Avis Sony a6100

Our Verdict

Sony's latest entry-level mirrorless camera offers a number of exciting upgrades, including 4K video and amazing autofocus. Still, it stays true to its roots as an excellent compact camera.

For

Ultra-fast AI-driven autofocus system

Shooting up to 11 fps for action shots

Rich, accurate color

Crisp HD and 4K video

Clear and bright OLED viewfinder

External microphone jack

Versus

Small, low resolution LCD touch screen

Sprawling menu system

Horribly placed video record button

Today's best Sony A6100 deals

$748

at Amazon

$748

at Walmart

Sony has decided on the entry-level mirrorless camera category since the introduction of the a6000 in early 2014. While the original a6000 model still performs very well, the new a6100 provides the best excuse for upgrade: an autofocus system that's incredibly good at locking on the subject of photos and videos. Elsewhere, this camera upgrades already excellent aspects of the a6000, improving color rendition and detail in its 24-megapixel images and boosting video performance from HD to 4K (the latter capped at 30 frames per second). ). Although it has some rough edges in its design, the a6100 is the

best mirrorless camera

for consumers looking for professional-grade performance for less than $700, and one of the

best cameras

generally.

Sony a6100 price and availability

The Sony a6100 went on sale in late 2019. The a6100 costs $600 (body only) or $697 with a 16-50mm kit lens. Expect to see deals on this camera, as well as older Sony mirrorless cameras, such as the original

sony a6000

, now priced at around $550 with the motorized 16-50mm lens zoom kit. (Sony's website no longer lists the a6000, but models are still plentiful at retailers.)

Not sure which model you want? Don't forget to check our best page

Sony mirrorless cameras

, which compares Sony a6000 vs a6100 vs a6300 vs a6400 vs a6500 vs a6600. We also have a direct comparison on the

Sony a6000 vs a6100

.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Sony A6100 (Black) on Amazon for $748

Who is the camera for?

The a6100 is the best camera for anyone who wants to use their smartphone or an older interchangeable-lens camera. Small enough for a coat pocket or purse (with its 3X zoom kit lens), the A6100 is easy to take anywhere. It captures excellent image quality even in fully automatic mode, but it also offers considerable ability to fine-tune settings and options. The a6100 is a perfect platform for beginner and intermediate photographers or videographers to hone their skills - up to the professional level.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I shot with a variety of lenses, including Sony's 18-105mm F4 G OSS kit lens and zoom lens. Most of the photos were taken in program mode, with the camera adjusting aperture, shutter speed, white balance and sensitivity (which I usually capped at ISO 6400 to limit noise). The images were captured in JPEG format at the highest level of quality (extra fine).

What I liked

Almost prescient autofocus

Sony has refined its autofocus system considerably since the a6000. Featuring 425 phase and contrast detection points covering 84% of the sensor, the a6100 also features Sony's AI-driven Real-time Tracking AF technology.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

To test autofocus, I visited Stow Lake in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park to capture ducks and other swimming and flying birds. In AF-Auto and Wide autofocus settings, the camera almost always recognized the movement of the birds and locked focus on them.

Within a split second, the a6100 recognizes the bird's movement and locks focus on its face in this 1080/60p video. Later, the camera kept focusing on a bird that quickly dipped its beak in the water as it swam towards me.

The fast autofocus also helped me capture action shots, like birds rising and flapping, unexpected action for which I might not have had time to preset focus.

f/4, 1/320 sec, ISO 200, 18-105mm F4 G OSS zoom lens

(Image credit: Sean Captain/ Tom's Guide)

The a6100 also has real-time tracking, which lets you specify a subject that the camera will keep in focus on.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

To activate it, I set the camera to continuous autofocus (AF-C), selected Tracking: extend flexible spot, pressed the touchscreen to select the bird I wanted to follow and I held the flap down halfway. The camera stubbornly maintains focus on your chosen subject until you take the picture (or a series of pictures, if you shoot in burst mode, which you can do up to 11 fps, with autofocus and auto exposure for each frame). This capability of the a6100s allowed me to easily track a bird as it swam across the frame. (Note how the plumage stays sharp throughout this 16-shot burst.)

f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO 100, 18-105mm F4 G OSS zoom lens. Cropped to show detail.

(Image credit: Sean Captain/ Tom's Guide)

Which Sony mirrorless camera is right for you?

Accurate color

What you see is exactly what you get with the a6100's color rendering. A still life of fresh fruit looks virtually identical to what it did in real life. This is not so surprising, since I had long expected such fidelity from the a6000 that I have had for several years. In fact, color performance was nearly identical between the two cameras under most shooting conditions.

The skin tones were true, for better or for worse. The a6100 captured my wintry complexion in all its pale glory.

f/4.5, 1/50 sec, ISO 100, 16-50mm motorized zoom kit lens

(Image credit: Sean Captain/ Tom's Guide)

Color was generally accurate in low light, although the a6100 tended to make photos look a bit warmer than they appeared in real life, as seen in these photos inside Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Refined details in highlights and shadows

The a6100 makes subtle but noticeable improvements in the quality of highlight and shadow detail over Sony's original. In a wide landscape shot, for example, wispy clouds show thin shading.

