Thanks to its phase detection system, the camera can work with Sony A-mount and Canon EF-mount lenses when paired with a compatible adapter. In this article, we will go over important information on what settings are recommended for day-to-day photography and videography needs, as well as explain what some of these settings do. First is the price: the a6400 can be found for around $900 which is the cheapest option available on this list. As of now, I’m not sure it is worth spending all that money unless the type of subject you photograph requires more reach than 400mm (equivalent). It ticks all the boxes but does have one limitation that can’t be overlooked: the autofocus. That being said, Canon and Nikon have been leaders in this field for many years so I’m curious to see what they will bring to the table for wildlife photographers in the future. Before beginning, let’s have a quick run through the various features I analysed in order to compile this list. E-mount system – 24MP APS-C sensor – 11fps (C-AF) Note: the more recent A6600 has an in-body image stabilisation, a larger grip and bigger battery, all welcome characteristics for this photography genre. It is less noticeable for birds in flight but slightly worse than the sensor readout of the E-M1 II and E-M1X. Discover the a6600 / α6600 premium E-mount APS-C camera from Sony & explore all the Cameras features. If a newly announced camera fits the requirements, we will include useful information about it and update the article once we get our hands on it. Their robust design and reliable autofocus system, in addition to the vast lens selection, are just a few of the many characteristics amateurs or experienced photographers require in order to capture animals in their natural habitat. Unfortunately you don’t get a blackout-free live view as you do with the Sony A9 or Fuji X-T3. With a fantastic body, a sensor capable of producing stunning images, and even scope for wildlife and action photography, the Fujifilm X-T3 is everything we wish the Sony A6600 was. An evolution of Sony's Real-time Eye AF Sony's acclaimed AI-based Real-time Eye AF has evolved to a new level, now providing reliable real … Specifically for Wildlife Photography: E 70–350 mm F4.5–6.3 G OSS. Sync IS (sensor + optical stabilisation) only works with Olympus lenses. Sony initially released the A6000, which instantly became a popular camera, because it had the right set of camera features at the right price. On the Sony Stage at PhotoPlus Expo 2018, #SonyArtisan Colby Brown discusses his experience in wildlife photography and shares the best Sony gear for capturing animals on the move. Panasonic Leica DG 100-400mm f/4-6.3 O.I.S. Note: the code above is invalidwhen the software is on pre-order. Best All-In-One Lens for Sony a6600. It simply isn’t as good as other cameras but for more static situations, they work well and you can take advantage of extra features like 4K Photo and the good video capabilities. The Best Rain Covers to Protect Your Camera. Sony A6600 Review: A Small but Mighty Mirrorless for Wildlife Photography Enthusiasts A brief review of the Sony A6600 Camera for wildlife applications. Article updates2. It makes following a fast and unpredictable bird much easier than with the mechanical shutter which only shows the last image taken instead. I wound up with some soft results but very few images where the AF went completely wrong. Within the article, there are affiliate links. The built-in image stabilisation remains the best on the market (it has an even higher rating than the already stunning E-M1 II). Then we have the lenses. Furthermore, the optical viewfinder and its display options proved a good ally for BIF, mimicking the use of a red dot sight (more info here). This is why Sony gives you the option to activate a fake shutter sound and a blinking marker on the screen to remind you that the camera is shooting. Is the a6600 … The Sony a7C forgoes Sony’s typical pattern of leapfrogging its own lineup with a headline-grabbing camera release for something that’s more vanilla. For wildlife it is unlikely you’ll be able to take advantage of it however: it does work at long focal lengths but any small movements will result in artefacts and a loss in resolution. Sony A6600 house owners can put money into good full-frame glass right this moment, and take it with them to a full-frame digital camera down the street. Speaking of video, the camera can record 4K up to 30p and 102Mbps, or Cinema 4K at 24fps and 237Mbps (variable). Performance. The hybrid AF system is improved and while it doesn’t reach the same level as the A9, it is close. They offer good stabilisation and have a robust build quality but the main limitation is the DfD AF system with BIF and fast subjects. Photography Tips Bobby Vogt 5/8/20 Photography Tips Bobby Vogt 5/8/20. From sweeping landscapes through portraits to sports and wildlife, Sony 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 lens (35mm equivalent of 27-300mm) will cover it all. Animal portraiture and wildlife photography will never be the same, thanks to Sony's unique Real-time Eye AF for Animals feature. Lots of menu options to go through, with different functions thrown under random menus. For the first time, two mirrorless cameras (A9 and A9 II) gave me a better score for birds in flight. Check price of the Panasonic Lumix G9 