Sony A6700 Mirrorless Camera Body

Sony A6700 Mirrorless Camera Body (ILCE-6700) Summary

The highly anticipated flagship A6-series camera arrives in the form of the Sony A6700 Mirrorless Camera Body, which benefits from a host of upgrades inside and out. This compact APS-C hybrid camera pushes the boundaries of Sony’s line-up of interchangeable lens compact-sized bodies with significant updates, and includes cutting-edge technology derived from class-leading models in the Sony mirrorless camera range.

Upgrades begin under the hood, with an all-new 26MP BSI APS-C sensor – the highest ever resolution in a crop sensor body from Sony. This is paired with the formidable BIONZ XR engine, which runs alongside a dedicated AI autofocus processor, a combination which has been tried-and-tested in the outstanding Sony A7R V.

The A6700 is capable of capturing stunning quality 4K/60p 4:2:2, 10bit video, which is oversampled from 6K, as well as cropped 4K/120p, and up to 240fps Full HD for 10x slow motion playback. Photographers gain 11fps continuous shooting with AF/AE tracking, new HEIF and RAW selectable image quality, and 759 phase detection points, which cover 93% of the image sensor (495 AF points for video).

Autofocus has been significantly improved for both stills and video, with AI driving tenacious real-time subject detection and tracking, adding pose estimation to humans, animal and bird Eye / Face / Body detection, as well as Airplanes, Cars and Insects. AF results are excellent, with the Sony A6700 able to capture pin sharp results across a host of situations, even when shooting handheld in low light, which is aided by 5-axis IBIS.

Key Sony A6700 Features

• New 26 megapixel backside-illuminated APS-C Exmor R sensor
• BIONZ XR engine with up to 8x processing power
• Dedicated AI autofocus processor
• 5-axis in-body image stabilisation
• HEIF and RAW selectable image quality
• Up to 11fps continuous shooting with AF/AE tracking
• 4K Super 35mm 6K oversampled video at 60p, 4K/120p with crop and 240fps Full HD movies
• New video features including auto-framing, breathing compensation and more
• Real-time AI subject recognition AF Human, Animals, Birds, Insects, Cars, Trains and Airplanes
• Up to 759 phase detection points and 93% sensor coverage
• Advanced colour reproduction and a range of adjustable Creative Looks
• Improved ergonomics with redesigned grip, new buttons and camera control
• Improved Sony interface with menu touch control and swiping

Sony A6700 APS-C Camera in More Detail

New high resolution sensor and powerful BIONZ processor

The Alpha 6700 camera inherits a new 26MP backside illuminated Exmor R sensor with fast readout speeds and wide autofocus coverage, for tenacious AF abilities. The sensor is paired with Sony’s BIONZ XR processor, which comes from Alpha professional cameras. Together, these two components define the A6700’s stills and video performance, as well as delivering impressive capabilities across the board, with faster start-up times, quicker image review and much more.

The A6700 camera will help you freeze the action in fine details, even in low light, whilst capturing accurate colours, and there’s a new range of adjustable Creative Look presets, which create true to life images, or you can add your own unique style to content.

Wide dynamic range with high sensitivity

Make the most of the A 6700’s wide ISO range of ISO 100-32,000 for both stills and video, which is expandable to 50-102,400 (stills). When using Exposure Compensation you can also achieve fast and accurate AF as low as -5EV (-3EV without exposure compensation), ensuring you can capture the decisive moment in virtually any lighting conditions.

Upgraded 5-axis in-body stabilisation

When capturing stills, the A6700 provides up to 5.0-stops of stabilisation thanks to a new algorithm, which provides precise detection and control down to a single pixel. This is based on CIPA standard, while using the Sony FE 50mm F/1.2 GM Lens. This allows you to capture sharp results in dimly lit situations while handholding, without needing a tripod or support.

Sample 1 Sony A6700 with Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS II Lens @135mm. Camera settings: 1/1000 sec. f/4.0. ISO 2000

Natural skin tones and improved colours

The AE algorithm (Automatic Exposure) has been evolved for both stills and movies to capture improved colours with more natural skin tones across a variety of situations. AE is also around 20% more reliable than previously when shooting backlit subjects, side profiles, or when a face is too bright in the scene.

The Sony A6700 camera also reproduces more accurate colours under sunlight or artificial light sources, with improvements to auto white balance, especially in difficult lighting. With more accurate colour you can draw attention to the natural beauty of subjects, without needing to make white balance adjustments during post processing.

