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Sony a6300 - How's the camera holding up to your expectations?


rs3d
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The Sony a6300 is out for some time now and since pre-ordering time has risen several months (at least in Germany), it seems to sell ok.

In that price range it also seems to be one of the best low-light cameras, so I'm still very tempted... but what are your impressions so far? How do you think it performs and behaves, especially in the momentarily summer (overheating)?

Thank you!

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I've adapted an 3cm silent fan powered by a usb powerbank that feeds the camera and the fan. Never got any overheating problems and the powerbank lasts eternally (i live in Rio de Janeiro,  pretty hot all the year). The in camera audio goes unusable, but i never use it anyway. Rolling shutter still the though, so keep this in mind while planing your shoots. Wide angle lens with is helps for handheld stuff and a gimbal may be welcome.  Image quality is awesome and low light i think its the best in its price (its not an a7s, but really good). Only problem its its auto wb that seems to always miss it,  so doing it manually its the way to go. 

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2 hours ago, Milton Lopes said:

Never got any overheating problems and the powerbank lasts eternally (i live in Rio de Janeiro,  pretty hot all the year). 

Really? What kind video work do you do? I mean, for how long do you shoot it usually on a day and do your shots take longer than 20 min?  I had completely taken the a6300 out of my  radar due to overheating problems since I also live in Brazil.... 

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There are people showing videos in youtube where they also use small fan mounted in the rig and reporting continuos recording without overheating…..I also have now the 6300 in my radar, I love the sensor, but not sure if the camera can be used for gun and run.

Milton, have you use it for gun and run?, can you share your experience?

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2 hours ago, tomastancredi said:

Really? What kind video work do you do? I mean, for how long do you shoot it usually on a day and do your shots take longer than 20 min?  I had completely taken the a6300 out of my  radar due to overheating problems since I also live in Brazil.... 

Well, i usually do speeches, lectures, events and whatever pay me well haha Never got the chance to put the a6300 on one of these jobs, as i'm still geting used to it and seeing if i can really trust it for that kind of stuff, but its doing fine so far.

 

I also do some short films, which is what i really like to do, and i am using it for an art video that a friend of mine is directing, first serious stuff where i decided to use it. I wasn't recording all the time, but the camera was always on in video mode with the screen turned on (what is usually enough for it to start overheating) for 3 hours with 30m of recorded footage. Overheating warning didnt even showned up, the camera was still in a "not so warm" stage and the cheap $15 (R$50) powerbank i've bought for tests only droped from 89% to 68%)

1 hour ago, hijodeibn said:

There are people showing videos in youtube where they also use small fan mounted in the rig and reporting continuos recording without overheating…..I also have now the 6300 in my radar, I love the sensor, but not sure if the camera can be used for gun and run.

Milton, have you use it for gun and run?, can you share your experience?

Well, its pretty unbalanced for run n gun if you use the powerbank+fan setup. The cage may help in make it better to handle, but ergonomically its not the better choice. Without this setup the batery life sucks and you got overheating, so no good too. The worst part for the fan setup for run n gun its that the fan makes any audio from the camera unusable. The audio may come from an external recorder. But the image quality it gives speaks for itself and you can't find anything in its price point that beats it, especially in low light. Rolling shutter is bad but can be worked out planing your shoots and avoiding whip pans.

Just keep in mind that the camera its just a tool and that you may have to choose the best tool for each job and work around the limitations of the tool you choose. The a6300 is about pure image quality, not ergonomics, ease of use and all that kind of stuff. For that stuff i still keep my G7, which fells way better than the sony and which i enjoy using far more than the sony. But if i need the best image quality i can get, low light or slow mo, i'll take the sony any day. Its a pain to use it, it fells wrong when you put a powerbank and a fan in it,  but damn the images it makes... 

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I use it as a c-cam. So I give it to someone and say "just point and shoot, try to get something creative out of it before it overheats" while I shoot with something else.

Pretty much as I used the nex-7. I wouldn't shoot anything proper with it, except b-roll and fooling around. You can make great stuff with if you work around the weaknesses but some of those weaknesses are something I would not tolerate on a real shoot. For this price I'd actually get a canon 80d but I guess that's the unpopular opinion. Image quality can be awesome in 4k but the usability is ... it's just ... blah. Probably a pretty good drone cam though, use it in HD to get rid of some of the rollling shutter.

