Sony A6400 Review

Sony A6400 Review

Real world images from the Sony A6400:

The Sony A6400 (See on Amazon) is Sony’s first aps-c camera in over two years. [For those that don’t know, aps-c is a sensor size smaller than “full frame,” which is equivalent to the size of old 35mm film. A smaller sensor size trades some image quality mostly to keep down costs. Sensors is early dSLRs were extremely expensive requiring cost cutting to make the cameras affordable.] As Nikon and Canon have concentrated on full frame mirrorless recently, the Sony A6400 is probably the most significant aps-c camera from the big three camera makers in the last year. The last aps-c dSLRs from Canon in early 2018 were barebones entry models. They launched a mirrorless M50 aps-c camera, but their M-system isn’t compatible with their new Rf system, leaving their plans in doubt. Meanwhile, Nikon’s only aps-c camera in 2018 was a slight refresh of their entry model. Mirrorless Nikon aps-c is probably coming eventually, but does not appear to be imminent. Fuji is the only brand seriously pursuing aps-c at the moment, but they don’t do full frame at all. Finally leaving Sony as the only current player introducing serious full frame and aps-c mirrorless cameras. 

The Sony A6xxx lineup isn’t new. The A6400 is the fourth camera to share basically the same body. Priced at $900 for body only, it appears positioned as a mid-level aps-c camera and a replacement for the A6300. It is priced slightly below the $1100 A6500, but may be the better camera in many ways. I previously posited that Sony should merge the A6300 and A6500 into a single mid level camera and then introduce a true premium aps-c camera. (Article here). It appears Sony may have come to the same conclusion, at least as to the first step.

This Sony A6400 review will not get into every nitty gritty detail of the camera. I previously owned and shot with the A6300 extensively. In preparation for this review, I borrowed and used the A6400 for two weeks, carrying it everywhere. I primarily shot with the Sony 18-135mm lens. Being primarily a stills photographer, I will not comment extensively on video.

Unlike some review sites, I did not perform laboratory testing, it didn’t go through a whole editorial staff. On the other extreme, this review is based on far more than shooting with the camera for 20 minutes and shooting a youtube video. My goal is to give my honest opinion as an enthusiast photographer, as someone with experience in aps-c and full frame, and as a Sony shooter. I will try to hit on the most significant strengths and weaknesses I found as I used the camera. I was not paid or reimbursed for this review. As with most blogs, this review does include affiliate links and the blog receives a small commission if you purchase through the affiliate links. 

Getting on with it, how well does this $900 camera perform? In the current market, you can get a full frame Sony A7ii for nearly the same price, $1000. For those really looking to save money, there are many capable mirrorless and dslr aps-c cameras for under $500. So what good and bad things stand out about the A6400 that a prospective buyer may want to consider?

Body and Ergonomics

We are probably starting this review with some of the camera’s weakest and strongest points. The Sony A6400 is now the fourth body to use the basic design that Sony started with the A6000. Except for a flip up screen, the body is nearly unchanged from the A6300 and A6500. People seem to either love or hate the body design.

Size and Weight

The best thing about the body is just how compact, small and light it is.

Above we see some comparisons of the Sony A6400 body to other Sony cameras. Compared to their remaining aps-c dSLR, the Sony A77ii, the A6400 is positively diminutive. Compared to the Sony A9, the cameras exhibit a similar amount of bulk, with the A6400 only being slightly tinier, but when you actually wear the camera you can appreciate a significant difference in weight. Some weight comparisons of the Sony A6400, with battery and memory card:

• Sony A6400: 403 grams
• Sony A7iii: 650 grams
• Sony A77ii: 725 grams
• Canon M50: 387 grams

As demonstrated by the above list, the Sony A6400 saves significant weight compared to dSLRs and full frame mirrorless, but is consistent with the weight you may find in other aps-c mirrorless cameras.

A quick word about the weight, I was using the camera with the included neck strap. Even a light-weight camera can quickly cause neck pain after wearing it for a while. I strongly recommend replacing the neck strap with a good sling strap like Black Rapid or Peak Design.

