Sony a6400

I went to a demo about two years ago showing off Sony’s latest $40K projector and the HDR demos it was running were really impressive (as they should be) but at the end I was surprised to see an end credit say “Shot on Sony a6300 cameras.” I wasn’t even sure they had used a Sony at all, and if so, I would’ve put all my money on an F55 or F65. But since then, I’ve seen some really impressive S-Log3 footage out of Sony 8-bit 4K cameras. I’m not saying 8-bit is all you really need, or that 8-bit is ideal, but with a little bit of gamma curve 8-bit can be made to do some impressive things.

On Sony’s photo cameras they have four different “CineGamma” modes, two of which overlap with HyperGammas. Cine4 is a pretty easy setting to shoot in and is highly recommended around the web. It looks good without much tweaking and it’s easy to grade. From when I looked into it last I remember it having 9.5 stops of latitude (so only .5 stop short of HDR10 standards). With all that said, Sony’s HDR10 HLG that was put in the new a6400 might not actually struggle hard to deliver those 10 stops. I wouldn’t want to have to correct footage that wasn’t exposed right, for instance, but it probably gets the job done (for whatever it is vloggers are doing with these cameras).
 
It's a camera for vloggers, and I'm not sure it will be successful among them. Flip screen that can be viewed from the front was definitely needed for that market... but... No headphone jack means you either use the onboard mics or the Sony one that attaches to the hot shoe. And if you use that mic, you don't see the flip screen. So, the main market is "vloggers that can spend $1200 on a camera plus lens but won't bother using an external mic".
 
Regarding the removal of 29:59 recording limit:

Sony said in a press reception that they are not able to retrospectively remove the recording limit on older cameras as it would require new serial numbers per EU law.
 
puredrifting said:
No headphone jack. You'd think Sony and Canon would get a clue that Nikon and Fujifilm are and will continue to erode their market share in mirrorless because they don't have higher line products to protect.
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Yep. The Fujifilm XT-3 just murders this camera. I'm not considering any other mirrorless. Sony and Canon don't have anything that comes close. And I own both an A7SII and an A6500. I hate them both. Bad colors, weird limitations, just difficult to shoot with.
 
I always watch new releases (mirrorless cameras) on B&H and check every day for a week or so after a release to see when and if they are a '#1 Seller' or 'Top Seller', and this one still hasn't hit either mark (their list of course).

The a6300, a6500 and a7III crushed it...within hours.

The X-T3 did as well; a top seller almost immediately (just showing an example with one of the aforementioned badges in the top-right).

It's weird that it already has a permanent price drop.

Fujifilm.jpg
 
Samuel H said:
It's a camera for vloggers, and I'm not sure it will be successful among them. Flip screen that can be viewed from the front was definitely needed for that market... but... No headphone jack means you either use the onboard mics or the Sony one that attaches to the hot shoe. And if you use that mic, you don't see the flip screen. So, the main market is "vloggers that can spend $1200 on a camera plus lens but won't bother using an external mic".
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I disagree. Blanket statements like that always strike me as elitist. The 6400 has tons of potential for 1200 bucks. add a Sony XLR-K1M Adapter and you have a very flexible camera that weighs nothing and had great imaging. Many like me own the XLR-K1M Adapter already so its a no brainer. Not everyone needs an F55 or Red or Arri. I still work with my A6000 and will definitely buy an A6400 as a compliment to my A7III which is also an amazing camera.
 
The A6400 doesn't ship until the end of February, so I would not expect to see much sales activity until people can actually walk out with one in their hands. ( also, this is a $900 camera, where the X-T3 is $1400 on sale, which is a big difference for the YouTube vlogging crowd. Add on a kit zoom lens and the price comparison becomes $1000 vs $1700 )
 
99% of Vlog YouTubers use Canons anyway.

Yeah, you'll see your favorite channels use a Sony or a RED, but Canon DSLRs still dominate the entire YouTube Vlog universe.

