
The video mode is good rather than great. It supports 1080p recording at frame rates up to 60fps, and the touchscreen is particularly useful for on-the-fly autofocus adjustments. Details aren’t as refined as on the best 1080p footage and can’t begin to compete with 4K footage, but this needn’t put casual video shooters off. A bigger issue is how it stops recording without any warning when video files reach 4GB — that’s about 16 minutes.
Image quality
Photo quality is the star attraction, and it’s about as good as it gets from a pocket-sized camera. Colours were rich and vibrant, there was plenty of detail in its 20-megapixel files and the combination of the 1in sensor, f/1.8-2.8 lens and carefully controlled noise reduction in JPEGs knocked the ball out of the park in low light. There was a slight softness to focus at the edges of wide-angle shots, but it’s a minor point.
Comparing it with the Sony RX100 IV in my studio test scene, the Canon exhibited slightly sharper details at slow ISO speeds and less invasive noise-reduction artefacts at ISO 800 and above. There’s not much to separate them for image quality, but these traits and the Canon’s more generous 4.2x optical zoom range means it clinches the lead.
^ Focus is a little soft in the corners of this wide-angle shot but it’s not much to worry about. (1/500s, f/4, ISO 125, 24mm equivalent)
^ Focus is crisp from edge to edge in the middle of the zoom range. (1/1250s, f/4.5, ISO 125, 66mm equivalent)
^ No problems with focus at the long end of the zoom, either. Dense foliage looks a little vague on close inspection, but all in all it’s a great result. (1/1250s, f/3.5, ISO 125, 100mm equivalent)
^ The ISO speed was accidentally left at 800 for this shot but there’s little sign of noise or noise-reduction artefacts. The resulting 1/500s shutter speed has frozen the motion in the flames. (1/500s, f/4, ISO 800, 82mm equivalent)
^ The wide-aperture lens means there’s less of a need for the camera to resort to fast ISO speeds when shooting in low light. It also delivers a shallow depth of field, blurring the background in a way that’s normally only available on much bigger cameras. (1/100s, f/2.8, ISO 400, 100mm equivalent)
^ Raising the shutter speed to 1/250s to freeze motion, this indoor shot is phenomenally good for such a small camera. (1/250s, f/2.8, ISO 800, 100mm equivalent)
^ I struggled to find a subject dark enough to push the ISO speed up significantly. This shot at ISO 3200 is a little grainy but looks fine at modest sizes. (1/20s, f/2.5, ISO 3200, 44mm equivalent)
^ Shooting by the light of streetlamps hikes the ISO speed up to 6400. Shadows are pretty grainy but it’s still a passable result. (1/13s, f/2.5, ISO 6400, 50mm equivalent)
^ These are cropped details from four shots, taken with a 1/100s shutter speed to directly compare the light-gathering ability of each camera’s sensor and lens combination. The G7 X Mk II easily holds its own against much bulkier competitors, and exhibits less noise and more detail than both the Canon EOS 1300D and Panasonic GX80 with their kit lenses.
^ Here’s the out-of-camera JPEG of the same shot. (1/100s, f/2.8, ISO 1000, 100mm equivalent)
Conclusion
I’m a massive fan of this type of camera. It’s ideal for holidays and expeditions where a big camera is impractical, and especially for nights out where most compact cameras really struggle in low light. SLR and CSC owners may want to get one as a pocketable backup camera. The 240-shot battery life is disappointing but virtually everything else about the G7 X Mk II is seriously impressive. It’s responsive and easy to use, genuinely pocket-sized and takes pictures that are a match for consumer SLRs.
Electronic viewfinders are a matter of taste, but I’d quite happily omit one for the sake of the G7 X Mark II’s tilting touchscreen. The Sony RX100 IV comes top for video with its 4K and slow-motion options, but it has a smaller zoom, less accessible controls and it costs £250 more. Those on a tight budget should check out the Canon G9 X, which costs around £360, but the G7 X II is on course for being my favourite camera of 2016.
Click Here To Learn More About Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II Digital Camera.
2. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review: Approaching Perfection
With welcome improvements to an already great camera, the 5D Mark IV is very nearly the perfect SLR
Pros
Great autofocus in video
4K video capture
Peerless image quality
Cons
No articulated screen
Motion JPEG video capture result in enormous file sizes
The Canon 5D Mark IV promises to be everything you could hope for in an SLR. As per previous 5D models, it has a full-frame sensor, a big 0.71x viewfinder, a weather-sealed magnesium-alloy body, and plentiful controls and sockets.
The new features read like a personal wishlist: an upgraded 61-point autofocus sensor for improved subject tracking when using the viewfinder; a new 30-megapixel sensor with Canon’s dual-pixel technology for fast, accurate autofocus in live view and video modes; 4K video capture; a touchscreen for video autofocus control; improved weather sealing; GPS; Wi-Fi; and 7fps continuous shooting, up from 6fps on the EOS 5D Mark III and 5fps on the 50-megapixel EOS 5Ds.
The screen isn’t articulated, though. I guess I could live without an articulated screen for video work, just about, if I really had to.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review: Design and layout
Externally, barely anything has changed since the 5D Mark III, and with good reason. There’s a button for virtually every photographic function, with most settings adjusted by pressing a button and spinning the command dial or rear wheel. The touchscreen is the biggest addition, not only helping with autofocus for live view and video modes, but also speeding up menu navigation.
The view through the viewfinder is relatively uncluttered by default, with illuminated exposure settings at the bottom, but there are options to show an electronic level, battery capacity, exposure, drive and metering modes, white-balance preset and various other settings overlaid across the optical viewfinder image.
This means you can adjust virtually any setting without taking your eye off the viewfinder. The exception is calibrating the custom white balance, which in usual Canon fashion involves capturing a photo and navigating to a menu page to calibrate using that photo. Other cameras do the whole thing with a single click.
There’s a new, unlabelled button just below the mini joystick. It doesn’t do anything by default but I found it worked well for toggling through the various autofocus area modes. There are ten other customisable buttons. There’s also the option to disable autofocus on the shutter release button and move it onto the AF-ON button at the back, thereby letting you decide when to focus and when to capture a frame without refocusing unnecessarily.
GPS is nicely implemented, with an option to keep the GPS radio on even when power is off in order to maintain an accurate position. With this option selected, a GPS icon flashes on the passive LCD screen to remind you it’s enabled. A hardware button or switch to turn it on and off would have been even better, but that’s not among the options for the customisable buttons. Most photos were accurately geotagged, with just a few occasions when the GPS radio temporarily stopped updating.
I had less success with Wi-Fi. It took me a while to find the menu page — labelled "Communication Settings" rather than more descriptive "Wi-Fi" — and when I did, the Easy Connection option proved to be anything but. I was able to establish a direct connection between the camera and either my Nexus 5X phone or iPad but the camera and Canon CameraConnect app usually failed to see each other. It worked on the fifth attempt. After each failed attempt the camera generated a new Wi-Fi SSID and password for me to enter.
The good news is that Wi-Fi and video capture can be used at the same time, unlike on previous Canon SLRs. That means a tablet can be used as a remote video monitor during capture, making up for the lack of an articulated screen. Touchscreen autofocus is available via the app but exposure compensation was too lethargic in the app to adjust while shooting.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review: Autofocus and performance
There was nothing lethargic about this camera in normal use, however. I recorded shot-to-shot times of 0.4 seconds, and continuous mode hit its claimed target of 7fps. It continued until the card was full for JPEGs, and managed 21 RAW frames before slowing to 2fps — a strong result. After I'd enabled continuous autofocus, the camera delivered 5.9fps shooting and did a decent job of tracking moving subjects around the frame. The camera coped exceptionally well in the challenging conditions of a party lit only by moving disco lights.
Tracking autofocus was even more responsive in live view mode, thanks to the dual-pixel sensor, although performance was limited to 2.9fps. It was also slow in the Single drive mode with live view enabled, taking 1.4 seconds between shots.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review: Video
It’s exciting to have 4K video and dual-pixel autofocus in the same camera for the first time. I’ve seen 4K consistently outperform 1080p footage for detail levels, even when video projects are published in 1080p format. In the past, Canon SLRs have lagged behind Panasonic and Sony for detail levels in their 1080p videos, so the move to 4K is particularly welcome. Meanwhile, Canon’s dual-pixel technology has shown itself to be extremely effective at delivering smooth, accurate autofocus for video in the Canon EOS 70D, 80D and 7D Mark II. Bringing both of these technologies together in a full-frame camera bodes extremely well.
