Sony A6600 VERDICT

The Sony A6600 goes back to Roger today...

...And I haven't managed to get through one battery charge.

I mean, it's almost embarrassing. I've had the camera for a week. I shot with it every day. I'm not a heavy shooter, granted. But I've shot a lot, for me. What is wrong with me—don't I chimp enough?

I meet some friends on Tuesdays for a noon walk on the Outlet Trail, and yesterday I looked at the charge level before setting out and saw 29%, and I thought, good, this will kill it. I shot for an hour, more or less. Then I shot some more when the dogs were at the vet for their shots ($618, for a well visit for two healthy dogs. I had to wait for them outside, so I wandered into a nearby field and commenced taking pictures of clouds). And the battery still isn't dead. This morning it reads 8% left. One thing I would not do: get an extra battery for this camera. One will do.

VERDICT: Sony's A6600 gets an "A" from me. Not an A+, because it still has Sony's confusing "old" menus (I had to look up how to turn the beep off, for god's sake...it's under "Audio Signals"), and Sony's longtime practice of making the 4-way pad into a dial is an idea that needs to have a stake driven through its heart. When I need to quickly change the EC or aperture, probably the thing I least want to do is inadvertently activate the Display or Drive modes or whatever by pressing too hard as I try to get the damn dial to turn. You can probably tell by my attitude that I did that a few too many times this past week. As far as the menus are concerned, if you don't think they're a Gothic horror it means you haven't delved into them far enough. Keep on menu-diving. It's like being lost in an endless and terrifying cave. (I really want someone to switch camera setup to interactive screens online which you then transfer to the camera. That way everything could be explained adequately and systematically. Cameras are just too complicated now for paper manuals and mazes of menus. But that's a different post for a different day.)

Worker, Birkett Mills, Penn Yan, New York. Sony A6600.

Top things I loved: the build quality as I've already mentioned; the autofocusing; the big satisfying grip (if Sony doesn't retain this exact grip on the replacement camera somebody should be fired (I write "fired" only because "beheaded" is too strong); and the results. Especially the results. I like Sony's default color; I like the lovely smooth sharpness of the files with the Sigma lens; and the files play great with ACR and Photoshop, which are what I use. One thing (among many) I didn't get around to during the week was a direct showdown with the X-H1, but any results probably would have been too specific to lenses, settings and software anyway. In truth I wasn't curious enough. But the Sony files really "nourish your enthusiasm" to use Ansel's phrase.

I—well, let's be honest, someone—could probably write several long posts on the Sony's focus modes alone, but it certainly is a lot of fun to play with. One that might be old hat to some of you but was new (and hence magic) to me was the ability to tap on the screen to indicate what you want to focus on, and then have the camera's focus grab on to that and cling to it no matter where the thing itself moves or how you move the camera around. I'm still experimenting with focus setups as I send the camera back. Warning, though, the focusing setups are very complicated and you'll need a guide to sort through the options. I'm sure I would pick two and then use the two Memory Recall settings on the Mode Dial to access them quickly.

Focus modes and performance alone are sufficient reason to buy a Sony camera. Explore some YouTube tutorials and you'll see what I mean.

Like it or not
Anyway, this isn't a review. I just wanted to try the A6600 for context, in case I get a chance to try out the successor camera that's expected later this month.

What usually happens when I try a new camera is that I like it or I don't. If I don't like it, then I have an obligation to be fair and look at its good points impartially, to try to understand the ways other peoples' tastes differ from mine. If I do like it, then I have to work to be objective and not gloss over or minimize its shortcomings.

Bottom line is, I don't like the Sony A6600...I love it. It's so good and so satisfying to use that I immediately want to just dismiss or wave away any shortcomings. I'd deal with it, never mind. It wouldn't be a chore to learn its features and operation thoroughly...it would be worth it. Personally, I don't mind that this sensor has 24 MP and that it only has one card slot; I don't mind at all that it doesn't take UHS-II cards, or that its EVF doesn't quite come up to the standards of the best. I'm still having difficulty restraining myself from going out and buying one. But I don't need another camera, and anyway it wouldn't make much sense to buy this before at least checking out the replacement.

