Sony NEX-6L/B Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens and 3-Inch LED (Black) (OLD MODEL)

A point I want to get across first is if your reading this, you have to decide what kind of photographer you are right off the start. Are you someone just starting? Are you a casual shooter who just wants good pictures and either is considering this first an entry level dslr or has one already but is considering a size reduction? Are you a legacy lens shooter who knows about and is looking towards using vintage glass via adapters? Are you a professional/semi professional protog looking for a second/third back up or travel focus camera? The reason why I wanted to start with that is because this camera, can be your boon or our bane largely on what your exceptions coming in. --The Causal Shooter Simply put for image quality, kit lens quality, auto focus speed,this camera will be on par with t3i,t4i,t5i or the 3000 series from Nikon, epl/ep series from olympus easily plus or minus some pixel peeping tid bits. This particular APS-C sensor is fantastic at low light while providing plenty of resolution for a crisp decently large size print, cropping, and obviously way more than needed for any sort of online social media sharing. Just let it be known that while smaller, it gives up almost nothing in terms of image quality, don't let size fool you! However, on the subject of size, it comes down to this. It's a smaller, much more compact camera than any DSLR out on the market, and thus way easier to carry around. However a reduction in size does obviously mean a reduction of ease of use. The Nex 6 has more than plenty of buttons and wheels for easy access for most controls, however a dslr simply always has more features and more dials, buttons etc to make it more quicker for setting changes on the go. Thus if your very casual shooter looking for very simple controls towards a nice photo, than the NEX series may be just for you. It gives you all the same ability and quality of a dslr just without the fluff. I also forgot to throw in that with the NEX on board flash, you can tilt it upwards to create a bounce flash that is far better than limiting you to a direct flash alone like other cameras. --Current Entry Level DSLR Owners This moves on to those who may already have a entry level DSLR and is considering a switch. This is a tougher situation but what you need to ask yourself is if your someone hoping to grow with photography, or simply looking to scale down. If your one of those people who bought a dslr hoping for those nice images you see other people have but eventually realized the bulk and the amount of buttons and knobs that you never bothered to learn just gets in the way then I'll say a sideways move to a NEX series camera is best for you. Your not giving up any image quality while reducing your size and again ridding of the fluff. Now if your someone who does want to grow with photography, then you need to seriously consider Canon, M 4/3, Pentax and Nikon systems before you make this jump. I'm not going to lie, the brands simply has much much more to offer in the long run than the E mount at this point. Entry level lenses, mid level IS lenses, L lenses, TTL Flash, etc etc at a much better price point than any E Mount, or full frame E Mount gear currently. For example, Sony wants roughly $300 for a 50mm F1.8 while Canon offers a 50 1.8 for $100? 50mm F1.4 for $330? You get the idea. --Legacy Shooters I personally use my Nex 6 so that I can use the plentiful amount of old legacy lenses out there. If you don't know already, due to the short distance of the mount, your able to use adapters to mount any, and I do mean almost any, film camera lenses , and if you wish modern af lenses (although with no af controls outside of the contax G and A Mount I believe) to your Nex. I currently shoot Konica AR, Canon FD, and a few C Mount, Eos Mount, and Olympus mount lenses and all I have to say, it's the most joyful thing in the world. Obviously they are plenty of times where I wish I had autofocus due to the speed of the subject in which I'm taking my photo, however by shooting manual, I've grown to feel like I'm being more hands on with my photography than simply pressing a shutter button and calling it a day. No dig towards modern AF since well, obviously it's almost better in every way hence why we have it, but having old film lenses, and plenty of them is a joy to use. They render extremely nicely on the NEX 6 sensor (I previously owned a Nex 5n) with no resolution problems as seen on the Nex 7. The extra dial at the top makes it much easier to control shutter speed all the awhile the thicker body and grip of the 6 makes it much easier to balance the weight of the camera since most film lenses are quite heavy. My only grip is that the third wheel that is offered on the NEX 7 would've been nice for say exposure comp or quicker iso change but the downside is that NEX 7 Sensor pushes just a few too many MP and you lose the low light performance of the 6 , which for me personally, I find myself shooting far more often with not enough light than plenty. --Protogs looking for a 2/3 back up or travel camera While I want to recommend this camera to you, I might have to say you should at the very least consider the competition. I think it's somewhat agreed that the NEX sensor is amazing, maybe second only to the AA less filter sensor of the fuji line, however the controls, the software, even the lens options, if your use to shooting cameras such as the 5d, 6d 70d etc your going to run into a situation where it baffles you on how limiting the NEX can be at times. Auto ISO almost always checks you in at 3200, histogram menu appears only to take away other information from the screen instead of allowing you to see it all at once or picking and choosing. Like I mentioned above, the price of lenses is insane, there's a massive premium compared to other brand lenses. Limited battery life, sd slot is housed in the same door as the battery slot, no weather sealing, I don't think I need to go on since if your one of these types you most likely already know the spec sheet by heart. The one thing I will say in the NEX favor however, is look at it's price point. For the images you get say NEX 6 + 35 1.8 (~$1046 going by amazon prices as of 2/1/2014 vs $1300 for a 23mm F2 Fuji X100s vs $1300 for body only EM1) the closest thing may be the $800 for XE-1 with Kit vs $748 for NEX with Kit in which case it's nearly a coin toss. In the pixel peeping wars, I believe the XE-1 wins out by a air with a bit better sharpness and obviously better rendering due to the lack of AA. However, it must be said that at what point are you going to need that extra pixel of sharpness? If your making life size prints, then by all means your going to need superior glass and rendering but if you already have a better camera for that then wouldn't anything not your primary camera not as good? This I believe will be hardly left to what sort of subjects your planning to shoot, and how each camera handles to you overall. -- Last words Now, I did notice I made no mention of the direct competition in that the M43 sensors cameras. Make no mistake, Olympus and some Panasonic cameras are amazing, especially the OMD Em1, the EP5 etc. I would love to have their 5 axis stabilization but for me personally, with their 2x crop factor, their higher price tag, and their (although such a touch) lower performance in low light high iso, I found the NEX series a better value for price point. M43 does have a much better system in that they have an amazing selection of extremely quality glass. Some bodies and lenses are weather sealed and honestly with enough light in the scene, they perform just as well as any non full frame sensors but overall it's just not for me.

