Sony Electronics has announced the introduction of an exciting new addition to its E-mount mirrorless camera lineup the a 6400 (model ILCE-6400).
The a6400 brings many of Sony’s most advanced technologies from their acclaimed full-frame lineup to a compact, lightweight APS-C camera. The speedy new camera boasts the world’s fastest autofocus (AF) acquisition of 0.02 seconds, while also introducing the new advanced Real-time Eye AF and Real-time Tracking capabilities.
Also included are high-speed shooting at up to 11 fps with AF/AE tracking, a new-generation BIONZ X image processing engine that produces excellent image quality, 4K video recording, a fully 180-degree tiltable LCD touch screen and much more, making it the ultimate tool for all types of creators ranging from professionals to everyday vloggers.
The impressive autofocus system on the new a6400 inherits many technologies from Sony’s newest line-up of full-frame cameras which include the a9, a7R III and a7 III models. The new camera will feature 425 phase-detection AF points and 425 contrast-detection AF points that will be placed densely over the entire image area, covering approximately 84% of the image area.
This high-speed, high-performance tracking AF system will be paired with a new-generation BIONZ X image processing engine that together will allow the camera to acquire focus in as little as 0.02 seconds and maintain subject lock extremely effectively, ensuring even the fastest moving subjects are tracked and captured with ease. Sony said.
The a6400 introduces advanced Real-time Eye AF, is the latest version of Sony’s acclaimed Eye AF technology. This exciting new capability employs artificial intelligence (AI) based object recognition to detect and process eye data in real time, resulting in improved accuracy, speed and tracking performance of Eye AF.
In all autofocus modes, the camera now automatically detects the eyes of the subject and activates Eye AF with a half press of the shutter button, and when in AF-C or AF-A mode, the preferred eye (left or right) of your subject can be selected as the focus point. Choices include Auto / Right Eye / Left Eye, and a Switch Right / Left Eye function is able to be assigned to a custom function as well.
This exciting new technology completely frees the photographer to focus solely on composition with full trust that focus will be tack sharp on the subject’s eye. Eye AF support for animals will be added in summer 2019 via a system software update, ideal for wildlife photographers.
Also debuting on the a6400 will be Sony’s newly developed Real-time Tracking.This mode utilises Sony’s latest algorithm including artificial intelligence (AI) based object recognition and processes color, subject distance (depth), pattern (brightness) as spatial information to ensure that all subjects can be captured with excellent accuracy.
Additionally, when photographing or videoing humans or animals, face and eye position information is recognised by AI and the subject’s eye is monitored in real time with extremely high tracking precision. This can be activated by a simple half press of the shutter button, or can be assigned to a custom function as well.
In terms of overall shooting speeds, the new camera can shoot at up to 11 fps with full AF/AE tracking while utilising the mechanical shutter, and up to 8 fps with full AF/AE tracking while silent shooting. It can shoot at each of these speeds for up to 116 frames JPEG Standard / 46 frames RAW compressed, greatly increasing the chances of capturing the perfect moment.