Sony A6000. Cheap but very cheerful.

So, alone in the house, surfing ebay for some decent vintage lenses and what do I come across? The new Sony A6000 for a decent price. Well this was after reading several glowing reviews of this camera and honestly, I couldn't really resist it. Like most major purchases online, you almost regret it immediately afterwards, you start debating if that was a good idea and how the hell your going to eat for the next few months. Even more so when it comes to cameras as around 430 million new models have come out since the start of the year. They all do basically the same thing and we all know how bogged down people get in the specs, I do it, you do it, we are all sick and probably need some sort of AA meeting where we all sit down and discuss our feelings. As far as I know there isn't a support group for people who have an addiction to cameras and gear, so deal with it and move on. 

I'm lucky in a way because I do not make millions. I cannot afford that new Arri Amira, Sony F55, F5, and as nice as the Blackmagic Ursa looks, the screen! why! Point is, while I would love to earn millions making films, shooting music videos and docs, I don't and if I did, all i'd do is obsess over which cameras I used on what shoot. I think it would get waring. One day I will have to deal with it i'm sure but for now, I like the majority of people out there am not rich, I am also not Philip Bloom, Bruce Logan, Roger Deakins or Vincent Laforet and I cannot always get the gear I drool over. So! whats a guy to do. Ok, i've learnt many many valuable lessons in my time in this industry but when it comes to cameras.

- Stop obsessing!

- Buy what you can afford

- Buy the best camera for YOU and what YOU shoot

I shoot music and I shoot people. I don't generally sit on a hill shooting a 4 hour timelapse of a sunset. Of course I have but its not generally what I got into this to do. I also do photography. Not much professionally but I love doing it and that it above all the main reason I do everything I do. So it makes sense to shoot with something you enjoy. I realise i'm 3 paragraphs in and I haven't said anything about the A6000 so....I love it.

There's a ton of info online already, (not much footage though). Here's a quick run down:

- Low light is excellent for photo and video.

- Autofocus is epic.

- The video quality is just superb. Its so so nice, lovely. Like really really lovely.

- Its small and easy to use. 

Audio wise there is a problem No adjustable settings at all however for me, I record everything externally anyway and as long as I have half decent reference audio I haven't had a problem. Ok it would be nice to have adjustable meters, shooting a full band for example when its just to loud off the camera it does make it more difficult to sync but i've coped. Low light though makes up for everything. Its just great. I've had it on 1600 and while noisy, its fine filmic like grain and with a bit of noise reduction in Neat Video or Magic Bullet its absolutely fine. With a Metabones Speed Booster on it'l be even better, thats next on my list along with a decent zoom. For now I just have a £20 adaptor that fits all my nice canon mount glass on there.  My already adapted Contax Zeiss 50mm and I also have a Helios 44M (55mm) and Helios 135mm. 

Couple of shots below from the upcoming film i've done with the A6000. All graded.

So far I love the camera, its small and very powerful and while not the strongest codec in the world it does grade pretty well if your aware of its limitations.

My A6000 will be up in the next few weeks, i'm slowly gathering footage whenever I can. Lots of tricky situations, very very bright sunlight (in Manchester as well!) some much darker locations, gigs etc... as well so hopefully it'l be a pretty good representation of how the camera can perform.