While the Sony A6400 can save the shooter weight and bulk, there are unfortunately trade-offs in the ergonomics of the body and the controls. The good news is that the grip was sufficiently thick for comfortable hand holding. I didn’t find it any less comfortable than holding the A7/A9 cameras. But we immediately start to see some of the trade offs when we look at the back of the camera more closely.

EVF and LCD

The EVF is slightly smaller than you get on the Sony full frame cameras but it is still large, it refreshes quickly and provides a bright display. Technically, the LCD on the A6400 is the same size as the A7 camera but you see the shape is different: The A6400 utilized a 16X9 layout screen. This is great for video but it means stills (which are 2X3) do not utilize the entire screen. Instead, photos are displayed with black bars on the side, meaning the photos are displayed smaller than on the LCD screens you will find on most other cameras.

Customization

We see that the A6400 has far fewer direct controls that A7/A9 cameras. The good news is that the the buttons are highly customizable. In addition to assigning custom functions to just about every button, you can also assign a dozen functions the “Fn” menu, which pops up into the LCD with a single button push. Sony is infamous for poor menus, but the Sony A6400 includes a “MyMenu” so you can create a menu tab with your most used menu items. Below you can see some of the customization ability:

The negative issues around the Sony A6400 mostly involve the size and placement of the various buttons and controls. As I’ll discuss further, the button layout impresses upon me that Sony intends this camera more for entry level and intermediate level shooters than advanced shooters and professionals. More advanced shooters are more likely to want to constantly be able to adjust a lot of settings. While the Sony A6400 provides lots of capability to adjust settings, they don’t make it easy.

The Controls and the Rest of the Body

Virtually every camera has a control dial which can be used  most commonly to adjust Aperture or Shutter speed, depending on the mode of the camera. Most often, this is located directly above the thumb rest, so you just lift your thumb and adjust the dial.

As shown above, the control dial is not directly above the thumb rest. Instead, it’s set off on the far right corner. While this may not seem like a big deal, it forces the shooter to bend the thumb in order to adjust the dial, making for a less comfortable experience. In the above image, you’ll also notice the placement of the video record button on the side of the camera body. I find it almost impossible to push this button without jostling the camera at the start and end of every video.

The Sony A6400 uses a touch screen of limited functionality. Unlike other camera brands, it cannot be used to access menus or change most settings. It is used almost exclusively for adjusting the focus point.  When using “live view,” you can select your focus point by touching the screen. When holding the camera to your eye, you can use the screen as a touch pad, dragging the focus point over the frame. The good news is that this works well which is nearly a necessity as it’s annoying to move the focus point any other way. 

As shown above, there is no joystick to move the focus point but joysticks are more commonly found on more expensive prosumer cameras. The control pad can be used for moving the focus point but the control pad already has a lot of functionality assigned. So to use the control pad to move the focus point, you first have to go into your focus area setting. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself changing the ISO when you meant to just move the focus point. The lesson: Just use the LCD for moving the focus point.

Compared to some other cameras, the buttons are all rather small. They aren’t really raised, making them that much harder to find and use by touch. For me, it’s just not an extremely comfortable experience if I’m commonly diving into a lot of the buttons and functions. It feels like the design is more meant for people who are relying on the camera’s automation and just infrequently making adjustments.

The pop-up flash is actually a good point on the Sony A6400:

Pop-up built-in flashes should never be relied upon extensively. I recommend Sony A6400 shooters invest in a Godox TT350, an affordable and compact speedlight flash with off-camera capabilities. But if you’re going to use a pop-up flash, at least the Sony A6400 flash gives you the ability to tilt it up to the ceiling for a bounce flash effect. (You need to hold it back on a spring with a finger as you shoot).  

I have a minor nitpick about the body design: The memory card and body share the same slot on the bottom of the camera:

As you can see above, this compartment leads to the memory card being nearly flush against the compartment door. If you have clumsy fingers like me, it can be hard to get the card in and out.

