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edI am a photography noob. A rank amateur. I will start off this review by disclosing that. When Sony offered us their A6700 to try, how could I say no? Will I probably face issues figuring out how to use the camera? Yes, undoubtedly. Will I enjoy every minute of figuring out the camera? Also, YES.
Sony A6700 – the deets
Six months ago in July 2023, Sony released their latest mirrorless camera, the A6700. An enthusiast-level camera, the A6700 is not a professional camera. At the price point of $2,069 (inclusive of GST), the price is rather daunting to me. But, if your hobby and passion is photography, you could consider the price to be mid-range instead.
Let’s talk a little bit more about the specifications. The Sony A6700 is a mirrorless camera with these specifications according to their website:
- SENSOR TYPE: APS-C type (23.3 x 15.5 mm), Exmor R CMOS sensor
- ISO SENSITIVITY Still images: ISO 100 – 32000 (expandable to ISO 50 – 102400), AUTO (ISO 100 – 6400, selectable lower limit and upper limit),Movies: ISO 100 – 32000 equivalent, AUTO (ISO 100 – 6400, selectable lower limit and upper limit)
- BATTERY LIFE (STILL IMAGES): Approx. 550 shots (Viewfinder) / Approx. 570 shots (LCD monitor) (CIPA standard)
- NUMBER OF PIXELS (EFFECTIVE): Still images: Approx. 26.0 megapixels max.39,Movies: Approx. 19.9 megapixels max.
- MONITOR TYPE: 7.5 cm (3.0-type) type TFT
The body itself is about 122.0 mm long with a width of 75.1 mm. The height itself is about 69.0 mm. The A6700 weighs slightly less than 500g and has a solid grip design to provide a more comfortable hold. I did have a moment where I noticed where most camera grips are for right-handed people, what about the left-handed people? How do they adjust their grip to suit the camera?
I do find the grip to be quite supportive in ensuring that your grip on the camera is secure and comfortable. For an amateur, I felt quite confident with the camera in my hands. As a clumsy person, I felt safe, lol.
Sony sent over their SEL1670Z lens for us to try along with the camera too. At the price point of $1,329 (inclusive of GST), I am quickly coming to the realisation that photography is an extremely expensive hobby to have.
The SEL1670Z lens has approximately 4x zoom range, a constant F4 maximum aperture and minimum focus distance of 0.35m. It’s a ZEISS Tessar compact standard zoom lens.
The review + the pictures
Round One, A6700 the initial trial
For the first weekend of review, I brought the A6700 out for our family lunch. We found some chickens near the restaurant we were at and I took the opportunity to try using the camera.
The photos of the chickens did turn out great. The details and patterns on the darker chicken’s feathers really stood out and the white feathers came out sharp and clean. I was impressed by how the camera was able to pick out the lighter colours on the dark feathers.
I attempted a scenery shot here as I liked the look of the dark clouds behind the buildings. I’m loving the contrast of yellow against the monochromatic colours of the background.
Then, I attempted to take photos using the self-timer. Oh, these were utter failures. Take a look. I think disappointed is an understatement.
I do think the people photos came out looking great. The A6700 does pick out the imperfections on our faces, but that simply means that the camera is really picking up on the small details that might’ve been missed. I especially love the colours on the second photo where the vibrant green of the dress stands out and even in movement, there picture was still sharp and the blurred part was only at the moving foot.
The other picture that I was especially impressed by was this running photo of my daughter. Despite the fact that my daughter was in the midst of running, the A6700 still managed to keep the background sharp and her as well.
Put away the camera after this to enjoy the remaining time with family.
Round Two of the A6700 – Tarts and Zoom
Second weekend, I bought some pretty splendid tarts from a homebaker. I had practiced a little bit more with the A6700 so I focused more on the creative filters, the zoom and the focus of the camera.
Initially, I could not seem to figure out how to get the A6700 to focus on all the tarts. It seemed to focus on a certain one and then blur the rest. Here’s the pictures where I was trying my best to get the focus to be on all four of the tarts.
After the focus, I decided to play around with the zoom. I chose certain parts and details on the tarts to zoom in on and let me just say, they came out great for an amateur. The chocolate pearl, the torched marshmallow, the coconut flakes and the crumbs of pistachios; the sharpness of the details simply wowed me. Gorgeous.
My current impression of the A6700 at this point? The camera is beginner-friendly. If you are just starting out in photography or upgrading your camera from a point and shoot, you can consider this as the features of the camera are pretty straight-forward.
The fiddling with the settings did allow me to understand the features of the A6700 a little better. The trial and error helped me in pin-pointing which settings I preferred to use.
Third and Final Round
The third time I brought the A6700 out, we tried it together with the SEL1670Z lens. I was interested to see what kind of zoom the lens would have compared to the previous one. I was also eager to see whether there would be a difference in the quality of pictures as well.
We went to VivoCity this time as I wanted to see how much it could capture Sentosa from the boardwalk opposite. It was a pretty cloudy day when we went there and the rain had just stopped. The overcast weather made the pictures have a pretty gloomy vibe which I really liked.
So, to put the zoom to the test, I focused on the area between the two trees that were unblocked. The image turned out to be pretty amazing and still sharp despite the distance. There were no parts that were pixelated and the colour red on the roof really stood out. The blue roof of the buildings still looked pretty true to colour when I was standing at the boardwalk. The A6700 did blur the lamp post and the tree trunk but that is to be expected since I was focused on the middle area.
Then, I tried the zoom on the cable cars. Here’s the before picture. The cable cars were just little specks in the sky and the camera fpcused more on the foreground than the background. One thing that really struck me whilst taking these photos was how the A6700 still managed to capture the details on the wet floor. Even though the weather was gloomy, it didn’t detract from the focus of the photo.
Zoomed in result. While I would not say that the zoom is excellent, I love how the gloominess of the photo turned out. The A6700 did a great job of making the picture look dark and dramatic with the dark skies.
Final Thoughts
I did enjoy using the Sony A6700. I have to admit though, that as I am using the camera, I realised that I am better suited to a point and shoot camera. This review also cemented the resolution that I am going to get the Sony ZV-1 II. (I did a review on that too, take a read here.)
As much as I enjoyed the A6700, this truly is an enthusiast level camera and a casual user like me is not suited to it. The photos did come out great and I liked being able to fiddle with the settings but I can see someone who is more enthusiastic and passionate about photography raving about it.
If you are starting out in photography, I would say go for it as the Sony A6700 is beginner-friendly and you won’t get too confused by all the settings.
So, in conclusion, I can definitely see why Sony is one of the big names in this industry. Their products are top-tier, in this amateur’s eyes. Also, there were some people who were saying I would just get confused by everything when it comes to this kind of cameras. Happy to report that the confusion was only at the beginning and definitely much more confident by the end of this review.
Thank you Sony for letting me try this camera! <3
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