Japanese tech giant Sony has revealed two new mirrorless cameras called the a6500 and RX100 V.
The new models are the latest editions of its previous best entry and mid-segment cameras which came out last year. The a6500 will sell for $1400 and comes with interchangeable lenses, while the RX100 V costs $1000 and has a fixed 24-70mm lens, writes Rahul Sethi for India Today.
Sony a6500 camera upgrades OIS system
Sony says that the a6500 is part of the premium E-mount category. It comes with the 24.2 megapixel crop EXMOR sensor that was also seen on the older a6300, but it also has a 5-axis optical image stabilization system. This feature was first seen on the top of the range a7 II camera.
The 5-axis OIS has yaw, pitch and roll axis movements in addition to up-down and sideways. This dramatically increases blur reduction capabilities, and means that image stabilization is much better even if you don’t have a more expensive OIS-equipped lens.
An updated auto focus system now boasts more focus points, with 425 to be exact. Each of them are phase detection focus points. According to Sony the a6500 uses hybrid AF (contrast and phase detection AF), which it says make the camera the fastest in the world when it comes to locking a clean frame.
Battery life could be an issue for some
The a6500 has a magnesium alloy body that isn’t weather sealed. However it is dust and moisture protected thanks to seals around its buttons and dials. The longevity of the camera should be guaranteed thanks to testing for 200,000 actuations as carried out by Sony.
The camera has a wider buffer memory that can store as many as 307 images in “Fine” image quality. It also boasts 11 fps continuous shooting capabilities.
One of the criticisms leveled at the a6300 was its terrible battery life. Unfortunately that looks set to get worse on the new a6500.
During testing the a6500 was found to take 310 shots per charge via viewfinder shooting and 350 via LCD shooting. The a6300 was capable of 350 and 400 shots respectively.
RX100 V also boasts 4K video capabilities
It can be confusing trying to decide which camera to buy, with big choices to be made between mirrorless and DSLR devices. Mirrorless cameras do however have much better video capabilities.
Sony caters to videographers with 4K shooting with full pixel readout and no pixel binning. For the uninitiated this means that the image quality is vastly improved. Sony says that the a6500 shooting in 4K mode can capture 2.4 times more details.
The camera is also capable of making slow motion videos thanks to recording in Full HD 1080p resolution at 120 fps. You can change the frame rate from 1 fps to 120 fps, and the recording format to 24p, 30p or 60p.
The same 20.1 megapixel sensor is featured on the RX100 V as its predecessor the RX 100 IV. However the new model has a new 315 point AF system and 0.05 second focus lock, making the camera the fastest in its price range.
The fixed lens camera also has 4K video capabilities, with full pixel readout and no pixel binning. The RX100 V has the same ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T 24-70mm f1.8-2.8 lens as the RX 100 IV.
Both of the previous iterations of these Sony cameras were well-received. In fact the a6300 was one of the best-reviewed compact cameras around. With a few decent upgrades, things are looking up for the a6500.
