Sony Alpha a6500 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-135mm Lens

The mirrorless Sony Alpha 6500 delivers excellent image quality and superb autofocus, but lacks some of the pro features of competing cameras in this price range.

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  Compact body. 11.1fps burst shooting. Large buffer. Tilting touch-screen LCD. Crisp 120fps EVF. In-body image stabilization. Excellent image quality. Integrated flash. Wi-Fi with NFC. 4K video and 120fps 1080p.

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  Dense menu system. Some add-on apps must be purchased. No external charger included. Battery life lags behind competing models. Only one memory card slot. No grip available. Requires FE lens to complete weather sealing.

The Sony a6500 is an outstanding all-around camera. Image quality and 4K video quality are both exceptional and the camera's autofocus system also impresses. Well-suited for sports and action photography, the a6500 offers a deep buffer and burst speeds of both 8 and 11 fps with continuous autofocus.

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  Anyone wanting a tool that will let them take excellent images or 4K footage in a wide variety of circumstances.

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  Photographers wanting to effortlessly access all the camera's capabilities.

The Alpha A6500 is Sony's best all-round mirrorless camera with an APS-C sensor to date. The original A6000 was the first mirrorless to confidently take-on sports and fast action.

What a camera! The Sony A6500 takes the best of the excellent A6300 which launched just eight months earlier, and adds several very important new features. Sports shooters in particular will love its much more generous buffer depth, and its new hybrid image stabilization system and touch-screen...

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  Comfortable, premium body with good controls; Touch-screen for subject selection; Hybrid image stabilization system; Excellent image quality; Better high ISO JPEGs than the A6300; Extremely fast 11.1 fps burst capture; Very deep buffers for raw and JPEG alike; 4K video capture with no pixel binning,...

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  Pricey for an APS-C camera; JPEG colors aren't the most accurate; Very slow buffer clearing; Laggy touch-pad AF function; Poorly-placed movie button; No headphone jack; Mediocre battery life, JPEG colors could be better, Very slow buffer clearing, with no UHS-II card support (but the huge buffer...

There is a lot to like in the Sony a6500. It's a powerful, compact camera that takes excellent images and video at impressive speeds, with snappy autofocus. The image quality is excellent, although there is some noise in low light.

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  Excellent image and video quality, Tough construction, Can shoot 11 fps for more than 30 seconds

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  Awkward on-screen menus, Some noise at higher ISO, Expensive

The A6500 is a fun and fast camera that produces very good results. It doesn't replace my Nikons , Canons or Hasselblads for serious work, but for carrying as little as possible, the A6500 is a hoot. The A6500 is a premium camera; you pay extra for all the features and tiny size.

The Sony A6500 is a mid-range, prosumer mirrorless camera. It follows an established line of products that go back to the NEX-6 model when Sony separated the Alpha branding for A-mount SLT cameras from its E-mount mirrorless cameras.

It took Sony two years to update its mid-range mirrorless camera a6000 with the a6300. But it took only around nine months for the a6500 to arrive. At first glance, the a6500 does not seem to differ much from its predecessor.

This camera's built-in Wi-Fi® capability can only be used with a compatible iPhone®, iPad®, and/or iPod touch® or smart devices running on the Android™ operating system. The Wireless Mobile Utility application must be installed on the device before it can be used with this camera.

In-body image stabilization finally comes to the Sony APS-C flagship. Add bucketloads of buffer and a touchscreen, and the A6500 arguably surpasses Sony’s A7 Mark II.

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  Lightning-quick AF system, Respectable buffer capacity, Expansive video options

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  Dim rear LCD, Noticeable rolling shutter, Still lacks a headphone port

Pro features packed in a small body. Image quality is great. Autofocus is fast. 4K video is smooth. Face and Eye detection are very nice features for smooth tracking. Touch screen is very helpful for focusing and can't be used for rest of camera operations.

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  Image quality, Fast auto focus, small form factor, 4k video, slow motion, In body image stabilization (IBIS), Face and eye detection.

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  IBIS can be better, Multi function wheel and buttons should be improved, gets hot - specially in 4K recording. Screen brightness is worse in movie recording, you need to buy a external monitor if you mainly use this for video.

The camera is a powerhouse, clear images through iso 6400 and features galore. But the user guide needs work, it offers only basic information without detailing the ins and outs of the features and options.

main issues are the autofocus and the battery life. battery life it's rated at 320 shot, in reality, battery last, not longer than 50 shots autofocus performance are very poor, lenses mounted on this camera are all electronic that means more battery drain and slow autofocusing.

I find this camera difficult to use. I actually traded a Sony Alpha a7-III because of the weight difference and my need for ease of use. However, as I used the video recording features, while pleased with the picture quality, I was greatly dismayed with the location of the recording button..