And all of the sales activity mentioned above happened shortly after preorders opened. If the a6400 is not selling well now (IDK), I don't think the numbers will go up much more later.

I think people are simply holding back with so many cameras to choose from.

In 2016, the a6300 was groundbreaking. In 2019 - with barely any changes - the a6400 is just another option.
 
BrianMurphy said:
I disagree. Blanket statements like that always strike me as elitist. The 6400 has tons of potential for 1200 bucks. add a Sony XLR-K1M Adapter and you have a very flexible camera that weighs nothing and had great imaging. Many like me own the XLR-K1M Adapter already so its a no brainer. Not everyone needs an F55 or Red or Arri. I still work with my A6000 and will definitely buy an A6400 as a compliment to my A7III which is also an amazing camera.
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I'm not saying it's a bad camera, at all. The a6000 is still my main camera for photography, and the RX100IV my main camera for travel videos.

What I'm saying is that the a6400 is an upgrade that tries to go after a very specific market (vloggers) but has one big flaw precisely for them (no mic jack, and the hotshoe mic would block the screen) (my vlogger friends complain about $100 microphones, they won't even consider the XLR-K1M).

The other market they go for is photographers who would appreciate the improved AF, but I'm not sure that's a big market compared to vloggers.
(personally, I won't consider it because I'm using LR perpetual licence and this camera won't be supported: all I can upgrade to is a6500 or a7R III, no newer options for me until I'm ready to pay a lot more for my photo editing software)
 
Sorry, I mispoke. Then it's not THAT bad, lots of vloggers will happily work without a headphones jack, what they need to find is a different place to put the microphone, since the obvious one blocks the screen.
 
Samuel H said:
what they need to find is a different place to put the microphone, since the obvious one blocks the screen.
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There are lots of low cost photo flash brackets that could do the job. iJustine shows a couple of mounting options near the end of her YouTube video at the top of this thread.
 
Samuel H said:
(personally, I won't consider it because I'm using LR perpetual licence and this camera won't be supported: all I can upgrade to is a6500 or a7R III, no newer options for me until I'm ready to pay a lot more for my photo editing software)
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Couldn't you convert A6400 RAW files to DNG and edit them in LR Classic?
 
^ Yes but I would hate the process. My current position is: I shoot video on the p4k (and the RX100IV for travel), and for stills my a6000 is definitely good enough

At some point (when it's cheaper) I will move to an a6500 (and also upgrade to the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 and 16mm f/1.4); and I'll only leave LR perpetual licence when there's a camera that offers so much more that I just can't refuse the upgrade (maybe something like an a7R with improved AF for video and internal 4k 60fps with improved DR and either 10-bit or directly RAW; or, even better, an APS-C version of that).

It's a problem for camera makers that people consider a 5-years-old camera to be "definitely good enough". If I consider upgrading from my a6000, it is only because there's this new Sigma 56mm f/1.4 that seems so sweet, and would probably require eye-AF for wide-open portraits.
 
Skylum Luminar 3 is slowly getting better with each update, so it's a usable replacement for LightRoom and you only pay for it once. I currently work with Luminar 3, but it's noticeably slower at processing than LR.
 
From the moment I started thinking about it to the moment I decided to switch from PS to LR, it took me almost three years. I get a new camera for video every 18 months but I'm very reluctant to switching to new software, the learning process is always painful and it takes me a long time to be happy with it. Currently struggling with a forced switch to Resolve (because of the p4k) and a forced switch from Android to iPhone, I think I'll stay with LR at least a couple of years more... (or, in other words: it will take a much better camera to make me switch away from LR perpetual license).
 
Ok DPReview posted their review of the A6400 and Jordan ( their video guy, and DVX member ) is not too keen on the A6400 as a vlogging camera. Jordan's portion of the review starts at 5:35...

 
It didn't on the previous models...the eye-tracking (not face-tracking) feature only worked in photo mode and maybe even video in photo mode like the one above (IDR), but it was disabled in the main video mode.
 
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