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I love the a6300 image quality.  The low light is fantastic and so is the noise structure as it cleans up well.  Colors seem good to great in non-log mode.  Dynamic range is outstanding.  The image is beyond my expectation and so is the auto focus.  The viewfinder glass on mine is a little blurry on the edges of the screen.  With an external preamp turned up and the internal recording level turn down, but still getting a good recording level, the sound quality is good. Using my external monitor, I am able to monitor audio via HDMI with the headphone jack on my monitor.  Using the HDMI monitor also turns off the LCD screen on the camera when recording.

Re: overheating - things to try:

1. Pull the LCD away from the body.

2. Open the battery door.

3. Put it in airplane mode so the internal wifi does not cause heat.

4. Power it off USB.

5. Swap batteries every 30 minutes with a fresh cold battery.

6. Add an aluminum cage that acts as a heat sink.

7. Add a fan.

8. Other ideas - dummy battery powered by external USB.  Third party battery grip.

Anyone could try 1-4. 5 is reasonable on a real shoot.  If your gonna do 1-5, doing number 6 makes since as well.  I would prefer not using a fan, but if I have to, on a hot day, I would.

 

 

 

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My list would be shorter. I'd be like... try:

1. selling your A6300

There's just no way I'm going to put up with a camera that gives me such hassle, even if it shits rainbows.

I'd rather use a G7 and just deal with it.fantage_deal_with_it_glasses__c2u__by_fa

Respect if you go above and beyond to make it work for you with fans 'n schtuff though.

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Add a speedbooster and Canon 24-105 F4 IS lens and you have a 24-105 F2.8 IS full frame cinema machine that puts out a 4k image downsampled from 6k in a log profile with a pleasant noise profile for $1000 and I'll be happy to switch batteries every 30 minutes... 

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There are lots of reasons not to purchase this camera, but imho image is not one of them. That said I am not using S-Log as I am shooting indoors, so to me the color looks good.  I have shot with the NX1, BMCC and the A6300 at work.  The video from the a6300 looks nearly as good as either of them and better under challenging lighting conditions.  It took half the time with the shoot because I did not have use as much light with the A6300, the in camera audio sounded better than the NX1 so audio post was quicker and the resolution was better than the BMCC so I could pan and zoom in post.  The codec is solid and was easy to edit.  All and all it is not as professional or reliable as the other two cameras, but it's easier to get a great image quickly and that is worth a few work-a-rounds because of the time it saves me.

To me the a6300 is a stop gap measure until Sony releases a an APSC sensor camera body with touch screen and in body image stabilization, and hopefully less of a pention to over heat. Until then I will keep reaching for the a6300 and few extra batteries.

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11 hours ago, forofilms said:

Add a speedbooster and Canon 24-105 F4 IS lens and you have a 24-105 F2.8 IS full frame cinema machine that puts out a 4k image downsampled from 6k in a log profile with a pleasant noise profile for $1000 and I'll be happy to switch batteries every 30 minutes... 

Wouldn't it be easier and almost cheaper to just get an A7sII? Or even the A7s I which I consider to be much better than the a6300.

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46 minutes ago, hmcindie said:

You do gain an actual usable camera though ;)

Depends on your usage - some people shoot short clips and desperately need fast AF for their still photography. A7S is a specialty tool, while A6300 is a great consumer camera that can also produce incredible 4K footage for a low price.

So, the eoshd forum crowd is most definitely better served by a7s, but you should not discourage the beginner on a budget who cannot afford to spend more than $1K on a body (and wants APS-C, not a m43).

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4 hours ago, hmcindie said:

Wouldn't it be easier and almost cheaper to just get an A7sII? Or even the A7s I which I consider to be much better than the a6300.

A7sii + 24-70 F2.8 G lens = $5000+

a6300 + 24-105 F4 (Canon/Sigma) + Speedbooster = $1800.

Big difference in my mind. Plus you get the extra reach of the 24-105 and IS!! Comparable image. A7sii maybe 2-stops better in low light. But I'll take the $3000 in my pocket. 

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37 minutes ago, forofilms said:

A7sii + 24-70 F2.8 G lens = $5000+

a6300 + 24-105 F4 (Canon/Sigma) + Speedbooster = $1800.

Big difference in my mind. Plus you get the extra reach of the 24-105 and IS!! Comparable image. A7sii maybe 2-stops better in low light. But I'll take the $3000 in my pocket. 

A proper comparison would be:

A7SII vs A6300 + Speedbooster, the lens staying the same (you get the same FOV and DOF). The price difference is much less dramatic, but still not small. And A7SII has IS with any lens.

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