Sony – Alpha 6100 Mirrorless 4K Video Camera with E PZ 16-50mm Lens – Black

The Sony α6100l is truly impressive and is an overall outstanding camera. The α6100L is not likely going to attract professional photographers, but it is not intended to. The α6100L is for everyone else!
With a stellar array of features and functionality, and excellent specifications, this mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera is terrific. The α6100L model falls towards the entry level of the α6100 series of cameras. However, the α6100L is not an entry level camera by any standard. It is a robust and flexible camera with outstanding hardware and excellent lenses.
In my youth I was a dedicated hobby photographer. I shot in both 2 ¼ square format with twin-lens reflex cameras and 35mm with SLR cameras. I bulk loaded film, and developed and printed both formats in my home darkroom. I also worked in several camera stores in a major, metropolitan city, and I advised customers and sold every type of photography product including the most sophisticated and expensive cameras and darkroom equipment of the time, including professional equipment. I genuinely loved photography and captured thousands of images on film, many of which I printed. Although the years passed, and the darkroom equipment was sold off long ago, an appreciation of good photography gear and of good photography remains.
Digital photography and automation allow the masses to shoot excellent images. In the hands of creative people, these cameras afford great capabilities to capture shots that would likely have been missed with manually operated film cameras, even with motor drives or the first generation of automation (i.e. the Konica Autoreflex-T).
The choices for today’s photographers, amateur or professional are almost limitless. Mirrorless, interchangeable lens digital cameras are an excellent choice for many users, and the Sony Alpha cameras have proven themselves to be excellent, well-respected cameras. The Sony α6100L is just such a camera.
The list of features, functions and specifications is extensive and far beyond inclusion in a brief review. The list of what the camera does not have is far shorter, and what is not present may, or may not matter at all to you, depending on your purpose and intentions for selecting the Alpha 6100L model.
Notable strengths include the Sony lenses. The “normal” lens included with the α6100L is a 16-55mm, f3.5 power zoom lens which is further enhanced by the cameras digital zoom. The two lens α6100Y model also includes a 55-210mm, f4.5 zoom portrait – telephoto lens. The 6100L is compatible with all Sony E-Series lenses.
The α6100 sensor is a 24.2 megapixel, APS-C, Exmor CMOS sensor measuring 23.5 x 15.6 mm (not full frame). The α6100L has powerful and outstanding Auto-Focus and Auto-Exposure functionality and offers the photographer complete exposure control with more than a dozen exposure modes, five focus modes and eight flash control modes. The Auto-Focus system is fantastic, and possibly the best available. With a spec of 425 auto-focus points and real-time eye AF (human and animal) and real-time tracking, it truly excels, and exceeds anything that I have experienced with other cameras. The α6100L has Sony’s latest and most advanced image processor, the Bionz X, which undoubtedly is the underpinning of the excellent image rendition, with accurate color rendition, skin tones, etc.. The α6100L image formats range through 14 bit (compressed) RAW. The α6100L shoots video at resolution of up to 4k, and offers a wide range of frame rates (allowing for a variety of slow or fast motion shooting), image sizes and compression schemes.
The α6100L has an electronic viewfinder as well as a 2.95” TFT, touchscreen LCD screen, which is mounted on a pivot allowing for upward and downward tilt of the high-quality screen. This is particularly valuable when you want to capture low-angle shots without kneeling, and high-angle shots, such as holding the camera over the heads of the crowd standing in front of you, while still having a view of the screen, and access to the camera controls. The screen actually swings a full 180 degrees, allowing you to take selfies with the α6100. A proximity sensor at the viewfinder disables the touchscreen when the viewfinder is in use. The included rubber eye cup is comfortable and still provides for good eye relief for full viewfinder visibility, even when wearing eyeglasses.
The User Interface is complex, owing to the many, many settings and their many variables. Given that many smartphone cameras have UI’s that require a familiarization period, the UI of the α6100L is “on steroids”. The user has an enormous range of options affording superior creative control of the photography, when desired, or allowing the α6100L to soar in full-automation excellence. The complexity of the interface and extensive menus are not the most intuitive, and there is a learning and adaptation curve. Given the numerous icons and graphic display elements, the viewfinder or display screen perimeter can be congested, and due to their small size, may be difficult to easily read.
