sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

The Sony Alpha A6500 is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that was announced in October 2016 and is equipped with an APS-C sensor. It offers a resolution of 24 megapixel. In the United States, the camera was initially launched at a price of $1,399.

sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

The Sony α6500 is one of many digital cameras in the Sony alpha series; it was released in November 2016. This camera is versatile and accommodates many different formats of photography and video. This device is still in production (at the time of writing) but may be outclassed by more recent cameras; other models of the alpha series released in 2018 and 2019 have superseded the Sony α6500.

The main identifying feature between this version and others in the Sony α6000 series would be the “α6500” marking on the top of the camera, in front of the digital viewfinder, and slight differences in the button layout and the back of the camera. The Sony α6500 is also the first of the Sony α6000 series to have a touch screen and 5-axis image stabilization.

sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before but I"ve looked and couldn"t find any similar posts. I just picked up my A6500, and was planning on installing an LCD screen protector but looking at it closely there seems to already be one installed. Can anyone with an A6500 confirm this? Is it wise to leave it on or replace it? At first I tried removing it but it seems to not easily come off and decided to stop since I wasn"t sure if this is "part" of the screen being that it"s now a touch LCD.

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before but I"ve looked and couldn"t find any similar posts. I just picked up my A6500, and was planning on installing an LCD screen protector but looking at it closely there seems to already be one installed. Can anyone with an A6500 confirm this? Is it wise to leave it on or replace it? At first I tried removing it but it seems to not easily come off and decided to stop since I wasn"t sure if this is "part" of the screen being that it"s now a touch LCD.

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before but I"ve looked and couldn"t find any similar posts. I just picked up my A6500, and was planning on installing an LCD screen protector but looking at it closely there seems to already be one installed. Can anyone with an A6500 confirm this? Is it wise to leave it on or replace it? At first I tried removing it but it seems to not easily come off and decided to stop since I wasn"t sure if this is "part" of the screen being that it"s now a touch LCD.

I"ll take a close up pic of the LCD screen tonight and post it. It"s hard to see at quick glance but you"d have really take a closer look, there"s a very small space between what looks like an LCD protector and the edges of the screen, about probably less than 1mm.

I believe all Sony cameras come with a protective film already installed on the camera. It helps reduce glare and protect from scratches. It"s also responsible for the common delamination problem that Sony cameras have. I wouldnt put anything on top of it.

I believe all Sony cameras come with a protective film already installed on the camera. It helps reduce glare and protect from scratches. It"s also responsible for the common delamination problem that Sony cameras have. I wouldnt put anything on top of it.

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before but I"ve looked and couldn"t find any similar posts. I just picked up my A6500, and was planning on installing an LCD screen protector but looking at it closely there seems to already be one installed. Can anyone with an A6500 confirm this? Is it wise to leave it on or replace it? At first I tried removing it but it seems to not easily come off and decided to stop since I wasn"t sure if this is "part" of the screen being that it"s now a touch LCD.

A6xxx do not come with screen protectors. I put one of these on every camera, prevents any scratches and keeps original screen pristine in case you want to sell:

If you have the A6500 and want to get most out of your camera than you likely also have the Gary Friedman book on A6500 (if not get one). See page 37 which tells something about screen protector on A6500.

If you have the A6500 and want to get most out of your camera than you likely also have the Gary Friedman book on A6500 (if not get one). See page 37 which tells something about screen protector on A6500.

Bought a6500 today and tested about 5 cameras in few stores. All of them had factory installed screen protectors on it. I bought US version, but tested EU versions too, no difference there: all had protectors on.

It"s not a screen protector but an anti-shatter film.  It is very soft and easily scratched.  It is best to immediately cover it with a screen protector immediately after purchase before use.

sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

The Sony a6500 was announced very soon after the a6300; so close in fact that the camera was just becoming available as I was shooting for our a6300 camera review. Needless to say, the Sony a6500 features some nice upgrades.

The a6500 is Sony"s flagship APS-C mirrorless camera, packing a robust set of photo and video features into a very affordable camera body. The camera is much smaller than the full-frame mirrorless Sony a7R II, making it a great choice for those who are looking at mirrorless cameras for their impressive image quality in a small body.

I shot the Sony a6500 in the Fantasea FA6500 housing across 30 dives during Bluewater Photo"s spring workshop in Anilao, Philippines, leading to the insights in the review below.

I used the Sony a6500 for both macro and wide-angle, photo and video, in Anilao a few couple weeks ago. I shot exclusively with the Sony 16-50mm power zoom kit lens, which when combined with Fantasea"s macro diopter and wide angle conversion lens, presented a versatile camera setup.

Image quality of the a6500 is excellent, as you can see in the sample photos throughout this article, however I do think there is some clarity to be gained by shooting higher-quality lenses like the Sony 90mm macro and Sony 16-35mm wide-angle (f/4 or brand new f/2.8 version).

The color delivered into Adobe Lightroom was a little warm for my preferences while using Bluewater"s rental Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes (camera set to auto white balance), so I created an a6500 preset to set each image at 5000k as an editing starting point. After this, the color really popped (a true hat tip from a guy who shoots Canon DSLRs on land!).

The a6500 defaults to showing the blinking highlight alert during image review, which I find very useful (along with the histogram). This alert has a lower tolerance than Adobe Lightroom, meaning that if an area is just slightly blown out and flashing on the a6500 LCD screen, there may still be recoverable info in the pixels once the .ARW file is opened in Lightroom.