onAmazon | Amazon UK | eBay | B&H Photo, Second-hand Panasonic cameras onMPB US | MPB UK, Guide:Best G9 Settings for Birds in Flight. Adds support for the LA-EA5 A-Mount Adapter (sold separately). The Best Sony Cameras for Photography in 2020. The cameras becomes unbalanced when used with large and heavy lenses and at this point it makes more sense to consider a native DSLR system instead. The Sony A6600 is an upper mid-range mirrorless camera with a 24 Megapixel APSC sensor, built-in stabilisation, 4k video, 11fps bursts with autofocus, and increased battery life. Before we had the chance to test the G9, the GH5 was on the main list. Certainly the small size of the body can be an advantage for other genres but when using larger lenses, you inevitably feel a lack of balance and find yourself wishing for a larger grip. Panasonic has made some improvements via firmware (version 2.0 especially), but the performance remains behind its competitors. Birds in flight are ideal for this and tracking them has never been so easy. Guide To Nikon Cameras For Birds, How to Blur the Background in Bird Photography, 21 Great Bird Photography Locations in Sydney, Australia, Florida’s Birding & Photo Fest – Florida Bird Photography Festival, Low light autofocus performance is poor compared with most DSLR cameras. 4.1. I used the FE 70-300mm with good results but it can feel too short in some situations. The Sony A6600, the successor to the Sony A6500, is currently the high-end Sony aps-c camera. The electronic viewfinder doesn’t offer the best resolution by today’s standards (2.36M dots) but it has a large magnification of 0.83x, a short lag of 5ms and a refresh rate of 120fps with progressive scan rather than interlaced. I mainly concentrated on birds in flight, which is perhaps one of the most difficult subjects for your camera. (Image credit: Chris George/Digital Camera World) Lab tests. Getting on the ground is sometimes essential in wildlife photography. It doesn’t reach the same level of performance with the electronic shutter but the camera remains an interesting alternative thanks its superior video capabilities. At the root of it, the a7C is essentially the a7III reincarnated into a rangefinder-style form factor. Pro Capture is limited to the H mode with Panasonic lenses. If you want a faster option, there is the new 200mm f/2 but it costs more. The Best Rain Covers to Protect Your Camera. My first set was rather disappointing: I used the 153 Points Dynamic Area and I got an average keeper rate of 56% (or 69% if I don’t count the slightly soft images). Amongst the negative things to point out, there is the short battery life and the lack of an official battery grip, although some third-party manufacturers such as Meike provide one (check our accessory list to find out more). All of these lenses are sharp and the AF is perfect. It is very comfortable to use and has been designed to stand up to the most challenging weather conditions. Sony announced follow ups to two of their most popular (and top selling) camera models, these new releases are the Sony A6600 and the Sony A6100. Each are wonderful cameras, however the Fujifilm has a number of benefits for skilled lovers, from a higher shutter pace vary to higher-quality video. 2 This product is also known as ILCE-6600, ILCE-6600M, ILCE6600/B, ILCE6600M/B 3 ©2020 Sony Electronics Inc. The continuous shooting speeds go up to 12fps or 9fps with continuous AF when using the mechanical shutter. The camera itself is very comfortable to use thanks to the many dials, AF joystick, touch screen, user-friendly menu system and the possibility to customise the camera to your liking. Best Mirrorless for Wildlife Photography: Sony A6400. Read More. You may think that such a large camera defies the portability of the Micro Four Thirds system. The performance decreases even more if you shoot at 20fps with the electronic shutter, unlike the Olympus. There is a rich range of physical controls including 19 function buttons and an AF Joystick on the rear (although I wish the latter weren’t so close to the EVF). Stunning buffer capabilities (even when shooting RAW) and a state of the art EVF (3686k dots, 0.78x magnification and 120fps refresh rate) further improve the experience. Editor’s Rating: 4.7/5. Up to 9fps, the G9 shows you a live view with blackouts. Plus it doesn’t have the fastest AF motor and lacks weather-sealing. I got good results with the X-Pro2 since its AF system is the same as the one found on the X-T2. With the a6600 one at least has access to nice compact lenses befitting of the camera body, like the OSS 16-55 F/2.8 and 70-350 F/4.5-6.3. With the growth of the Ax00 line, it is now getting more and more difficult to identify differences between all these cameras. Four Tips to Make Better Black and White Wildlife Photos A tutorial on producing better black and white wildlife images. The camera offers resistance against dust and moisture but isn’t freeze proof. The buffer capabilities are not particularly good when shooting at these high bursts, but one alternative is to take advantage of the 6K/4K Photo mode, where you can record 6K/4K videos at 30fps and save any frame you want as an 18MP or 8MP JPG. Some examples are shared later on in this guide for inspiration. To know more about our ethics, you can visit our full disclosure page. Using the E-M1X with the same telephoto lenses I used with the E-M1 II before didn’t force me to upgrade my backpack, so in the end the difference isn’t as big as you might think. It offers the best performance of any X-series camera, but doesn’t have the best ergonomics. You can control the AF responsiveness and customise the AF Group Points. The 26.1MP BSI X-Trans IV sensor doesn’t provide a substantial increase in image quality over the X-H1 or X-T2, but it remains excellent nonetheless with good dynamic range and high ISO performance. 