Sony Announces The Alpha a6400 – A New APC-C Mirrorless Camera

Sony has unveiled their latest APC-C mirrorless camera: the Sony Alpha a6400. Wait, what? It’s neither the long anticipated a7000, nor the even more rumored a7S III which the specs keep growing for as we wait for it to drop. It’s a mid-range workhorse for vloggers.

The new Sony Alpha a6400, falls between the A6300 and the A6500, but sports features neither has. Sadly it lacks a headphone jack and IBIS (in body image stabilization). Also the selfie screen, folds over the top not to the side. So it is partly blocked by the EVF (Electronic View Finder) ; plus if any kind of microphone is attached to the camera, many people will find it useless for vlogging.

But, on the plus side, the autofocus looks to be killer in both video and photos use cases.

The camera packs the 24.2MP Exmor CMOS which works hand in hand with a latest-generation BIONZ X image processor. The processor tech is based on the the same tech that powers that Sony A9. The details on this are something Sony is being vague on.

Sony claims the title for world’s fastest 0.02 seconds AF acquisition speed plus 425 phase-detection and contrast-detection AF points covering approximately 84% of image area. When recording in movie mode, the footage will be captures with full pixel readout (no pixel binning). Furthermore, Sony debuts a new tech called ‘Real-time Tracking’ in the Alpha a6400. Combining proven AF techniques with advanced AI algorithms should result in even better focus tracking across the board. Things like color, subject distance (depth) and pattern (brightness) are being used as spatial information in order to track subjects (eyes), objects and even animals (via firmware update later in 2019).

Standard ISO ranges up to ISO 32000 for both still and movie mode. The a6400 records 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) @ 30p with full pixel readout so it records roughly 2.4x the data which is required for UHD. After that, oversampling kicks in and results in a very clean 4K UHD output. A Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) picture profile is on board, as is S-Log2 and S-Log3. Zebra pattern and a gamma display assist help with judging the image. FullHD (1920 x 1080) tops out at 120p (100 Mbps).

Specifications

• Sony Alpha a6xxx body
• 4K UHD @ 30p\
• FHD @ 120p (100Mbps)180° flip touchscreen (“selfie mode”) with 921k-dots
• XGA OLED Tru-finder™ viewfinder
• 89 functions, assignable to 8 custom keys
  magnesium alloy design, dust and moisture resistant

Availability: February 2019 (approximately $900 / €1,050 body only)