Will it be a replacement, though? It's looking right now like the upcoming new APS-C camera will be re-imagined rather than just refined. I know that the other day I suggested it might be time for that, but the problem is that the company will take it in the opposite direction of where I'd want to go. I'm a stills photographer. We've already seen predictions that Sony is going to position the new one as a "vlogger's camera," which means they'll probably be taking it further away from what I'd want it to be, and spending a lot of development effort on things I don't care about and would just as soon my camera didn't have at all. (You know what they say: Oh well.)

In light of all that, I wonder if the A6600 will stay in the lineup too. At its sale price of $1,200, say, it would likely to be a significant numbers of hundreds of dollars less than the replacement camera, yet it's a distinct step up from the A6300. That would seem to leave a place for the A6600 between the upcoming "flagship" and the A6300.

This is the kind of thing I usually don't speculate on. Speculation about upcoming products and things like market positioning seems mostly pointless to me...I'm not a business enthusiast, I'm just a guy who likes pictures. I'd mostly rather just be patient and wait and see. What will be will be. But in this case I'm curious. After all, the A6600 is still a new camera by any rational standard—not even two years old.

But if this does turn out to be the last of the A6xxx cameras and it is indeed just about to go away, it's a fitting final evolution of this popular and long-lived series. It's a beautiful, satisfying little camera, capable of great things.

Mike

Big thanks to the gang at LensRentals for the week-long loan of the camera. If you've never rented a camera, you should try it at least once. The folks at LensRentals make it about as painless as possible. And it's really a lot of fun to try things for yourself.

Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

BugManDan: "Online settings config may be the best idea I've heard this year. Especially if it would allow you to hide all the stuff you don't care about. Make it as simple or as complicated as you want."

ghmcs: "Let me put in a plug for Gary Friedman's series of guides to Sony cameras. He has written at length on Sony focus modes, as well as features that you would be hard pressed to discover on your own."

Luke: "As the Imaging Resource lab drudge for twelve years, I went completely through every menu on every camera we tested—probably a couple thousand. I never found Sony menus to be any worse than any others. Olympus, however, often made me shout 'WTF??,' and grab for the manual just to decipher utterly meaningless menu phrases. Once you know what a Sony camera is capable of, the menus are fairly straightforward. Yep, audio signals are in 'audio settings.'"

Comments

[Kenneth Tanaka]

I'm a bit surprised you liked this camera, Mike. I know I've enjoyed using this body style for some years. But you're typically a fan of the old-tried-and-true-slr-style-bristling-with-knobs-and-buttons-if-it-don't-look-like-a-camera-it-ain't-no-real-camera guy. But those NEX-type bodies quickly become like prosthetic devices. (BTW, I think the A6500 has apparently been officially discontinued today.)

RENTING cameras and lenses from LensRentals has just become standard practice for me during the past few years. It's a model that was not readily or widely available just a few years ago. But it's powerful. I've done lots of business with LensRentals and never once have they disappointed me. Plus their service has often saved me lots of money (by avoiding costly buying errors).

[Speed]

I've owned a series of Sony NEX and A6XXX cameras that I use as carry-around point-and-shoot devices. They occupy the IQ, size and complexity spaces between my phone and my (non-Sony) DSLR. And in this role they have been terrific.

My brain ran out of room for more than one set of camera commands/controls several years ago.

[Alois Müller]

Dear Mr,Johnston,
a shot for the Dog costs 60$ in Switzerland,
one of the most expensive Countries.
Kind regards
ALOIS MUELLER

[robert e]

"I really want someone to switch camera setup to interactive screens online which you then transfer to the camera."

I had to stop reading to comment what a brilliant idea this is. That or a phone app--same idea (does this really not exist yet?). The best thing about it IMO is the potential to allow customization; and not just colors and fonts, but menu design: categories and hierarchies, depth, help level, confirmation, presets, etc. etc.