And, boy, does the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV deliver. Autofocus is smooth and responsive, with the touchscreen making it easy to move the autofocus point during capture, or to select a moving subject to track. Face detection works consistently well, with an option to jump between detected faces in the scene. There's loads of detail in its 4,096 x 2,160 footage, although pixel for pixel it isn’t quite as crisp as the Sony a7R II or the Panasonic GH4. It also exhibited slightly more noise at faster ISO speeds.
^ 4K video frames aren’t exactly short of detail but the 5D Mark IV’s output isn’t quite as refined as the Panasonic GH4’s or the Sony a7r II’s.
^ Noise levels at fast ISO speeds are a little higher, too. It looks like there’s no noise reduction applied to 4K video.
All three of these cameras use a cropped area in the middle of the sensor for their 4K output. In the GH4 and 5D Mark IV’s cases, it’s so that there’s one pixel on the sensor for each pixel in the 4K video. This sidesteps the need for digital resizing and anti-aliasing of each frame, which would significantly increase processing demands. On the GH4 this results in a 1.2x crop to get 4K (8-megapixel) video frames from its 16-megapixel sensor.
However, the EOS 5D Mark IV uses a 1.74x crop to produce 4K frames from its 30-megapixel sensor. That’s not necessarily a problem itself — after all, the GH4’s sensor has a 2x crop to start with so the 5D Mark IV’s usable sensor area for 4K is still bigger than the GH4’s. However, it does mean that wide-angle lenses won’t be so effective when shooting 4K on the Canon.
Another noteworthy feature is the use of Motion JPEG compression for 4K video. This encodes each frame as a discrete JPEG image, which virtually eliminates compression artefacts even for fast-moving scenes. The downside is the 500Mbits/sec data rate. That equates to 62MB per second, 3.7GB per minute or 225GB per hour of footage. Professional users may welcome the quality this delivers, but there’s a considerable financial and time cost attached to storing and manipulating this much data. For me, the GH4 and a77r II’s 4K footage encoded as 100Mbits/sec AVC format is far more manageable.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: Image quality
Let’s start by establishing that the 5D Mark IV’s photos are fantastic. What else did you expect from a full-frame Canon SLR? Details from its 30-megapixel sensor fell neatly into line between the 22-megapixel 5D Mark III and the 50-megapixel 5Ds. Noise levels at high ISO speeds were significantly lower than from the 5Ds, and a small but welcome improvement over the Mark III, particularly in terms of retention of fine detail in JPEGs. It also outperformed the Sony a7R II for noise levels but couldn’t quite match the 24-megapixel Nikon D750 for JPEG quality at fast ISO speeds.
The automatic exposure system handled tricky lighting conditions well but the camera doesn’t automatically raise the shutter speed to counteract detected camera shake or moving subjects. Most people spending this much will be happy to use shutter priority in these situations but I’d like the option for the camera to handle these issues automatically. I also noticed quite a few shots where details were slightly less than pixel-sharp, particularly for shutter speeds between 1/100s and 1/200s, and a couple of landscape shots where the viewfinder-based autofocus had focused on the foreground rather than the main subject.