Camera Controls: The Sony a6500 default control functionality is very intuitive, and that is without programming the custom C1 and C2 buttons on top right of the camera.

Camera Operation & Processing: The a6500 takes a few seconds to boot up, and controls also take a split-second to respond. This lag will be unnoticeable (or even much faster than normal) for most compact and mirrorless shooters, but might might bug some DSLR shooters who are used to buzzing in between settings, photo to video, and menu changes. This is the only reason I point it out.

Max Sync Speed:This is 1/160s on the Sony a6500. The camera actually limits your shutter speed to 1/160 when the pop-up flash is up, which prevents you from bumping up the shutter by accident. For shooting video at 1/250s (manual setting for recording at 120 frames per second), I simply pushed the flash down, which then opened up the full range of shutter speeds.

Autofocus:4D autofocus performed accurately on the Sony a6500 for both wide-angle and macro. There is a definite improvement in ability to lock focus when shooting macro, but note that I was using the 16-50mm (I had used the 90mm for reviewing the a6300). Given that the a6500 was marketed as the fastest camera in the world at launch, I would expect nothing less.

I shot the a6500 using Single AF. I did try tracking a few different times on some very camouflaged subjects (network pipefish, ghost pipefish, juvenile sweetlips) but found it wasn"t any more successful delivering images than Single AF. The tracking works much better on subjects with a clear contrast difference from their background.

Battery Life: The Sony a6500 battery lasted about two macro dives with the pop-up flash set to Fill Flash. When shooting video, I would recommend changing the battery after every dive.

Known for macro, Anilao also is home to gorgeous reefs. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, Fantasea UWL-09F wide-angle conversion lens, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @18mm, ISO 320, f/13, 1/100. Photo: Brent Durand

A mototi octopus crawls across the sand while hunting. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @33mm, ISO 100, f/14, 1/160. Photo: Brent Durand

The Sony a6500 is a powerful video machine. 4K at 30fps and 1080p at 120fps make the a6500 versatile for beginners and pros alike, those making long-form films or those aiming for short clips.

If you"re a casual video shooter, simply push the red button when the action starts. More advanced shooters will be pleased to know that the Sony a6500 features 4K Super 35 mode (popular in the a7 II series), which records video across the entire 6k sensor (full pixel readout, no binning). This oversampling results in crisp 4K (3840x2160p) imagery, and when combined with flat gamma curve profiles like S-Log 3, contains much more dynamic range to work with while editing and color grading. The a6500 records 8-bit, 4:2:0 4K at up to 100Mb/s. Adding an external HDMI recording device increases this to uncompressed 4:2:2 4K (although still 8-bit).

Sony a6500 Video Settings: I set the camera to record in XAVC S HD format, 120fps at 100Mb/s. Why no 4K? Aside from the fact that my laptop can"t process it, most of us can"t view true 4K resolution anyways. There is a valid argument that you"ll see better image quality when shooting 4K (and resizing to 1080p during post), however the maximum frame rate on the Sony a6500 is 30fps. Since I only use short unedited clips for social media (and was looking for action to replay in slo-mo), shooting 1080 at 120fps made far more sense.

Image Stabilization: The new 5-axis image stabilization in the a6500 body is apparent when filming underwater video. It"s most noticeable when handholding the system, rotating around the subject, and slowly moving in and out. The IS serves to minimize the shake, resulting in smooth motion. I didn"t notice it as much when the camera was filming on a tripod.

A nudibranch reaches out across a sponge. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, Fantasea UCL-09LF diopter, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @39mm, ISO 100, f/16, 1/160. Photo: Brent Durand

While we love to dive with Sony lenses, they perform to the same high standard on dry land too. If you"re considering adding to your topside kit bag, look through the options below.

Individual housing manufacturers may offer macro and wide-angle wet lens options. For example, Fantasea a6500 housing shooters can use the Sony 16-50mm lens inside a small flat port, donning the UCL-09LF macro dioptor or UWL-09F wide-angle conversion lens depending on the shot.

Shooting a zoom lens with wet lens conversion setup makes you ready for anything. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, Fantasea UWL-09F wide-angle conversion lens, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @23mm, ISO 320, f/13, 1/100. Photo: Brent Durand

Aquatica designed this housing to retain the small, easy-to-use size of the a6500. Robust in build with ergonomics at the forefront of design, this housing features various strobe connectors, M16 bulkhead for a monitor, vacuum capabilities and many other great features.

The Fantasea FA6500 fits both the a6500 and a6300, with a functional and sleek design that blends ergonomics with great value. A wide range of accessories, including TTL converter and wet lenses complement the housing.

The Ikelite a6500 housing delivers great value in their iconic polycarbonate housing, complete with an integrated TTL circuit that"s powered by the strobe - no extra batteries needed. A wide range of ports complements the a6500"s arsenal of lenses.

The Nauticam NA-A6500 housing is precision engineered to provide the most ergonomic control of the camera. Nauticam has moved camera controls to positions at the fingertips and offers many accessories to build this kit for beginners and pros alike.

The Sony a6500 is a great camera in a small package. The flagship Olympus and Sony a7 II series are big cameras, and while the performance is there, their housings look more like those of DSLRs than small mirrorless cameras.

Excellent image quality, fast autofocus, video image stabilization and a quickly growing selection of lenses make the Sony a6500 a great choice for underwater photo and video shooters. Housing prices start at $975 and go up from there, so you can build a very affordable underwater system around the a6500 - a huge PRO in my book.