New selectable image quality and HEIF support

In addition to Lossless Compressed RAW, Sony has added the space-saving HEIF format (High Efficiency Image File) for the first time in a crop series camera. HEIF images capture more colours without making file sizes larger, for more impressive results without needing larger memory cards.

A full resolution lossless Compressed RAW captures approximately 50% – 80% smaller file sizes without degradation, whereas HEIF offers superior image quality, and are available in both 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 options, with smaller file sizes than traditional JPEGs.

Creative in camera looks

If you want to capture distinct styles straight out of camera you can choose from 10 presets (stills and movies), with eight adjustable parameters, such as contrast, saturation and shadows. Having this simple yet effective option means that you can enjoy greater creative freedom by simply choosing a mode for your scene, which can be fine-tuned when desired, once again saving time and creating beautiful results more easily.

Upgraded shooting performance

When capturing moving subjects, the Sony A6700 will burst continuously at up to 11fps with AF/AE tracking in both electronic and mechanical shutter modes, with a larger buffer memory and faster UHS-II memory cards. Fast bursting with AF and AE locked and a large memory allows you to obtain sharp focus on fast moving subjects for longer, with over 1000 shots recorded in JPEG (fine), 59 RAW images, or 44 RAW + JPEGs.

What’s more, Sony’s flagship mirrorless camera offers flicker-free shooting (stills and video) when using the electronic shutter, to minimise the effects of flickering/blinking from artificial light sources, such as fluorescent lighting.

Enhanced 4K video performance

You can capture extraordinary video quality with the Alpha 6700, which is capable of Super 35mm 6K oversampling with full pixel readout without pixel binning from 6K oversampled data. As well as beautiful 4K at up to 60p in 4:2:2 the camera will record in a variety of formats, including cropped 4K/120p for 5x slow motion, and 10x slow motion (240fps) in Full HD. These video capabilities allow you to capture engaging movie content in a variety of formats, which will impress your audience.

With upgraded 10-bit 4:2:2 there is no colour subsampling used at all, and compression formats now include XAVC S-I and XAVC HS, which also saves space on your cards. Movies can be recorded with a wide dynamic range using Sony's S-Log 3 gamma, S-Cinetone and Log with LUTs, bringing the A6700 in-line with Sony’s pro video cameras such as the FX30.

Further improvements to the A6700’s video performance include the ability to capture smoother footage through the use of a precision gyroscope, which is complemented by an advanced algorithm that measures camera shake. Eye AF during clear image zoom is also available, which helps to keep your subject in sharp focus while using the digital zoom feature.

Sony has also added Auto-framing, which is a powerful movie feature that works like a camera operator, by keeping the subject prominently in the frame. Auto-framing enables you to concentrate on the talent and story, without needing to worry about composition. There’s also comprehensive support for different types of content, such as:

• In-camera timelapse
• AF Assist
• Focus Mapping
• Focus Peaking during AF
• Breathing Compensation
• Wind Noise Reduction
• Metadata image stabilisation, camera rotation and movie mark

These features are included to ensure content creators come away with impressive video in almost any situation, without the need for extensive post processing and in-depth know-how.

Sample 2 Sony A6700 with Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS II Lens @200mm. Camera settings: 1/160 sec. f/4.0. ISO 640

Effortless Tracking With AI Powered Autofocus

The Sony A6700 marks a new era for crop format cameras, thanks to the inclusion of a dedicated AI focus processor, which was first seen in the A7R V. This provides significant AF improvements with Realtime subject recognition and a wider range of subjects.

Subjects which the camera recognises and tracks now include Humans, Animals, Birds, Insects, Cars, Trains and Airplanes, which can be selected through the menu. Perhaps the most significant advantage for capturing human subjects is the addition of ‘poses estimation,’ which enables the camera to estimate a human pose through artificial intelligence by recognising the nose, left and right eyes, ears, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles.

You can elect which eye to give prominence for humans and animals, and the camera intelligently switches between an Eye / Head / Body when the subject looks away or moves around the frame. Further improvements over the previous generation focusing includes upgraded recognition and tracking of certain vehicles, with for example the front of a train recognised rather than simply the carriages.

Users have detailed control over AF settings, with the ability to customise various parameters such as persistence, sensitivity and priority when required. You can also leave the default settings and achieve significantly improved focusing when shooting both photo or video.

When compared to the previous generation camera the new sensor has 759 AF points vs 425 for stills, and is more accurate in low light by one f-stop. Another incredibly useful real world addition is Direct Manual Focus (DMF), allowing you to manually focus a compatible lens at any time, even while in AF-C or AF-S. If your subject is behind foliage or a fence for example, you can manually adjust focus, then half-press the shutter to activate AF tracking once again.

