By Sharon Chepng’etich
Sony Electronics has announced the introduction of an exciting new addition for its E-amount mirrorless camera lineup – the a6400 (model ILCE-6400).
The a6400 brings many of Sony’s most advanced technologies from their acclaimed full-frame line up to a compact, lightweight APS-C camera.
The speedy new camera boasts the world’s fastest autofocus (AF) acquisition of 0.02 seconds, which also introduced the new advanced ‘Real-time Eye AF’ and Real-time tracking capabilities.
The impressive autofocus system on the new a640 inherits many technologies from Sony’s newest line-up of full-frame cameras which include the a9, a7R111 and a7111 models.
The new camera will feature 425 phase-detection AF points and 425 contrast-detection AF points that will be placed densely over the entire image area, covering approximately 84 per cent of the image.
In all autofocus modes, the camera now automatically detects the eyes of the subject and activates Eye AF with a half press of the shutter button, and when in AF-C or AF-A mode, the preferred eye(left or right) of yours subject can be selected as the focus point. Choices include Auto/Right Eye/Left Eye, and a switch Right/Left Eye function is able to be assigned to a custom function as well.
This exciting new technology completely frees the photographer to focus solely on composition with full trust that focus will be tack sharp on the subject’s eye. Eye AF support for animals will be added in summer 2019 via a system software update, ideal for wildlife photographers.
Additionally, when photographing or videoing humans or animals, face and eye position information is recognized by Al and the subject’s eye is monitored in real time with extremely high tracking precision.
Sony’s new a6400 is equipped with 24.2 MP3 APS-C sized image sensor which is paired with an upgraded BIONZ X processor to deliver incredible advancements in image quality and color reproduction in all types of shooting conditions.
Standard ISO ranges up to ISO 32000 for both still and movie, and is expandable up to ISO 102400 for still images, with excellent noise reduction at medium and high sensitivities. The camera also inherits many of the image processing algorithms from Sony’s newest full-frame cameras, greatly suppressing noise while preserving resolution and improving texture depiction.
The new camera is designed to offer a high level of functionality and customization to maximize shooting freedom. New on the a6400 is a fully 180-degree tiltable 3.0 type LCD flip screen with 921k-dots of resolution that allows for simple and effective framing of selfie-style shooting for both still and dots of resolution that allows for simple and effective framing of selfie-style shooting for both still and video capture.
The camera features a high quality XGA OLED Tru-finderTM Â viewfinder, extensive customization with 89 functions that are assignable to 8 custom keys, the new My Dial and My Menu functionality, enhanced overall menu usability, a help screen for menus, star rating for images, and many other features that allow for a seamless shooting experience.
It also built with a tough magnesium alloy design, is dust and moisture resistant and has an extremely durable shutter that is rated for approximately 200,000 cycles. It is also capable of seamlessly transferring files to a smartphone or tablet when connected to the brand new ‘imaging Edge Mobile application.
