Sony has announced the hotly anticipated Sony A6700 (buy here) APS-C mirrorless camera. Sony’s hailing it as their highest performing APS-C mirrorless camera to date. It features a 27-megapixel (26 usable) BSI sensor, 11fps continuous stills shooting and 4K video at up to 120fps.
In many ways, it’s a photo-centric version of the Sony FX30 (buy here), but with a more advanced autofocus system, faster shutter speeds and an electronic viewfinder.
Sony A6700 – Leading the APS-C pack?
If we take Fuji out of the equation for a minute, as all of their cameras are APS-C. If we just look at the other companies like Sony, which offer both full-frame and APS-C bodies – which is just Nikon and Canon, the A6700 seems to offer the highest overall spec amongst the three. At least on paper.
The Canon EOS R7 (buy here) is the spiritual successor to the popular Canon EOS 7D Mark II, although it falls short for some users who expected more in today’s mirrorless camera climate. Nikon has still yet to announce a Nikon D500 (buy here) mirrorless successor. And each day, it seems more and more likely that they never will. Both Nikon and Canon seem to be trying to force people to jump onto the full-frame bandwagon.
Not Sony, though. The new Sony A6700 offers some advanced and significant features for both stills photographers and video shooters that neither Canon nor Nikon offer. Yes, the Canon EOS R7 offers 15fps stills and faster max shutter speed – after all, it’s a sports & wildlife camera – and has a slightly higher 32.5-megapixel sensor, but beyond that, the A6700 meets or beats it in just about every specification.
Sony A6700 Specifications
| Sensor | 27-megapixel BSI CMOS Sensor |
| Lens Mount | Sony E |
| Max resolution | 6142×4128 |
| Stabilisation | 5-Axis in-body image stabilisation |
| Shutter speeds | 1/4000 – 30s (mechanical), 1/8000 – 30s (electronic) |
| Continuous shooting | Up to 11fps (59 exposures raw, 1000 exposures jpg) |
| ISO | 100-32,000 (50-102,400 extended) |
| 4K Video | 4K UHD 8/10-bit 4:2:2/4:2:0 at up to 120fps |
| Focus type | Automatic, Continuous-Servo AF, Direct Manual Focus, Manual Focus, Single-Servo AF |
| AF Points | Phase Detection: 759 |
| Viewfinder | 0.39″ 2.4m-dot OLED EVF |
| LCD | 3.0″ 1.03m-dot articulating touchscreen LCD |
| Connectivity | 2.4/5GHz WiFi, Bluetooth |
| Battery | NP-FZ100 (570 shots) |
| Dimensions | 122x69x63.6 mm |
| Weight | 493 g (With Battery, Recording Media) |
| Launch price | $1,398 (Body only) |
Designed for creators and professionals
Whether a stills or video shooter, the Sony A6700 looks to offer excellent performance. Photographers have that 27-megapixel Backside Illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor that shoots up to 11fps with either lossless compressed or regular compressed raw. Video creators can shoot 4K footage in 8 or 10-bit, 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 format at up to 120 frames per second from 6K oversampled video.
It has both a 3.5mm TRS stereo microphone input socket and a 3.5mm TRS stereo headphone output socket. This lets you feed microphones in and monitor your audio while you’re recording or during playback on the back of the camera.
It offers some of the best of Sony’s AI-based recognition technology from its cinema camera line, including advanced AI focusing and tracking features. Its 759 phase-detection AF points cover 93% of the image area and includes features such as focus bracketing (up to 299 images) and focus breathing compensation.
Overall, it’s a pretty powerful-looking little camera that’s likely to keep APS-C shooters very happy. It may even sway some of those Nikon D500 shooters to finally go mirrorless, although, perhaps not with Nikon.
Price and Availability
The Sony A6700 is available to pre-order from July 13 for $1,398, body only. It will also be available to pre-order for $1,498 with the 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens or $1,798 with the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.
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