Introduction

Ease of Use

Announced just before Photokina 2012, the Sony NEX-6 slots in between the consumer-focused NEX-5R and the range-topping NEX-7, and adds a number of features and functions that you cannot find in either of these models. Outwardly it looks a lot like the NEX-7, at least at first glance. The front of the camera is dominated by the relatively large, rubberised hand-grip, which enables users to hold the camera comfortably, and also conceals the shared battery / memory card compartment.

The Sony NEX-6 undoubtedly feels solid when gripped in the palm, without looking or feeling bulky. Our review unit came with the brand new Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom, which is currently the smallest E-mount zoom lens by a rather wide margin – certainly smaller than the old 18-55mm kit zoom that invariably looked oversized no matter which NEX body you attached it to. When not in use, this lens retracts into its housing, much like a compact camera lens – or indeed the Panasonic Lumix G X Vario PZ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Power OIS standard zoom for Micro Four Thirds. This lens contributes a lot to the low profile of the Sony NEX-6, making the combination compact enough to fit in a large coat pocket – something that would be a stretch with the older kit lens. The downside of using a collapsible power zoom like this is that it causes start-up (and wake-up) times to be longer than usual. Those who aren't keen on the idea of shooting with a power zoom can of course buy the camera in a body-only configuration and purchase any lens from the slowly but steadily growing range of E-mount optics to go with it.

On the forward-sloping edge at the top of the hand-grip we find the shutter release encircled by a nicely rigid on/off switch. In use, we have found that the NEX-6's shutter release was less sensitive to a half-press than that of most other cameras – essentially it required more like a “three-quarters-press” to do anything. Some photographers will like this, whereas to others the relative insensitivity of this button may give the false impression that the camera is less responsive than it actually is. As to the shutter itself, it's louder and clunkier in action than most other compact system cameras; somewhat reminiscent of the mirror return of an SLR, though still quieter than, say, a Nikon D7000. To most users this won't be an issue but if you need to work absolutely discreetly and quietly, you might want to take a look at some of the NEX-6's mirrorless competitors.

Front	Rear

Alongside the shutter release is a useful, customisable Function button which by default provides access to a quick menu with focus, white balance, metering and Picture Effects settings. You can change the functions assigned to this button from within the Setup menu. The NEX-6's top plate marks the biggest departure from the other NEX cameras that Sony has released so far. Viewed from the rear and starting from the left, there's an ISO standard hot-shoe that accepts generic centre-contact flash units, which is great news for strobists and anyone using standard hotshoe-mounted accessores. Dedicated Sony/Minolta system flashes that have a non-standard foot can be mounted with the help of a separately sold hot-shoe adapter. Sheltered underneath the housing at the front of the hot-shoe we find a number of connector pins that allow users to mount a range of proprietary Sony accessories, which is why the company calls this accessory port a 'Multi Interface Shoe.'

Next to this accessory shoe is the NEX-6's built-in flash, which has essentially been lifted from the NEX-7 (though Sony quotes a somewhat wider angle of coverage for the new model). To pop up this flash you need to press a dedicated button at the top of the rear plate – in use we have found this button to be a little fiddly, requiring a rather strong press to do its job. A clever hinged design allows the flash to be raised high above the lens to avoid red-eye issues, something we have found to work very well. The flash settings can be modified from within the Camera menu, while the AE Lock button can be reprogrammed to provide easy access to flash exposure compensation. This is seldom needed though – as long as your subject is within range, the flash provides consistently good exposures, no doubt thanks to Sony's access to Minolta technologies such as ADI (Advanced Distance Integration). Our only gripes with this flash are the low guide number (GN 6 in metres at ISO 100/21°) and the fact that it cannot act as a commander for wirelessly slaved system flashes – even though the camera itself has the capability, you still need a compatible hotshoe-mounted external unit to use that feature.

On the right-hand side of the top plate – still viewed from the rear – we find one of the biggest novelties of the NEX-6 compared to other Sony NEX cameras – a mode dial. Aside from standard shooting modes like Programmed Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual, this dial has separate markings for Intelligent Auto, Superior Auto, Scene Modes and even Sweep Panoramas. The chief difference between Intelligent Auto and Superior Auto is that in the latter mode the camera might decide to shoot a quick series of images for automatic HDR exposure blending if it determines that the luminosity range of the scene is wider than the dynamic range of the sensor. The mode dial itself is very stiff, so your chances of inadvertently switching to another shooting modes are extremely low. On the flip side, this stiffness means that you may need a thumb and a finger to change modes – if you try too hard to turn the dial with your right thumb only, you might end up spinning the control wheel underneath the mode dial too, thereby unwillingly changing the aperture, for example.

