bobishkan Loc: Fort Myers Sunny Florida

I'm thinking of buying a Sony A6000: Questions:
1. How many seconds to recycle an average indoor flash picture with average battery life?
2. Can you manually set color saturation to your choice or do you just have a VIVID selection?
3. Can you see your shot in the EVF AND the back screen at the same time or do you have to switch back and forth?
4. I read the menus are not so good. Please compare to a newer Nikon menu system.
5. How quiet is the shutter compared to an average DSLR?

Your answers and input is much appreciated, Thanks Much, Bob

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Why not rent an a6000 and try it out first hand? For the relatively small price of the rental you can have a hands on experience with the camera and answer your perfectly valid questions. One source is Lensrentals.com but there are numerous others as well.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

3. As soon as you put the EVF to your eye, the back screen turns off. I don't know how you could be looking at the shot in both places at the same time since the viewing distance would be totally different.
4. Once you understand how they work, the menus are fine. One advantage Sony has over Nikon (and maybe Canon) is that a menu will display maybe six items. If what you want isn't displayed, you don't have to scroll down, hoping to find it. Go to the top of the screen and click on the next list of six items. I think that's a better way to do it because you can see at a glance whether or not you're in the right place.
5. there is no comparison between a DSLR and the A600 when it comes to the shutter sound. It is very quiet.

1. I haven't taken that many flash shots in a row to notice any delay in flash recycling. One nice thing about that little flash is that you can tilt it up for bounce flash. Sony cameras seem to get fewer shots per charge than other cameras, so carry spares. I use both Sony and generic batteries, and they both die at about the same rate. If I leave the camera sitting for a couple of weeks, I can be sure the battery will be way down, unlike my Nikons.
2. I never bothered with the color saturation feature - if the camera even has it. I shoot raw, so I adjust the color in post. I usually have the review feature turned off on my cameras. If I have to review a shot, I just click on that little arrow.

You can download the manual and get more info. I don't use their Play Memories Home software.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-6000-series/ilce-6000

User ID

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About choosing color saturation. When reading the manual
look up the "Picture Styles". There are several default styles
and also several custom styles. Each picture style has a basic
foundation, such as one you yourself mentioned called "Vivid".
But there are more, such as Standard, Neutral, Portrait, etc
etc etc etc. The foundation is a certain color palette and tonal
contour that doesn't change, BUT within each style you alter
4 parameters to your liking: Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation,
and I don't even recall the 4th ... maybe only 3 ? I set them
up long ago and now I just pick a style as needed, no longer
thinking about how I customized it :-)

I should emphasize that Picture Styles are NOT "art filters".
The a6000 also has those. There is ALWAYS some picture
style in use in normal photography. OTOH "art filters" are
weird stuff that you'd only switch on if you were stoned :-(

Acoarst every shot by every digital camera is governed by
a picture style. If there is no menu choice about that, you
know that the particular camera has only one, one that is
its default style, set up by the camera maker in hopes of
pleasing the majority of customers ... or, as you already
mentioned, simple cameras might have only 2 choices as
in "Normal" and "Vivid".


.

repleo Loc: Boston

1. I just tried it on my A6000. About 1 second - maybe 2. If you turn off preview and red eye it is pretty well as fast as you can press the button for single shots .
2. That is 'Creative Style' on the Sony. You can choose between Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape,Night, Sunset, Autumn, B&W and Sepia. You can select if you want the style applied to the viewfinder image or not. I only use Standard.
3. The camera will switch between screen and EVF when it detects an eye at the viewfinder. I think you can also set it for EVF only or Screen Only (not sure about that). Occasionally the eye detect will pick up a stray thumb or strap and think it is an eye and switch from the screen.
4. There is nothing wrong with the menus. This is only a problem for folks switching from other systems, same as it would be for anybody switching between systems. The Fn button will bring up a Quick Menu screen with 12 tiles for all of your (selectable) most-used modes like focus mode, focus area, drive mode etc. The tile menu appears in the EVF also, so you can change any of your settings without taking your off off the EVF. That is a real bonus if you need need reading glasses to read the back screen - like me.
5.Very quite. About he same as my iPhone.

I see a A6000 bundle with the two 18-55 and 55-210 kit lenses for $595 just ended on Adorama / Amazon. That was a great deal. Watch for it again around Black Friday.

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

I have a a6000 & a6300 agree with jerry41!

saparoo Loc: Atlanta, GA

Don, I have the a6000 and thinking about getting the a6300 because of the weather seal. What other advantages do you see between the two? I will probably sale my a6000.
Thanks, Sylvia

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Right now Best Buy has an A6000 with two lenses for $595. That’s essentially getting the long lens free.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

I have an A6000 and really like it. With the new 18-135 it a near perfect all around compact camera.

Bill

repleo Loc: Boston

If you are thinking of upgrading from your A6000, I think the A6500 would be a more worthwhile step. The A6500 has in camera stabilization and a touch screen and a few other minor upgrades from the A6300.

Low Budget Dave

I have been using the A6000 for about four years. I will do my best:

1. How many seconds to recycle an average indoor flash picture with average battery life?
The built-in flash on the camera does not recycle fast enough, and is not powerful enough for anything except (mild) backfill, but the little Godox 350 is well-balanced on board, and recycles in about a half-second at the power I usually use. At full power it can take 2 seconds to recycle, though, so read up on flash reviews before investing.

2. Can you manually set color saturation to your choice or do you just have a VIVID selection?
There is a feature in the menu system where you can adjust the colors in the "creative style". If you do it, though, I recommend you shoot RAW + JPG. Most of the time, kicking saturation up a notch works perfectly, but sometimes it basically ruins the JPG and you have to fix it using the RAW.

3. Can you see your shot in the EVF AND the back screen at the same time or do you have to switch back and forth?
I have never bothered to try it any other way. I find the screen drains the battery too quickly to keep it on all the time.

4. I read the menus are not so good. Please compare to a newer Nikon menu system.
I find the menus to be just as easy to learn as Nikon. Customizing the buttons is harder, but the basic functions is just as good.

5. How quiet is the shutter compared to an average DSLR?
It is almost identical to most modern DSLRs. In a quiet room, it will be noticed. If you need a quiet shutter, go ahead and spend the extra money for the A6500. (There are other advantages as well, so you won't be disappointed.) The silent shutter has some disadvantages as well, so you might end up not using it.

What the A6000 does really well: It is a lot of camera for the money. (In order to get anything smaller, faster, or better, you are going to have to spend more money.)

What it does poorly: Weatherproofing, touchscreen, and IBIS are all non-existent. (Most people don't absolutely need any of those things, but if you do, then the A6000 is not for you.)

gwilliams6

tropics68 Loc: Georgia

What he said.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Low Budget Dave

Just to follow up: You may not be able to find the A6000 for rent any longer, but if you can, it will be pretty reasonable. I think the A6300 for four days is only about $75.

If you are on a really tight budget, and if you are already committed to the Sony system, you might consider renting something you are about to buy a waste of money. (It adds 15% to the price of the camera you are about to buy, just for a four-day trial period.)

But if you rent it out and hate it, then you saved yourself $400...