Thanks to mpb for sponsoring this video Hi I'm Gordon from camera labs and this Is my full review of the Sony a6700 a Mid-range mirrorless camera with a 26 Megapixel aps-c sensor 4K 120 video and Built-in stabilization this is part one Of a two-part review focused on the A6700 for Stills photography part 2 will Cover its video capabilities and if You're a hybrid shooter or just simply Curious you should check it out as it Delivers some of the best performance at This price point announced in July 2023 At a body price for around 1400 US Dollars the a6700 is Sony's first new Hybrid camera with an aps-e sensor since The a6600 launched four years previously Sure there's been other aps-c models in That time but they've been more focused On video and vlogging in particular Whereas the 6700 is firmly focused on People who take both photos and videos At first glance the 6700 would appear to Be a 6600 with the sensor from the fx30 Cinema camera coupled with the autofocus System from the a7r5 and while both Represent the headline upgrades here There's a wealth of extra features that I'm going to cover in this review I'll Be making lots of comparisons against Alternative models and Rivals including The a6400 seen here on the right when You first pick it up the 6700 most Closely resembles the a6600 sharing
Essentially the same compact body shape With a flat top and viewfinder perched In that top Corner in your hands the Weather sealed body with a magnesium Alloy chassis feels small but robust and Comfortable with a generous grip that's A tad deeper than before it weighs Around 500 grams with battery but no Lens from the top you'll notice a Similar layout with no pop-up flash but At least the hot shoe now supports Sony's latest digital Mi shoe Accessories like the ECM M1 microphone Launched alongside it and I've got a Separate review of that if you're Interested the shoe also allows you to Record 4 channel audio where available Sony's now moved to built-in microphones To the front of the camera and they can Sound pretty good but do Beware of the Rattly strap lugs at least on my test Sample which can ruin handheld footage Unless stuck down eagle-eyed Sony fans May notice the C1 button now circled in Red and defaulting as a more convenient Movie record button than the old Corner Location while the bump on the power Collar has rotated to the right hand Side much more importantly though the 6700 finally gains the front finger dial To complement the two rear thumb Wheels While photo movie and snq modes have Been sensibly relocated to a new dial Beneath the main exposure mode round the
Bat the layout remains much the same as The 6600 including the flat wheel which Doubles as a joy pad making an Impressive three control dials in total I'm also happy to find a new AF on Button although sadly Sony has continued To assist fitting a joystick to this Series leaving you to use the touch Screen or the jewelry pad to reposition The AF area fujifilms xs20 as well as Canon's r10 and R7 all have AF joysticks And I personally prefer them for Adjusting the AF area how about you in a Major change from previous models though The 6700 switch is the old vertically Tilting screen for one that's now side Hinged allowing it to flip out to the Side angle up or down as well as forward To face you or back on itself for Protection as such it may no longer be On the optical axis when flipped out and Involve two actions to angle up but I Always found if you find the eye cup or Hot shoe accessories would block the Screen on previous models so again Personally speaking I'm happy about this Change the screen panel itself is a Three inch touchscreen with 1.03 million Dots and a three by two shape that can Display photos without blank bars now This is different from the 6600 and Earlier models which employed wider 16×9 Shape screens which may have been filled With video but cropped for photos I
Personally prefer the new shape but the Panel resolution is beaten by several Levels which have now switched to 1.62 Million dots the viewfinder is unchanged But still delivering the same 2.36 Million dot resolution as the 6600 with The same 0.7 times magnification and Fastest refresh of 120 frames per second To be fair Canon's aps-c cameras not to Mention the Fujifilm xs20 also all share The same viewfinder resolution and it's Fine for General use but it is nothing Special you'll need to step up to the Fujifilm xt5 for a high resolution Viewfinder from an aps-c body the 6700 Also shares the same meth said 100 Batteries at 6600 and while it's now Rated for few shots in this predecessor Perhaps depending on how CPA counts them It Still Remains a highlight here good For around 600 still photos in my test Shooting action with a mix of shutter Types I captured way more than 600 Photos in practice though and for video I managed to record a single clip of 4K 25p in 10 bit lasting just over 2 hours On a full charge Arch as far as I know There is no battery grip available but Then neither do most to its Rivals Meanwhile the ports have been rearranged Behind multiple flaps similar to the Layout on the zve E1 behind the upper Flap a three and a half mil microphone a USBC 3.2 ports the latter a merciful
