Sony fans, get your wallets ready, the new A6300 and G Master lenses are available for pre-order
posted Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 1:35 PM EDT
Following up on the immensely popular Sony A6000, the new A6300 is now available for preorder from both Adorama and B&H, along with two of new G Master lenses, the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM and FE 85mm f/1.4 GM.
Retailing for just under $1000 in a body-only configuration and for around $1150 with a Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Zoom lens, the A6300 packs a ton of features into an 18.3 oz. (520 g) weather-sealed magnesium alloy camera body. Utilizing a 24-megapixel CMOS image sensor and BIONZ X image processor, the A6300 may look similar to the A6000 on paper, but the A6300 utilizes a new sensor which features 2.4 times as many on-chip phase-detect autofocus pixels as the A6000. Continuous shooting performance looks similar too, but the A6300 offers an additional 8 frames-per-second shooting mode which provides a DSLR-like blackout in the viewfinder, making it easier to track high-speed subjects. Speaking of the viewfinder, that has seen an increase in dot count from 1,440,000 to 2,359,296 dots.
Autofocus is a big area of improvement for the new A6300. Offering a whopping 425 (!) phase-detect autofocus points, autofocus points cover nearly the entire frame. Besides offering the most PDAF points of any camera on the market, the A6300 also has 169 contrast-detect autofocus points. Compared to the 179 PDAF and 25 CDAF points of its predecessor, the A6300 looks poised to offer outstanding autofocus performance.
Video features see an improvement as well, with Sony claiming that the A6300 can autofocus twice as far as the A6000 when recording video. The A6300 is also Sony's first APS-C camera to be able to capture Super 35mm-format 4K video. Further, it is also Sony's first APS-C camera capable of recording Full HD video at 120fps. Also new are a 3.5mm external mic jack and Gamma Display Assist function.
To read more about the A6300 and learn what else is new (trust me, there's a lot), head on over to Mike Tomkins' hands-on preview.
Announced simultaneously with the A6300 (relive the excitement of the announcement with our live blog and video here) and also now available for preorder are two of Sony's new G Master lenses. G Master lenses showcase Sony's new focus on incredibly high-level design and quality. Utilizing Extreme Aspherical (XA) elements, these lenses offer high resolution, focused on delivering excellent performance across Sony's wide array of cameras, including their high resolution A7R II. These lenses have also been specially-engineered to deliver excellent bokeh and image quality for both stills and video (video fans will be glad to know that the G Master lenses utilize silent focus drives and iris activation).
The Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens retails just under $2200 and provides professional-quality performance across a versatile and popular focal length range. Utilizing one XA element and Nano AR coating, the 24-70mm f2.8 GM aims to provide users excellent optical performance. Further, the lens itself is dust and moisture-resistant, further proving its professional pedigree.
Also now available for pre-order is the $1800 Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM lens. This fast lens includes one XA element and three ED elements. For all the portrait photographers out there, the 85mm f/1.4 also includes a manual aperture ring.
The new Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens will be available in May, pricing and preorder information is not yet available.
If you are interested in these new products (and why wouldn't you be?), please help support our site by preordering through our affiliate links below: