Some NEX-6 questions

[Ad Dieleman]

Today I played with a NEX-6 in a store for an hour (second time already!) and I'm mightily tempted to buy one: I want cleaner files at low ISO than what my GH2 can offer. I like that little NEX-6 a lot and it ticks all the special boxes for studio work too, like standard hotshoe for studio flashes, flat bottom for tripod, WiFi tethering, powering via USB. No touch screen, oh well. Slow AF? Don't care, will use it with Minolta MF lenses and I'll probably buy an 18-55mm for snapshots.

After all this I'm left with a few questions:

1. The wait time before you can fire another shot in single-shot mode is a bit long, maybe close to 0.5 second. Auto review switched off and manual focus on. Did I miss something?
2. The camera's depth is not so large. How stable is it on a tripod with a long lens on it, like a Minolta zoom 70-210mm for instance?
3. I saw some image samples from the 16-50mm and I'm disappointed with the image quality. Is the native 18-55mm zoom better?

Best price I saw in The Netherlands is € 699 body-only, with an additional € 75 cashback that would amount to € 624 which looks OK to me, no?

Thanks!

 

[nianys]

The price seems very good.
Shot to shot speed seems much faster than the 0.5 second you stated. I'd rather say if I enable continuous shooting (which doesn't mean you HAVE to keep firing, I enable it by default and shoot single shots by having a light finger), I get more like 4 fps, I guess.
I never use a tripod so couldn't help on this aspect, but overall I find the 6 to be a pretty impressive camera. The UI is much improved over previous models thx to the Fn menu, and operational speed is way better than on the 5N (meaning review, settings, menu navigation etc). Hybrid AF is improved, still not satisfactory to my taste, but still faster in good light. I didn't care for the 16-50 but I do find my 18-55 enough for walk-around and traveling purposes. For portraits the SEL 50/1.8 is brilliant, even tho I'm returning mine in favor of my MF lenses, that give me much greater joy to shoot.
I warmly recommend the 6.

 

[NickCyprus]

I think that's a very good price!!!
Around here its €800 body-only ( damn, everything is so expensive when u live in a remote small island) and from what I've seen prices are somewhere around there for the UK market too...

 

[Ad Dieleman]

The price seems very good.
Shot to shot speed seems much faster than the 0.5 second you stated. I'd rather say if I enable continuous shooting (which doesn't mean you HAVE to keep firing, I enable it by default and shoot single shots by having a light finger), I get more like 4 fps, I guess.
I never use a tripod so couldn't help on this aspect, but overall I find the 6 to be a pretty impressive camera. The UI is much improved over previous models thx to the Fn menu, and operational speed is way better than on the 5N (meaning review, settings, menu navigation etc). Hybrid AF is improved, still not satisfactory to my taste, but still faster in good light. I didn't care for the 16-50 but I do find my 18-55 enough for walk-around and traveling purposes. For portraits the SEL 50/1.8 is brilliant, even tho I'm returning mine in favor of my MF lenses, that give me much greater joy to shoot.
I warmly recommend the 6.

Indeed, maybe the shot-to-shot time in the slowest continuous mode is a littler faster. In the fast continuous mode my finger would have to be very light to take only 1 shot . I've read almost all of your posts (always a nice read) so it's no surprise to me you recommend the NEX-6. Thanks for responding!

 

[applemint]

Yes, the UK price is £700 for the Alpha NEX-6 Body only at most places (£699.99) - so also quite expensive. I am sure it will be half that price in a year or so...the F3 + 18-55mm lens is already down to £299.99 before cashback since being launched at around £600 in May.

 

[Rich]

Today I played with a NEX-6 in a store for an hour (second time already!) and I'm mightily tempted to buy one: I want cleaner files at low ISO than what my GH2 can offer. I like that little NEX-6 a lot and it ticks all the special boxes for studio work too, like standard hotshoe for studio flashes, flat bottom for tripod, WiFi tethering, powering via USB. No touch screen, oh well. Slow AF? Don't care, will use it with Minolta MF lenses and I'll probably buy an 18-55mm for snapshots.

After all this I'm left with a few questions:

1. The wait time before you can fire another shot in single-shot mode is a bit long, maybe close to 0.5 second. Auto review switched off and manual focus on. Did I miss something?
2. The camera's depth is not so large. How stable is it on a tripod with a long lens on it, like a Minolta zoom 70-210mm for instance?
3. I saw some image samples from the 16-50mm and I'm disappointed with the image quality. Is the native 18-55mm zoom better?

Best price I saw in The Netherlands is € 699 body-only, with an additional € 75 cashback that would amount to € 624 which looks OK to me, no?

Thanks!

Interesting points. I have a 5N and will be buying a 6 in the new year.

1. Time lag between shots 0.5 seconds. Not from what I've seen. Auto review switched off, just keep shooting.
2. Safer to use a long lens that has a tripod shoe built in. Could distort the lens mount with that much weight unsupported.
3. Haven't tried the 16-50, but found the 18-55 to be incredibly disappointing, replaced with Sigma primes.

Go ahead and buy the 6. Once you have your lenses sorted you are on a winner for sure!

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Interesting points. I have a 5N and will be buying a 6 in the new year.

1. Time lag between shots 0.5 seconds. Not from what I've seen. Auto review switched off, just keep shooting.
2. Safer to use a long lens that has a tripod shoe built in. Could distort the lens mount with that much weight unsupported.
3. Haven't tried the 16-50, but found the 18-55 to be incredibly disappointing, replaced with Sigma primes.

Go ahead and buy the 6. Once you have your lenses sorted you are on a winner for sure!

Only long lens I have with a tripod mount is the Minolta MC 300/4.5, all the others (up to the zoom 70-210/4 and 200/2.8) don't have a tripod mount. Have to be careful there apparently. One lens I hope to use is the 50-135/3.5, that would be a nice range. Good idea about the Sigma primes, didn't think of them yet. Thanks!

 

[Dioptrick]

[*]The wait time before you can fire another shot in single-shot mode is a bit long, maybe close to 0.5 second. Auto review switched off and manual focus on. Did I miss something?

I don't have a 6 so this might not be relevant. Under Settings, check to see if 'Second Curtain Shutter' is ON... it might speed things up a bit.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

I don't have a 6 so this might not be relevant. Under Settings, check to see if 'Second Curtain Shutter' is ON... it might speed things up a bit.

Thanks, will try that when I have one.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Bought one. Like it. Also bought a Sigma 19/2.8 with it and that lens doesn't look half-bad either! But the one below is taken with the Minolta MD 28/2 at f/2.8, one of my favourites.

NEX-6    Minolta MD 28mm 1:2 1101074    28mm    f/2.8    1/160s    ISO 1600

 

[Dioptrick]

Congrats, addieleman!