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 ShooterSimply 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 OwnersThis 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 ShootersI 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 cameraWhile 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 wordsNow, 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.

I arranged to get these three top cameras at the same time and tested them on the same indoor shot (bookcase of colorful books) with room light at ISO 3200 and 800 and flash at ISO 200. Had to use different lenses of course (18-55mm zoom on Sony, 24-85mm zoom on Nikon, 18-55mm zoom on Fuji), and all shots were JPEGs, so this comparison does not make it possible to distinguish the relative contributions of sensors, lenses, jpeg processors. All the noise reduction settings were on defaults. Just for fun I threw in my Canon S95 pocket camera and my iPhone5. All pix were blown up to the screen equivalent of about 24" wide.A word about JPEGs vs. RAW: It is important to understand that modern lenses including these three are no longer just hunks of glass; they are designed to be used with the in-camera JPEG processing firmware, which undoes the inherent distortions on the wide angle side. Vignetting is also corrected, and chromatic aberration. It is no longer necessary to design lenses depending so much on the difficult correction of glass elements with additional glass elements, aspherics, etc. Lenses are now part software, which results in better optics at lower cost. In principle a poor single element lens could give near perfect results, limited only by the processing power of the little computer in your camera. You can see this for yourself; watch the LCD image and then fire the shot - you'll see the replay image come up with the whole field visibly altered by software distortion correction. For this reason it would require a lot of skill and Photoshop time to do the same thing manually starting from the RAW images. JPEG's are the way these lenses are designed to be used, so that's how they should be evaluated, as part of the whole camera.Results at ISO 3200:- Nikon D600 (full frame) gave the nicest image, as we should certainly expect for the sensor size, camera size and weight, and cost. Image was creamy, clean and contrasty.- Fuji XE1 was second. Image was just a bit noisier and rougher than Nikon full frame.- Sony NEX6 was third. Although it had more contrast than the Fuji, this varied by colors; in some areas, such as red type on a blue book cover, the image actually washed out completely. Noisier than Fuji and evident compression artifacts.- Canon S95 quality is not in the same ballpark at high ISO and magnification; very rough.- iPhone5; like a juvenile delinquent in a class full of straight A students!Results at ISO 800:ISO 800 is my basic setting in daily photography. All three images were beautiful.- XE1 was the cleanest, but the Sony NEX had more punch and contrast.- Nikon D600 was a bit rougher and noisier than the other two, but of course had the highest pixel density when blown way up.Results at ISO 200:- Nikon D600, Fuji XE1 and Sony NEX 6 are quite comparable, with the choice being almost a matter of taste. Here the D600 is a bit noisier than XE1 in some areas and many people would say the Fuji XE1 half frame actually looks better overall than the Nikon full frame, which is remarkable. Sony NEX is right up there with them; the three images have different qualities, but there is no obvious winner. Canon S95, although still raggedy compared to this company, is not bad at all at low magnification and low ISO.What is amazing about comparing XE1 and D600 is not that the Nikon DSLR is superior but that it is only SLIGHTLY superior and then only under extremely low light and high magnification. Fuji really seems to have some special sauce on their half-frame sensor which allows it to capture photos almost as good as a full-frame DSLR. At ISO800, they are all very good but XE1 is best. If your goal is best image with least bulk to lug around, XE1 is the winner. The XE1 is an improvement over XPro-1, simpler, smaller, but still a bit quirky and the interface odd. Sony NEX was just a bit muddy at high ISO, but superb at ISO800 and below. Also, there are so many other good things about Sony NEX (focus peaking, in-camera HDR, articulated LCD, wireless, ability to use legacy lenses easily in MF mode, picture effects) that I use mine all the time.I still have a soft spot for my Nikon, and greatly prefer the optical through-the-lens viewfinder to EVF or LCD, but objectively speaking, purely in terms of image quality per unit weight/size, there is no longer any real justification for DSLR. Fuji is a unique instrument for the photographic artist. Sony NEX is also so good as to make the need for full frame DSLR questionable, and is the most flexible, ergonomic and cleverly fabricated of the three. You may have various reasons to choose one of these three, but image quality is no longer the deciding factor. Finally, all three of these are cameras for photographic fanatics; for ordinary folks looking to capture uncropped snapshots in good light at a viewed size about 4x5, the tiny Canon S95 and iPhone5 results don't look that much worse to the naked eye.