^ A well-balanced automatic exposure with natural colours. Focus is sharper in the immediate foreground than on the trees, though. (1/160s, f/7.1, ISO 100, 60mm)
^ Excellent colours but focus isn’t quite pixel sharp once again. (1/125s, f/7.1, ISO 100, 50mm)
^ Focus is better here, although that may be down to the faster shutter speed. (1/200s, f/5, ISO 100, 105mm)
^ Pin-sharp focus with a faster automatic shutter speed. (1/320s, f/7.1, ISO 100, 93mm)
^ There’s a bit of grain on the smooth gradients of the walls in this ISO 1600 shot but it’s well within print-quality standards. (1/30s, f/4, ISO 1600, 24mm)
^ I set the shutter speed to 1/200s to freeze motion. Autofocus is spot on and the ISO 2500 setting has had very little impact on details or noise levels. (1/200s, f/2.8, ISO 2500, 35mm, shutter priority)
^ Another excellent result at ISO 3200, this time with a slower shutter speed in artificial light. (1/40s, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 28mm)
^ There isn't much detail in the grass and foliage in this shot taken at dusk at ISO 6400 but it looks fine at modest sizes. (1/125s, f/4, ISO 6400, 105mm)
^ The same goes for this ISO 12800 shot, although, as usual, the out-of-focus background shows noise more than the foreground. (1/60s, f/4, ISO 12800, 70mm)
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV review: Verdict
The 5D Mark IV builds on the exquisite Mark III to deliver a camera that is bang up to date and leaves barely anything to be desired. The £3,599 launch price is higher than the Mark III (£2,799) or the 5Ds (£2,999) cost at launch, though. It’s also vastly more than the superb Nikon D750, which currently sells for £1,599.
This is the first 4K camera I’ve reviewed that I would consider relying on its autofocus for mission-critical tasks. It isn't completely infallible, but the success rate is close enough to be an acceptable risk. That’s a big breakthrough for news reporting, weddings, concerts and theatre performances, where it’s often not convenient to focus manually but you don’t have the option to shoot again if the autofocus messes up. It’s just frustrating that this breakthrough comes with such massive file sizes. If video is a priority, the Panasonic GH4 remains my top recommendation, especially as it costs just £999.
Still, Canon users now have yet another excellent model to choose from. It’s the best 5D model for video capture, performance, autofocus and — narrowly — image quality. I don’t think it’s an essential upgrade for Mark III and 5Ds owners, but this is the full-frame Canon SLR that I’d choose.
To Learn More About Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera (Body Only) Find Here.
3. Fujifilm X-T10 review
With superb controls, class-leading image quality and a remarkably low price, the Fuji X-T10 is a Best Buy
Fujifilm has successfully established its X Mount compact system cameras (CSCs) as a luxury brand. Their retro designs with lots of tactile controls are just the thing to woo keen photographers, and their superb sensors that excel for low noise mean they're just as impressive on the inside.
The X-T10 is the latest addition, with a name that suggests its close relation to the flagship Fujifilm X-T1. There are numerous similarities, including an SLR-shaped magnesium alloy body, dedicated dials for drive mode, shutter speed and exposure compensation, dual command dials and a tilting LCD screen.
Design and controls
The £495 body-only price is less than half what the X-T1 cost at launch, so clearly something has to give. The X-T10 isn't weather sealed and its plastic buttons on the back look and feel a little cheap compared to the rest of the package. It dispenses with the X-T1's dedicated dials for ISO speed and metering mode, and it uses a smaller electronic viewfinder. It's just as detailed, though, with a 2.4-million-dot resolution, and its 0.62x (35mm equivalent) magnification is hardly under-specified. The 8fps quoted continuous speed matches the X-T1 but there's only enough buffer memory for 8 JPEGs compared to the X-T1's 47. There's no PC sync socket for triggering off-camera flashes, but it does include USB and HDMI, a combined microphone and wired remote socket plus Wi-Fi.
Using the X-T10 is, for the most part, an extremely rewarding experience. The handgrip is a small ridge but the textured rubber finish and contoured thumb grip are a snug fit in the hand. The metal dials on the top plate are satisfyingly chunky and have just the right amount of resistance. I find that having the dedicated shutter speed and exposure compensation dials encourage me to think more creatively about exposure settings.
Many Fujifilm lenses have dedicated aperture rings, but for the 16-50mm kit lens, aperture control is permanently available on the rear command dial. These direct controls mean there's no need for a mode dial with priority and manual exposure modes. Instead, you just set the shutter speed, aperture, ISO speed or any combination as necessary.
The navigation pad on the back isn't labelled but its four buttons and an additional Fn button can be assigned to any of 23 options including ISO speed, autofocus area and RAW mode. Alternatively, the four-way pad can be permanently assigned to moving the autofocus area. It's an effective and versatile system but the lack of labels means there's a bit of a learning curve. Thankfully, there's a dedicated switch to put the camera into full Auto mode – perfect for handing it over to friends to take a few snaps.
