For all my rants on Sony Cameras, and my promise to never buy one again, I am voluntarily putting my foot in my mouth for buying another. This does make my 4th Sony Camera in as many years, after all.
When it comes down to it, my anger was because I hated the construction of their point & shoot cameras. Ignoring this, I stood by the fact that, in terms of image quality, my HX20V
When researching my next big camera purchase, which I knew would either be an SLR or a mirrorless camera, there was one fact I couldn't get around: other camera companies simply don't stand up.
For all my ranting and promises to never buy one again, I ended up with another Sony- the mirrorless a6000
How Is The Mirrorless Different from P&S and SLR?
Now that I've owned a Nikon SLR and several Sony point & shoots, the first thing I should address is how they're all different.
For the everyday photographer, the only major difference you'll notice about the mirrorless cameras over their point & shoot counterparts is that they have interchangeable lenses. Getting past this, everything else on the a6000 is practically the same to the HX20V and HX50 models I mentioned before. This makes the camera very easy to pick up if you're upgrading from a lower model like I was (however begrudgingly that may be).
The real difference comes when you compare the camera to an SLR as you have a powerful camera with all of the same manual settings in a body that is half the size and a fraction of the weight. Rather than having a swinging mirror for the shutter action, everything is digital and no mirror is necessary. Other than these two features, there really is very little that sets the two camera types apart.
Overall, I'm liking where the market is going for this.
What About Functionality for the a6000?
If you've tried a Sony point & shoot in recent years, especially the HX20V and HX50V models, then the a6000 will be almost second nature to you.
The body is oriented just a bit differently, but otherwise the camera has all of the same features you'd expect. The manual controls, internal photo processing, premium features such as wifi integration with remote control and smart phone syncing, and gorgeous images are all what you'd come to expect from Sony's cameras.
One of the new features that I really enjoy is the internal HDR setting which I am now using as a replacement for Paint mode (also included) which I previously used as my HDR substitute.
This mode takes three photos, one over-exposed and one under-exposed at increments from +/- 1 to 6. The camera then overlays the images internally and produces the finalized product while also saving a copy of the original as well (I take both now as a default because, why not?). The latter feature is quite important as it was one of my major complaints about Paint mode in the previous camera models. It doesn't work so great when things are moving as ghosting appears, but for still images the final product requires little to no post-processing if you want an HDR image on the fly.
Other new features to me include a having an external and movable screen, a combo live-view / viewfinder, and a ultra-high-speed continuous shooting mode of up to 11 images per second.
A Few Items Missing in the a6000
On the downside front, I have noticed that a few of my favorite features from the HX20V and HX50V are missing from the a6000 mirrorless camera.
The first is the internal level display that illustrates if the camera's body is off relative to the horizon. I'm not going to lose sleep over this functionality, but it seems a bit silly to remove such a simple thing that helps with composing images.
The second is the locking focus mechanism that was present on the point & shoot models. This method allowed you to pick a single point, lock on it, and then no matter how you moved the camera around the selected spot would stay in focus. I used this quite frequently to trick the light settings and am a bit disheartened that it is gone. The alternative mechanism is quite similar, but requires you to hold down the locking feature continuously which seems like a step in the wrong direction when a perfect alternative was available.
The third is that the zoom capabilities are now tied to the lens you choose. Sure, this is inherent to all mirrorless and SLR cameras, but those who have come to love the ridiculous zoom features of the HX20V or HX50V will have a hard time coming to terms with spending several hundred dollars on a lens that does the same thing. That being said, I'm in love with my 20mm prime f/2.8
Finally, although my concerns over dust on the sensor is alleviated with the mirrorless camera's cleaning capabilities (both internal and via external methods), the body construction is still a concern. A few of the buttons broke on one of our earlier models, and this camera uses the same setup. Luckily, the a6000 has several button combinations that achieve the same result, so if one does break there is likely an alternative access point unlike in its point & shoot counterparts.
Luckily for me, I am finally in a position where I can take advantage of buying long-term insurance, and you can be certain that as much as I love the camera, I won't go without ever again.
Overall - An Incredible Camera
Ignoring a few minor details, the Sony a6000 camera alleviates many of the concerns I had with its point & shoot counterparts while packing in some pretty incredible options, controls, and post-processing capabilities that you simply do not have on other camera options.
I may still be concerned about how well it will do in the long-run, but for the incredible images it produces and the wide array of controls that are available, I think I am more than able to get past my earlier complaints.
SLR cameras, watch out. The mirrorless camera craze is just beginning.
Looking to Buy a Sony a6000? Here's What You May Need
If you're looking at buying a Sony a6000 camera and need a good batch of associated equipment to get your camera arsenal started, the following is what we personally use and recommend:
