Sony a6400 Review

The a6400 looks almost identical to the a6300 before it, and that is both its charm and its problem. The body is small, light and weather resistant, with a 24.2 megapixel APS-C sensor, 11 frames per second shooting, oversampled 4K video with no recording limit and a rear screen that tilts up 180 degrees for vlogging and selfies.

What made it famous is the autofocus. Sony's Real-time Tracking locks onto a subject and hands off between object, face and eye detection so smoothly that reviewers hailed it as a preview of where the whole industry was heading, and it did so in a body costing under a thousand dollars. Stills are clean and detailed across a wide range of light, JPEG color improved over earlier models, and battery life is respectable.

The complaints center on handling. There is no in body stabilization and no front control dial, touch control is limited mostly to focus, the menus sprawl, the grip is shallow and the wide screen wastes space for stills. Video shows noticeable rolling shutter and lacks 10-bit recording or a headphone jack. It suits vloggers, families and anyone who wants reliable focus on moving subjects for modest money, while photographers who value dials and a proper grip will be happier elsewhere.