Focus bracketing has been extended and will automatically trigger up to 299 images for front to back pin sharp focus. This feature is particularly useful for landscape photography, architecture and macro photography.

Portable design without compromises to useability

One of the key advantages of an APS-C format camera is reduced size and weight over larger full-frame camera and lenses. Sony has capitalised on this with the A6700, which weighs only 493g including the memory card and NP-FZ100 battery, for excellent portability.

A high resolution OLED viewfinder delivers a smooth viewing experience, with brightness almost comparable to the A7R V. The EVF can be set to 60fps or 120fps refresh rate and offers a high 1.07 magnification with 2.36 million dots.

Accompanying the offset rangefinder-style EVF, is an upgraded vari-angle rotating 3-inch LCD touchscreen monitor, which provides new touch and swipe control over menu items and image playback.

Ergonomics has also been improved, with an enhanced grip for heavy or long telephoto lenses and the addition of new controls, all housed within a robust weather sealed magnesium alloy shell. Buttons now include a new customisable front dial, a dedicated Stills/Movie/S&Q dial, AF ON button, C1 and red movie record button. More advanced users can now customise the camera to suit their workflow and switch between key settings more easily, whereas newcomers can leave everything while they familiarise themselves to the system.

Intuitive new interface

Sony’s new menu system and menu structure is easier to navigate and provides distinct stills / video menus, in addition to touch operation for shutter / focus / tracking. The updated camera now has more in common with a smartphone, which we have all become accustomed to, with Fn menu swipes and intuitive touch operation.

If you’re moving from a previous generation Sony camera control is enhanced and quick to learn, while newcomers will find the A6700 body easy to get the hang of.

Easy content sharing

Connectivity is at your fingertips with the Sony A6700, which can seamlessly link to your smartphone through the Creators' App, enabling stable image transfer and effortless sharing of your content. You can also take your online meetings and streaming to the next level by transforming the camera into a high-quality 4K webcam.

Sony's Creators' Cloud platform opens up a new world of collaborative production possibilities, where you can utilise tools such as Master Cut (Beta) for movie editing, allowing you to refine your footage. And with cloud based asset management – Ci Media Cloud, you can effortlessly collaborate with others, sharing and accessing files seamlessly.

Sony has also updated the ports on the side of the camera, which include:

• USB-C with charging capability
• Mic + headphone jacks
• Micro HDMI port

Native APS-C lenses

One of the key advantages of the Sony Alpha mirrorless system is the huge variety of E mount lenses and compatible accessories available for the platform. APS-C lens options include everything from a lightweight prime, such as the affordable Sony E 20mm F/2.8 Pancake Lens, through to all-in-one telephoto zooms for travel, wildlife and action, like the Sony E 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 OSS LE Zoom Lens.

Crop Sony cameras also accept full-frame lenses (FE), where the image is automatically cropped to APS-C size, without any vignetting. This allows the use of many more options, which will provide a 1.5x crop factor for greater reach, such as the newly released Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS II Lens (equivalent 105-300mm) and many more.

Sample 3 Sony A6700 with Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS II Lens @174mm. Camera settings: 1/400 sec. f/4.0. ISO 500

Sony a6700 accessories

The inclusion of a Multi Interface Shoe allows you to add the latest Sony flashguns, microphones and accessories without the need for cables. Flash options include the compact Sony HVL-F28RM and Sony HVL-F20M Flashgun, which can remote trigger other flash, as well as larger and more powerful models including the flagship HVL-F60RM2 that offers a bright guide number of GN60.

The Multi Interface Shoe even allows for battery-free operation of compatible camera microphones, including the simultaneously released Sony ECM-M1 Shotgun Microphone, which comes with versatile features for solo content creators to capture audio in a variety of situations.

For each additional Sony NP-FZ100 battery the A6700 delivers around 550 shots (Viewfinder) and 570 shots while using the LCD monitor, and the single SD memory card slot has been upgraded to UHS-II speed, catering for higher resolution requirements. We recommend buying at least one or two fast SD cards to ensure the buffer clears as quickly as possible, with models from Sony including the Tough Series 64GB 300MB/S, or alternative brands, such as the Lexar 128GB UHS-II SDXC 250MB/S 1667x.

What’s in the box

• Sony A6700 Mirrorless Camera Body (APS-C format, E mount)
• Rechargeable Battery NP-FZ100
• Shoulder strap
• Body cap
• Accessory shoe cap
• Eyepiece cup