This is a rather specialized review that I'm writing for people who are interested in using great old Nikon lenses (ca 1960s to 1980s) with their NEX-6. They make an excellent combination and the old Nikon lenses can be obtained for relatively cheap. What I have to say my be true for other lenses such as Canon but I have no experience with them. NEX-6 REVIEW It's an excellent camera. I was attracted to it because of its low light capability and it's viewfinder. Both are excellent. I can usually shoot at ISO 3200 if I need to and get good results. The viewfinder is big and bright and I would not consider a high-end camera without a viable viewfinder, especially when using old lenses. I think the software is horrible. It is poorly organized and some functions are named so that you would never know what the function is unless you dig into the documentation. I would not recommend this camera for a novice. Overall I rate it at four stars. WHY OLD LENSES? Actually, I found out that I could use an old Nikon 50mm f/2 lens I had that's close to 50 years old. So I gave it a shot and it worked great. Everything is done manually and I find that improves my photography because I actually get to think about what I'm doing. With the NEX-6's 1.5 crop factor the 50mm is equivalent to 75mm for a 35mm format. This lens has become my favorite lens, again. Once I realized the 50mm worked so well I was hooked. I soon discovered that I could acquire some of the best lenses Nikon ever made at low cost. I probably went a little overboard but now I have a great collection of six Nikon prime lenses ranging from a 20mm f/2.8 to a 200mm f/f4. I even purchased an 80-200mm zoom that's built like, and weighs like a tank. The total cost of five lenses I purchased was $500. I believe the equivalent optical power in new lenses would cost thousands. WHAT YOU GIVE UP You give up autofocus, anti-shake, and many other automatic capabilities. But you don;t give up everything and not the ones that I think could the most for the quality of your photos. With a Nikon lens mounted you basically have a limited functioning camera and a lens. The rest is up to you, the photographer. You also sacrifice having the lightest weight and compact camera and lens. The Nikon lenses are known for their rugged metal construction and so they are heavier than today's lenses. If you only want to aim your camera and press the shutter I would not recommend this path. You can stop reading now. PICKING LENSES The lenses I go for are the Nikon's made anywhere from the 60's through the 80's. They are either "AI" or non-AI (older are non-AI). You can read about AI on Ken Rockwell's site mentioned next. Basically, to AI or not makes no difference on the NEX-6 in and of itself. However, AI lens may have higher resale value but they generally cost more. There is an excellent web site by Ken Rockwell. Do a Google search and you will find it. Ken has reviewed just about every Nikon lens ever made, in fact it may be all for all I know. Although his reviews are based on all-Nikon shooting (camera + lens), I found the reviews to be very helpful, allowing me to select the lenses I wanted to hunt for (which turns out to be easy, more below. He has separate pages for the best and worst lenses and he explains his reasoning. Call me crazy, but I focused on the best lenses. Do not purchase "G" lenses. I have not used any but I think they have a different mount than all the others and I have been told they won't work. THE SECRET SAUCE In order to use the lenses on an NEX-6 you need a lens adapter. I chose the Nikon Lens to Sony NEX E-Mount Camera Mount Adapter which is about $15 on Amazon. It gets the job done. But because I was committed to using the old lenses I decided to purchase an adapter for each lens which obviously adds some cost. But I wanted the convenience of having the adapter+lens combination as a single unit to make it quick and easy to mount the lens. Attach a lens. Then turn on Peaking which allows you to make precise manual focusing adjustments by highlighting the edges that are in focus in your choice of three colors (white, red, or yellow). I wouldn't even consider old lenses on a modern camera unless there was something comparable to the Peaking technology. Go to Setup Go to Peaking Level and select a level. I like medium. Go to Peaking Color and select a color. I like red. In order to use your Nikon lens you have to go into the menu system again and change a menu setting, which has a name that sounds like nothing of what it does. Go to Setup Go to "Release w/o Lens' Set it to "Enable" The camera will now work with non-Sony lenses like Nikons. When you switch the lens back to a Sony E-mount lens change the Release w/o Lens setting to "Disable". I also set "Menu Start" in Setup to Previous so that I can quickly get back to Release w/o Lens when that was the last setting I changed and I want to use my E-Mount lens. USING THE LENSES Like I