Sony Alpha A6000 – World’s fastest AF?

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17 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    Interesting test. I have the 55-210 as well and consider the a6000 because of the AF-system. But for a fast moving kid like this you would probably need a shutter speed of at least 1/500, don´t you think? That would crank up til iso a bit but not a problem for the sony mirrorless. Also AF normally need a little time to catch up, so maybe it would have been better with a couple of “warm-up”-shots. Would love to see some 1/1000 shots on iso 4-800 handheld.

    • Thank you for all comments and sorry for the delay in reply. I agree and mentioned that 1/250s is too slow, but the test when he is running around with the dog is at much higher speed and it is even worse.
      I will repeat the test for sure, but I am afraid, it’s very much about lens and I don’t have any of the Zeiss f/4 zooms, nor am I planning to buy one 🙁

    • Anonymous says:

      Viktor, I totally forgot to commend you for your very interesting site. I´ll sure be back to study all the work you´ve done comparing excellent lenses. With regards to the 55-210 test: you may very well be right. It is a slow (but not bad at all and sharp at 210) lense, and of course you´ve already firmware-updated it, I guess? But sure would be happy to see another test. The very realiable Gordon Laing at Camerlabs just posted his review and it seems it is not the AF-system that´s faulted. The AF-system is actually getting praised as if it was a costly DSLR and the successrate is way above (95 pct.) anything before it. Sweet music for a “bird-shooter” like myself – now we only need a zoom or tele that can keep up if in fact the 55-210 is too slow (Anonymous 1).

    • I am glad you found few useful infos. Firmware of SEL 55210 was upgraded to .02 prior to the test.

  2. Anonymous says:

    … and flexible spot, small spot (and “full focus” and panning skills on the part of the shooter) would maybe help. AF never does it all, not yet, that is. Btw: the facedetection seems to work great on this camera, so maybe you should try to switch it on (there are other rather impressive tests out there right now of facedetection AF in a6000).

  3. Anonymous says:

    I’ve had similar problems with the a6000 and tracking. I’m finding using centre spot focus and tracking the subject myself – i.e. keeping it in the centre of the frame – is working better than the Sony tracking.

    Its certainly not as amazing as the Sony adverts suggest.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Thank you for your input (I´m the Anonymous from the two first entries on this thread :)) Very nice to hear from someone who has a real “hands-on” knowledge of the a6000 and who isn´t biased. There are – strangely enough – not so many thorough tests out there yet despite the purposedly fantastic abilities of the a6000 AF-system. One would think that´s the ultimate test of mirrorless versus dslr: can the AF on mirrorless finally keep up? It would be so nice to see someone compare the AF-system with a say 70D (which maybe also have some problems according to some youtubers) I myself am using the Nex 5n and 5r. On the 5r I shoot burstmode, fleixible spot and spot meetering almost (AF and AF-C) all the time for fast moving objects (mainly birds) and shutterspeeds aorund 1/1000, and always try to keep object in center of the frame. That seems to be the only settings that will give a fair amount of good, sharp pictures. Actually it is quite allright, you can´t expect a 100 pct. successrate, but it can´t track approaching objects so I had hoped the a6000 would do the job. Maybe not. Yet.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I agree with your results. I did similar tests of my runnin children with A6000 burst mode and SEL 18-55mm (firmware updated for PDAF). My results were similar to yours: only the first 2-3 shots wer properly focused. I even ordered the SEL 16-50mm because I thought my old kit lens was too slow! Did you test this lens too?

  6. Anonymous says:

    I am seeing the same thing. Af-C , MEDIUM burst mode, 1/125, 50 f1.8 lens @ 1.8 and ISO 3200 – indoors. Had my child sit on the couch and rock her head front and back….Camera struggled ….May be I have not configured it correctly….

  7. Anonymous says:

    Could you test with the16-70mm F/4 lens if possible?

    • I’d love to, but I wouldn’t have use for f/4 lens in this focal range, so I don’t want to buy it. Being independent reviewer, means that I am not getting any lenses for testing from producers and thus I have to buy each lens for testing by myself. Maybe in the future if prices drop, but not now 🙁

  8. alexandre says:

    Hello viktor!
    I read some of your post and see that you have a lot experience with nex system.
    i have been use on sony alpha a550 for 2 years, my father in law give me.
    But, for some situations i don’t like of carry all that wheight from camera and lenses. So i’ll buy one a6000.
    As i sed before, i read some posts ans see your comparassion between sony 10-18 and sigma 19 2.8
    my question is, have you any experience with sigma 30 2.8 and 60 2.8?? I would like to add this lens to de set or maybe change the 60mm to a sel50f18. If you can give me your opinion.
    in the future i would like to add minolta 135 2.8 and/or rokinon 85mm 1.4 and rokinon 10mm
    thanks in advance,
    Alexandre Junquilho

    • Hi Alex,
      Sigma 30/2.8 is a very sharp lens with solid contrast. Considering its price (I bought mine for 99 USD, but it is first version), it is probably best bang for the buck in E-mount lens world. For some reason however, I am not using it much. From the very personnel point of view, I find this Sigma to be somewhat too technical without pronounced character. But beside the built quality of the first version, where you will probably encounter problems with manual focusing (focus ring gets stiff after short use), there is little to say against this lens from the technical side. It could be faster, but than it would be also bigger, heavier and more expensive. It should serve as a nice standard FL, all purpose lens on your A6000. I have no experience with Sigma 60/2.8 but it is supposed to be sharpest APS-C lens made for E-mount. I have Sony SEL 50/1.8 OSS and would recommand this lens hands down. Really nice package with solid AF (on A6000 with recent firmware), pleasing bokeh in most situation, sharp enough wide open and excellent from f/2.8, stabilization, solid build quality but moderate size and very light, decent speed and reasonable price. If there is something that I would like to be slightly better it would be micro-contrast and slightly warmer colors.
      On my blog you should be able to find short test of Minolta Rokinon 135/2.8 MC, but MD should be better. I have no experience with A mount 135/2.8, but I have 135/1.8 Zeiss and 135/2.8(T4.5) STF and both are outstanding lenses. Samyang/Rokinon 85/1.4 is great lens for the price too and I am also curious to try Samyang 10mm.

      Regards,
      Viktor

  9. tecnoworld says:

    Nice and competent test. Could you try the samsung nx1, to see if it’s best/worse?

    • Thank you tecnoworld,
      we are waiting for NX1 test sample to come to our hands, but since we are based in a rather small EU country, we’ll have to wait a bit longer I am afraid.
      regards,
      Viktor

  1. March 3, 2016

    […] had ergens gelezen dat het af systeem van de a 6000 toch niet zo geweldig was. http://www.verybiglobo.com/sony-alph…ds-fastest-af/ Canon Eos 40D – Canon ef-s 18-55mm f3.5/5.6 is II – Canon ef 50mm f1.8 II – Canon ef 100mm f2.8 […]

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