Sony A6300 review (rolling) - Striking image but nagging issues

[Flaaandeeers]

F*CK! I really wanted to love this camera. 

I've just cancelled my A6300 pre-order. I can live with the awful RS since I'm mainly a tripod or gimbal man. I was also willing to tolerate the overheating if it was a long recording time issue. But I've read SO many cases of overheating appearing also in other circumstances that I'm finally giving up. I shoot mostly guerrilla narrative stuff, some music videos and run n gun docs, plus some occasional stills. Best image quality in a hybrid package is what I'm always looking for, but with some degree of reliability... 

So my choices for now are NX1, D750 or A7S. Or wait...

[Matias Mayolo]

This is the 2nd time I write in this forum..
First, Andrew.. you are great! I follow EOSHD since the GH2 years.
But I have a critic to say about te review, you haven't mentioned the improvementes on DR in comparison to the A6000.
And in this case the very strong color grading from FilmConvert seem to kill the improved dynamic range that this camera should have with the addition of the picture profiles, I can see a lot of blow out highlights, for example on the studio. It would be nice to see the original footage.

Even with way better lowlight performance, apsc sensor, customizable picture profiles, 120fps, better AF, and things that I liked from the A6000. 
With that rolling shutter, overheating, and shitty 1080p... Those are really deal breakers.. I will stick to my GH4 until a new release

Really wanted this to be my nex camera.

Sony will never give you all the best they have in one camera.. unless you pay a lot for it.

[kaylee]

38 minutes ago, duffman said:

Does anyone else think Sony colours are insanely bad?

lol no ive never heard that before

[Michael Ma]

5 hours ago, Flaaandeeers said:

F*CK! I really wanted to love this camera. 

I've just cancelled my A6300 pre-order. I can live with the awful RS since I'm mainly a tripod or gimbal man. I was also willing to tolerate the overheating if it was a long recording time issue. But I've read SO many cases of overheating appearing also in other circumstances that I'm finally giving up. I shoot mostly guerrilla narrative stuff, some music videos and run n gun docs, plus some occasional stills. Best image quality in a hybrid package is what I'm always looking for, but with some degree of reliability... 

So my choices for now are NX1, D750 or A7S. Or wait...

I was already abandoning the idea of having to ever use MFT/Panasonic again.  I may have even said that Panasonic will be desperately in trouble after the a6300.  Now.....I'm eagerly awaiting to see what the GH5 has to offer.  I'm hoping for a big jump in low light performance.  I want to be able to use LOG indoors and at night.

[Fredrik Lyhne]

10 hours ago, Matias Mayolo said:

This is the 2nd time I write in this forum..
First, Andrew.. you are great! I follow EOSHD since the GH2 years.
But I have a critic to say about te review, you haven't mentioned the improvementes on DR in comparison to the A6000.
And in this case the very strong color grading from FilmConvert seem to kill the improved dynamic range that this camera should have with the addition of the picture profiles, I can see a lot of blow out highlights, for example on the studio. It would be nice to see the original footage.

Even with way better lowlight performance, apsc sensor, customizable picture profiles, 120fps, better AF, and things that I liked from the A6000. 
With that rolling shutter, overheating, and shitty 1080p... Those are really deal breakers.. I will stick to my GH4 until a new release

Really wanted this to be my nex camera.

Sony will never give you all the best they have in one camera.. unless you pay a lot for it.

 you haven't mentioned the improvementes on DR in comparison to the A6000

It's a rolling review, and this is just part 1.

[drew_bernard]

Just got my a6300 yesterday. From my very limited use so far, the rolling shutter doesn't seem to be as big of a deal as people are reporting. The overheating issue, however, is very real and very disappointing. I just did a test in my air-conditioned office where I let the camera run shooting 4K, and after 24 minutes it shut off due to heat. If it can't even hit the continuous clip limit while shooting indoors in a cool environment, that's not great.

[Paul Shoopman]

The video button placement came from complaints of people accidentally hitting it on the NEX 7.

[Franka Mech T. Lieu]

I figure Sony likely are not targeting this camera as a for real Video cam nor even Hybrid. This is more a still camera that can do the occasional press into service Video shoot need. Sony IMHO are viewing the FS-5 , A7S-II/A7R-II ( with the vertical grip ) as the choice for B-cam. In this regard I accept the way A6300 as it is now ..   

[JazzBox]

@Andrew Reid I normally use a GH4: do you think 6300 could be a better option for music videos, shorts... or BlackMagic MicroCinema is a best bet?

[conurus]

Rolling shutter is caused by taking a long time from the reading of the beginning of a frame to the end of a frame, and this is exactly what it is. Full readout of 24 megapixels is so much data that it takes a huge amount of time to readout. That the A6300 had worse rolling shutter than everything else should be no surprise. It would get better at 30p a bit, I guess to a similar level as A7RII S35.

I think camera manufacturers can introduce low rolling shutter modes by turning off oversampling but use line-skipping instead. (This will of course create other issues, there is no magic bullet in engineering.) For instance A7RII full-frame has lower rolling shutter than S35. Give people a choice and see how it ends up, Sony.

[JurijTurnsek]

Some user is reporting that opening the battery door eliminates overheating: http://***URL removed***/forums/thread/3983540

[Andrew Reid]

If something as trivial as that solves the overheating problem why didn't Sony solve it in the design?

I'm skeptical!

[Andrew Reid]

If it is the battery door, someone try this and see if it solves the problem -

http://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Professional-Vertical-Infrared-Batteries/dp/B014QVDFJ6

[MuffinDEbutton]

Hello everybody,
i need your assistance.. I have the chance to buy a Samsung NX1+batterygrip+Samsung NX 16-50mm f2-2.8+ charger. The premium bundle for 1400€. But all that is without a bill because the camera has been won. So no warranty right? What should i do? 

[Cinegain]

Well, first of all, you don't post it in a topic where there's discussion going on about the A6300.
Would be more approps here or so: 

2ndly, I'd be skeptical of the fact it was won... if you're able to pick it up in person do so if you find it a good deal (not our call to make). If there's enough checkable facts provided and a safe method of payment, you could do it at own risk. Just... I see the cam + lens going for 1750 EUR new though... and probably can be had body only and lens only for round the same price from different places across Europe.

[Milton Lopes]

Would have been nice from sony if they gave us the option to have a crop mode of the 4k area of the sensor. Something similar to the APS-C crop of the A7 line. That would help with RS and solve overheating, as there would be no need for downscalling and the readout area would be smaller. Would be a bless for times when it's needed...

[markr041]

20 minutes ago, Milton Lopes said:

Would have been nice from sony if they gave us the option to have a crop mode of the 4k area of the sensor. Something similar to the APS-C crop of the A7 line. That would help with RS and solve overheating, as there would be no need for downscalling and the readout area would be smaller. Would be a bless for times when it's needed...

UHD 30p is in crop mode, and indeed the RS is lower (as is the resolution) compared with the 24P and 25P modes.

[Andrew Reid]

On 23 March 2016 at 5:20 PM, Paul Shoopman said:

The video button placement came from complaints of people accidentally hitting it on the NEX 7.

I accidentally hit Q instead of W on a keyboard sometimes.

Doesn't mean to say we should redesign keyboards.

Sony can be truly idiotic sometimes.

[Digitgio]

We are talking of a 1K € camera and I think that the spec are very interesting for that price. Global shutter sensors are very expensive and I think at the moment is it impossible to have it on that kind of camera. If you look at the different price between F5 and F55 from Sony you can discover what I mean. Also last broadcast cameras (at 60 times price of A6300) have some issue... Global shutter is also easy to have on full fame sensors that in APSC or smaller. And regarding 1080 from 4K is very difficult to have good down-conversion at a reasonable price. Definitively is not a professional camera and it could only to be so at that price. 

[Geoff CB]

9 minutes ago, Digitgio said:

We are talking of a 1K € camera and I think that the spec are very interesting for that price. Global shutter sensors are very expensive and I think at the moment is it impossible to have it on that kind of camera. If you look at the different price between F5 and F55 from Sony you can discover what I mean. Also last broadcast cameras (at 60 times price of A6300) have some issue... Global shutter is also easy to have on full fame sensors that in APSC or smaller. And regarding 1080 from 4K is very difficult to have good down-conversion at a reasonable price. Definitively is not a professional camera and it could only to be so at that price. 

Are you a shill for them? Because your post is nothing but dismissing and downplaying issues other people have with the camera. The overheating issue is a huge one, I'm not telling the talent "sorry we have to wait a couple minutes while the camera cools down to do the next take/ask the next question/start your song"  or "sorry can you do that take again the camera shut off in the middle of it". The NX1 (which came out two years ago) has the same size sensor, never overheats, has better RS, a better 1080p mode, and a headphone out for monitoring audio, and can be had for about the same price. Operationally it is a far superior camera. 

Don't make excuses, the only reason this is a 4K camera is because someone in marketing demanded it.