Top	Pop-up Flash

Putting aside the omission of the AF/MF toggle, the rear plate of the Sony NEX-6 looks remarkably similar to that of the NEX-7, the majority of it taken up by the large articulated LCD that stretches from the base to the top plate. The Sony NEX-6 offers switchable framing lines, a live histogram and a dual-axis level gauge display in both the LCD screen and the viewfinder, helping you to compose your image and keep horizons straight. The NEX-6 also has a clever eye level sensor that switches off the rear screen's info display as you bring your eye close to the excellent viewfinder, although be aware that this might cause a slight inconvenience when shooting from the hip if your body blocks the eye proximity sensor.

One of the most useful ways to set up the EVF and LCD is to compose your shots with the former and use the latter as an interactive status screen. In this view, you can check all of the camera's important shooting settings at a glance, and even modify them by first pressing the Function button and then moving about the screen using the navigation pad. This is important as the menu system of the Sony NEX-6 is rather illogical – e.g. the metering mode is found in the Brightness/Colour menu that from the look of the icon that denotes it initially appears to be for adjusting screen brightness only. By using the rear screen as an interactive status display you can mostly save yourself from having to delve into the menu. The LCD is hinged but only flips up and down – you cannot fold it out as on some competing models. Also missing is any sort of touchscreen functionality – while many of you will never miss this, we think it's a pity that you cannot set the active focus point by touch as on the NEX-5R for example. Also, given that the Sony NEX-6 offers built-in Wi-Fi it would have been nice to be able to enter passwords and other text via an onscreen virtual keyboard the same way you do on most smartphones.

Above this display is one of the NEX-6's main advantages over its principal rivals, a high-resolution XGA OLED electronic viewfinder identical to the one found on the NEX-7. Offering 100% scene coverage, a bright, high contrast image and a high magnification, the NEX-6's EVF is so good that we used it for the majority of our shooting in both good light and bad, a real testament to its quality. For us the built-in EVF is one of the main attractions of the NEX-6 when judging it against the compact system camera competition. The placement of the finder in the upper left corner of the backplate is another plus point as it allows you to look into the EVF without smashing your nose against the rear screen – unless you're left-eyed, of course. Still on the topic of the EVF/LCD, the Sony NEX-6 has an excellent focus peaking feature available when you are using the camera in manual focus mode. This function enhances the outline of in-focus ranges with a specific colour (red, yellow or white depending on user preference) in the viewfinder or on the rear screen. The peaking level can be fine-tuned by the photographer via the Setup menu.

Side	Front

Like the NEX-7, the Sony NEX-6 has three unmarked, context-sensitive “soft” buttons on its rear plate that change their functions depending on what mode, screen or menu you are in. The uppermost button usually takes you to the main menu, whereas the lowermost one allows you to modify the image quality setting (in most modes) or change the active focus point if Autofocus Area is set to Flexible Spot. The third unmarked button is encircled by a scroll wheel that you can use to set the shutter speed or navigate menus. In Playback mode, this button is used to quickly zoom to 1:1 pixel view to check for critical sharpness. The top, right, bottom and left parts of this wheel can also be used as navigation buttons, much like a classic four-way pad. In Record mode, four different functions are mapped unto this navigation pad including Display, ISO, Exposure Compensation and Self-timer / Drive Mode.

New to the Sony NEX-6 – versus the NEX-7 – is its built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. This gives you a number of options. With the free Play Memories Mobile app, you can control the camera remotely from your smartphone via Wi-Fi, although in our experience the control options are quite limited for the time being. You can see the camera's live view feed on your phone's screen, set exposure compensation and take a picture remotely but that's it basically – and communication between camera and phone can be quite slow too. It's also possible to hook the camera up to an existing Wi-Fi network – though as noted earlier, the lack of touchscreen functionality means entering passwords isn't fun – and access Sony's Play Memories service if it's available in your country. This in turn allows you to download Play Memories camera apps to the NEX-6. Some of these camera apps are free and potentially useful, such as Direct Upload which enables you to send selected photos from your camera directly to Facebook via Wi-Fi. Not all apps are free though, which is all the more surprising given that the selection of available apps is rather limited at the moment.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

