Sony A6500 announced with 5-axis IBIS and touchscreen

Sony has officially unveiled the A6500 E-mount mirrorless camera with an APS-C-sized sensor, which will deliver great performance across a variety of scenarios.

The rumor mill has been talking about a Sony event for the past couple of weeks, but it came sooner than expected. The company was supposed to introduce the successor to the lower-end A5100 E-mount camera. However, the PlayStation maker had other things in mind.

Here is the Sony A6500, the successor to the A6300 and the new flagship when it comes to E-mount mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors. It announces itself as the camera with the world’s fastest autofocus speed and most autofocus points out of all shooters with in-body 5-axis image stabilization technology.

Sony A6500 becomes official with faster autofocusing and improved performance

The press release is pointing out the focus system available in the new A6500. It is said to employ a 4D Focus technology, which we know from the A6300. It is a Hybrid AF system with 425 Phase-Detection points, High-Density Tracking and 0.05-second autofocusing capabilities.

Sony A6500 features a Fast Hybrid AF system with 425 phase detection points.

A huge plus compared to the previous generation is the front-end LSI, which delivers quicker image processing. As a result, the device shoots up to 11fps in continuous mode for up to 307 frames.

The electronic viewfinder is still there, while a touchscreen has been added on the back. It can be used for focusing and it supports touch-to-pull focus when recording videos. Additionally, even when you look through the viewfinder, the touchscreen can be used as a touch-pad.

Users will be able to control the speed of the autofocus drive when capturing movies, as smoother transitions are pleasant to look at. As stated above, there is a 5-axis image stabilization technology built directly into the camera and it delivers up to five stops of stabilization when shooting both stills and videos.

Photographers and videographers will be able to get their hands on it as of this November

Sony A6500 comes packed with a 24.2-megapixel APS-C-sized EXMOR CMOS image sensor and is powered by a BIONZ X engine. The two work together to deliver an ISO sensitivity range starting at 100 and ending at 512,000.

Sony A6500 comes packed with a touchscreen and an electronic viewfinder on the back.

The mirrorless camera captures 4K videos without the need of an external recorder. It can do so at a bitrate of up to 100 Mbps using the XAVC S codec. When capturing full HD movies, the bitrate is capped at 50 Mbps.

In 4K mode, the new A6500 records footage with full pixel readout and without pixel binning. This way, the videos will have top-notch details, clarity, and sharpness. When the user chooses another codec rather than XAVC S, the device also supports full HD video recording at 120fps. In this mode, the bitrate can reach 100 Mbps.

Sony A6500 employs a 24.2MP sensor with a top ISO of 512,000.

Other tools for videographers are S-Log gamma recording, S-Gamut color space, as well as Slow and Quick, which enables slow-motion and quick-motion footage with the frame rate ranging from 1fps to 120fps.

The Sony A6500 release date is set for November 2016, while its price tag stands at $1,400 for the body-only version.