After a wait of almost 4 years since the Sony A6600 was launched Sony has finally announced its successor the Sony Alpha A6700 along with a new FE 70-200 F4 G II Macro lens and the ECM-M1 Microphone.
The Sony a6700 will be available from the end of July 2023 with a list price of $1399, body only, $1499 with the 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom or $1799 with the 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS.
The Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS II will be available later this month at a price of $1,699.99.
Sony A6700
The A6700 features the latest 26MP APS-C back-illuminated Exmor image sensor along with the latest Bionz XR processor and AI features found in the full-frame a7R V and ZV-E1.
What’s New?
Let’s take a quick look at what’s new compared to its predecessor the a6600.
Front Dial
This is the first camera in the a6XXX series to get a front control dial like you’ll on the full-frame bodies.
26MP BSI CMOS Sensor
The a6700 gets a new BSI CMOS APS-C sensor, possibly the same one found in Sony’s FX30 cinema camera. The AF system covers 93% of the image area, up from 84% on the a6600.
Updated Processor & Menu System
The a6700 also gets the latest (‘Bionz XR’) processor along with a dedicated processor for handling the complex ‘AI’ algorithms.
The camera also gets the revised and improved menu system and the option to record lossless compressed Raw files.
Video
The a6700 can shoot up to 4K/60p from its full sensor width or up to 120p with a 1.58x crop in 10-bit. There’s a choice of XAVC HS (H.265), XAVC-I (All-I H.264) or basic XAVC-S (Long GOP H.264).
Body & Controls
The a6700 looks similar to previous a6xxx cameras but there are some changes. There’s the front control dial and a dedicated dial for switching between Stills, Video and Slow & Quick video modes.
The switch that used to change the function of the back has gone, and there’s now an AF-On, button. The C3 button at the top left is also gone. The movie record button can now be found on the top of the body.
You’ll find both mic and headphone ports, a micro HDMI socket and a USB Type C port. This port is compatible both with the USB power delivery and USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) data transfer standards.
The single memory card slot now supports UHS-II memory cards but not the faster CFexpress Type-A cards like you’ll find in the latest full-frame bodies.
The a6700 also utilizes a full-articulated rear LCD panel which is also a first for the a6xxx series.
LUTs
The a6700 lets you upload Look Up Tables (LUTs) that map log capture values back to output-ready color and lightness values.
Key Specs
- 26MP BSI CMOS APS-C sensor
- Bionz X processor and dedicated ‘AI Processing Engine’
- AF tracking with subject recognition, 759 AF points with 93% coverage
- 11 fps shooting with mech or electronic shutter
- Lossless Raw compression option
- HEIF and HLG Still Image modes
- 4K up to 60p from 6K capture
- 4K/120 from 1.58x crop
- 10-bit video with 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 color
- S-Cinetone, S-Log3 and HLG profiles
- Uploadable LUTs
- USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) output
- 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi
- UVC/UAC streaming up to 4K/30
Sony A6700 Images
Early Reviews
Gerald Undone
Chris & Jordan (Petapixel)
Mark Galer
Kai W
Julia Trotti
Arthur R
Jason Vong
Sony FE 70-200 F4 G II Macro Lens
Sony has also announced a new telephoto zoom lens, the Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS II, making it the 50th full frame E-mount lens from Sony.
The new lens updates the 70-200mm F4 G OSS released in 2014 and according to Sony they have improved the AF by 20% and its 15% lighter and 15% shorter. The 1.4x and 2x teleconverters are also supported.
Focus is power by two independently moving focus groups driven by four XD ‘High thrust’ linear motors (two per group) which allow the lens to focus down to 26 cm (10.2″).
The lens focuses 20% faster than its predecessor according to Sony. Focus breathing is minimal and this can also reduced further by the breathing compensation function on compatible cameras and lenses.
The lens is composed of 19 elements in 13 groups, including one advanced aspherical element, three extra-low dispersion (to reduce chromatic aberration), one ED aspherical element and one conventional aspherical lens.
Early Reviews
Jason Vong
Chris & Jordan (Petapixel)
Sony ECM-M1 Microphone
According to Sony this is the world’s first shotgun microphone with eight audio recording modes. It has 4 microphone capsules, beam forming technology and advanced digital processing.
This intro vide from Sony provides more details.
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