Apart from taking still photos, the Sony NEX-6 is also capable of shooting videos in either AVCHD or MP4 format. The HDTV-friendly AVCHD videos can be either interlaced or progressive, and offer a variety of frame rates. They can also be burnt to Blu-ray disks or DVDs using the supplied Play Memories Home software. By contrast, MP4 videos are easier to edit and share on a PC – if not with the Play Memories Home program – and are recorded as 1080p video files at a frame rate of approximately 30fps, with AAC sound. Speaking of sound, the Sony NEX-6 has built-in stereo microphones but lacks a standard microphone jack, meaning you cannot use a third-party external mic to record audio with your movie clips. Video recording can be initiated at any time by pressing the dedicated, camcorder-style video record button. This button has been relocated from its original position on the NEX-7, presumably because it was too easy to push accidentally. The new position of the button carries no such risks – in fact the button is now quite difficult to reach and certainly not comfortable to operate.

By entering Playback mode via its dedicated button, you can review your photos and videos – though curiously, not both at the same time. You have to go into the menu to select whether you want to play back your photos, MP4 clips or AVCHD videos. This can be surprising at first and mildly annoying in the long run. Do note that if you have the 16-50mm power zoom attached to the camera, it will retract into its housing if you spend too much time in Playback. This also means that when you go back to Record mode you'll have to wait until it extends again, meaning you might miss a fleeting moment. Not only that, but when the lens does extend it will invariably default to the 16mm position, even if you'd had it set to a different focal length before it retracted.

The camera is powered by a proprietary lithium-ion battery that can be charged in-camera via USB. A short mains cable is also provided along with a small adapter/transformer, but if you plan on buying a spare battery it's advisable to also invest in an external charger, otherwise you won't be able to use one battery in the camera while the other is charging.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

During the review period, the Sony NEX-6 produced images of excellent quality. Most photos were well focussed and sharp, with good detail throughout the frame. High-ISO performance is pretty impressive courtesy of a fairly big APS-C sized sensor and a good image processing engine that reduces noise in JPEGs without sacrificing too much detail. (JPEG shooters do not have the option to turn noise filtering completely off.)

The supplied Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom lens has a tendency for vignetting, particularly at the extremes of its focal range; but that aside its performance is better than expected. The NEX-6's pop-up flash might be weak, with a rather meagre guide number of 6 at ISO 100/21°; but as long as the subject is within range it tends to produce spot-on exposures with no noticeable red-eye. The in-camera HDR exposure blending feature works very well in contrasty light. It only works for JPEGs and for still subjects, but does produce some very effective results.

Sony's now tried-and-trusted Sweep Panorama is still a joy to use. The 11 Picture Effects quickly produce special looks that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the 6 Creative Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images. With a maximum exposure time of 30 seconds and a Bulb mode, the camera offers lots of scope for creative night photography. The  SteadyShot anti-shake system built into the 16-50mm lens works well when hand-holding the camera at slower shutter speeds. Perhaps the only fly in the ointment is a somewhat sub-par auto white balance performance under overcast skies and in artificial light, but this can be circumvented by taking a manual WB reading and/or shooting raw.

Noise

There are 9 ISO settings available on the Sony NEX-6. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)
ISO 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

The out-of-camera JPEGs are pretty sharp at the default setting but you can of course add some sharpening later in a program like Adobe Photoshop if needed. Here are two pairs of 100% crops – the right-hand images have had some post-capture sharpening applied.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The file quality settings available on the Sony NEX-6 include Fine and Standard for JPEGs, and you can also opt for ARW, Sony's proprietary raw image file format. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options.

16M Fine (100% Crop)	16M Normal (100% Crop)
16M RAW (100% Crop)

Flash

The Sony NEX-6 has a little pop-up flash with a guide number of 6 in metres at ISO 100/21°. The flash settings are Autoflash, Fill-flash, Slow sync and Rear flash sync, with Red-eye reduction available in the Setup menu. In the best Sony/Minolta tradition, flash exposures are generally excellent as long as the subject is within range. The NEX-6 can also trigger wirelessly slaved system flashes but you need a hotshoe-mounted commander unit for this as the built-in flash cannot act as a master.

These shots of a white coloured ceiling were taken at a distance of 1.5m. As you can see the E PZ 16-50mm OSS lens suffers from some vignetting, especially at the wide end of the zoom range, and this is accentuated in the flash shots.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (75mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (75mm)

And here are a couple of portrait shots. Neither the Auto setting nor the Red-eye reduction mode caused a significant amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye reduction	Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)

Macro

The Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom is not a macro lens but it can deliver pretty decent close-up shots. The example below demonstrates how close you can get to the subject, in this case a Compact Flash card. We have also included a 100% crop to show you what the quality is like.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Night

The Sony NEX-6 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well for even longer exposure times, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. There is an optional long-exposure noise reduction function that can be activated to filter out any hot pixels that may appear when extremely slow shutter speeds are used, though I found no need for this when taking the photograph below at a shutter speed of 30 seconds, aperture of f/11 at ISO 100. We’ve included a 100% crop for you to see what the quality is like.