A Selfie Screen

The Sony A6400 is the first Sony A6xxx camera to sport a “selfie screen”, flipping up to face forward:

This design is another indicator to me that the camera is designed more for casual users than more intensive advanced video users: The screen works great for taking selfies. It works just fine for selfie video (vlogging), as long as you are using the camera’s internal microphone. But more advanced video users tend to use an external microphone, which they usually mount in the hot shoe. Such a microphone set-up would block the LCD screen, cancelling out the value of the flip up screen.

No Stabilization….

The Sony A6500 remains the only aps-c Sony mirrorless camera to utilize IBIS (in body image stabilization), as it is not included in the A6400. Stabilization allows you to keep the images steady at slower shutter speeds, and this allows for better low light performance. Fortunately, most of Sony’s aps-c lenses already have stabilization built in to the lens, so I don’t see this as a big loss. 

The Body Overall

Overall build quality of the Sony A6400 feels pretty solid. I feel confident it would survive ordinary bumps and bruises as well as a few drops of rain. But I’d be hesitant to shoot with it in a downpour or let it get banged around too violently.

Overall on the body and ergonomics:

• The Good: Small and light weight, excellent EVF, lots of customization, selfie-screen, tiltable flash.
• The Bad: Limited touch screen capability, poor menus, 16X9 LCD
• The Ugly: Some of the button placement   

Performance

You won’t find many complaints about the camera performance in this section. I can’t think of another $900 aps-c camera that can compete with the A6400 in terms of performance.

Like all of the A6xxx models it can shoot at 11 frames per second, but it mostly improves upon the prior models when you get into the details.

Most shooters will want to avoid the 11 fps mode and stick to 8 fps, which is still faster than other similarly priced cameras. The reason for this is that 11 fps does not give you a continuous live view: Instead the viewfinder displays the last image taken, so you’re seeing a slide show of old images, not the live view of what you’re actually shooting. At 8 fps, you get a continuously updated live view with minimal shutter blackout.

Where the Sony A6400 has advanced over the prior models is in the silent shutter, which can now be used at 8 frames per second. This is helpful when shooting something like a concert or a wedding ceremony where silence is valued. The A6300/A6500 silent shutters could only be used as slower frame rates. When shooting at 8 fps with the silent shutter, there is no noticeable blackout in the EVF, the image just dims a bit. But be warned about using the silent shutter: In artificial light it can lead to banding. When shooting moving subjects, you need to be aware of rolling shutter. (Essentially, the sensor is being read at a slow rate, which can warp moving subjects).  

There are some cameras that allow for pretty fast shooting but the buffer fills up quickly, making a long burst useless. The Sony A6400 specs list a buffer of 99 jpegs, 46 raw files, or 45 jpeg+raw files. Meaning if shooting raw+jpeg at 8 fps, you can shoot for over 5 seconds before the buffer fills up. Over 12 seconds if shooting jpeg only. That’s a level suitable for real sports and action photography. In my testing, those numbers seem accurate. I regularly was hitting burst over 40 images without any slowdown.

Only a couple dings can be found on performance. First off, like most small mirrorless cameras, the battery life is pretty horrible. Even a casual shooter will want to carry at least one extra battery. A serious shooter will want multiple extra batteries. A full day of shooting can easily eat through three or more batteries. (Third party charger and extra batteries on Amazon here). 

The bigger issue, and a reminder that this is more of a consumer camera than professional camera, is the slow clearing of the buffer and slow writing to the memory card. The camera supports UHS-I memory cards, not faster UHS-II cards. Even taking a single shot, there is a pause as the data is written to the card. A long burst causes the camera to essentially lock up for several seconds while it writes the data. 

Speed and Performance Overall

• The Good: 11 fps, 8 fps with live view, 8 fps silent buffer, deep buffer
• The Bad: Poor battery life but typical in most small mirrorless cameras
• The Ugly: Slow writing to the card locks up the camera

Autofocus

For most shooters, the autofocus system is often underappreciated as it is actually the most important aspect of the camera. Many people look at poor images they captured and think they should blame the lens or camera image quality. Quite often, the issue is simply that the image was not properly focused. Some shooters think that autofocus means there shouldn’t be any work for the photographer, that focus is just handled automatically.