said, everything is manual. I'm still experimenting with exposure combinations but there is a way to use the lens that works well for me under many lighting conditions. I set the ISO to auto. Auto ISO on the NEX-6 will not go over 3200 so that's fine for me. I set to S for shutter speed control and usually set the speed for the conditions while being careful to follow a rule of thumb of having a shutter speed set to a value that is at 1.5X the focal length of the lens to minimize motion blur in hand held shots. For example, with the 50mm lens, 1.5x is 75. So I want the shutter speed faster, usually 1/100 of a second or faster. With those settings I am free to pay attention to f-stop knowing that the ISO will auto adjust as needed. This is evident in the viewfinder because you can see the final exposure and see if it looks right to you. Mostly it does unless it is very bright or very dark. Then more shutter speed and aperture adjustment is needed. With the shutter speed set I then make the manual aperture setting the focus of my attention. For great Bokeh with the 50mm lens I'll shoot wide open at f/2. ACQUIRING LENSES Once I have decided which lens I want I'll shop on eBay. I haven't found a lens that isn't available there. By doing a search you will quickly get a sense for what a reasonable price range is. If you want to bid you may wind up getting a phenomenal lens at a great price. Me, I'm the impatient type so I purchased all my lenses as "but it now". But there are some very specific things I look for in a lens and seller. 1. The rating of the seller. I stick with 99+% buyer feedback. And there are many that fit that. 2. Returns. I want a seller that has at least a 14 day return policy. If no returns I move on. 3. Lens description--I read descriptions carefully to see if that's what I want. The good sellers will have good descriptions and lots of photos. 4. Cost--I look for a price that's acceptable to me for the lens. The prices can vary widely to unreasonably low for a lens that has problems, to unreasonably high by sellers who I suppose want to prey on the naive buyer . But like I said, with a little bit of comparison shopping it becomes pretty easy to tell what fair price is. For example, the 50mm f/2 Nikkor AI or pre-AI, a terrific lens, can currently be had for about $50 (But It Now), or less in an auction. 5. Shipping--I look for free shipping or up to about $10. There are overseas sellers and their shipping will stand out as being much higher, $20, $30, or more. I stick with US sellers. I did buy one lens off of Craig's list and that worked out great. The seller was nearby, a delightful person, and a professional photographer who gave me some photography tips. THAT lens is a Nikkor 20mm (30 mm on the NEX-6) f/2.8. It is my most expensive lens at $200 but $100 or more dollars cheaper then if I purchased it on eBay. When I get the lens I test it. I make sure everything moves okay and that's generally smooth as silk like Nikon lenses usually are. Then I do some shooting test. They will include a shot or two at a clear part of the sky or cloudy sky, stopped down as far as the lens will go, f/22 for my lenses. This type of shot will bring out lens imperfections such as scratches or other problems. The lenses I got all checked out great except for one lens that had very noticeable spots in the viewfinder with the lens stopped down. But I couldn't see anything on the lens so I blew on the sensor. That fixed the spots. It was dust on the sensor. The honest vendors will state the condition of the lens. I purchased a couple of lenses where the seller said there was a mild scratch in the coating. When I got the lens I thought the problems were overstated because I could not see anything. But I appreciated the honesty. The lens tests look fine to me so I kept the lenses. My lenses test always includes transferring the images to the computer and carefully examining the images for problems. They have all passed with flying colors. I did return one lens because it had a built in lens shade and the paint was peeling somewhat. The peeling was visible in the sellers pictures but in person I know it would continue to bother me aesthetically although the lens tested fine. The seller took it back, no questions asked and made the process very easy. CONCLUSION I have tried to bring out the main things that are important to me and what I've learned about using a state-of-the-art NEX-6 with old, high quality Nikon lenses. I don't claim to be a photo expert but I have been a life-long amateur photographer. I'm also sure there are people who would say why this route is a really dumb idea. Ken Rockwell for one is a big fan of auto everything. I might be too if I had really deep pockets. This way I can have the enjoyment of bringing great variety and optical quality to my photography at prices I can afford. And like I said, I think going manual with a quality prime lens makes me a better photographer.