Night	Night (100% Crop)

Steadyshot

The Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom lens boasts Sony's Optical SteadyShot feature, which is essentially a lens-based image stabilisation system. When enabled from the Sony NEX-6's menu, this feature allows you to take reasonably sharp hand-held shots at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras (or a non-OSS lens). To demonstrate this, we took two photos, one with SteadyShot and one without, at 1/25th of a second at the 75mm (equivalent) end of the zoom range. As you can see from the 100% crops below, Optical SteadyShot can mean the difference between a usable shot and an unusable one.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Steadyshot Off (100% Crop)	Steadyshot On (100% Crop)
1/25th / 75mm

High Dynamic Range

High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode is Sony's solution for capturing more contrast than a single exposure can handle by combining two exposures into one image, with an Auto setting and six different strengths available. The examples below demonstrate the difference between a single exposure and an HDR image created from two photos taken 6EV apart.

Off	On (6EV)

Intelligent Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony NEX-6 has a Sweep Panorama mode allowing you to take panoramic images very easily by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching automatically. The main catch is that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution – this is something you need to be aware of if you are looking to print your panoramas.

Creative Styles

The Sony NEX-6 offers six so-called 'Creative Styles' including Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset and Black-and-White.

Standard	Vivid
Portrait	Landscape
Sunset	B/W

Picture Effects

Sony's Picture Effects are similar to what other manufacturers call “magic” or “art” filters. The Sony NEX-6 offers a number of Picture Effects ranging from Toy Camera to Soft Focus, with Rich-tone Mono being our favourite.

Toy Camera	Pop Color
Posterization	Retro Photo
Soft High-key	Partial Color (Red)
High Contrast Mono	Soft Focus
HDR Painting	Rich-tone Mono
Miniature

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony NEX-6 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony NEX-6 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).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Lens Fitted

Front of the Camera / Lens Extended

Isometric View

Isometric View

Pop-up Flash

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

For a sub-$1000 camera, the Sony NEX-6 is an incredibly complex, mature and full-featured product. From a class-leading high-resolution OLED electronic viewfinder to a traditional mode dial, two control wheels, articulated LCD screen, verstatile AF system, Wi-Fi connectivity and 10fps burst shooting; it has everything a camera needs in order to be a serious proposition for the discerning enthusiast. The menu system might be quirky but the camera offers so many customisation options that pretty much everyone can tailor the user interface to their needs and tastes. The camera could certainly do with a slightly more sensitive shutter release, quieter shutter and a few touchscreen-based functions – but apart from these minor annoyances and omissions, the user experience it delivers is nothing short of fantastic.

In terms of image quality, the Sony NEX-6 is as good as any other camera with an APS-C sized sensor. The photos it produces tend to be well-focussed and sharp, with good detail throughout the frame. High-ISO performance is pretty impressive, flash exposures are spot on, colours and tonality are generally excellent, and the customisation options for JPEGs are dazzling. The 11 Picture Effects quickly produce special looks that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the 6 Creative Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG output.

All this goodness is delivered in a remarkably compact package – with the new collapsible, motorised kit zoom, the Sony NEX-6 fits fairly easily in a large coat pocket, and is perfectly at home in a small camera bag. The new lens does come with a few compromises, including longer-than-usual start-up and wake-up times, fairly strong distortion and noticeable corner shading wide open at the extremes of its focal range; but it's sharper than you'd expect and much more convenient than the oversized 18-55mm kit zoom that Sony used to bundle with earlier NEX cameras.

Unless you find the 24-megapixel sensor, standard microphone jack and Tri-Navi user interface of the more expensive NEX-7 – or the touchscreen-based functionality and lower price of the NEX-5R – more appealing, the NEX-6 is probably the best Sony compact system camera you can buy at the moment. As far as the competition goes, the latest crop of Micro Four Thirds cameras – particularly the Olympus OM-D E-M5, Panasonic Lumix G5 and Lumix GH3 – tend to boast faster auto focus systems, quieter shutters and a wider selection of lenses but the ultra high-resolution EVF, highly customisable user interface and larger sensor of the Sony NEX-6 definitely make it worth considering.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony NEX-6 from around the web.

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