Sony A6600 Camera With 18-135mm Lens

I bought the a6600 knowing that a wanted something that could both take great photos and film great videos. Being a beginner I didn't want to spend too much in case I wasn't into it, but from what I've heard the a6600 is great for a beginner with Sony cameras. My one dislike with the camera is the location of the cold shoe being in front of the flip up screen, making it difficult to see the screen when filming or photographing in front of the camera. I had to purchase a third party bracket to relocate it so I could both see the screen and use a microphone. Sony could possibly include their own relocation bracket in the box, but I'm not too fussed. Otherwise the a6600 is a solid camera and I'm happy with my purchase.

Good camera but some firmware issues

The camera produces very good results and is extremely light and small. However th esmall size does mean that the range of controls is more limited than on a full size DSLR and those controls are set closer together. The sensor is extremely good and noise levels are contained up to relatively high ISO's. A major issue is the poor algorithm that is used to select a combination of aperure and shutter speed in the P setting. That renders the P setting almost unusable and I have found that best results are obtained by using the Manual mode, setting the aperure and shiutter speed appropriate to the occasion and using Auto ISO to adjust the resulting image. Unfortunately this leads to two additional defects in the firmware. As on many DSLR's aperture is adjusted using the ... MoreThe camera produces very good results and is extremely light and small. However th esmall size does mean that the range of controls is more limited than on a full size DSLR and those controls are set closer together. The sensor is extremely good and noise levels are contained up to relatively high ISO's. A major issue is the poor algorithm that is used to select a combination of aperure and shutter speed in the P setting. That renders the P setting almost unusable and I have found that best results are obtained by using the Manual mode, setting the aperure and shiutter speed appropriate to the occasion and using Auto ISO to adjust the resulting image. Unfortunately this leads to two additional defects in the firmware. As on many DSLR's aperture is adjusted using the control on top of the camera and shutter speed by a rotary dial on the camera back. While the top control is very positive and easy to use once its position is learned the same canot be said for teh rotary control on the back of the camera. That control not only rotates but can also be depressed in 4 directions and it is far too easy to depress it while adjusting the shutter speed and to accidentally move, for example, from auto ISO to a fixed ISO value. To undo this accidental change can be time consuming. Such accidental errors could be so easily avoided if the firmware required any of the four "corners" of the dial to be held for, say half a second, before the rotary dial assumed its other function. The second firware defect is that, when the exposure settings are being changed in manual mode with Auto ISO the displayed ISO selected by the camera is replaced by "AUTO" instaed of changing as, say, the Shutter speed is changed. The new ISO only appears when the shutter is half pressed. Thi sis in stark contrast to my Canon 7D Mk2 where the apropriate ISO remains live and changes in response to user changes in Aperture or Shutter speed.Both these defects lead to loss of time in selecting appropriate settings which can be the difference between taking and missing a good photograph. Because of that I have reduced my rating to only 3 stars.

Good camera with some unnecessary glitches

In general, the A6600 is a big steup in, an evolution but no revolution to my previous A6000. Realtime AF tracking works mostly great, color noise which was present even in daytime shots with dark sections with the A6000 are gone. Build quality is hopefully better (my first copy of a A6600 had a button issue). What really sucks is the annoying message when you use 3rd party batteries each time you turn the camera on with this battery after you have upgraded the firmware. This is obviously a return to the bad old days when Sony forced its customers to stay in their ecosphere by using proprietary plugs etc. If "protecting" the cusomers from a 3rd part battery would be acceptable if it shows up once the battery was inserted, not each time you turn the camera on. If it ... MoreIn general, the A6600 is a big steup in, an evolution but no revolution to my previous A6000. Realtime AF tracking works mostly great, color noise which was present even in daytime shots with dark sections with the A6000 are gone. Build quality is hopefully better (my first copy of a A6600 had a button issue). What really sucks is the annoying message when you use 3rd party batteries each time you turn the camera on with this battery after you have upgraded the firmware. This is obviously a return to the bad old days when Sony forced its customers to stay in their ecosphere by using proprietary plugs etc. If "protecting" the cusomers from a 3rd part battery would be acceptable if it shows up once the battery was inserted, not each time you turn the camera on. If it weren't for the excellent 1655/2.8 lens, I might have moved away from Sony. Drawbacks from the A6600 are its size and weights, especially with the 1655. You are close to FF territory with that. And an issue is the non-zero occurence of AF misses when you stop down the 1655 to f8 or higher.

