Tech review: Sony a6400 a well-priced and compact mirrorless camera

The a6400 is the latest mid-range APS-C mirrorless camera from Sony, replacing the nearly-three-year-old a6300.

While the a6400 has the same number of phase-detection autofocusing (AF) points as its predecessor (425), it has significantly more contrast-detection AF points compared to the a6300 (425 vs 169).

Other major upgrades include, according to its maker, having the world's fastest AF acquisition of 0.02 seconds, real-time Eye AF and real-time subject tracking.

Eye AF might not be new but you now do not need to assign a custom button to it. Instead, Eye AF automatically works when the shutter release is half-pressed.

More interestingly, a firmware update sometime this year will enable Eye AF for animals as well. Great for wildlife photographers.

For this review, I used the Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 powered zoom kit lens with the a6400.

Focus lock is instantaneous in bright sunlight. Even in dim lighting, it takes at most 1.1 seconds to secure a focus with the aid of the AF assist light.

Furthermore, coupled with real-time eye AF and real-time tracking, the camera will help keep your subjects in focuseven if they are running all over the place.

As such, capturing fast-moving subjects like toddlers becomes a breeze, as Eye AF ensures their eyes are open and in focusat the decisive moment.

PRICE: $1,299 (body only), $1,469 (with 16-50mm kit lens)

IMAGE SENSOR: 24.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS

DISPLAY: 3-inch tiltable touchscreen LCD with 921,600 dots

SENSITIVITY: ISO 100 to 102,400

SHOOTING SPEED: Up to 11 frames per second

CONNECTIVITY: Wi-Fi, Near Field Communication

WEIGHT: 403g (body with battery)

FEATURES: 4/5

DESIGN: 4/5

PERFORMANCE: 4.5/5

BATTERY LIFE: 3/5

VALUE FOR MONEY: 4.5/5

OVERALL: 4/5

Image quality is fantastic for its class. Pictures look sharp and vivid with plenty of details, even in the darker areas.

Noise performance is also superb. There are very few visible noise artefacts even at ISO 3,200. Noise artefacts are more evident at ISO 6,400, but there is little detail loss and only slight blurring. Only at ISO 12,800 and above do the noise artefacts became really obvious with significant detail loss.

Design wise, the a6400 looks like its predecessor. Its magnesium body is resistant to dust and moisture. The rubberised grip and the ergonomic rear thumb rest accommodate all my fingers for a good grip on the camera.

Button layout is well thought out. The Mode and command dials on the top, along with the many buttons at the rear, are all within easy reach when you want to change settings.

While thea6300 has a non-touchscreen 3-inch display at the rear that can only be flipped up by 90 degrees, the a6400's similarly-sized display is a touchscreen one that can be flipped up by 180 degrees, which is more ideal for selfie lovers and video bloggers.

When flipped up at 180 degrees, the camera will automatically set the shutter release to the 3-second timer mode. And you cannot switch from this to any other shutter release mode. This can get quite irritating, as you have to wait to take the selfie.

In terms of operation, the a6400 is on par with its predecessor, with start-up and shutdown operations each taking 1.4 seconds- quicker than the 2-second start-up and shutdown times of most mirrorless cameras.

Using an SD card with a writing speed of 94MB per second, the a6400 captured 50 RAW images in 5.6 seconds before the buffer ran out. In comparison, the a6300 can only capture 24 RAW images in 2.2 seconds.

Battery life is average at 360 still images on a full charge - not much of a difference compared to its predecessor.

But the a6400 uses micro-USB charging, which is really convenient when you are travelling. It means one less charger to bring along and you can use a power bank to charge it as well.

Verdict: If you have the Sony a6300, you probably can skip this. If not, the a6400 is an attractive compact mirrorless camera with fast autofocusing speed at a really reasonable price.