Cameras

First Impressions: Sony NEX 6

Chris Gampat
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09/12/2012
3 Mins read
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Last Updated on 09/12/2012 by Chris Gampat

The Sony NEX 6 is the camera designed for people who do not want the NEX 5R but can’t afford or justify the NEX 7 to themselves. Because of this, it combines aspects and features of both bodies and adds to those in the formation of a different camera. If I really had to figure out a way to think about this camera, I would liken it to the situation years ago when Sony Announced the A900 and then the A850 (in that one was basically the baby version of the other.)

We spent a short amount of time with the camera a couple of weeks ago, and here are our first impressions.

EDITOR’S NOTE CONFIRMED VIA SONY’S SITE IT DOES HAVE A TOUCH SHUTTER/SCREEN.

Source

Second correction: Sony says this is a mistake. It does not have a touch shutter. We apologize for the mistake.

Tech Specs

– 16.1 APS-C (they’re branding it as APS HD, don’t ask me why) CMOS sensor

– ISO 100-25,600

– 1080p AVCHD 60p and 24p

– Hybrid AF

– XGA OLED TruFinder

– 921k dot LCD screen

– Multi-interface shoe

– Pop-up flash

– 1/4000 shutter speed max

– Peaking MF assist

– USB charging

– SD card slot

– Launching around the middle of November

– With the 16-50mm kit; it will be around $999.99

– Wifi connectivity

Ergonomics

The Sony NEX 6 features a couple of new things right off the bat. First off, there is the on/off switch around the shutter release and the Fn button next to that. Behind this is the new mode dial: which means that that section of the Sony menu system has been demolished.

Around said dial is another control dial for shutter control. Next to this is the pop-up flash, followed by the new standard hot shoe (not Minolta’s) and the viewfinder.

The back of the camera adheres to the 5R’s philosophy of simplicity You’ve got a playback button, pop-up flash, Auto Exposure Lock, two custom function buttons, four way control dial, and an LCD screen.

The pop-up flash can also be pulled back a bit to act like a bounce flash if the user wants.

Autofocus

In my brief time with the pre-production unit, the AF adhered to Sony’s super quick focusing technology. Like the 5r, this camera also has touch to shoot functionality, which makes it as fast as the Olympus OMD EM5, if not a tad slower.

Image Quality

We couldn’t put a card in the camera to test the image quality because this was a pre-production unit. But the images seemed right on par with the 5N previously, which was quite good.

Ease of Use

The only thing that I’ve never quite liked about the Sony NEX line of cameras was that the user needed to go through menu after menu to change anything. The NEX 6 makes that a bit easier with the dial, but other than that, I have to fully test the unit to give a better review. Unfortunately, the battery seemed to die on my unit as I got to it (I spent a ton of time with the A99 instead of this.)

First Impressions

The Sony NEX 6 has some very promising features with the Play Life memories connectivity and Wifi being built in. Additionally, the new Android and iOS app will add to a user’s ability to shoot and share immediately. Add onto this the fact that the new focusing system is also very fast and the touch to shoot functionality on the touch screen, and Olympus has a big competitor on its hands. and the only thing making Olympus still faster to use is the touch shutter function.

Only time and a thorough review will tell us how this camera will do.

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autofocus ergonomics image quality nex 5r nex-7 Sony NEX 6
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.