In fact, proper use of a focus system is critical to achieving sharp images. A great autofocus system can make this easier. 

Simply put, the Sony A6400 sports what is probably the best autofocus system you will find in any sub-$1000 camera, or in many much more expensive cameras.

First off, the focus points cover virtually the entire frame, allowing you to keep focus on your subject where ever it may move. Whether shooting in single autofocus (AF-S) or continous AF (AF-C), focus is fast and accurate. This type of coverage is common in mirrorless cameras but not found in dSLRs. 

There are a few things that make the focus system truly stand out from rival dSLRs and mirrorless cameras:

Latest Generation of Eye-AF

All mirrorless cameras have face detection, to automatically seek out and focus on faces. Sony was the leader in eye-AF: the focus system that automatically focuses on the eye, which is where you want to focus for portraits. Canon is still improving the feature in their mirrorless cameras. Nikon Z cameras don’t have eye-AF at all yet, but they plan to introduce it by a firmware update. The A6400 is the first camera to introduce Sony’s newest generation of eye-AF. First some history:

• Sony A6000 (and Sony A77ii and other cameras around 2012): When shooting in AF-S, stationary subjects, a single shot, the camera could automatically locate the eye. 
• Sony A6300 and forward: Hold down a customized button, the camera would automatically seek out and focus upon the nearest eye. The camera could track the eye in AF-C, even when the subject was moving. You could shoot a burst of images of a moving subject, and the camera would at least attempt to always track the eye.

This newest generation: No need to hold down a customized button. The camera continuously always automatically seeks out an eye. You can now (with a customized button) determine whether the camera should focus on the left or right eye. The focus remains very very sticky to the eye, seldom losing it. Most critically is how the eye-AF and face detect can be used in conjunction with “Real time tracking”

Real Time Tracking

The Sony A6400 is the first Sony camera to have a feature they call “real time tracking.” It has recently been added to the Sony A9 by a firmware update, Sony’s $4000 flagship sports camera. There are no known plans to add it to Sony’s other existing cameras but it will surely be in future models. For now, it’s a feature that you can only get in the $900 A6400 or the $4000 A9.

Before explaining Real Time Tracking, let’s step back and understand the traditional focus areas available on almost every camera. 

Every camera lets you shoot a true automatic or “wide” mode. All of the focus points across the frame are available, and the camera attempts to guess what it should focus upon. This tends to be quick but it is imprecise– the camera doesn’t always choose the correct subject or the correct part of the subject. Alternatively, you can select which focus point you want to use, and place that focus point directly over the subject. Sony calls this mode “flexible spot.” This gives the photographer the opportunity to take control and precisely determine where to place focus.

But what happens when the subject moves? Whether shooting sports, birds or just active children, your subject won’t always stay still while you shoot. Traditionally, photographers would pan the camera with the subject, keeping a selected autofocus point over the subject at all times, and then, in AF-C, the camera would constantly re-adjust the focus distance. But if your subject is zigzagging around the frame, even an experienced photographer may have trouble panning the camera and keeping a focus point in the right spot. 

Sony cameras have long had a solution known as “Lock on AF.” You could initiate focus on a subject, the camera would stick a focus box around it, and the focus box would follow the subject, in theory. In practice, it was simply unreliable and focus would often jump to entirely different subjects.

