Sony a6400 vs Sony a6600 | Which to Buy?

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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you a comparison pros and cons for Sony's two current, most, or I should say most current APSC models, and that includes the Sony A6400, which I reviewed a couple of years back now at this point, and then also their A6600
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model, which is a little bit more recent, about a year old now at this point, and dominates a
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little bit of a higher position in the market. When I was examining these two cameras and kind
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of debating back between them, I really kind of flipped both ways in terms of my thought
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process with them. As you probably know, I primarily shoot with pretty high-end full-frame cameras
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primarily the Canon EOS R5 and then the Sony Alpha-1. But I do still like that. I do still like
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like having an APSC body for my reviews, number one, but also because there's sometimes
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you just want to travel small and light, and you don't necessarily want the risk of having a
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you know, four to six thousand dollar camera on hand. And so anyway, I was debating between
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these models and have spent some time with them. And I hope to be able to maybe answer some
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of the questions and frame the argument to help you to make an informed decision
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These obviously occupy very different price points. The A6400 comes in at about $900 U.S. whereas the A6600 comes in at more like $1,400 U.S
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And so we're talking about a $500 price difference, which obviously is a very significant one when you're talking about cameras that are retailing for well under $1,500 U.S. dollars
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So first of all, let's talk about why what you shouldn't use as a means of deciding between these two cameras, because there are some things that they share in common
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The first of all is that they have, like many previous Sony APSC cameras, the 24.2 megapixel sensor that has kind of been a part of these, you know, Sony's APSC models for basically as long as I have been using them
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And that goes back to the for me personally goes back to the A6200 And so I used the A6200 A6 A6 A6 and at least another model in there that I not thinking of at the moment
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And so this is a very familiar sensor at this point. And while there's very, very, very minor tweaks to it in terms of its performance, it's largely the same sensor in both cases
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The A6,400, introduced a far more robust autofocus system than previous Sony APSC cameras
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with 425 phase detect points backed by 425 contrast AF points and introduced elements like, you know
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real-time IAF and then eventually via firmware, a pet IAF. And so all of those things are shared with one exception, and that is in the A6600
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you also get the real-time video IAF, which can help you. you to get a little bit more better tracking at that point. Both of them have identical specifications
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when it comes to their burst rate and then also their buffer depth. Both of them will allow you
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to get up to 11 frames per second. And the buffer is 46 raw images or 116 JPEG images. And so they
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both fill up in the same kind of way. They both have the same kind of basic overall autofocus system
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with that one minor tweak for video capture. Both of them have a lot of them have
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similar specs when it comes to video recording. Both of them top out at 4K 30 or 30 frames per
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second in 4K. You can get up to 120 frames per second in full HD. That's true of both of them
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Unfortunately, this was a little bit of a surprise to me. They also have identical viewfinders
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a fairly small 0.39 inch opening, 2.36 million dot of resolution. And, you know, same kind
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of refresh rates. It's the exact same viewfinders. We also have the exact same touch LCD screen with the same touch functionality
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which has been basically what we've seen on Sony cameras up until the Alpha 1
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And so that is 180 degree touchscreen. It can be fully rotated up, and so you can view it somewhat from the front
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But if you have the eye cup in place, it will obscure just a tiny bit of the screen
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but you can use it for some front monitoring, so long as there isn't anything that is attached to you
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that is attached to your hot shoe, obviously. So both of them have the identical touchscreen
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and it is the similar resolution of 0.92 million dots of resolution
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They both share a single USH1 compatible SD slot. The only advantage in the A6400 is that I find that it's repositioned the card
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They're both in the battery door, which I don't like. You know, I prefer a side-mounted slot, but at least in this case, it is a little bit easier to access on the A6600 because of the revision to the battery door to accommodate a different battery, which we'll get to in just a moment
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On the A-6400, it's oriented in a different way, and there's less room to get a finger on it to help to pop it out
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And so because the SD card is right up against the actual battery door where it pops out
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And so I do prefer the placement. However, there is no upgrade in terms of the speed
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or the amount of slots are both identical. They both share a one one 60th of a second flash shutter sink speed So that the exact same They also have a very similar degree of magnesium alloy build that is has some degree of weather sealing but don differentiate
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between the two models by that because they are basically the same. So advantages of an A6400 over
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an 8060, 600, the A6400 does have a built-in flash. Now, for many people, like myself, I basically
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never use any kind of onboard flash. It's not a, it's not really a benefit to me, but your
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mileage may vary. So we've got a onboard flash here that can pop up
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and be used, whereas you don't have that on the A6600. You also
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have a more lightweight body. In this case, it weighs in it 403 grams versus
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503 grams, an extra 100 grams for the A6600. And so that could be a
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factor for you. And then, of course, there is the price, which is going to be a significant advantage at about $500
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Reasons to consider the A6600 instead is that it has, I think probably above all