I was looking for a light, compact, pocketable camera which was NOT a point-and-shoot and the NEX-6 fits that bill perfectly. I'm looking for great photos, but not outstanding ones. The 16-50mm SEL lens retracts into a small size making this camera easy to put into any bag. Sony packed a very good compact bag in the box along with a 4GB SD Card, which is good enough for starters. The SEL 16-50mm lens is not the best out there. However, Sony's philosophy of making a cheaper lens and fixing defects in software is something that you could live with (unless you're picky about quality). The power zoom works well for videos, reducing a lot of zoom noise and giving fine grained control. Because the lens retracts, it adds a little time at shutdown/sleep/power on. Nothing that an enthusiast cannot do without. In my opinion, Sony's E-Mount is missing more of such cheaper price + quality lenses. I'm sure there is a huge marked for photographers who would pay 24mm lens that does not break the bank but with inferior quality to the excellent Zeiss 24mm f/2.8, which is the only option but costs ~$1000. Cheaper lenses makes sense for those who the lower end E-Mount cameras (A-3000, A-5000, A6000) and are willing to put up with sub perfect lenses. Either way, that has little bearing on the quality or performance of the NEX-6. Compared to other full-sized DSLRs that cost the same or more, the NEX has some stand out features that are sorely missing on the bigger bodies - focus peaking, better FPS, better AF, cleaner ISO performance, WiFi, applications. On the flip side, I would have liked a dual wheel navigation like on the NEX-7 and mid-tier Nikons (D7100).

I have to spend much more time with this camera (learn the functions etc) before being able to really give a review so for now I'll say that I like it. One thing that is VERY annoying first-off is that the lens cap needs a lot of attention as it is extremely easy to lose - it is a separate item and you cannot attach a string or anything to it. I already had to search for it and know that, one day, it will be gone forever and I will have to look for a replacement. Perhaps another user has a thought on this subject?

Good, excellent time delivery

A real powerful device, delivering outstanding outputs am using this for an year now, and with it, I was able to take many nice shots. Being a wifi enabled device, transferring images is very easy, especially during outdoor trips Really nice

For enthusiasts. Not pros