Less experienced shooters will not see many cons with the a6500. Shooters coming from DSLRs will need to adjust to the slightly slower operating speed (menus, startup, button controls) and the fact that everything in the LCD screen and EFV is digital instead of the real scene reflected in a mirror.

Hawkfish, while common, are a fun portrait subject. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, Fantasea UCL-09LF diopter, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @28mm, ISO 100, f/16, 1/160. Photo: Brent Durand

Anemone shrimp are commonly found with eggs. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, Fantasea UCL-09LF diopter, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @41mm, ISO 100, f/29, 1/160. Photo: Brent Durand

A friendly green turtle hangs out for a portrait. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @37mm, ISO 100, f/16, 1/125. Photo: Brent Durand

Two clownfish swim the same path through their host. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @25mm, ISO 125, f/16, 1/160. Photo: Brent Durand

A nudibranch perches on a rock as current rips by. Sony a6500, Sony 16-50mm lens, Fantasea FA6500 housing, Fantasea UCL-09LF diopter, dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes. @45mm, ISO 100, f/20, 1/160. Photo: Brent Durand

sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

Launched in October 2016 , Sony Alpha a6500 is a 24.0MP Advanced Mirrorless camera with a APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor, built-in Image Stabilization, weather sealed body, Tilting touch screen and Sony E lens mount.

Sony A6500 is a member of Sony"s A6xxx series of cameras. Below you can see the latest models in this series and how their main specs have changed with each new version.

Now let"s get in to more details of our Sony A6500 review by analysing its specs and features and listing out its pros and cons compared to average competitor cameras in its class.

Sony A6500 weighs 453 g (1.00 lb / 15.98 oz) and has external dimensions of 120 x 67 x 53 mm (4.72 x 2.64 x 2.09″). Considering that the average weight of Mirrorless type cameras is 466g, its weight is about average in its class. With a thickness of 53mm, it also has an average thickness.

In order to give you a better idea about the real life size of Sony A6500, we have added an image of how it looks next to a credit card and an AA type battery.

Sony A6500 has environmental sealings on its body which makes it a weather resistant camera, providing resistance against the water and dust getting in to the camera. If you like outdoors photography and want to be able to use your camera in extreme conditions, Sony A6500 will serve you well. If you attach one of these Sony A6500 weather Sealed lenses to your camera, you will have a great all weather kit.Sony A6500 Lens Mount and Lenses

Sony A6500 has a Sony E lens mount and currently there are 189 native lenses available for this mount. Sony keeps on adding new lenses to its E and FE mount selection and third party lens manufacturers also offer lot of good options. Thanks to its very short flange focal distance, choices of adapting lenses from other mounts are almost limitless. Sony also sells an adapter (Sony LA-EA4) which lets A mount lenses to be used with functionality including AF with E mount cameras.Metabones and Fotodiox also offers adapters which makes use of full range of Canon EF lenses with Auto Focus on E mount cameras.

A6500 also has a Sensor based 5-axis Image Stabilization system which means that all of these lenses will be stabilized when used on A6500. Sensor based image stabilization is one of the most useful features that you can have in an ILC.

Sony A6500 has a 24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor. You can shoot at maximum resolution of 6000 x 4000 pixels with aspect ratios of 3:2 and 16:9. A6500 has a native ISO range of 100 - 25600 which can be boosted to 51200 and it can save files in RAW format which gives you a wider room for post processing.

Sony A6500 is not the highest resolution APS-C camera. Fujifilm X-T5 with its 40.2MP sensor is leading in this class. Check the comparison of Sony A6500 vs Fujifilm X-T5 or take a look at Highest resolution Mirrorless cameras list.

DxOMark is a benchmark that scientifically assesses image quality of camera sensors. Sony A6500 sensor has been tested by DxO Mark and got an overall score of 85 for its image quality. You can find the details of their analysis of Sony A6500 here.

Sony A6500 has a Tilting 3.00-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 922k dots. Tilting screens are more photography oriented while Fully articulated screens are highly preferred by videographers. Both the screen size and the screen resolution is up to the standards of this class. LCD is Touch screen type, so you can change the settings and set the focus point with your fingertips.

Unfortunately Sony Alpha a6500 doesn"t have a Selfie friendly screen. If this feature is important for your shooting style, check here the list of Best Mirrorless Cameras with Selfie Friendly LCD screen.

A6500 has a built-in Electronic viewfinder, making it easier to shoot in direct sunlight and in other situations where it might be difficult to view the LCD monitor. The viewfinder has a resolution of 2,359kdots and coverage of 100%. 100% coverage ensures that what you see in the viewfinder while shooting matches exactly what you will get later in your image, helping accurate framing your shots and minimizes the need for cropping images later. The magnification ratio of the viewfinder is 0.7x (35mm equivalent).Sony A6500 Connectivity, Storage and Battery

Sony A6500 features built-in wireless (Wi-Fi) connectivity ( 802.11b/g/n + NFC) which lets you transfer your photos directly to compatible devices without any physical connection. With its Bluetooth connectivity feature comes handy for connecting other devices that supports it. One other feature that we like is the ability to use our smartphone as a remote to control our A6500. You can change camera settings, release shutter, view LCD screen and tranfer files using remote control app.