With Real Time Tracking, Sony promises the true ability to stick to a chosen subject, and the tracking is enhanced by “artificial intelligence.” It works in conjunction with eye-AF and face detect, so that if your chosen subject is a person, it prioritizes the eye and face. You can shoot a burst at 8 or 11 fps, and even if your subject zigzags around, the focus points should follow it. I demonstrate it in the below video:

In this post, I have other demonstration videos and discuss the effectiveness. In sum, it works pretty well, especially for a $900 camera. It’s far better than Sony’s lock-on AF. It’s good enough to be the primary focus setting when using the camera. In single shot shooting, it works nearly flawlessly, letting you track the subject and fully press the shutter at the perfect moment. In burst shooting, it actually works a bit better than shown in the video above. With a fast burst, it appears that the green focus dots can’t actually keep up with the focus system. In other words, the camera is properly focusing but the display showing the focus points lags just slightly behind.

When Not to Use AF-C and Tracking

With a couple of exceptions, you will be able to use real time tracking for most of your shooting. The two exceptions are precision focus and low light focus. If your subject is stationary and you’re in low light, then you are much better off using AF-S.

The focus system also presents an issue when you’re trying to focus on an extremely precise spot as demonstrated in the next image.

The above image is an extreme crop. I was trying to photograph a bird hidden in the tree. I selected small flexible spot AF, but the problem is, the “small” spot really isn’t that small. The camera kept focusing on the branches in front of and behind the bird instead of the bird. There is a workaround, but it only works in AF-S:  If you select AF-S single point and then use the focus magnification feature, you get an extremely precise focus cross-point. It allowed me to exactly place focus on the bird (as long as the bird wasn’t really moving), and obtain perfect precise focus.

Focus Overall

It’s probably the best focus system you will find in any sub-$1000 camera. For most casual photographers, you will be able to use real-time tracking for most purposes, most of the time. 

• The Good: Eye-AF, Real Time Tracking, fast reliable AF over the entire frame
• The Bad: The “small” focus point isn’t very small but can work around with focus magnification
• The Ugly: None, there is nothing really bad to say about the Son A6400 focus system.

Video:

If you are a videographer, I encourage you to read other reviews. I shoot about 10 minutes of video per year and don’t have expertise to say much. The A6400 selfie screen is excellent for casual vlogging. I can tell you that the focus system works great during video. Finally, I can tell you that there is 4K video which looked great to my eye. But if you really want details, I encourage you to read reviews of people who understand video specs far better than I do. 

Image Quality

Image quality is little changed from the Sony A6300 and Sony A6500 but that still means the image quality is effectively among the best in aps-c cameras.

One thing I noticed compared to the Sony full frame cameras, the Sony A6400 metering system is biased towards producing bright punchy images. Where straight out of the camera images from my A7riii often need the exposure lifted, the A6400 images may need the exposure brought down a bit. This again strikes me as the “consumer bias” of the camera. Sony probably believes that entry level photographers are more interested in bright images than in protecting highlights.

The images above demonstrate this tendency towards a bright exposure. In the straight from camera JPEG, the clouds and sky border on being blown out. Next to it, we can see the versatility of the raw file and bringing down those highlights. 

White balance is excellent in sunlight. I always found the white balance unreliable on the Sony A6300 in artificial light, often leading to ugly yellow tones. White balance on the A6400 felt more consistent and reliable in artificial light, but I found the white balance could still use fine tuning sometimes when shooting in the shade or artificial light. 

For raw shooters, the A6400 sports excellent dynamic range, especially at low to mid level ISO. You can easily expose for the highlights and get a clean image raising the shadows in post production.

Low Light Shooting

Six years ago I was shooting a full frame Sony A99 — The A6400 has superior low light capability. It used to be that if you wanted to shoot indoors with an aps-c camera, you absolutely had to use a flash or a fast prime lens, because even ISO 3200 was taking a serious toll on image quality. Let’s take a look at some high ISO, straight out of the camera jpegs shot with the kit 18-135 lens:

Casual shooters will be happy with ISO 12,800 straight out of the camera, at least for small prints or images for online sharing. In the examples above, the images around ISO 2000-2500 looks fantastic even at larger sizes. The ISO 12,800 images are certainly flatter and less detailed. When blown up to larger sizes, noise is evident. But at smaller sizes, they are totally usable.

