Sony a6300

The a6000, launched two years ago, has been one of Sony’s greatest hits in digital still photography. It remains one of the kings of continuous autofocus, particularly among mirrorless cameras. Sony’s long-awaited update, the a6300, has primarily been enhanced in one area: the autofocus. To an otherwise similar APS-C sensor, Sony increased the count of phase-detect autofocus points from 179 to 425, allowing more-accurate object tracking across nearly the entire frame.

Other notable improvements include dust and moisture resistance (similar to that in the a7 series), an AE/AFL switch and lever, 4k video at 30fps and a microphone input (but still no headphone out).

Doug (who traded in his own a6000 for the new camera) and Gordon (who spent a few days with the camera at a Sony event) are both impressed with the improved autofocus. In particular, they both appreciated the new 8fps continuous-shooting mode in which the EVF is updated in near real time and with very little inter-frame blackout, making it far easier to track moving objects. (The max 11fps mode suffers from the display lag usually found in mirrorless cameras.)

Doug, in particular, takes Sony to task for continuing to release cameras with one of the worst menu systems on the market, which is particularly important for small cameras like the a6300 that have so few dedicated controls or programmable buttons.

Read Gordon’s in-depth review at CameraLabs.com.

Buy the Sony a6300 from Amazon.com, B&H; or Adorama.