Sony A6600 with its 810shots is the model with longest battery life among Advanced Mirrorless cameras. Check the comparison of Sony A6500 vs Sony A6600 or take a look at Longest Battery Life Mirrorless cameras list.

With Sony A6500, you can record your videos at a highest resolution of 3840 x 2160 at 30p,25p,24p fps with bit rates up to 100 mbps and save in MPEG-4, AVCHD and XAVC S formats. Sony A6500"s 4K is the common standard resolution in consumer video world.It is also a big step up from its predecessor which has a max video resolution of only. If you are thinking of upgrading your and shoot a lot of video, this is a big factor to consider in favor of A6500.

A6500 features a high speed mode where it captures videos at 120fps which helps to create slow motion videos. If you shoot a video at a frame rate of 120fps and play it back at 24fps, the video will be 5x slower and longer than normal.

Microphones, Speaker and Headphone ConnectionsSony Alpha a6500 has a built-in Stereo microphone and a Mono speaker. Sony A6500 also has a port for an external microphone so you can record high quality sound with the help of an external microphone. Unfortunately, it doesn"t have a headphone port though.

If you are getting into videography and want to know what are the must-have video accessories for your camera, read our article:Sony A6500 Other Features

Sony A6500 can shoot continuously at max speed of 11.0 fps and has max shutter speed of 1/4000 sec. A6500 also has an electronic shutter which can shoot silently at max speed of 1/32000s. One thing to keep in mind is that electronic shutter may cause rolling shutter / jello effects, and also banding issues under artificial light on your images.

One neat feature that we like about A6500"s built-in flash has is that the flash head can be tilted upwards manually using your finger, which can be used to bounce the flash light and create a more pleasing lighting on your subject. It is not a very strong flash so the ceiling/wall or the surface you use for bouncing must be relatively close to the camera.

Sony A6500 features both Contrast Detection and Phase Detection autofocus (AF) systems which ensures speed and accuracy of focusing in most situations. The AF system has 425 points to choose from. Sony A6500 also features Face detection AF where it intelligently detects the faces in the frame and locks the focus automatically. In addition to the face detect AF, A6500 has a more sophisticated feature called Eye Tracking AF which detects and locks focus to the selected eye of the person in the frame accurately and tracks as the subject moves. Eye tracking AF of Sony A6500 is a perfect feature for shooting portraits and is especially useful when fast lenses are used and the depth of field is very narrow.

Sony A6500 has a score of 67 for Portrait Photography which makes it a GOOD candidate for this type of photography. If you are looking for a camera that is better suited to Portrait Photography, we recommend you to check our Top 10 Mirrorless Cameras for Portrait Photography list.

Sony A6500 has a score of 71 for Sports Photography which makes it a GOOD candidate for this type of photography. If you are looking for a camera that is better suited to Sports Photography, we recommend you to check our Top 10 Mirrorless Cameras for Sports Photography list.

Sony A6500 has a score of 73 for Daily Photography which makes it a GOOD candidate for this type of photography. If you are looking for a camera that is better suited to Daily Photography, we recommend you to check our Top 10 Mirrorless Cameras for Daily Photography list.

Sony A6500 has a score of 45 for Landscape Photography which makes it an AVERAGE candidate for this type of photography. If Landscape is important for you, we recommend you to check our Top Mirrorless Cameras for Landscape Photography list.

Currently, Sony A6500 has an Overall Score of 74/100 which is based on our evaluation of 69 different technical parameters. Our scores are dynamically updated whenever a new camera is added to our database or when we change our ranking algorithm and the maximum score is always 100. Sony Alpha a6500 is ranked #71 out of 242 in Mirrorless cameras (Top 20 Mirrorless), and ranked #89 out of 1257 in all Cameras (Top 20 Overall).

sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

The Sony A6500 replaces the 8-month-old A6300 as Sony’s premium APS-C Alpha offering. The A6500 retains a similar outward appearance to its predecessor, featuring full weather sealing against dust and moisture ingress, but now has in-body 5-axis stabilization, a touch-enabled LCD screen, a bigger buffer for continuous shooting, new C2 | C1 custom buttons on the top plate, a high-durability shutter mechanism (up to 200,000 frames) and a redesigned menu interface. The A6500 can capture 4K 3840 x 2160 video at 30fps, along with Full HD 1080p content at 120fps, and the 24.2MP sensor features a cutting edge design that enables the A6500 to record at ISO 51200. The camera features no fewer than 425 phase detection AF points that cover almost the entire image frame, which helps ensure accurate subject tracking, and with the aid of Sony’s powerful Bionz X image processor, gives the A6500 a claimed focussing speed of just 0.05 seconds. The Sony A6500 also offers extensive control customisation, built-in Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth, a 2.36-million dot viewfinder, a tiltable 922k-dot LCD screen, and 11 fps continuous shooting with full autofocus and autoexposure. The Sony A6500 costs £1499 / $1399 / €1700 body-only.

Externally the Sony A6500 closely resembles the previous A6300, but this is no bad thing as the design and control layout are very intuitive and ergonomic. The A6500 now has a deeper hand grip that is more comfortable to hold on to. Combine it with the sizable rear thumb rest and the A6500 feels totally secure when shooting one-handed. Useful, as at 453g with battery and memory card, the new camera is 50g heavier than its predecessor. The A6500 is also 4.5mm thicker at 53.3mm, though length and width remain the same at 120 x 66.9mm. The A6500 has a tough magnesium alloy body shell that incorporates full weather sealing. Other minor external improvements include a softer eyecup, a slightly larger shutter release button and an extra custom button.