Let’s do a more controlled comparison:

Testing High ISO

I shot this scene:

I shot it at three high ISO settings, ISO 6400, 12,800 and up to 25,600. Three cameras were used: The A6400, the Sony A77ii (a 5-year-old aps-c model) and the current full frame Sony A7riii. I shot in raw, to evaluate the noise levels without any noise reduction. The frame center was then cropped with no adjustments. I then cropped a shadow area and raised the shadows by +75 in Lightroom, in order to evaluate the dynamic range and flexibility of the file. 

Center Crops at ISO 6400

Center Crops at ISO 12,800

Center Crops at ISO 25,600

This close examination left me very impressed with the Sony A6400. At ISO 6400, the full frame A7riii still looks absolutely pristine and the A6400 is very close. The older A77ii doesn’t look horrible but has noticeable noise that would need careful post processing.  Going back five or more years, I would have avoided ISO 6400 on aps-c cameras. By ISO 12,800, the full frame camera still looks almost pristine. The older A77ii is starting to look pretty darn grainy, a setting you would want to avoid. Meanwhile, the A6400 just has some modest noticeable noise that you wouldn’t even notice without pixel peeping. When you get up to ISO 25,600, the older A77ii is totally unusable. Even the full frame A7riii has noticeable noise.

While I’d probably avoid this setting in the A6400, it’s not unusable — there is moderate noise that can be carefully processed. I dare say that ISO 25,600 on the A6400 is nearly equivalent to ISO 6400 on the older A77ii. In other words, if I was simply taking a quick snapshot for sharing on facebook, I could probably use ISO 25,600 on the A6400. Technically, you can extend the ISO of the A6400 all the way up to ISO 102,000 but those higher settings are of little practical use. 

Let’s look at what happens when we challenge the cameras more by raising the shadows. Remember I cropped a shadow area and then raised the shadows by +75 in lightroom, something I may commonly do when processing files.

Shadow Crops at ISO 6400

Shadow Crops at ISO 12,800

Shadow Crops at ISO 25,600

Clearly, the full frame A7riii is in a class of its own. But throughout, the A6400 is probably closer in quality to the full frame camera than it is to the older A77ii. If you have to lift the shadows, the A77ii is already close to unusable at ISO 6400, in my opinion (though it will depend on the print size, how you are processing the image, etc).  I wouldn’t call the A6400 usable at ISO 25,600 but it’s not complete and total garbage as we see with the A77ii. At ISO 12,800, you can probably still get usable medium sized prints out of the A6400, very impressive for an aps-c camera. 

Image Quality Conclusions:

• The Good: Excellent high ISO capability, excellent dynamic range. 
• The Bad: Take care that highlights don’t get blown as the camera tends to expose on the bright side
• The Ugly: Nothing, image quality overall is excellent. 

Of course the Sony A6400 falls behind full frame cameras, but it absolutely delivers top notch image quality for an aps-c camera. If you can’t get high quality images out of the A6400 sensor, it’s not the fault of the camera. But there is an elephant in the room…

Comparing the Sony A6400 to a Good Phone

One could say that the iPhone is the elephant in the room. Aps-c sales have been falling, in part because consumers are getting similar quality out of their phones. For casual snapshots, the newest phones produce images that look great. It’s no longer obvious that an aps-c camera is any better.Why spend $900 on a camera, if the phone in my pocket is already just as good. If you buy the Sony A6400 and the kit lens, stick it on auto, and expect to suddenly get images better than with your phone, you will be disappointed.

My advice becomes a bit different than it would have been a few years ago. First, let’s compare some portraits. The three portraits were taken with the Sony A6400 and 18-135mm lens, the iPhone Xs and portrait mode, and the Sony A9 with 55mm F/1.8. They were each shot at a similar equivalent focal length.

One disadvantage of phone cameras, traditionally, was the inability to blur backgrounds. But the “portrait” mode does a fair job on the iPhone Xs. There is some defect, the artificial background blur erased some loose strands of my daughter’s hair. But the kit lens on the A6400 didn’t allow much background blur at all — I can see many viewers preferring the iPhone Xs image over the Sony A6400, while the A9+55mm F/1.8 image is clearly superior.

Another set of portraits, same issues:

Once again, the iPhone Xs may have overly flattened my daughter’s hair, but the A6400 + kit lens just didn’t provide nice subject separation and background blur.

What about landscapes:

In this case, I can’t say the Sony A6400 landscape photo is noticeably better than the iPhone Xs. The A7riii clearly has more detail, but even it doesn’t look much better at smaller sizes.

My point is not to stick to your phone but there may be little reason to buy an aps-c camera + kit lenses just for taking casual snapshots. The Sony A6400 absolutely has the potential for images you cannot capture with your phone but to get those images, you can’t just rely on the kit lens and auto settings.

How to Make Your A6400 Stand Out Compared to Phones

The Sony A6400 will not automatically give you better or more interesting images you will get from your phone. But there are things you can do to make your images stand out and to make you glad that you purchased a “real” camera:

• Don’t Rely on the Kit lenses for everything, especially portraits. Use a fast prime lens for portraits to be able to achieve background blur. (Review of the Sony 50mm F/1.8 OSS here. See on Amazon / Adorama)
• Consider an ultrawide lens, giving you a perspective you can’t get with a phone. See the value of ultrawide shooting at Universal Studios in this article.  (I can endorse the Sony 10-18mm F/4 lens, on Amazon / Adorama )
• Shoot wildlife and sports with a true telephoto lens to reach for detailed interesting images. (See Sony 70-300mm on Amazon / Adorama).
• Learn how to use off camera flash and lighting (See affordable off camera for lighting explained in this post.  Godox offers a full array of high quality affordable flashes and strobes. Godox for Sony on Amazon / called Flashpoint at Adorama).
• Get a tripod and try long exposures. (The Sony A6400 pairs wonderfully with the tiny Joby Gorillapod. See this post on long exposure photography and this post on night/tripod photography.). (See Joby Gorillapod on Amazon / Adorama). 
• LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY. Get out of auto, learn how to process raw. A great starting point is the book Understanding Exposure.

APS-C or Full Frame

It used to be that full frame cameras were double to triple the price of aps-c cameras. The Sony A6400 is $900, but you can get the previous generation full frame Sony A7ii for just $100 more, at $1,000 at current discounts. (See the A7ii on Amazon / Adorama). 

So if you can get a full frame camera for the same price, what’s the point of spending $900 on aps-c? The question was rhetorical. The full frame A7ii will give you superior image quality, but if you use the A6400 properly, you won’t even notice a huge difference in most cases. Meanwhile, the $900 A6400 is actually superior to the $1,000 A7ii in a long list of ways:

• Even if the full frame body is priced similarly to the aps-c body, full frame lenses are more costly than aps-c lenses. In the end, a full frame system will be much more expensive.
• Full frame cameras are heavier than the A6400. Full frame lenses are heavier than aps-c lenses. When it’s all put together, and aps-c system can be much more compact.
• The A6400 has vastly superior performance (speed) and autofocus compared to the A7ii, as well as a long list of newer features.

So if you are judging on image quality alone, you may be better off with a cheap full frame camera. But if you’re looking for the newest features, the best autofocus system, and the fastest performance, an older cheaper full frame won’t keep up with the Sony A6400. 

There used to be more advantages to aps-c, the price and size differences used to be more significant. In today’s market, if your budget allows for full frame camera and lenses, then the newest full frame cameras like the Sony A7iii may be the best option. But where a complete kit built around the A6400 may cost $2,000-3,000 including the body, an equivalent kit built around the A7iii could easily run $4,000-$5,000.

Conclusion

For those looking for the magic Unicorn camera that will suddenly deliver professional images at the touch of a button, keep looking. For intermediate users willing to spend a bit of time in learning photography and a little bit of money in lenses, flashes and accessories, the Sony A6400 is an excellent camera. You probably won’t find better image quality in any aps-c camera. The focus system particularly makes it pretty easy to use and to capture consistently well focused images. The focus and burst speed make it fully suitable for shooting sports and wildlife.