Update to the micro USB of earlier Models in this series and able to not Only support power delivery for a quick Charging in camera but also lets you use It as a standard UVC UAC webcam for live Streaming to computers or phones at up To 4K 30p behind the lower flap or a Three and a half mil headphone jack and A micro HDMI port so sadly no room for Full-size HDMI here but not surprising Given the body size and as far as I Understand it there's no support for raw Video output either nestled between the Port flaps is a single SD memory card Slot a much more convenient location Than inside the battery compartment to Previous models and now also supporting Uh S2 speeds but anyone hoping for twin Slots will be displayed appointed for That on an aps-c camera you'll need a Canon R7 or Fujifilm xt5 upwards one of The highlights of owning a Sony camera Is the e-mount supporting a wealth of Native lenses not just from Sony but Also embracing third parties this is in Some contrast to Canon whose RF Mount Remains essentially close to third Parties and right now only has three Lenses designed specifically for aps-c Models meaning that most owners will be Fitting full-frame lenses or adapting Older DSLR models not ideal but of Course a tough arrival is Fujifilm whose Long established x-mount is designed for
Aps-c alone and has a comprehensive Selection of quality lenses available so My advice is to see which system has the Lenses you want and which you can afford Oh and unless you want to knock around Spare lens I wouldn't even really bother With the 16 to 50 kit Zoom if you want To get the best from any Sony aps-c body It's certainly no mistake that Sony Supplied review samples of the 6700 with The considerably Superior or Bitcoin Considerably more expensive 16 to 55 2.8 And 15 1.4 lenses you can see the view Here with the 16 to 55 a 55 mil without Ibis before entering the menus to enable Steady shots and returning to a much Less wobbly view I find a steady view When composing invaluable but in terms Of slow shutter speeds the 6700s Ibis Allowed me to hand hold a sharp result At 55 mil or 83mm equivalent as speeds Down to a tenth of a second versus 160th Without that works out at around four Stops of compensation in my own tests so Roughly similar to what I achieved for Fujifilm and Canon's latest Ibis systems In the first of the headline upgrades The 6700 inherits the 26 megapixel back Illuminated CMOS sensor first used in The fx30 cinema camera this may only Represents miles boost in resolution Over the 24 megapixel sensor in previous Models but has a much newer back Illuminated design coupled with the
Latest image processor it potentially Has great quality than these numbers Suggest I've got loads of sample images For you coming up but let's dive Straight into a resolution chart Comparison photographed with the a6700 Fitted with an adapted Sigma 40ml art Lens one of the sharpests that I have And one that I've used in many of the Reviews for comparison with magnified Views of the 6700 on the left and the 6400 on the right the latter also Representing the 6600 you can see There's essentially no benefit in terms Of pure resolution to those two extra Megapixels at least for still photos These results are roughly similar to Fujifilm's 26 megapixel models so if You're after significantly more detail At low isos from aps-c you'll either Need the 32 megapixel sense of the Canon R7 or the 40 megapixels of the Fujifilm Xt5 and xh2 and if you'd like to see a Resolution chart for the xh2 and xh2s Check out my review of that camera how About noise levels let's run through an ISO sweep starting with the 67 100 on The left at its new extended low Sensitivity of 50 ISO before the 6400 Joins in on the right at 100 ISO these Are all jpegs out of camera as the 6700 Wasn't supported by Adobe at the time I Made this review as I increase the Sensitivity one stop at a time both
Cameras deliver pretty clean looking Results up to 1600 to 3200 ISO with Noise only really starting to become Visible from 6400 upwards that said it's Pretty discreet until you reach the very Highest values of 25 600 to 102 400 ISO And from these results I'd say there's Actually little to choose between them On high ISO noise at least for jpegs the Newer 6700 sensor is arguably a tad Better in some color patches here but It's very minor and personally speaking I wouldn't make a decision based on this Alone but how about sensor readout speed Here's two shots that I took using the Electronic shutters on both cameras While panning quickly with the 6700 on The left and the 60 400 on the right and Again I'd say they're actually looking Very similar here now as you'll see in My review the movie capabilities the Rolling shutter is greatly improved on 4K video but for still photos the 6700 Skewing looks pretty similar to the 6400 In my tests so use with caution when Photographing fast moving subjects or When panning quickly the user interface Menus have received the same revamp seen On the a7r5 and fx30 including the main View that shows a bunch of settings at a Glance with the chance to adjust some of Them by touch as well as traditional Controls it's a useful view to have but To me feels a lot like an expanded