The menu has a few quirks, such as how enabling face detection in the autofocus options disables metering options. It's also a bit odd that the drive mode dial includes a multiple exposure option for superimposing two images – not something I ever feel the need to do – while the more useful self-timer function is tucked away in the menu.
Fujifilm's Wi-Fi implementation is a little clunky. Rather than require a password to connect to an Android or iOS device, the connection must be accepted on both the camera and the connected device. It rarely connected first time in our tests, and on a few occasions both the camera and the app crashed. It's well featured, though, with touchscreen autofocus, exposure and white balance controls and the ability to record videos remotely. Photo transfers are handled elegantly.
Performance and video
I’m getting used to seeing phenomenal performance from CSCs, and by current standards the X-T10 is merely average. It took 1.6 seconds to switch on and shoot and 0.8 seconds between shots after enabling image reviews after capture. Continuous performance exceeded the quoted speed, coming in at 8.3fps and lasting for 11 frames before slowing to 4.2fps. RAW capture was less impressive, lasting for just seven frames before slowing to 1fps. There's no live view while shooting in continuous mode – just a display of the last shot – so it's virtually impossible to track moving subjects.
Fujifilm continues to lag behind its rivals for video capture. The X-T10 records 1080p at a choice of frame rates up to 60fps, but videos are prone to aliasing problems such as pixellation on diagonal lines. The exposure compensation dial works but manual exposure control is unavailable. One welcome change is that autofocus automatically reverts to continuous during recording, regardless of the position of the switch on the front of the camera. However, it can take a long time to lock onto subjects. Overall, the video mode is perfectly adequate for the occasional clip but I wouldn't recommend it for serious video projects.
Image quality
Fujifilm's attention is clearly on still image quality, and the X-T10 lived up to the high standards I’ve come to expect from the range. Colours were rich and vibrant, details were precise and highlights were expertly controlled by the automatic dynamic range processing. The star of the show was the low noise at fast ISO speeds. ISO 1600 shots barely showed any hint of noise or noise reduction artefacts, and images remained good enough to print at ISO 6400. Even at ISO 12800, noise had a uniform grain rather than messy splodges that most digital cameras suffer. Other sensors offer higher resolutions but 16 megapixels is more than enough for most purposes. Along with its siblings, the X-T10 offers the best image quality I've seen this side of full-frame cameras.
Fujifilm also sent us two of its latest lenses to test with – a 16mm f/1.4 and a 90mm f/2. These raised image quality even higher, and served to demonstrate how Fujifilm's expertise isn't just in camera bodies. The choice of lens has a far bigger influence over image quality than the body, and you’re much better off with an X-T10 and one of these lenses than an X-T1 and a basic kit lens.
^ Focus is pin-sharp in this wide-angle shot, and fine details have been handled superbly. (1/350s, f/11, ISO 400, 24mm equivalent)
^ I like the lush colours here but there's a bit of blooming around the white petals. I'd put this down to the kit lens rather than the sensor. (1/100s, f/4.5, ISO 200, 42mm equivalent)
^ Fujifilm's dynamic range processing effectively uses a variable ISO speed across the frame, reining in highlights to avoid clipping. (1/180s, f/5.6, ISO 400, 135mm equivalent)
^ There's barely any evidence of noise in this ISO 1250 shot, and still lots of detail in the foliage and subjects' hair. (1/125s, f/3.5, ISO 1250, 24mm equivalent)
^ Noise is far from intrusive at ISO 2000. There's a slight smudging of hair texture but it's much better than rival CSCs at this price. (1/60s, f/5.3, ISO 2000, 56mm equivalent)
^ Even ISO 5000 shots are good enough to print at modest sizes. (1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 5000, 75mm equivalent)
^ Fujifilm's prime lenses, such as the 90mm f/2 I used for this shot, are an important part of the system's appeal. (1/105s, f/2, ISO 200, 135mm equivalent)
Conclusion
The X-T10 isn't perfect but its minor weaknesses become easy to forgive when you consider the price. This camera is a worthy successor to the X-E2, which cost £800 body-only at launch. The exposure dials will delight keen photographers, and so too will the sensor's exceptional image quality. The quality of Fuji's X Mount lenses add to its appeal, with 10 wide-aperture prime lenses available from 14mm to 90mm. There's also a superb alternative to the 16-50mm kit lens – the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 kit pushes the price up to £800, but with twice the light-gathering ability of the 16-50mm, it's worth paying the extra for.
