Sony a6500
Announced October 6, 2016
PixelMeter The PixelMeter is our 1–100 aggregate of reviewer scores from trusted publications and creators. Weighted by source tier — not a raw average, and not PetaPixel’s own review.
Reviewer Consensus
Strong
The Sony Alpha a6500 is a powerful, compact mirrorless camera that pairs exceptional image and 4K video quality with a sophisticated, high-speed autofocus system. While it offers impressive performance and a sturdy magnesium alloy build, users may find the menu system dense, the battery life limited, and the ergonomics challenging.
Weighted from 35 reviewer scores
Pros
- Excellent image and video quality with high dynamic range
- Fast and accurate autofocus with wide frame coverage
- Effective 5-axis in-body image stabilization
- Large buffer for high-speed continuous shooting
- Sturdy, weather-sealed magnesium alloy body
Cons
- Complex, laggy menu system and limited touchscreen implementation
- Short battery life and lack of included external charger
- Inconvenient screen articulation and dim display
- No headphone jack for audio monitoring
- Rolling shutter issues in video mode
- Launch price $1,399 (USD)
- Sensor 24.2MP APS-C CMOS
- Video 4K
- Stabilization In-body IS
What the Reviewers Say
All 35 expert reviews, weighted into the PixelMeter score.
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- DPReview 85/100
The Sony a6500 is an outstanding all-around camera. Image quality and 4K video quality are both exceptional and the camera's autofocus system also impresses.
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In a nutshell, the Sony A6500 takes an already-great camera and turns it into a really excellent one. It comes highly recommended by us, and is a clear Dave’s Pick to boot!
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The Alpha A6500 is Sony's best all-round mirrorless camera with an APS-C sensor to date.
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Taken as a complete package though, the A6500 remains an excellent all-round APS-C mirrorless model that offers something for everyone.
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If you’re looking for a small, durable, reasonably priced, high-performance camera for your travels, this is definitely a camera you want to check out.
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The Sony Alpha A6500 offers a wide range of features, including excellent image quality, fast focusing and continuous shooting, all in a compact camera body, with good build quality.
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[I]f you simply want the best APS-C camera that Sony currently offers, the A6500 is clearly the one to get.
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The A6500 is a great camera, but it’s not without its flaws. It’s a great performer, with a fast frame rate and excellent autofocus, but the menu system is a little fiddly and the buttons are a little small.
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The A6500 is an oddity. It’s a street-style camera with sports-camera performance and high-end 4K video capabilities, and it just feels the wrong shape for the things it’s designed to do well.
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The mirrorless Sony Alpha 6500 delivers excellent image quality and superb autofocus, but lacks some of the pro features of competing cameras in this price range.
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Despite our reservations about the fiddly controls and dense menu system, no other camera does as much as the Sony A6500 does, and while being more affordable to boot.
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There is a lot to like in the Sony a6500. It's a powerful, compact camera that takes excellent images and video at impressive speeds, with snappy autofocus.
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I think Sony should stop doing on that one and we should have a better system, so overall, even with the few shortcomings of the Sony Alpha a6500, it really is still one of my favorite cameras on the market.
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The Sony a6500 is a great camera if we consider the image quality, autofocus performance and video capabilities that include professional 4K quality and excellent slow motion capabilities.
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Otherwise, this is a great low light, auto focus, stabilized little beast of a 4K camera.
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The A6500 delivers on just about everything we’ve hoped for in a mirrorless camera since Sony launched the NEX line over seven years ago.
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[I]f you're a hybrid shooter such as myself, pick up the Sony Alpha a6500. It is the perfect all-around camera for both stills and videos.
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Yes it costs a fair chunk of change, but given its array of features, the A6500 is an outstanding all-rounder.
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The A6500 is one of the best compact system cameras around, and sits at the very top of the APS-C tree.
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[T]he Sony a6500 is an awesome camera. [...] At the end of the day $1398 not exactly cheap by any stretch of the imagination but you do get a very high quality mirrorless camera.
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The build quality on the Sony a6500 appears sturdy and resilient. This is coming from someone who believes in using equipment, not babying it.
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The build quality is really excellent; it feels like a premium product. It is made of a magnesium alloy, it feels sturdy, and it is one of the best made cameras that I had an opportunity to test so far.
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We recommend the a6500 as a lightweight, fairly inexpensive camera that will bridge the gap between your phone and stepping into major cameras.
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For me, it's a fantastic camera. If it was going to be your first camera, I would say this is definitely a great choice.
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This camera in 2019 it's still really really good. It has built-in stabilisation, tons of slo-mo option, great color science, it's nice and compact and the internal 4K is super sharp and did I mention the low-light in this camera is still super worth buying in 2019.
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The autofocus system is super fast and it's got lots of autofocus points. [...] this thing, somebody pops into the frame, this thing focuses on that face lightning fast.
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[Y]ou get all the bells and whistles in here to really make this a super capable camera, and while the autofocus system is the same as from the a6300, it's still a very fast, effective focusing system, definitely still one of the leaders of the pack [...]
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The A6500 is a great little camera.
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I think for my needs I'd prefer Sony Alpha a6500 over Panasonic GH5 every single time.
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Whether you buy a new camera or a used one, the a6500 still has a place in the photography world.
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What this complex menu does provide is a degree of functionality and flexibility that, as a total package, is not available elsewhere.
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The A6500 is a fantastic camera. Sony have managed to cram in a boatload of features and technologies into it while still keeping to a reasonably small form factor.
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The Sony Alpha 6500 is a great mirrorless camera. As someone pretty reluctant to give up my full-frame DSLR, I am pleasantly surprised and very happy with the image quality of this camera.
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Since you are traveling, you will want a tool that allows you to capture the best quality image possible.
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I've had a chance to look over the photos and let me just tell you, the image quality out of this thing is fantastic.