152mm 1/1600@f8.0 ISO5000. Another thing worth mentioning is that while the camera is definitely lighter than a DSLR, the XF 100-400mm isn’t any smaller than the Canon equivalent. Before wrapping up, I’d like to mention other cameras we’ve used for wildlife photography. Birds in flight (and other wildlife genres when I get the chance) have become part of my routine tests for most cameras, including the recent full frame mirrorless products from Canon and Nikon. One of the features that will be suitable for wildlife photography is the presence of built in image stabilization. My first Sony camera, and first love, was the Sony α7S. The Sony A6400 is an advanced mirrorless camera designed for both enthusiasts and professionals, so it has many complex functions and features. With firmware 3.0, the AF has improved: it doesn’t get to the same level of the X model but makes the camera a very interesting option if you have a more restricted budget. On a budget, it is better to take a look at the E-M1 II which recently received a big boost in AF performance thanks to firmware 3.0. You have to rely on adapters and DSLR lenses, and if wildlife is your main interest, then it makes more sense to look for a DSLR body. When I started to work on this article, I realised that the only way to make it truly fair was to include my experience with one of the best DSLRs designed for this genre. For songbird photography with a maximum equivalent focal length of 52… Conclusion. It has the best autofocus system of any mirrorless camera we’ve tried to date and in fact, it outperformed the Nikon D500 in terms of AF speed and accuracy. Best All-In-One Lens for Sony a6600. Another thing to keep in mind is that Dual IS is not compatible with Olympus lenses so you’ll have to choose between sensor or optical stabilisation. Best overall kit: E-M1X, M.Zuiko 40-150mm Pro, 300mm Pro and MC-14 ($7150 / £6080 / €6730), Best kit with 1 lens: E-M1X, M.Zuiko 300mm Pro and MC-14 ($5850 / £5080 / €5530), Versatile kit with 1 lens: E-M1X and Leica DG 100-400mm ($4600 / £4070 / €4440), More affordable kit to begin with: E-M1X and Lumix G 100-300mm II ($3600 / £3300 / €3540), Sony FE 400mm f2.8 GM (600mm f/4 with TC 1.4x, 800mm f/5.6 with TC 2.0x), Sony FE 600mm f4 GM (840mm f/5.6 with TC 1.4x, 1200mm f/8 with TC 2.0x), Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G (280-840mm f/8-9 with TC 1.4x, 400-1200mm f/11-13 with TC 2.0x), Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS (150-600mm f/6.3-8 with TC 1.4x, 200-800 f/9-11 with TC 2.0x), Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 OSS GM (98-280mm f/4 with TC 1.4x, 140-400mm f/5.6 with TC 2.0x), the only mirrorless camera to truly match the AF performance of the best high-end DSLRs, the only mirrorless camera with a live view system that surpasses the performance of an optical viewfinder, up to 20fps with AE/AF tracking and no blackouts, the best for tracking birds in flight, very expensive if you want the fastest telephoto lenses. Sony A7R3. And soon the camera will get EyeAF for animals, which we already tested on the A7 III and found really effective. There is also an elephant in the room: multiple rumours and manager interviews have hinted at a possible high end APS-C camera from Sony in the near future. I don’t deny that some extra resolution would have been welcome, but it remains a very good EVF that delivers a clear and consistent view of your scene even when tracking very fast subjects. With a fantastic body, a sensor capable of producing stunning images, and even scope for wildlife and action photography, the Fujifilm X-T3 is everything we wish the Sony A6600 was. With a large telephoto lens, you’ll feel the need to add a grip extender, the optional battery pack or at the very least, a thumb rest. The lens list is very similar as that of the E-M1X: Please note that the performance may not be as good with Olympus lenses because the DfD system is officially only compatible with Lumix/Leica lenses. I haven’t tested the camera yet but the sensor and AF are the same as the A6400. Where mirrorless cameras go head-to-head! If you are a birding, wildlife, or sports photography pro the stand out feature of the Sony Alpha a9 II is its super-fast continuous shooting speed. Posted in Articles, Products on Tuesday, August 18 2020. continuous shooting speeds up to 60fps and 18fps, the Pro Capture mode lets you save images before fully depressing the shutter release button, state of the art image stabilisation for stills and video, EVF with large magnification and 120fps progressive scan, weather sealing, dual SD card slot, excellent battery life, the 20MP sensor has improved dynamic range but you won’t reach the same kind of quality as larger sensors, Pro Capture works with Panasonic lenses in H mode only, it is a large investment if you want to work with the best lenses.