The A6500 has the same 2.36 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder as the A6300, which also features a 120fps high frame rate setting to help track moving subjects more smoothly with virtually no lag. It all adds up to an exceptionally natural viewing experience with outstanding colour accuracy, detail and contrast. The same is true of the 3-inch widescreen LCD monitor, though disappointingly this retains the same 922k resolution as the A6300. It also uses an identical tilting bracket, giving 90 degrees of upward rotation and 45 degrees downward tilt. It’s a real help when shooting from a high or low angle, but a flip-out screen would be even more versatile. Sony have finally added touch sensitivity to the screen, which makes functions like focus point selection easier and more intuitive, and it even works while looking through the electronic viewfinder, although in practice we found it frustratingly laggy and slow to use.

The A6500 is Sony"s latest camera with optical 5-axis image stabilization. Most image stabilization systems compensate for camera shake by correcting yaw and pitch. Sony claim that camera shake is actually caused by five different kinds of motion, and their image stabilization mechanism additionally corrects for horizontal shift, vertical shift and rotary motion (rolling) for both still images and movies. The A6500 offers 5-stops of compensation, with the in-body system ensuring that the A7S II can stabilize all kinds of lenses, not just those with the FE designation, including E-mount lenses without Optical SteadyShot (OSS) and A-mount lenses as well, although third party lenses without any electronic contacts only benefit from three axes of compensation, and you need to input which focal length you’re using.

The Sony A6500’s controls are almost identical to those on the A6300 and include the same dual wheel layout with a primary control dial on the top panel and a secondary rear-panel wheel that doubles as the 4-way navigation buttons. It’s a reasonably ergonomic setup, though we’d still prefer an additional control dial positioned near to the shutter release, enabling simultaneous thumb and forefinger settings adjustment. The auto exposure lock button, located directly alongside the thumb rest, is sited within a lever switch that gives the button two functions. Set the switch to AEL and you can meter light and lock exposure independently of the shutter release. But with the switch set to AF/MF, the exposure lock button instead activates manual focus during autofocussing, or switches the focus mode to auto when in manual mode. The A6500 has two new metering modes. as well two new metering modes - Highlight, where exposure metering is focused on the brightest area of the frame, and Entire Screen Avg, which maintains an average metering for the entire image. Another useful focussing feature is Eye-Start AF. By activating this via the main menu, the A6500 uses the viewfinder’s eye detection sensor to not only activate the EVF when it senses your eye, but also autofocus the camera.

But it’s Sony’s enhanced phase-detection AF system that really steals the limelight. The A6500 has a whopping 425 points, and they’re spread over almost the entirety of the sensor area. Sony claims that this is more PDAF points than any other compact system camera , and it helps the camera achieve a quoted focussing time of just 0.05 seconds. We couldn’t quite match Sony’s figures during our testing with a 16-70mm ZA OSS lens fitted, but we did record a nonetheless impressive 0.15-second lock-on speed, which when combined with instantaneous shutter response makes for extremely quick shooting speed.

It’s not just continuous focussing that gets a boost though, as continuous shooting is also enhanced. On paper the A6500 is no faster than the A6300, with both cameras capable of shooting at 11fps. However, most compact system cameras can’t shoot this fast without the LCD or EVF display lagging behind or even blacking out until the burst is over. Sony hasn’t been able to completely combat the issue with the A6500, but it has come up with a compromise. In Continuous Hi+ mode the camera shoots at the maximum 11fps with the usual screen lag, but switch to Continuous Hi mode and you’ll get a 8fps with almost no perceptible lag. Additionally, the maximum buffer for high-speed continuous shooting is now an impressive 307 frames (Fine JPEGs).

Back to the A6500’s controls and we find Sony has continued the A6300’s extensive amount of customisable controls. The rear Fn function button displays a quick-access menu of frequently used shooting settings, and you can choose which items appear on this menu. But if that’s too much trouble, there are always the two Custom buttons on top of the camera and another on the rear which can all be assigned a frequently used function for direct access. What’s more, even the AF/MF/AEL button can be customised, along with the left, right, down and centre rear panel navigation buttons, as well as the Fn function button’s role in playback mode.

By default, the Fn button activates the Sony A6500’s Send to Smartphone Wi-Fi function when in playback mode. This works in conjunction with Sony’s PlayMemories Mobile app and lets you transfer a full resolution JPEG image in a nippy three seconds. Of course, you’ll have to connect your smart device first, but NFC pairing makes this a painless process. Even if you don’t have an NFC-enabled smartphone or tablet, Sony lets you scan a QR code displayed on the A6500’s monitor and this automatically enters the SSID password so you don’t need to type it manually. The camera can also be remotely controlled by your smart device, although you’ll need to first enter the A6500’s Application tab on the main menu to activate the Smart Remote Embedded feature. Fortunately this isn’t too inconvenient as the newly revised menu system is clearer and easier to navigate than on the previous A6300 model. The A6500 also offers location data acquisition via a Bluetooth connection to a compatible mobile device.

Move to the top panel and the A6500’s customisable control extends to the mode dial, where there are two Memory modes. These allow you to store two frequently used shooting set-ups for quick access, and within each Memory mode is a further four customisable sub-mode pre-sets which can be saved to your memory card. Aside from these modes, the A6500’s mode dial is fairly standard, containing the usual auto, semi auto and manual modes, plus a Scene Selection position, Sweep Panorama mode, and finally a Movie mode that works in conjunction with the video record button located on the right edge of the thumb grip.

Sony has gone to great lengths to enhance the A6500’s video abilities, as not only can it record at Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 resolution at 30fps, but the power of the Bionz X processor can also be harnessed to record slow motion, high frame rate Full HD 1920 x 1080 sequences at 120fps. The movie-making potential is further enhanced by 100Mb/s high-bit-rate XAVC S data encoding, as well as clean video output over HDMI. The A6500 features Sony’s S-Log 2 and 3 gamma curves which enable it to record greater dynamic range, providing you’re prepared to colour grade the recording in post-production. A new setting called Auto Pwr OFF Temp. offers two options, Standard and High, with the latter extending the recording time even if the camera gets warm to the touch.

New to the A6500 is the the incorporation of a ‘Slow and Quick’ (S&Q) mode that supports both slow motion and quick motion. Frame rates from 1 fps to 100fps can be selected in 8 steps for up to 50x quick motion and 4x slow motion recording, and the footage that"s shot in this mode can be previewed after shooting without the need for a computer. The A6500 also now offers the ability to select, extract and save still images from movie footage directly on the camera, approximately 8 megapixel images from the 4K video and 2 megapixels from Full HD.

When it comes to simply snapping a still, the Sony A6500 will capture an image within two seconds of power-up. It’ll keep on shooting for a rated 350 shots per charge, which is a decrease from the A6000’s 400-shot battery life. This drops to 310 shots when using the EVF. The increased power demands of a mirrorless design means the A6500 still trails similarly priced DSLRs in terms of battery life, with cameras like the Canon EOS 80D and Nikon D7200 managing 960 and 1110 shots-per-charge respectively. At least the A6500 can be powered and charged via a USB connection, which is useful if you’re without your charger but can access a computer.

The Sony A6500 delivers some seriously impressive image quality. The A6500 generates impressively clean results with minimal grain and detail loss. At ISO 6400 there’s only a slight increase in noise and reduction in detail, making this sensitivity completely usable. Only at ISO 12800 does grain and detail smoothing become more severe, although it’s by no means unsightly. ISO 25600 is really the ceiling for acceptable image quality, such is the high level of grain, loss of detail and reduced dynamic range. ISO 51200 is best avoided due to the intrusive grain and colour speckling.

But dial things down to more sensible sensitivities and the A6500 records excellent dynamic range, especially when assisted by Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimisation. Good colour vibrancy adds extra visual appeal while maintaining accurate colour reproduction, though this of course can be adjusted to your own preference in the camera settings. Detail capture will depend quite a bit on your choice of lens, but our Vario-Tessar 16-70mm f/4 ZA OSS test glass certainly helped maximise the A6500’s potential to resolve a superb amount of detail.

The Sony A6500 has a standard sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 25600, expandable to ISO 51200. Auto ISO operates within an ISO 100-6400 range and has selectable upper and lower limits. Two levels of high ISO noise reduction can be selected – Normal, or Low – or the processing can be disabled.

The A6500 contains 13 Picture Effects, some with additional sub options: Toy camera (normal, cool, warm, green, magenta), Pop color, Posterization (mono, colour), Retro photo, Soft high-key, Partial color (red, green, blue, yellow), High-contrast mono, Soft focus (low, mid, high), HDR painting (low, mid, high), Rich-tone mono, Miniature (top, middle horizontal, bottom, left, middle vertical, right), Watercolor, and Illustration (low, mid, high).

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony A6500 camera, which were all taken using the 24.2 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

The Sony A6500 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We"ve provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

The Sony A6500 is the best APS-C Sony camera yet, principally adding built-in 5-axis stabilization, a touch-enabled LCD screen and a redesigned menu interface to an already excellent camera, but we can"t help feeling that the 8-month-old A6300 should probably have offered most of these features already, especially as the A6500 now has an even higher price-tag than its predecessor. Sony have also missed a trick in their implementation of the touchscreen, which while being a very overdue addition is somewhat poorly implemented, so much so that you might not actually use it after all. We"d also have liked to see a second control dial added on what has now become a camera for serious enthusiasts thanks to the already mentioned price increase - maybe next time...

So, if you simply want the best APS-C camera that Sony currently offers, the A6500 is clearly the one to get. The previous A6300 model is a more keenly price alternative, however, and if you are considering the A6500 ahead of it predecessor, you owe it to yourself to check out the likes of the Fujifilm X-T2 and X-Pro 2, not to mention the Olympus OM-D E-M Mark II.

The Canon EOS M3 is a new compact system camera that offers 24 megapixel resolution, full 1080p high-definition videos, a faster auto-focusing system, and a touch-screen interface. Other key features of the EOS M3 include a tilting 3-inch LCD screen, ISO range of 100-12,800, wi-fi and NFC connectivity, and a built-in flash. Is Canon"s new mirrorless model finally a real contender? Read our Canon EOS M3 review to find out...

The new Olympus PEN-F is a new premium compact system camera boasting a gorgeous retro design and some pro-level features, including a new 20 megapixel sensor, 5-axis image stabilisation, 10fps burst shooting, vari-angle 3-inch LCD touchscreen, 4K time-lapse movies, an electronic shutter and built-in wi-fi. Priced at £999 / $1199 body-only, is the PEN-F all style and no substance? Read our in-depth Olympus PEN-F review to find out...

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 is a new premium compact system camera aimed firmly at enthusiast photographers. With a new 20 megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, dual lens and in-body image stabilization, built-in tilting electronic OLED viewfinder, 3 inch free-angle OLED touchscreen, 4K video and photo modes, integrated wi-fi and NFC connectivity, and a weather-proof rangefinder-like design, can the Panasonic GX8 live up to its early promise? Read our in-depth Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 review complete with sample images, test shots, videos and more to find out...

The Sony a6500 is the company"s top-tier APS-C mirrorless model, a 24MP stills and video camera with image stabilization. It sits above the similar-looking a6300 in Sony"s lineup, adding touchscreen capability and stabilization for enthusiasts willing to dig a little deeper into their pockets.

The Sony Alpha A6500 is an upper mid-range mirrorless camera with a 24 Megapixel APSC sensor, built-in stabilisation, touchscreen, 4k video and a powerful AF system that"s perfect for action shooters. Announced in October 2016, it comes only eight months after the A6300, but doesn"t replace it. The A6300, and indeed the A6000, remain on sale, but the A6500 becomes the new flagship APS-C e-mount body.

Three refreshes: that’s how long it took for Sony to create a camera with a sensor that can keep up with its competitors. Granted, the processing engine in the Sony a6500 is very capable and a big part of it. But then we also beg the question: Why so many refreshes so suddenly?

sony a6500 lcd screen manufacturer

In this Sony a6500 review, I’ll provide an overview and go over the Sony a6500 specs. Furthermore, I’ll present a few alternatives and tell you whether it’s still worth buying.

The Sony a6500’s release date was in October 2016, but the Sony a6600 has since superseded it. Yet, the a6500 is still a powerful camera and an excellent choice for many photographers and videographers.

I’ve used it since 2018, primarily shooting travel and adventure photos and videos. And I have taken thousands of stills and videos with it in that time. The Sony Alpha a6500 is still a top-tier APS-C mirrorless camera.

The Sony Alpha a6500 is one of six mirrorless cameras in Sony’s a6 lineup. The a6000 and a6100 are considered entry-level cameras. The a6300 and a6400 are mid-level options, and the a6500 and a6600 are top-tier models.

The a6500 price range is full of competition. And while many competitors (especially new cameras) have upgraded in one area or another, none of them boast the entire package of the a6500.

While the Sony a6500 is by no means a perfect camera, it does have some fantastic features. At its center is a 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor. Additionally, it has in-body stabilization, shoots 11fps (frames per second), and captures 4K video up to 30p.

Moreover, it’s an interchangeable lens camera that uses the Sony E-mount lens system. The standard kit lens is the Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS. (Note, I did not use the kit lens in this review. Instead, all the sample photos are shot on the Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 OSS. It’s a premium standard-zoom lens that pairs perfectly with the a6500.)

Another thing I love about the a6500 camera is the price. As an older camera, it has seen significant reductions… Don’t be afraid to go for a cheaper used camera! That’s what I did, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.

As a top-tier mirrorless camera, the Sony a6500 is appealing to many. Whether you’re a professional or a total beginner, it can fit seamlessly into your kit.

It has more advanced features than entry-level cameras for beginners. It’s loaded with professional features for intermediates. And for professionals that already shoot with a Sony camera system, the a6500 is an ideal lightweight backup.

Additionally, it’s for anyone who needs an ultra-portable, high-quality camera. Travel, adventure, street, and landscape photographers all come to mind. I’m an avid traveler and nature lover, and I never go anywhere without my a6500.

While a drawback was a lack of lens compatibility for a long time, there are now over 60 native lenses. Furthermore, there are hundreds of more third-party lenses for the Sony system. Sigma and Tamron are the two most popular third-party manufacturers, but they are far from the only ones out there.

Technically speaking, there are two types of E-mount lenses. FE lenses are made for full frame cameras. E lenses are for APS-C cameras, like the a6500. But it’s worth noting that all lenses work on both camera systems.

Full frame lenses are 100 percent compatible with every APS-C. The only difference is a 1.5x magnification is applied. For example, with a FE 50mm prime lens on the camera, the a6500 will have an equal focal length of 75mm.

Likewise, all E lenses will work on Sony’s full frame cameras. All you have to do is make sure you’re in crop mode. Unfortunately, this will limit the amount of the sensor used. It isn’t ideal but works in a pinch.

If you ever decide to upgrade from an APS-C to a full frame sensor—as long as you stay in the Sony family—all the native lenses will still work. That’s a huge advantage that will save you lot’s of money in the long run.

There are two principal advantages of buying E lenses for the a6500. First off, they are much lighter and more compact than full frame lenses. And as the a6500 is a compact camera, it makes sense to pair it with smaller lenses.

Plus, there are some marvelous converters for both Nikon and Canon lenses. As an ex-Canon shooter, I have used the Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony E-mount Speed Booster and the Sigma Mount Converter. Thanks to electric wiring, they both preserve autofocus and aperture controls.

The Sony a6500 has a 24.2MP CMOS APS-C sensor, the same as the new a6600. At 23.5×15.6mm, it’s the same size as Sony’s other crop sensor cameras. It also uses a Bionz X image processor.

With 24.2MP, the Sony a6500 is ahead of competitors like the Nikon Z fc (20.9MP) and the Canon 7D Mark II (20.2MP). Yet, it’s slightly behind Fuji cameras (26.1MP) and the Canon EOS M6 Mark II (32MP).

