The Sony α6100 is a compact APS-C mirrorless camera. It has an effective and mostly reliable autofocus system for still photography and video, a comfortable-to-use body, and good image quality. It also feels quite well made and offers very good battery life. Unfortunately, its menu system can take some time to get used to, and the camera's video stabilization performance is quite poor in 4k video.
Our Verdict
The Sony a6100 is great for travel photography. It's quite compact and easy to carry around. Images are also low in graininess even after you increase camera ISO to compensate for dim lighting conditions. Its autofocus system also does a good job of tracking and maintaining focus on moving subjects, and its low minimum shutter speed should allow for fairly intricate long-exposure shots. It's also quite comfortable to use and has sufficient battery life for long shooting sessions. Unfortunately, its menu system can take some time to get used to.
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Great image quality.
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Excellent overall autofocus performance in still photography and video.
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Compact, sturdy design.
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Very good battery performance.
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Menu system can take some time to get used to.
The Sony a6100 is a great choice for landscape photography. Images are sharp and mostly free of noise even at fairly high ISO levels, which is great for nighttime shoots. It's also lightweight and compact, so you should be able to carry it around with you on hikes without too much difficulty. Its screen is sharp and bright enough to be seen under direct sunlight and it's comfortable to hold despite its small size. On the downside, while its kit lens lets in a good amount of light, it exhibits noticeable light falloff, so the corners of images taken with it can look darker than the middle.
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Great image quality.
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Compact, sturdy design.
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Very good battery performance.
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Sharp, bright flip-out screen.
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Menu system can take some time to get used to.
The Sony a6100 is decent for sports and wildlife photography. While its maximum shooting speed is quite quick, making it somewhat simple to capture distinct images of moving subjects, it takes quite a bit of time for it to clear its buffer, leading to long interruptions in your shooting sessions if you don't keep continuous bursts short. Thankfully, the camera has an effective autofocus system for both faces and objects, and its short maximum shutter speed should allow you to freeze the movement of fast-moving objects.
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Great image quality.
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Excellent overall autofocus performance in still photography and video.
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Takes a long time to clear its buffer.
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Menu system can take some time to get used to.
The Sony a6100 is a satisfactory option for vlogging. Its flip-out screen is bright, sharp, and can be pivoted to face you when the camera is being held in a selfie position. Its autofocus system also does a superb job of maintaining and tracking faces, and the camera itself is easy to carry around. While overall video quality in 4k and FHD is good, its lack of an in-body stabilization feature can give handheld footage a somewhat shaky quality, though mostly only when recording in 4k.
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Excellent overall autofocus performance in still photography and video.
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Compact, sturdy design.
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Sharp, bright flip-out screen.
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Good video recording quality.
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Menu system can take some time to get used to.
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Poor video stabilization performance in 4k.
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Limited support for 4k frame rate recording options.
The Sony a6100 is very good for studio video. Videos recorded in 4k and FHD should be fairly sharply rendered and low in noise. Its autofocus system also does an excellent job of tracking and maintaining focus on moving subjects. However, while there are ports for fitting an auxiliary mic and an external recorder, there's no headphone jack to help monitor your audio more accurately. Also, its menu system can take a bit of time to understand.
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Excellent overall autofocus performance in still photography and video.
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Very good battery performance.
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Good video recording quality.
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Menu system can take some time to get used to.
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No headphone jack.
The Sony a6100 isn't meant for action video. It's quite compact, but still isn't really designed to be attached to a helmet or chest rig. It isn't rated as being weather-resistant either, though we don't currently test for that. It also doesn't support any high-speed frame rate recording options in 4k, and its video stabilization performance in this resolution is poor. Thankfully, it performs better in both respects while shooting FHD footage, and it feels sturdy enough to deal with a couple of drops and bumps.
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Compact, sturdy design.
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Poor video stabilization performance in 4k.
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Limited support for 4k frame rate recording options.
- 8.2 Travel Photography
- 8.1 Landscape Photography
- 7.8 Sport & Wildlife Photography
- 7.1 Vlogging
- 7.1 Studio Video
- 4.7 Action Video
- Updated Apr 05, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.12.