Version of the existing function menu Which also remains available here so do We really need both going forward Running through the image quality menus The 6700 lets you choose between JPEG And two types of hip formats with four Compression settings three resolutions And four aspect ratios best quality find Jpegs typically works out between 6 and 15 megabytes each in my samples there's Also an hlg option for still photos Which can look good on HDR TVs meanwhile Raw Shooters get to choose between Lossless compressed and compressed Versions with the former working out Around 33 megabytes each note there's no Uncompressed or low resolution raw Options I'll be testing the dynamic Range when the raw files are fully Supported by third-party software Nestled amongst the bracketing modes Within the drive menu you'll find Focus Bracketing making its debut on a Sony Hybrid aps-c model this lets you capture Up to 300 images gradually adjusting the Focus between each increments of one to Ten you can use the mechanical or Electronic shutters here and also set a Delay from a separate menu since the Traditional self timer is on the same Drive list and can't be selected at the Same time unlike some Rivals Sony won't Stack the images for you in camera Leaving you to do it afterwards in
Software I've used Helicon Focus here to Stack my group of 62 images which has The desired effect of delivering the Depth of field that I required for this Macro close-up of a British pound coin Without having to close the aperture Right down and suffer from diffraction Exploring the menus you'll also find a Bulb timer again inherited from the a7r5 And letting you preset an exposure Between two seconds and 900 seconds this Allows you to easily make long exposures Beyond the usual 30 second limit without The need for a cable release just put The camera into bulb mode choose the Exposure time in the menu set the self Timer to avoid touching the camera and You're all set unlike the a7r5 though You won't find a pixel shift mode to Boost the resolution on the 6700 moving On to bursts here's a sequence shot at The top h plus speed of the 6700 which Remains the Same 11 frames per second as Its predecessors whether you're using The mechanical or electronic shutter I'll show you lots more bursts in a Moment but for splashes you may prefer Models with faster frame rates in terms Of auto focus the 6700 inherits the AI Processor introduced on the a7r5 along With its broad array of subject Recognition select human from the menus And the 6700 will use everything it Knows about Limbs and poses to recognize
And track bodies heads and eyes in a Wide variety of environments select Animal and bird and the 6700 will again Recognize and track bodies heads and Eyes have a wide variety of creatures Whether static or in motion you can also Switch to separate animal only or bird Only for greater accuracy insect now has Its own setting and while still in its Infancy compared to human and animal Detection it's not just a fair job at Surrounding various specimens with a box Or even aiming more tightly around the Body and head parts cars and trains now Have their own setting and both aim to Place a focusing box over the front of Vehicles although if a face is Recognized inside it will take priority There's also an option for airplanes and All also get types have additional Options to further refine how you'd like The system to respond although like the A7r5 this can get complex pretty quickly Sadly for all of Sony's algorithmic Prowess and dedicated AI processing There's still no full auto option which Simply tends to recognize the actual Subject for you I realize such a mode Could impact recognition speed and Accuracy but Auto subject modes are Already working pretty well on both Canon and fujifilm's latest cameras and I'd personally like to see it as an Option from Sony 2. it really does make
Life a lot easier of course if you're Only interested in using manually Selected AF area the 6700 can do that Very quickly and accurately as seen here But let's give it something more Demanding to illustrate how the 6700s Handling autofocus and bursts all work Together in practice I'm going to show You a series of action shots that I took With the 6700 fitted with the e70 to 350 Mil F 4.5 to 6.3 G zoom lens a Lightweight combination which proved Formidable for wildlife and Sports in my Tests all these bursts were taken at the Top h plus speed of 11 frames per second Which while no faster than its Predecessors proved fast enough for most Of the action that I was shooting that Said there are some occasions like Anything involving a water splash where Faster speeds can be beneficial and this Is where rival models with quicker Options in their electronic modes of 20 And even 30 frames per second have an Advantage and if you're looking at the Canon r10 and R7 or Fujifilm xd5 All Sport mechanical shutters up to 15 Frames per second both Canon and Fujifilm also offer pre-burst modes on Recent models which maintain a rolling Buffer as you half press the shutter Ensuring that you never miss A Moment Like a Bird unpredictably Taking Flight I'd really like to see this on a Sony
The top mechanical shutter speed of the 6700 also remains four thousandth of a Second a and while this is the same as The Fujifilm xs20 I still hope for Something faster after all these years In some consolation the electronic Shutter on the 6700 now goes up to 8 000 Of a second but again its Rivals go Faster still to 16 000 from Canon and 32 000 from Fujifilm which believe me is Invaluable for shooting large apertures In bright light if you're shooting jpeg Only the buffer on the 6700 essentially Lets you keep shooting forever in Contrast I only managed 132 best quality Joe pegs out the Canon R7 but it was Shooting 32 megapixels at 15 frames per Second the Sony is also capable of Shooting long bursts of raw files 2 Albeit in the compressed format Autofocus is unsurprisingly where the 6700 triumphs and I could rarely find a Subject or situation where it faltered Humans were recognized in every Situation I tried including Kites and Towing water sports which often fall to The systems Bird and Animal detection Did a great job at finding wildlife and While busy backgrounds can still prove Problematic I drank surnish recognition As among the best out there vehicle Detection also worked for me while Photographing a Ferrari Meetup at Brands Hatch racecourse with the 6700