Another thing to note is that the a6500 does not have an anti-aliasing filter. The lack of an AA filter adds extra detail and sharpness to photos but sometimes creates extra moiré.

In regards to photo quality, the 24MP sensor delivers 6000×4000 pixel images. That’s the same as many of Sony’s professional cameras. Where it differs from them is photo quality in low-light conditions. Full frame sensors always deliver better results when the light isn’t as good.

Another great feature is the addition of Sony’s five-axis in-body image stabilization (IBIS). While stabilization may be commonplace in new cameras today, the a6500 was the first Sony APS-C to feature it.

Through my tests, I have found that the stabilization adds roughly two to three stops of stability. It’s even more when paired with a Sony Optical Steady Shot (OSS) lens. Thanks to this, I can shoot handheld images at a shutter speed as low as 1/10 s.

RAW files are also quite excellent. On average, they are around 24MB in size. They are that large because they retain a ton of information, courtesy of the Sony a6500 dynamic range. You will have no trouble editing your photos when you shoot in RAW.

One knock I have against the a6500 is SOOC image quality. The colors are flat and less vivid in comparison to other brands. To be fair, all Sony cameras I’ve used have the same issue. That makes it more of a knock against the camera maker than this specific model.

Sony has long been the industry standard for autofocus systems, and the a6500 is no different. While not quite as fast as the a6600 (which Sony boasts is the fastest in the world!), it’s not far behind.

It uses a hybrid autofocus (AF) system with 425 contrast-detect points and 425 phase-detect points. The points cover the entire sensor and make the focus speed more or less instant. With the help of Sony’s AI tracking technology, even subjects moving at high speeds come out sharp more often than not.

Also, the Sony a6500 has seven autofocus area modes (Wide, Zone, Center, Flexible Spot Small, Flexible Spot Medium, Flexible Spot Large, and Expanded Flexible Spot). Having a lot of options is great, but unfortunately, many of them seem to do the same thing. More often than not, I find myself using the same two focus modes outside of manual focus—Wide and Flexible Spot Medium).

The Sony a6500 has four different continuous shooting burst modes—High+ (11fps), High (8fps), Medium (6fps), and Low (3fps). At 11fps, High+ is one of the fastest continuous frame rates among crop sensor cameras.

Thus, it is a more than capable camera for action sports and wildlife. On a recent trip to California, I captured spectacular images of whales and elephant seals on the a6500 using continuous shooting modes.

Sony claims the a6500 can shoot up to 300 JPEGs, or 100 JPG+RAW files, per burst. Personally, I have never needed to shoot a burst of this size, so I can’t speak to the accuracy of their claim.

One of the main reasons many choose the a6500 (myself included) is its video features. While not on the same level for video as some other cameras, it’s a powerful video camera in its own right.

The phase detection autofocus also works for video, but AF-C is the only mode option. You can select the focus point on the touch screen LCD, or you can use center lock-on AF. Either way, there is a slight delay to lock onto the subject. With that said, once locked on, it usually does a terrific job tracking and holding the focus point.

Next, there is the chance of overheating when filming in 4K for extended periods. To combat this issue, the a6500 dims the screen. While a good idea, it makes it incredibly difficult to see the screen in sunny conditions.

Like most mirrorless cameras, one of the Sony a6500’s biggest selling points is its compact body. It measures 120x67x53mm. Additionally, it weighs only 453 grams. If you currently have a DSLR camera system, it will feel much smaller and lighter.

Unlike the plastic A6000, the a6500 has a magnesium alloy body. That gives it a sturdy feel—despite its small size—and makes the camera stronger and more durable. But some dials, and the door to the battery compartment, are still made of plastic.

A huge plus of this camera for me as an outdoor photographer is its weather-sealed body. According to Sony, it’s resistant to moisture as well as dust. I can fully support that as I have used my a6500 in rainstorms, snowstorms, and duststorms. But note that the kit zoom lens and many other E lenses are unfortunately not weather sealed.

On the other side, the touchscreen LCD monitor is my least favorite thing about the camera. For a company that makes smartphones, I had massive expectations for it. Unfortunately, it does not work well. For starters, the touch screen features only work for two functions. To assign focus when using autofocus modes and zooming during digital playback. You can’t use it inside the menus. To me, there’s no logic behind it.

The a6500 menu system is another source of disappointment. While better than older versions (with updated color-coded folders), they still leave a lot to be desired. Specifically, creating a custom “my menu” page would be a nice option.

Overall, the Sony a6500 is a highly customizable camera. There are three default custom buttons (C1, C2, and C3). Furthermore, customizable are the AF/MF (manual focus), AEL (auto-exposure lock), center, left, right, and down buttons.

The Sony a6500 has a pop-up flash with a range of six meters and a hot shoe for attaching an external flash. A microphone, light, or external monitor can also go on the hot shoe.

Whether you buy a new camera or a used one, the a6500 still has a place in the photography world. It’s an amazing camera, perfect for beginners, professionals, and everyone in between.

While I wouldn’t say it’s a professional camera, it can create professional-level work if you’re a travel or adventure photographer. In addition, it’s an ideal lightweight backup camera for Sony professionals.

With more cameras coming out every year, there has never been more competition for the a6500. But with that said, I feel confident it will age well, and I will happily continue to use mine. I hope this Sony a6500 review will help you decide on your next camera!