Big test
PERFORMANCE: EXPOSURE LATITUDE
-3EV
-2EV
-1EV
0EV
HARD TO MISS The A6700’s Raws coped very well with exposure abuse; poorly exposed Raws recovered well with software, so a clean bill of health on this aspect of performance
For the exposure latitude Raw test, we set the A6700’s exposure bracketing feature to shoot nine frames in 1EV steps. Overexposed +3EV Raws looked very acceptable after the exposure was corrected in software, although there was a slight colour shift that would also need correcting for the best results. It was no surprise that the +1 and +2EV files performed even better in Lightroom. The corrected images didn’t show artefacts and looked identical to the correctly exposed frame. There were also no issues with the underexposed Raws, apart from an increase in noise in the shadows and midtones of the corrected files. However, the good news was that the grainy look wasn’t excessive and was easily corrected.
+1EV
+2EV
+3EV
“AUTOFOCUS WAS SWIFT, ACCURATE AND RESPONSIVE: RIGHT UP TO THE LEVELS WE’VE COME TO EXPECT FROM SONY”
Sony is the only brand with dedicated insect detection, so I tried that mode on bees and butterflies in the garden. The 24-70mm focuses to 21cm, so it’s not a macro lens, but insect detection worked pretty well in stills and video. It looks like it would be well worth trying with macro and a close-focusing telephoto lens. Less successful in this test was airplane detection, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the longest lens at my disposal was 70mm. In a scene with a tree shielding the sun and an airliner quite large in the frame, the autofocus system didn’t register the subject, which was a little surprising. However, there was no problem when a plane was the only subject. Autofocusing was very swift, accurate and responsive: right up to the high levels we’ve come to expect from Sony. There’s also the backup of full-time DMF that gives the option of manual focus override in AF-S and AF-C modes when needed. I’d like to try a range of lenses before making a
definitive judgement, but absolutely no concerns so far. The A6700 has an 11fps top continuous drive speed with full- resolution Raws and AE/AF tracking. Employing a ProGrade 300MB/s card and H+ mode, I got 70 compressed Raws with the mechanical shutter
Photography News | Issue 111
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