Sony has been at the forefront of innovation in the camera industry for a number of years now. In particular, its superb AF systems have set a benchmark for the industry.
With the A6400, Sony took this to the next level, drawing on the technology from the Sony A9, A7R III and A7 III. In total, the A6400 offers 850 AF points: 425 that use phase detection and 425 that use contrast detection.
Covering 84% of the frame, it’s this dense coverage that makes the A6400 so superb at identifying and tracking subjects as they move across your frame.
But there’s more to the A6400 than just a bunch of AF points. In many ways it’s a complete package. The A6400 is very a good camera for anyone starting to get serious about photography. It’s price tag is modest, yet offering a deep range of features that give budding photographers and videographers plenty of room to grow.
You can buy the Sony A6400 and its various kits at a wide range of dealers, such as Wex Photo Video, Park Cameras, B&H Photo Video, Adorama, Amazon UK and Amazon.com. Or, simply bookmark this page which we constantly refresh with the best Sony A6400 deals online!
Why buy the Sony A6400
- Price: £950/€1,050 for the body only
- Excellent autofocus system
- High continuous shooting speed
- Good-quality viewfinder built-in
Without a doubt, the most exciting improvement with the Sony A6400 over its predecessor, the A6300, is its phenomenal AF system. As we said above, you get a ton of AF points. Some 850, to be exact: 425 phase detection and 425 contrast detection.
What’s more, the A6400’s next-generation BIONZ X image processing engine enables the camera to achieve focus in just 0.02sec.
Sony has also added its ‘Real-time Eye AF’ technology, which automatically locates a subject’s eyes in real time to get them sharp. You can even set a preference for focusing on the left or right eye. There’s also Real-time Tracking that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help recognise subjects.
Meanwhile, wildlife photographers will no doubt be excited by the addition of Sony’s Animal Eye AF mode.
Like the A6300, the A6400 can shoot at up to 11fps (frames per second). However, there’s a big jump in the burst depth as the A6400 can shoot up to 99 Extra Fine Jpegs, or 46 raw files. This compares well with the 44 Extra Fine Jpegs or 21 raw files possible with the A6300. However, both cameras can shoot up to 21 images when recording raw and Jpeg files simultaneously.
Videographers will also be impressed by the A6400’s sterling video capabilities. For instance, it can shoot 4K (3840 x 2160 at up to 100Mbps) video in super 35mm format with full pixel readout and no pixel binning. This means there’s oversampling and around 2.4x as much data is gathered than is needed for the final video.
There’s also a choice of XAVC S (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) or AVCHD (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) format. In addition, 4K HDR (HLG) recording is available for playback on compatible televisions and S-log3 and S-log2 gamma modes are provided to give greater scope for post-capture grading.
The S-Log gamma curves enable you to capture up to 1300% wider dynamic range than is normally possible. The result is very dull, flat looking footage, but after grading to introduce some contrast, you are left with videos that have both highlight and shadows detail. The S-Log3 setting also gives up to 14Ev latitude.
While there’s a 3.5mm port to connect an external mic, headphones can only be attached via the optional hotshoe adapter. However, using the adapter blocks the view of the screen when it’s tipped up.
A Slow and Quick motion (S&Q) option on the mode dial enables the A6400 to shoot slow motion video at up to 5x slower than real life and quick motion at up to 60x faster. All the work is done in-camera and footage is saved in Full-HD.
The Sony A6400 is one of the best APS-C cameras out there, and it’s one of our favourite cameras of the past year. You can find out why we feel so strongly about it by reading our full-run down of its performance in our in-depth Sony A6400 review – see for yourself in our sample images and video.
Best Sony A6400 Deals
Below are some of the most current – and best – Sony A6400 deals being offered today from a wide range of retailers.