[Peter Wright]

“screens online which you then transfer to the camera. That way everything could be explained adequately and systematically. Cameras are just too complicated now for paper manuals and mazes of menus.”

I have never understood why this was not done long ago. I would like to not only set up the options, but remove all the menu clutter (video modes, etc) that I don’t want to see. It’s not as if the makers think the camera is independent of the computer – need to transfer the card somehow – and most cameras now even have some sort of near field communications, so not even a cable is needed.

[MikeR]

I've never used a Sony camera, but is the menu system as obtuse as that of Olympus? I had one once. If ever there was a camera that would make me swear ...

As for that focus tracking magic: I just tested it on my Samsung Galaxy S10, tapped on the focus object, moved the phone around until the object was out of frame, then back in, and the focus frame was still on the object. It's not going to happen this year, but it won't be long before my image count swings to majority smartphone.

[Craig Yuill]

You may love the Sony a6600. But I’m sticking with Nikon. I am planning on getting a Z50 at some point. Maybe a Z6, if I can get one at a good price.

[John Robison]

What a dilemma. It’s good to note however that the vast majority of potential camera buyers do not have an option to check out a camera for a week. And in fact with so few full service camera stores left most of us cannot even hold one in our hands before it is bought, sight unseen, and delivered to our door.
Probably a good thing as it saves us from overspending our budget and, it is less likely we will be dissatisfied with what we already own.
Personally, a ‘bottom feeder’, which in digital means buying used, two to four models old. Have (my only digital except for phone) practically a dinosaur in a Olympus EM10. My lust is directed toward only a mark II version of same, basically because of a higher rez viewfinder and five axis IBIS. But dang, used prices are still way high, at least compared to the mark 1 version.

[JOHN B GILLOOLY]

Adding a specific point to your comments on the A6600, the eye-autofocus capabilities that match the A9/A9II are a HUGE benefit of this camera.

The autofocus in general is great. But the eye-autofocus of the A9/A9II rendered the way I shot with Nikon and previous Sony bodies for 22 years obsolete. The A6500 was also a great camera, but was not capable of this new tech that was a complete gamechanger. It was an easy decision to upgrade from the 6500 to the 6600 for the eye-autofocus alone. If you photograph people, eye-autofocus is a non-negotiable feature of any camera at this point. If it's not, I would bet a lot of money that you haven't used a Sony camera or a body from another manufacturer that has a great eye-af system.

[Kye Wood]

Online settings config.? That is the best idea ever.

Or, having you or Thom Hogan sit down with them and their current models. Patiently go through the ergonomics and menu system and fix them. Once and for all.

I can dream, can't I?

[Grant]

Audiophile Mike doesn't know that a switch for an audio signal would be in "Audio Settings"? I don't know how you will live that one down. :)

[Thomas Walsh]

The bane of menu systems is right up there with a colonoscopy and people who get in the 10 item or less grocery line with a full shopping cart, as things that I loathe. Pure speculation on my part, but why can't cameras be enabled with voice recognition? Heh Siri, F5.6 please. It seems things like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, metering(Siri spot metering please)and EV could be doable. Maybe, algorithms are already being written?Enquiring minds want to know.

[Richard Parkin]

I guess US canine vaccination costs mirror human health cost. U.K. vaccinations are around £60 for puppies and £30 for 2-3 year boosters. We don’t need rabies jabs of course and maybe US has a much longer list of diseases than we have, besides rabies.

[Luke]

I like the idea of configuring the camera, including all the various display modes, online, and transferring the settings to the camera.

You can imagine the whiners, though:
"You need a computer just to go through the menus!
Whaaa!"

[Olybacker]

MikeR, I know what you mean - and I am, broadly speaking, an Olympus enthusiast: check the posting name. Things went downhill at Olympus when they skipped the E-2, built an unnecessarily large, heavy and uncomfortable E-3 and then abandoned DSLRs altogether.

I use an Olympus E-420. It is a gem of a camera. Put a 16mp or 20mp sensor in it and it would be competitive now.