There's no serious telephoto lens in the range. Fujifilm's website states this is coming soon, but regardless, the disappointing RAW performance means this isn't the ideal camera for sports and wildlife photography. However, for portraits, landscapes and street photography, this is the camera to buy.
Click Here To Learn More About Fuji XT10 (Silver) with 16-50mm Lens (Black)
4. Sony Alpha A6000 Review
Hits a home run for quality, performance and features
We mourn the passing of one of our favourite cameras of recent years, the Sony NEX-6; thankfully it's being replaced by something equally brilliant, the Sony Alpha A6000. Price, rating and specs based on the 16-50mm kit.
The old NEX-6 marked a turning point for compact system cameras (CSCs). It was the first model that felt like it posed a major threat to SLRs. With the same size of sensor inside, it could match them for image quality, and its superb 2.4-million dot electronic viewfinder (EVF), elegant controls and dazzling turn of speed left nothing to be desired. All this in a camera that weighed 465g with its low-profile kit lens made us wonder whether SLRs' days might be numbered.
Since then we've seen the premium CSC market blossom with the arrival of the Panasonic GX7 and Fujifilm X-E2, along with some outstanding SLR-shaped models from Sony, Panasonic and Olympus. Most of these are considerably more expensive, though, so the NEX-6 has remained a strong contender throughout its 18-month life span.
Sony has killed off the NEX brand, but the Sony Alpha A6000 is undoubtedly a direct successor to the NEX-6. Externally very little has changed – the odd button and dial have migrated slightly, there's one additional customisable button on the back and the textured magnesium alloy body has been ditched in favour of an aluminium shell. It still incorporates an EVF, hotshoe, pop-up flash, mode dial and command dial across the top plate – not bad for such a petite camera. The handgrip is slightly bigger than before, and strikes an excellent balance of ergonomic comfort and compact design.
The battery life is up from 360 to 420 shots, but we're disappointed to see that the battery is charged in the camera, so you can't charge one while using another. Another retrograde step is that the EVF resolution has dropped from 2.4 to 1.44 million dots, (1,024x768 to 800x600 pixels in more meaningful numbers), and the image is smaller too. It's not a disaster by any means, but this previously stand-out feature is now merely average.
What hasn't been messed with, though, is the competitive price. The A6000 debuts at £649 with its slim 3x zoom lens, which is £100 less than the Panasonic GX7 and £500 less than the Fujifilm X-E2 at current prices for their 3x zoom kits.
The big changes are on the inside. The sensor resolution has jumped from 16 to 24 megapixels, and there are more phase-detect autofocus point built into the sensor – up from 99 on the NEX-6 to 179, and now covering almost the entire frame. Phase-detect autofocus is standard in SLR cameras, but building it into a CSC's sensor enables a hybrid autofocus system that CSC manufacturers are increasingly turning to. We haven't seen revolutionary improvements in autofocus performance up until now, but this time it's different.
The top burst speed is quoted as 11fps, and it managed 11.1fps for 46 JPEGs or 22 RAW shots in our tests. It's a fantastic result, although only slightly better than the NEX-6's 10fps top speed. However, the NEX-6 dropped to 1.4fps when continuous autofocus was enabled to track moving subjects. With the A6000, it delivered 11.1fps shooting with continuous autofocus. We've praised SLRs costing four times as much for managing 6fps, so the A6000's achievement here is nothing short of extraordinary.
There's a caveat, though, and it's not one that's clearly publicised. We were sent the Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 lens to test with, and not the 16-50mm which is available as a kit with the A6000. It's the 35mm lens that we used to get the test results quoted above. We also tested with an 18-55mm lens, which was the standard issue kit lens for older NEX models, and focus was fixed during burst shooting. We're hoping to hear back from Sony for confirmation as to which other lenses support continuous autofocus in burst mode.