Recognizing and focusing on the closest Car in the frame the instant one Appeared allowing me to come home with a Lot of Keepers I did notice some skewing When using the electronic shutter which Could prove off-putting when planning to Follow fast cars but to be fair this is No different from other non-stack Rivals At around this price point and switching To the mechanical shutter resolved the Problem besides you don't need a silent Shutter in this kind of situation anyway And the top mechanical shutter speed of Four thousandth of a certain proof fast Enough here even with a telephoto lens Just before wrapping up I wanted to Mention the 6700s predecessors which may Actually be good enough for your needs With used models available at Potentially bargain prices I buy all my Used cameras from mpb and I'd like to Thank them for sponsoring this video if You don't need Sony's latest subject Detection or 4K video beyond 30p the Earliest 6600 remains a solid option With Ibis the big battery and much the Same photo quality and I found several In light new condition at mpb for around 950 pounds and quoting pounds as I'm in The UK but MPP is a global platform that Also operates in the US and across Europe or how about the a6400 which I Used to film most of my YouTube videos For several years not too shabby right
And while it lacks the 6600s Ibis and Big battery it's still a far shooter Which I still use for all of my college Sports and it's available from around 600 to 700 pounds from mpb depending on Condition going further back still does The original a6000 lacking 4K video and Surely too old to be considered today Right well think again because this is The camera that I took to several Editions of the Tour de France to take All these photos that I'm showing you Proving that it's still a worthy option For fast action and an absolute bargain At around 350 pounds in excellent Condition or even a bit less if it Doesn't have to be pristine I've been Using mpb for several years and can Recommend them whether you're buying or Selling photo gear check them out at Mpb.com or using the links in the Description right now to my final Verdict during which I'll show you more Photos that I took with the a6700 mostly Using the 16 to 55 2.8 G Zoom a great Partner for this camera as always you Can download a selection from my review Page at cameralabs.com if you'd like a Closer look the a6700 becomes Sony's Most capable hybrid aps-c camera to date Confidently capturing high quality Photos and videos in a wide variety of Situations for still Shooters the Highlight is Sony's best autofocus
System effortlessly recognizing and Tracking a wealth of subjects including People animals Birds insects cars trains And airplanes couple it with the e72350 Zoom and you have a formidable Combination for for wildlife Sports in Action that remains very Compact and Lightweight meanwhile macro Shooters Will appreciate the inclusion of focus Bracketing while long exposure fans will Enjoy the bulb timer and everyone Benefits from the improved stabilization And triple control dials but despite Employing Sony's latest AF system and Best aps-c sensor to date the actual Photo quality and burst speeds look Similar to his predecessor in my own Tests and the body features do remain More mid-range than high-end the 2.36 Million dot viewfinder single card slot Mechanical shutter no faster than four Thousandth of a second 11 frames per Second bursts and no battery grip all Place it firmly against other mid-range Models like fujifilms xs20 and Canon's EOS r10 and both of those models sport Faster burst speeds and options with Pre-bursts as well as AF joysticks if You're after a high resolution sensor in Evf Twin card slots and fast shutter You'll need to spend more on models like The Canon EOS R7 or fujifilms xt5 and Xh2 put it this way the 6700 is not a High-end aps-c camera to rival
Fujifilm's top models but equally it's Also considerably cheaper ultimately the A6700 makes most sense when judged as a Hybrid camera with many of its best Upgrades benefiting video Shooters but If you're mostly going to be using it For Stills photography I'd recommend Comparing the pros and cons very closely With the competition not to mention its Predecessors overall it's a solid camera I can easily recommend but the choice Between it and the xs20 and r10 will Involve carefully weighing up individual Specs your preferences on body style and Crucially which system has the lenses You want and can afford and that's the End of part one of my a6700 review part 2 is devoted to the video capabilities Where the camera boasts a number of Unique features in its peer group Including 4K at 120p and when that ready I'll link to it here also look out for My reviews of the new 70-200 therefore Mark II and M1 microphone that worked Launched alongside it let me know what You think of the a6700 in the comments And which is your favorite aps-c camera Thanks for watching and thanks again to Mpb for sponsoring this video I'll see You next time bye bye