Horrible analog-only audio input with high noise floor

I'm extremely disappointed with the analog audio input for my new Sony A6600 camera.For cameras that don't support Sony's proprietary digital sound interface in the hot shoe, such as the A6400, A6500, and A6600, their clunky hot shoe interface is not worth the price. Rode and Sennheiser's wireless audio interfaces are a better option for all the cameras that have only analog audio input. The Sony audio interface could be worthwhile to get professional quality sound directly into their cameras that do support digital audio in the hot shoe connector. Sony has blown it again by failing to provide a more standardized USB-based approach to adding higher-end audio interfaces to their cameras. It's a sad situation when cheap external audio interfaces for iPhones provide ... MoreI'm extremely disappointed with the analog audio input for my new Sony A6600 camera.For cameras that don't support Sony's proprietary digital sound interface in the hot shoe, such as the A6400, A6500, and A6600, their clunky hot shoe interface is not worth the price. Rode and Sennheiser's wireless audio interfaces are a better option for all the cameras that have only analog audio input. The Sony audio interface could be worthwhile to get professional quality sound directly into their cameras that do support digital audio in the hot shoe connector. Sony has blown it again by failing to provide a more standardized USB-based approach to adding higher-end audio interfaces to their cameras. It's a sad situation when cheap external audio interfaces for iPhones provide better SNR than the mic interface that Sony builds into the cameras that cost vastly more than those phones. Since there are professional audio interfaces with fully digital hand-off to iPhones and Android phones through USB, it's reasonable to now expect the same effort from Sony, Canon, and other camera mfg's.Having to fix the audio every time in Adobe Premier is an outrageous overhead compared to the pure professional sound that's easily captured by iPhones and iPad Pros. Sony should be ashamed.

Huge Improvement

I have not had this long yet but have taken it out a couple times and I'm really loving it. I switched from a Canon SL3. The menus can be a lot to go through but watching a few YouTube videos and its not a big deal. I need to set my customs buttons which will speed some things up. I love all the lens selections available for this between Sony, Tamron, and Sigma. Eye detect is glorious and have an easier time nailing focus on people. I wanted something to make that easier since that isn't my typical photos but like to do it sometimes.

I bought it to do HDR work at night

I started doing HDR work at night with my iPhone 12Pro, then graduated to my Nikon Z7. Wanting something a little lighter, I purchased the Sony a6600 and I have to say, I've been really impressed with its performance. I already had an a6000, but found that for HDR work it left a little bit to be desired. For one thing, the a6600's self-timer works with HDR (the a6000's doesn't) and that is critical when working at night. I also appreciate the fact that, unlike the Z7's self-timer, it remains on even when the camera sleeps or when you turn the camera off entirely. I typically use the Sony f4 10-18mm and find my images to be impressively sharp with really dazzling color. The battery life of the a6600 is also terrific. The camera has 2 user settings and I have one of ... MoreI started doing HDR work at night with my iPhone 12Pro, then graduated to my Nikon Z7. Wanting something a little lighter, I purchased the Sony a6600 and I have to say, I've been really impressed with its performance. I already had an a6000, but found that for HDR work it left a little bit to be desired. For one thing, the a6600's self-timer works with HDR (the a6000's doesn't) and that is critical when working at night. I also appreciate the fact that, unlike the Z7's self-timer, it remains on even when the camera sleeps or when you turn the camera off entirely. I typically use the Sony f4 10-18mm and find my images to be impressively sharp with really dazzling color. The battery life of the a6600 is also terrific. The camera has 2 user settings and I have one of them set up for HDR and the other one set up at 10K ISO on aperture priority at f4 to help me compose on the viewing screen when I'm in really dark situations. Then I just switch back to the other setting when I'm ready to shoot. The HDR performance of this camera is truly amazing, better, actually, than my Z7. I also shoot a lot of street photography so the silent shutter will be a real plus, although I have yet to make any street photographs with it. It's supposed to have lightening-fact focusing, which is critical for street work where situations are so fluid and fast-moving. The a6000 was supposed to be fast-focusing, too, but it really wasn't and it missed a lot of shots. I'll be doing some street work soon, I hope, so I'll have to report back on how well it works for that. The menus are something of a mess, though, as you will see if you read any in-depth reviews. My overall impression of the camera, however, is extremely positive. A word about the attached HDR photograph: this shot almost looks like it was made in daylight, but to the naked eye this scene was SO dark that the path and the bridge in the background couldn't even be seen and the sky was pitch black!