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it has Sony's in-body image stabilization or steady shot inside. So that's a five-axis image stabilization that is applicable to all lenses
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and that's even including, you know, your vintage lenses, your adapted lenses
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and in some cases, even those without electronic contacts, you can manually input the focal length
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and thus you can get that advantage to where it's universally applied
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It's a little bit better. It seems to me in performance than what I saw in the A6500
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a little more comparable to what we see in the A7 series cameras
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in terms of their image stabilization. So that's certainly a pretty significant advantage
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Another huge huge advantage, and frankly, in some ways, this is almost as big a deal, if not a bigger deal to me, than the embody image stabilization
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And that is that this has a larger grip to accommodate the Z-Series batteries that we see in the A7 series
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That is a huge advantage because you go from a 1,080 MAH battery all the way up to a 2280 MAH battery
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which doubles your rated shots from 410 to 810.10. But in real world performance, this camera eats batteries really fast, as did all of the cameras, APSC cameras leading up to it with the older, you know, FW 50 battery pack
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But now with the FZ 100, if anything, I find that it often exceeds its rating
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And you notice a huge difference, not just in the amount of shots that you can get, you notice a huge difference when you're shooting video, particularly 4K video, which the A6400 like previous
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Sony cameras eats batteries at a prodigious rate. With this camera, you can really get really incredible battery life
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In fact, I recently took it on an extended trip to Texas
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I was there for to do a wedding and do a little bit of sightseeing as a part of that
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I took hundreds and hundreds of photos. I took some videos and, of course, a lot of reviewing, as you tend to do on vacation
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reviewing photos, deleting some, and showing other people things on the back LCD
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I came home and I checked before I put it on the chart. battery life was still at 50%
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I never charged it once on my trip. And so that the huge advantage because I can guarantee if I had been traveling with the smaller battery pack I probably would have needed a couple of recharges over that same duration of time So that is a huge advantage Another
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advantage, smaller advantage, but, you know, could be a significant one for you if you're a video
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recording, is that there's a little bit bigger a port on the side of here to accommodate the fact
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that there's a headphone monitoring jack for your audio that is lacking in the A6400. Also important to me is
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that there are additional custom buttons on the A6600. Now that may not be a big deal to you
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but one of my favorite things about Sony cameras has been their ability to heavily customize
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them and put them where I'm accustomed to finding things. It's much more similar with some of the
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custom buttons to an A7 series camera, which means that's what I'm most familiar with. It means I can
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reach for that same muscle memory for the things I'm familiar with and get what I want. I also would
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find that this, all of their Sony APSC bodies, they're short about one dial. And so I find that
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having a button shortcut allows me to access certain things additionally that allows me to get to those
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things that I need to do. And so I have less interruption to my workflow. And so you've got 11 total
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customizable buttons versus eight customizable buttons on the A6400. So those three additional
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buttons give you a lot of additional control. And so at the end of the day, there's certain
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are significant advantages for the A6600. However, it's not a radically different camera on a lot of levels
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The battery life in some ways is the most meaningful thing along with the embody image stabilization
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but a $500 premium for those things may be a bit much. And so if you are considering the A6400
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know that you're essentially getting all the same performance. You're just, there are a few features that set apart
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I really do think that the A6600 should have had an upgraded viewfinder
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Had a few more specifications to set it apart. That's not the case
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It's a great camera. I mean, this sensor is a great sensor. I do think it's time for Sony to bring us something new
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This is, sensor's been used quite a bit at this point, and I think it's time to advance the ball up the field a little bit
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But Sony really has done a great job with these cameras. They're capable of producing really, really great video and stills
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They're very handy cameras, and I do, you know, appreciate the deeper grip
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that's a little bit easier to hold due to having to accommodate that bigger battery
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But it's a significantly different price point to consider if you're considering between these two
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models. And hopefully, these points of delineation will, these are the things that stood out to me
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things that are the same, things that are different and worthy of consideration. And I hope that
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that helps you to be able to make your own informed decision if you're deciding between a Sony
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A6400 and a Sony A66. I'm Dustin Abbott. And if you'll look in the description down below
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you can find linkage to my full text reviews for both of these cameras that will also, you know, access back to video reviews if you'd like to see those
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There are buying links if you'd like to purchase them for yourself, linkage to purchase some of my merchandise, to follow me on social media, to sign up to become a patron or for my newsletter
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And of course, if you haven't already, please click that subscribe button right here on YouTube
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Ring that bell so you get notifications when new content drops. Thanks for watching. Have a great day and let the light in

Sony a6400 vs Sony a6600 | Which to Buy?

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Sony a6400 vs Sony a6600 | Which to Buy?

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