Many users will appreciate how light weight and compact the Sony A6400 can be. Paired with kit lenses or some prime lenses, it can easily fit into a small bag. Advanced users who prefer to make lots of adjustments on the fly may become more frustrated with the camera’s ergonomics and interface. With extensive customization, it’s possible to take direct control of everything, but not always comfortable to actually use the controls. There certainly will be some high level advanced photographers who can live with some of the ergonomic shortcomings in exchange for the many advantages offered by the A6400.

The Sony A6400 is an excellent camera for the “family photographer” who may be shooting a group family photo in one moment, their toddlers at play in the next moment, later their kid’s little league game, and finally a landscape on vacation. For non-professional wildlife and sports photographers, the speed and the autofocus system will offer great advantages for a $900 camera, but I’d encourage such a user to try out the feel of the camera before committing to it. Owners of the original Son A6000 would find a massive upgrade in the A6400, even if the body looks similar. For those coming from other aps-c dSLR cameras, just make sure you’re comfortable with the body, you’re unlikely to complain about anything else. 

The Sony A6400 would be a good first camera but the features could seem overwhelming to someone who never used anything more complicated than their phone. So for such shooters, I’d recommend patience, taking a class, reading a photography book.

Our overall key points:

The Good:

• Fantastic low light performance and dynamic range
• Autofocus system that will deliver extremely high rate of keepers in most use situations
• Extremely light weight
• Automated eye-AF makes it easy to know you’ll get great autofocus while you concentrate on composition
• 11 frames per second
• 8 frames per second with a live view
• 8 fps silent shooting
• Deep buffer

The Bad:

• No IBIS (but most Sony aps-c lenses have optical stabilization anyway)
• Poor battery life (but consistent with most mirrorless)
• Poor ergonomics for those that want a lot of direct control
• 16X9 LCD makes for small still images
• Limited touch screen functionality

The Ugly:

• The placement of the video record button, difficult to activate without jostling the camera
• Confusing menu system
• Slow clearing buffer that locks up the camera

Overall:

If you like the feel and function of the camera in your hand, nothing else should stop you from enjoying this camera. The Sony A6400 is essentially class-leading in performance, image quality and autofocus. 

Having used it previously, I cannot recommend the kit with the 16-50mm lens. The advantages of the 16-50mm lens are that it is cheap, very compact and starts fairly wide at 16mm. Unfortunately, the image quality is truly subpar. It produces relatively soft images with tons of distortion and vignetting. I recommend the kit with the Sony 18-135mm lens, which isn’t perfect but can generally produce good sharp images. You essentially get the lens for $100 off when purchased with the A6400 together as a kit. 

You can see the Sony A6400 on Amazon / Adorama. Use of our affiliate links will help to support this blog, at no additional cost to yourself. 

The Ultimate Recommended Sony A6400 Kit

I previously wrote some recommendations for Sony A6400 kit purchases. If I personally was building a complete Sony A6400 system for my own use, but building it as affordably as possible, this would be my complete system:

• Sony A6400 + 18-135mm lens (See on Amazon / Adorama)
• Sony 10-18mm F/4 (See on Amazon / Adorama )
• Sony 50mm F/1.8 (for portraits and low light) (See on Amazon / Adorama)
• Joby 1 K Gorillapod as a tripod (See on Amazon / Adorama)
• Black Rapid Cross Body camera strap (See on Amazon / Adorama)
• Godox TT350S flash (See on Amazon / Flaspoint brand at Adorama)

Note that I don’t have long telephoto, but the 18-135mm is long enough for my needs. I tend to shoot a lot of wide angle and a lot of portraits, so this kit is built for my needs.

Thank you for reading. To keep up to date with all our articles, I ask that you accept notifications from the blog and/or follow me on twitter (link in side panel). In the near future, we will be reviewing the 18-135mm lens and looking closely at real time tracking on the Sony A9.