It's okay but far away from perfect

I have been using the a6000 from its day first as my second camera for FF a7R. Finally decided to upgrade a6000 going to more advanced compact APS-C camera. My initial impressions are pretty mixed since from one side it is a step up from a6000 and first of all because of IBIS and better auto-focus but from other side the camera is not such good as I've expected and in many aspects it looks like downgrade from a6500. So my current thoughts are:Pros:1. IBIS;2. Much better auto-focus including Animal Eye AF;3. Better battery.Cons:1. IBIS and Eye AF are not such effective as expected;2. Panorama mode and pop-up Flash were removed from the camera ;3. Noise level and picture quality are not much better than a6000 (it is not the final verdict yet, I still ... MoreI have been using the a6000 from its day first as my second camera for FF a7R. Finally decided to upgrade a6000 going to more advanced compact APS-C camera. My initial impressions are pretty mixed since from one side it is a step up from a6000 and first of all because of IBIS and better auto-focus but from other side the camera is not such good as I've expected and in many aspects it looks like downgrade from a6500. So my current thoughts are:Pros:1. IBIS;2. Much better auto-focus including Animal Eye AF;3. Better battery.Cons:1. IBIS and Eye AF are not such effective as expected;2. Panorama mode and pop-up Flash were removed from the camera ;3. Noise level and picture quality are not much better than a6000 (it is not the final verdict yet, I still testing);4. Still only one memory card (not big problem for myself but it is what it is);5.* Last but not least, Sony calls it a Premium camera, however, such expected (for 2020) and necessary features like Pixel-Shift and Focus bracketing are still absent which significantly limits usability of the camera and especially in Macro Photography area. Years old a6000 had some sort of in-camera focus bracketing through additional PlayMemories app but in a6600 even such capability was removed. Yes, still it can be used together with rails in studio but in the field (primary area of use of any compact camera) such capability is lost....My current conclusion is: Sony a6600 could suit as an upgrade for Sony a6000 (not going to other camera brand and continuing use existing lenses and workflow) but I cannot recommend it as a first Sony camera and, in my opinion in this case better to look for something else.

Not a bad APS-C camera for Trips, Nature, or Home.