In low light, I was impressed with the camera's ability to capture wide dynamic range, keeping shadows quite open in this interior shot of the St. Francis Hotel while retaining at least some detail. in the brightly lit clock and ornate lights.

f/4.5, 1/20s, ISO 1250, 16-50mm motorized zoom kit lens p>

(Image credit: Sean Captain/ Tom's Guide)

Crisp low-light images up to ISO 6400

The a6100 has a maximum recommended sensitivity of ISO 32000, with the ability to push even higher, to ISO 51200. In practice, you'll want to keep the ISO much lower for sharp photos. I was able to capture images up to ISO 3200 with little loss of detail and no color degradation when viewing images up to around 50% size (more than large enough for online sharing ). I wouldn't recommend pushing the original a6000 past ISO 1600. (Note, again, how the A6100 images are a bit warmer.)

On the street at night, I captured a fairly sharp image of a cable car at ISO 6400.

Image a6100: f/4.5, 1/40 sec, ISO 6400, 16-50mm power zoom kit lens

(Image credit: Sean Captain/ Tom's Guide)

Crisp, nuanced video

In addition to stable autofocus, HD and 4K video benefit from wide dynamic range, as shown in this 1080/60p clip of birds that range in color from dark brown to white. Even the brighter ones retain some detail on this bright late morning shoot in 1080p HD.

4K video captures highlights and shadow detail well, but the 30fps limitation makes some of the faster action in this scene look a bit jerky.

Good maneuverability

The a6000 series has maintained a virtually identical exterior design over the years. This design features a sturdy straight grip that makes it easy to hold the camera steady. Most of the controls are easy to reach (with the notable exception of the record button), and these include two dials - one in the top right and one in the rear right of the a6100 - for adjustments like as aperture and shutter speed. The buttons are reprogrammable, so you can customize shortcuts to the commands you use most. The weight and strength of the camera's magnesium alloy shell inspires confidence when you take this device out. (After the original a6000, which featured a reinforced plastic shell, all subsequent models in the line feature a magnesium alloy.)

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Clear and bright OLED viewfinder

Viewing the rear LCD screens in daylight is difficult (and the a6100 is far from the brightest). Fortunately, this camera includes a handy OLED electronic viewfinder, which offers a bright and relatively sharp preview of shots. At 0.39 inches and 1.44 million dots, it's far from the industry leader. (On Sony's high-end camera, the a6600, the viewfinder has a 2.36 million-dot OLED). But the a6100 still offers a much better way to frame shots in bright light and makes the transition easier for people coming from a DSLR.

25 of the best Sony a6000 series accessories

Microphone jack

The a6100's excellent video would be wasted if it couldn't be paired with high-quality sound. While the original multi-interface shoe of the a6000 can accommodate a few Sony-branded microphones, the a6100 has an analog input jack that supports any third-party microphone you want to pair with it.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I attached Sony's XYST1M stereo mic ($140) for this 4K video of swarming ducks, and it captured all of their chatter wonderfully. (Note, again, how the 30fps limit on 4K makes fast motion jerky.)

What I did not like

Disappointing rear screen

Unlike its efficient digital viewfinder, the a6100 continues Sony's tradition of including a smaller, dimmer LCD screen. At 3 inches (diagonal) and 0.9 million dots, it provides barely enough preview for the camera, especially in bright light.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The a6100's screen tilts nearly 90 degrees, so you can hold the camera above your head, and it tilts about 180 degrees for framing selfies or vlogging. But when facing forward, the screen barely clears the top of the camera, and the large eyecup above the rear viewfinder blocks one corner of the screen.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The LCD screen is a touch screen, but only in a limited sense. You can tap it to set the focus point (including tracking autofocus), for example, but not to navigate complex, busy menus. the rival

Fujifilm X-A7

— which has a bright and colorful 3.5-inch, 2.7 million-dot LCD screen with touch controls for menu navigation — puts Sony's small screen to shame.

Disjointed on-screen menus

The a6100 has great customization options, but finding them can be a challenge. The main menu has six tabs, each with several submenus. Changing white balance, for example, requires going to the ninth of 11 subscreens under the first tab; to activate the Shutter smile, you need to go to the 11th subscreen. Sometimes the interface looks more like a list of features than a cohesive menu.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

There are, however, a few workarounds. Press the Fn key to display a customizable list of shortcuts to 11 settings, such as focus mode, focus area, white balance, and metering mode. There are also predefined shortcut buttons for features like ISO or exposure compensation. You can reprogram them for other settings, if desired.

With a lot of work, you can configure the a6100 to provide one- or two-click access to the commands you need to use most often, but it does take a considerable setup process. Simply access the button configuration option to access the eighth sub-screen under the second tab of the main menu. Simply formatting the memory card to erase old photos requires accessing the fifth screen under the fifth tab. Sony has had this general interface structure since the a6000, and even after years of owning this camera, I almost get lost every time I dive into the menus.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Horribly placed record button

The a6100 continues Sony's worst design choice: an almost inaccessible record button. It's recessed into a corner at the top rear of the camera, crowded by the eyelet for the camera strap. Activating it requires loosening your grip on the camera and getting your thumbnail stuck in the button, which is guaranteed to cause camera shake and risk knocking the entire camera out of your grip . Anyone who cares about video will probably want to reassign the record function to another button, such as the C1 button next to the shutter.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

bottom line

Sony's stubborn adherence to poor interface design can be frustrating, but these drawbacks are minor for an otherwise fantastic camera. The a6100 delivers superb still image and video quality in all shooting conditions. And the camera's brilliant autofocus system dramatically increases the chance that anything you aim at the camera will appear sharp. In short, this camera really makes you a better photographer. And while it's not cheap, the price of the a6100 is quite reasonable for all it offers.

Sean Captain

Sean Captain is a technology and science writer, editor and photographer.