Sony α6000  Camera Review

The Sony α6000 is very portable. Its body has a low-profile design, and it's very lightweight, making it easy to throw into a bag or take on the go. It's even more compact than newer models in the lineup, like the Sony α6100 and especially the slightly bulkier Sony α6600.

The camera's build quality is good. It's similar to the Sony α6100, though its plastic construction feels cheaper than the magnesium alloy body of the Sony α6400. The inputs and battery compartment are covered by sturdy hinged doors. The buttons also provide nice physical feedback. However, some of the inputs, like the top command dial, aren't the most responsive, as it has a slight delay when you change an input.

• Sony E 16-50mm 3.5-5.6/PZ OSS lens
• Lens cap
• Viewfinder eyecup
• 1x NP-FW50 battery
• Shoulder strap
• AC adapter
• Micro-USB to USB-A cable
• User manual and documentation

The camera feels quite comfortable to shoot with, though its relatively small handgrip and body can feel cramped for those with larger hands. The video record button is also strangely placed by the thumb rest, making it a little awkward to start recording in movie mode. Still, the camera feels lightweight and well-balanced with smaller lenses. It's also easy to adjust settings with either eye to the viewfinder, though the offset EVF is better suited to right-eye shooters.

The EVF is decently sized and fairly comfortable to look through. However, its resolution falls short of newer models like the Sony α6400, so the image doesn't look as crisp. Thankfully, there isn't too much lag.

The camera has a tilting screen, which is great for waist-level shooting. The screen is bright enough to see clearly in sunnier conditions, but it lacks touch capability, making it more cumbersome to navigate the menu and change the settings. The lack of touch capability also means there's no option to use touch focus, as on newer models, so you're stuck with using the control wheel to manually select focus points.

The Sony a6000 uses Sony's older menu system, which is notoriously confusing and difficult to navigate. It's an even older version than what you'll find on the Sony α6400 and that generation of Alpha cameras; there is no 'My Menu' option to save all your most frequently accessed settings in one place. More advanced settings are buried within submenus that aren't all logically organized. However, you can set it to tile view, which makes it a little quicker to get to the right section of the menu. Thankfully, it has a lot of customization options, allowing you to configure the buttons and a custom menu to your preference, so you don't have to dive into the labyrinthine menu as frequently.

If you'd prefer a camera with a full-frame sensor, consider the Sony α7 II, which is from the same generation of Sony Alpha cameras as the Sony α6000.

The battery life for photos is decent, with a 360-shot CIPA rating. CIPA ratings tend to fall on the conservative side, so your mileage will vary in real-world scenarios, but overall, the camera's battery life still pales compared to most DSLR cameras. On the upside, it does support external power delivery, which is great. In video mode, on the other hand, the battery life is quite good, but that's mostly because the camera's limited to 1080p recording, which doesn't drain the battery as fast as more demanding 4k video.

The Sony α6000 can shoot at a fairly quick max burst rate in its high-speed drive mode, which is good for capturing stills of fast-moving subjects. In addition to 'Low' and 'High,' there's also a 'Mid' drive mode that can shoot at 6 fps. Unlike newer models, it doesn't offer a fully electronic/silent shutter option, though it does have an electronic front-curtain shutter (EFCS) mode. Unfortunately, the camera also has a small photo buffer, especially if you shoot in RAW format. The buffer also takes a fair amount of time to empty once full. Though it isn't the worst, it's slow enough that you could miss a key moment while waiting for it to finish clearing.

The autofocus on the Sony a6000 isn't all that great by today's standards, though it was an impressive AF system at the time of its release in 2014. Like other Sony Alpha models, it uses a hybrid on-sensor AF system with both phase-detection and contrast-detection AF points, although it has fewer focus points than newer models.

It includes both face and eye detection for more precise focusing. However, the auto tracking feature isn't nearly as fast or reliable as newer models like the Sony α6400. With faster-moving subjects, you likely won't get an amazing hit rate. However, you can still get an okay usable hit rate for general-purpose and casual photography.

If you're sticking with the center point for continuous shooting, the camera's accuracy is disappointing. You can still get a solid amount of keepers, especially with slower subjects, but it's a lot slower to acquire focus than newer models in the Alpha lineup.

The Sony a6000 doesn't have in-body image stabilization, but you can use an optically stabilized lens to help reduce camera shake and shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds. The Sony E 16-50mm 3.5-5.6/PZ OSS kit lens that we used for the stabilization test includes 'Optical SteadyShot,' Sony's optical stabilization system. It does a decent job of stabilizing the camera for photos. That said, stabilization performance can vary depending on different factors, including the lens, focal length, and even how steady your hands are.

The Sony a6000 has a good dynamic range. While it isn't as impressive as newer, higher-end models like the Sony α6600, especially at higher ISO settings in low light, it still captures a fairly wide range of detail in high-contrast scenes. You do lose some shadow detail, but highlights are preserved quite well. That said, the camera doesn't have the best noise handling, and pushing the exposure of your RAW files too much results in noticeable noise and banding. Overall, that means you can take photos of high-contrast scenes with a fair amount of detail preservation, but you don't have as much leeway when making exposure adjustments as you might with a newer camera.

The camera's high-resolution sensor resolves an impressive amount of fine detail. You can punch in on or crop your photos and still retain plenty of detail.

The camera's RAW noise handling is decent. It performs well at lower ISO values, but noise begins to creep in as you raise the ISO, and it doesn't handle noise as well at higher ISOs in low-light situations. If you want an entry-level mirrorless camera with better RAW noise handling, check out the Fujifilm X-T30 II.

The Sony α6000 can only record video in 1080p and lacks more advanced video features like Log profiles or RAW video output.

The Sony a6000 can record 1080p video at up to 60 fps. Though it lacks higher frame rate options, 60 fps is still good for capturing smooth action footage or incorporating slightly slowed-down clips.

The camera's internal recording capability is good for its class, but it's behind the times. Bit rates are more limited than newer Alpha models, so the camera can't capture video with as much detail or information. Unfortunately, there's also a 30-minute cap on recording.

The Sony a6000 has a decent autofocus system for video. It has a face detection feature but no eye tracking. It does a good job with tracking human subjects, especially with slower movements, but it's not as "sticky" as the AF on newer Sony cameras, meaning there's occasionally a slight delay for the AF to catch up to your subject after they've moved or popped back into the frame. The same goes for the general subject/object tracking, which can be slow to find its target after it's moved.

Video quality is decent. It isn't the sharpest or most detailed 1080p, but it's suitable for more casual recording. Unfortunately, it struggles a bit more in low light, where video looks noisy and muddy. You also lose a lot of detail in the shadows.

There's some noticeable rolling shutter effect when panning the camera from side to side, but it isn't too distracting when the camera's moving at a slower pace.

The Sony a6000 has just a single SD card slot, rated for UHS-I cards. The card slot is in the battery compartment, located on the bottom of the camera, making it harder to switch out cards when using a tripod.

Inputs and outputs are limited to a Micro USB port and a Micro HDMI port. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a headphone jack or a microphone input, so you're out of luck if you want to record higher-quality audio with an external mic. It's an older camera, so it doesn't support Bluetooth, but you can still transfer files over Wi-Fi if you prefer wireless connectivity.