I purchased the Sony a6600 camera from B&H, but they didn't have the Tampon 18-300mm lens in stock, so I got it fro Amazon. Receiving the Sony a6600 well boxed from FedEx in 3 days I started to set up the operation program the way I wanted it, but it still took almost a week to get everything the way I wanted. With in 5 days of the order, I received the of the the Tampon 18-300 lens from Amazon and there was no special set-up for the lens, I took it out of the box and started taking pictures. The lens "test picture" I shot in JPEP was very sharp, but the color did shift a little. The Sony JPEG digital 2x picture was OK, but it is hard to hand hold the camera/lens at 900mm! The Pictures at the Park were shot in RAW, so the best magnification was 27 to 450mm and that ... MoreI purchased the Sony a6600 camera from B&H, but they didn't have the Tampon 18-300mm lens in stock, so I got it fro Amazon. Receiving the Sony a6600 well boxed from FedEx in 3 days I started to set up the operation program the way I wanted it, but it still took almost a week to get everything the way I wanted. With in 5 days of the order, I received the of the the Tampon 18-300 lens from Amazon and there was no special set-up for the lens, I took it out of the box and started taking pictures. The lens "test picture" I shot in JPEP was very sharp, but the color did shift a little. The Sony JPEG digital 2x picture was OK, but it is hard to hand hold the camera/lens at 900mm! The Pictures at the Park were shot in RAW, so the best magnification was 27 to 450mm and that was good for most pictures. The RAW pictures were the easiest to process, since once you had a baed setting you could duplicate the rest of the photos and just "Fine Tune" the rest of them. Over all I would say this is a great camera/lens combination for a trip, hiking, birds, nature, or anything around your home area, especially in a populated municipal area.

Quite a bit better than I expected

I had been shooting with Fuji since 2016 (previous to that with Canon, like forever) but my motor skills just never fully adjusted to the retro Fuji style so wanted a change. I knew that I wanted to stay ASP-C so going back to Canon wasn't happening. I took a chance on the A6600 and I found that it works and I'm still surprised feels that it feels so natural to me.Even though I have big hands I really like its compactness and I really like the grip and it's tactile feel. Yes it would be nice to have a front dial but I quickly adjusted and have it setup for the way I like. One handed shooting is a breeze. A lot of people gripe about the menu system but for me there's no issue. I never did like Fuji's.It's really nice having all the third party lens offerings. I ... MoreI had been shooting with Fuji since 2016 (previous to that with Canon, like forever) but my motor skills just never fully adjusted to the retro Fuji style so wanted a change. I knew that I wanted to stay ASP-C so going back to Canon wasn't happening. I took a chance on the A6600 and I found that it works and I'm still surprised feels that it feels so natural to me.Even though I have big hands I really like its compactness and I really like the grip and it's tactile feel. Yes it would be nice to have a front dial but I quickly adjusted and have it setup for the way I like. One handed shooting is a breeze. A lot of people gripe about the menu system but for me there's no issue. I never did like Fuji's.It's really nice having all the third party lens offerings. I picked up the new Sigma 18-50 and the 30 f/1.4. As well the new Samyang 12 AF f/2.0. This kit is light, compact, easy to use and produces some great images.

This camera revived my love for shooting video!

I rented this cameras (2 of them) for a Quinceañera I shot this past Saturday and they were honestly amazing! I’ve always shot with the same entry level camera, a Canon EOS M50 and I’ve done it for a couple of years already. I recently started my production company and this was the first non entry level camera I’ve ever used. And this cameras felt like professional grade stuff for me. I really have no complains about it other then grading log footage but that mostly has to do with my non existing experience with log. Aside from that, it was an amazing camera! Really love the colors, IBIS, and the ease of use. I ended up shooting more then 4 different projects aside from the Quinceañera and it reminded me of how much I love to shoot stuff. I was looking for excuses ... MoreI rented this cameras (2 of them) for a Quinceañera I shot this past Saturday and they were honestly amazing! I’ve always shot with the same entry level camera, a Canon EOS M50 and I’ve done it for a couple of years already. I recently started my production company and this was the first non entry level camera I’ve ever used. And this cameras felt like professional grade stuff for me. I really have no complains about it other then grading log footage but that mostly has to do with my non existing experience with log. Aside from that, it was an amazing camera! Really love the colors, IBIS, and the ease of use. I ended up shooting more then 4 different projects aside from the Quinceañera and it reminded me of how much I love to shoot stuff. I was looking for excuses to go out a shoot cuz I was so excited. So yeah basically a good camera if you have never used a camera of this caliber and it will definitely make you feel “legit”.