The menus have been overhauled, and now resemble Sony Alpha cameras rather than the old NEX system. On the whole it's an improvement. Pressing the Fn button give quick access to any 12 functions you want to put there. The main menu is more logically laid out and quicker to navigate. There are new functions too, such as the ability to vary the size of the Flexible Spot autofocus area. We particularly like Eye AF, where the camera focuses on an eye rather than just a face. It didn't seem to be willing to do so without encouragement, though. We had to set one of the custom buttons to this function in order to access it, and that meant losing a button for either the AF/MF control, autofocus area or in-camera guide.
We wouldn't normally be too upset about losing the latter, but this in-camera guide is the best example we've seen. 34 bite-size nuggets of information are presented over six categories such as Portrait, Night and Macro. Each one explains a photographic technique such as freezing subject motion, photographing food and capturing light trails from stars. In Auto mode, there's a different set of 10 tutorials under the heading Basic Techniques for Shooting, with advice on how best to hold the camera and positioning subjects off-centre for more interesting compositions. However, if the camera identifies that you're trying to take a macro, portrait or landscape shot, it offers that set of tips instead. When navigating menus or adjusting settings, the same button also brings up an explanation of the currently selected function. This is a great system that – for once – might actually help people understand the camera's controls and improve their photography skills.
Wi-Fi is built in, complete with NFC for automatic configuration with Android devices. Remote control from the Android and iOS apps is relatively basic, with the ability to adjust exposure compensation and self-timer but nothing else. Control over the autofocus position would have helped for group self-portraits. It's also disappointing that the app can't be used as a remote monitor while recording videos – something previous Sony cameras have allowed. Transferring photos to the app is well implemented, though, with responsive browsing on either device and transfers at a choice of VGA, 2 megapixels or full resolution.
VIDEO AND IMAGE QUALITY
The video mode now includes the ability to stream a clean HDMI output for external monitoring or recording, plus zebra patterns to warn against highlight clipping. This builds on some impressive video-related features in the NEX-6, including 1080p recording at 25 and 50fps, manual exposure control and a peaking mode to help with manual focus adjustment. There's still no microphone input, although the hotshoe can accommodate the Sony ECM-XYST1M external microphone, which incorporates a minijack microphone input.
Comparing the A6000's video output with our archived files from the NEX-6, we saw a significant improvement in the fidelity of fine details. It's not quite up to the standards of current Panasonic Lumix G cameras, but comes very close. Both noise levels and rolling shutter effect were much less pronounced than on the NEX-6. In short, this is one of the best video cameras available at this price. The lack of a touchscreen for adjusting the autofocus point while recording is the only notable drawback.
It put in a stellar performance in our photo tests too. We've grown accustomed to praising NEX cameras for image quality, thanks to their APS-C sensors that are larger than the sensors in most other CSCs. However, the A6000's 24-megapixel sensor is a major improvement on previous NEX cameras, with more detail and lower noise. Colours were lifelike and details were smooth and precise. Noise was barely perceptible in JPEGs at ISO 1600, and far from invasive at ISO 6400. The Fujifilm X-E2 (and its siblings with the same sensor) currently rule the CSC roost for image quality, but the A6000 is broadly on a par with slightly more noise but also more detail.
There's plenty of crisp definition to this shot – even when shooting with the old 18-55m kit lens
There's no faulting the rendering of subtle textures here
Skin tones at ISO 100 are detailed and lifelike
There's not much to criticise at ISO 1250 either – just a slight gloss from the noise reduction
Image quality is beginning to deteriorate at ISO 3200 but it's still a perfectly respectable snapshot with plenty of detail
The A6000 can't quite match the Fujifilm X-E2 for low light image quality, particularly with the X-E2's brighter kit lens. However, the A6000 is smaller, lighter, faster and its video mode is far better. It also costs a whopping £500 less.
CONCLUSION
Compared to similarly priced cameras, there's not much that can touch it. Nothing else comes close to delivering 11fps shooting with continuous autofocus. It beats all other CSCs at this price for image quality, except for the Fujifilm X-M1 but that model lacks a viewfinder. It even narrowly beats the current generation of Canon and Nikon cropped-sensor SLRs for noise levels. It's looking more likely than ever that the game might be up for SLR technology.
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