I readily admit to frequently consulting the α6100L documentation (online – not printed), and there is a great deal of documentation and many useful resources available online from Sony’s multiple α6100 series websites. (The primary document, the online User Guide is a whopping 580 pages, and may be downloaded as a printable PDF file, if you can afford the paper and toner/ink).
The α6100 is compact in size and light in weight, making it easy and convenient to carry or pack. The trade-off with a compact camera body, is that with the many control buttons and knobs, the buttons are small and some controls are in close proximity, resulting in occasional unintentional button depressions while manipulating the camera body.
The α6100L is supplied with one battery pack, which utilizes in-camera charging. An external battery charger, and additional battery packs are sold as accessories, and if you intend to shoot a great many stills, or lots of videos, or if recharge opportunities will be limited by location or time constraints, an additional battery pack, and perhaps the external charger, make good sense. The in-camera recharge time is at least a couple of hours. I intend to purchase at least one additional battery pack and the external charger, very soon.
A memory card is required to store images on-board the camera. SDXC UHS-I, V30, U3, C10 appears to be the SD card spec of preference. It appears that UHS-II cards, which may be used in the α6100L, are not of benefit due to hardware limitations. With the α6100L one-lens package there is no body cap or rear lens cap provided, although a rear lens cap is included with the α6100Y, two-lens package. If the camera is stored or carried with the lens off, a body cap should be installed and the rear of the lens should also be capped, as well as the front. The 6100L does not have a self-cleaning sensor or image stabilization (although some available lenses offer image stabilization). The α6100L is equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n but not ac, and the Wi-Fi is 2.4Ghz only, not dual band inclusive of 5.0Ghz. Bluetooth and NFC connectivity are also on-board. There is a built-in microphone and speaker and a mini-jack mike input, but no headphone output jack (why?).
The Sony Play Memories Camera App (smartphone and desktop) has had many critics among users. Early in 2019 Sony released the replacement / upgrade to Play Memories with Imaging Edge. The apps facilitate image transfers, including automatic transfers, and offer some advance functions including remote camera controls as well as editing RAW and even creation of time-lapse video.
I am genuinely enjoying using the α6100L. The feature set and exposure controls are so extensive and robust, that any creative photography utilization is very well supported. In the alternative, the α6100L can be placed in virtual control of the photography and trusted to produce excellent images of professional quality, with more simplified, point-and-shoot ease of use. Of course, how many point-and-shoot cameras will fire at 11 fps, bracket exposures and shoot with a 1/4000 sec. shutter speed that freezes action? Shooting at 11 fps (aided by a decent image buffer) is simply amazing, and rewards you with the potential to capture the perfect shot; just the frame(s) that you hoped for. Low light shooting is fantastic. The specs show an ISO standard/normal range of 32,000 and an expanded ISO range of an incredible 51,200. The α6100 also has a good built-in flash and hot-shoe. Again, exposure control is just incredible.
The camera hardware seems to be high-quality. The lens mount is metal, and lens locking is solid. The body is not the same magnesium alloy, dust and weather sealed body that is provided on the more expensive α-series models. The α6100 body is plastic; probably polycarbonate. It really would be nice if the α6100 shared the same premium body as the rest of the α-Series cameras. Nevertheless, there is nothing “cheap” or “inferior” about the hardware. It is sleek and elegant, and feels good when handled.
The Sony α6100L is really an excellent camera. It is extremely capable and is producing excellent photographs. I am enjoying the α6100L immensely, and could hardly be more pleased with the camera. The size, weight and outstanding features and technical capabilities of the α6100 really make it an excellent camera for many, many applications, and render it the perfect travel camera, as well. Of course I recommend this impressive camera very highly!

Great quality camera. This has been my go to for the past two years and it hasn’t let me down. The kit lens is a decent option to start with for both photos and video but you might want to upgrade eventually.