- Updated Feb 14, 2023: This camera's dimensions were slightly off, so we re-measured them and updated the values on the review. The score has also been adjusted.
- Updated Jan 27, 2023: Converted to Test Bench 0.11.
- Updated Sep 16, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.10.
- Updated Aug 04, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.9.
- Updated Apr 22, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.
- Updated Dec 22, 2021: Adjusted menu system score to be more in line with other Sony cameras we've tested.
- Updated Nov 08, 2021: Reprocessed and re-uploaded 4k and FHD video stabilization videos.
- Updated Jun 28, 2021: Retested object tracking performance for photography. Updated 'Autofocus' box accordingly.
- Updated Apr 28, 2021: Corrected input error in 'In The Box' section.
- Updated Feb 08, 2021: Review published.
- Updated Feb 08, 2021: Early access published.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
There's only one color variant of the Sony a6100: 'Black', and you can see its label here. We tested it with the Sony E 16-50mm 3.5-5.6/PZ OSS lens.
Other lenses are available for purchase with the Sony Alpha 6100, including the Sony E 55-210mm f/4.5-6.3 OSS lens, but we haven't evaluated its performance when configured differently. It can also be purchased without a lens at all.
If you come across a different variant, let us know in the discussions so we can update our review.
Compared To Other Cameras
The Sony α6400 is a bit better than the Sony α6100, though both cameras use the same sensor, providing similar image quality, and the same lens mount. Still, the α6400 has slightly better build quality, with some degree of weather-sealing, along with a higher-resolution EVF.
The Sony α6100 is a bit better than the Sony α6000. They look and perform similarly overall. However, because the a6100 is a newer model, it has an improved autofocus system, a newer sensor with slightly better dynamic range and high-ISO performance, and it can record 4k video. The a6000 still offers a lot of value for its price, especially if you don't do a lot of video work.
The Sony α6100 and the Sony ZV-E10 are similar APS-C mirrorless cameras. The ZV-E10 is more geared toward vlogging, with no viewfinder and a fully articulated screen. The ZV-E10 also has a slightly newer version of Sony's AF system, updated color science to improve skin tones, and includes an e-stabilization feature in video mode. Otherwise, the cameras offer very similar image and video quality and similar overall performance.
Test Results
- Body is made primarily of decently high-grade plastic
- Screen mechanism feels quite solid
- Buttons on the camera feel tight and precise
- Top command dial above the recording button can occasionally bounce back to a previous setting
- Input/output and battery compartments have solid hinged doors
- Doesn't feel as solid as the Sony α6400's weather-sealed magnesium alloy construction
Update 04/28/2021: Corrected input error in calling the 'Startup Guide' a 'User Guide'.
- Sony a6100 mirrorless camera
- Sony E 16-50mm 3.5-5.6/PZ OSS lens
- Lens cap
- Viewfinder hood
- 1x NP-FW50 battery
- Shoulder strap
- Charger adapter
- Micro-USB cable
- Sensor cap
- Startup guide
- Users with large hands should still be able to operate the camera comfortably
- Controls are well spaced, and there's enough room for your thumb to rest on the back of the camera without accidentally making an input
- Changing aperture, shutter speed, and ISO is simple with either eye pressed up against the viewfinder
- Handgrip is well-textured and provides a secure hold
- Camera's weight is well-distributed, making it comfortable to hold for extended periods
- Selecting the touchscreen focus point may be slightly easier for right-eyed shooters
- Users with very large hands may find handgrip a little small
Update 12/22/2021: We've adjusted this camera's menu system score to match other Sony cameras we've tested and to better reflect its ease of use relative to other menu systems.
- You can create a custom menu and remap some controls
- Using the 'Tile Menu' setting makes the camera's menu system more intuitive
- Some functions, especially those relating to eye and face tracking, can be a little difficult to find
- You have to use the physical controls to navigate the menu, which isn't quite as intuitive as the Canon EOS M50's touchscreen interface
