Earlier today Sony introduced 3 important products: The Sony A6700, the first APS-C Alpha series camera in several years, the Sony FE 70-200 F/4 G OSS II a new version of the f/4 70-200mm lens with unique close-up capabilities, and finally a small and compact ECM-M1 on camera digital mic with 8 modes.
Sony A6700
Sony has been accused of neglecting its APS-C line of cameras for several years now and although we have seen both vlogging and Cine-based APS-C models from Sony today is the first time that we are seeing a new Alpha APS-C model in the past several years.
While the A6700 is in many respects exactly what you might expect from the successor to the A6600 combining much of the technology that we have seen in recent Sony alpha, FX, and ZV lines it does bring some changes to the original design especially when it comes to the external design.
The new Sony A6700 camera
Let’s start with the main changes. The new camera uses a 26MP sensor (probably the same as that of the FX30), it has the Bionz XR processor but also the new dedicated ‘AI Processing Engine’ which we have seen for the first time in the A7R V which allows for some very useful AF features including the very interesting Dynamic Active Steady Shot mode which keeps the composition with the subject in the same position in video (first seen on the ZV-E1).
The Camera gains all the advanced AF features we have seen in other recent Sony cameras including Animal/Bird, Insect, Car/Train, Airplane on top of human tracking in both stills and video.
The camera has the same 11fps continuous shooting as its predecessor (in both mechanical and electronic shutter modes) it has 5 stops of image stabilization (again similar on paper to the old system) but it now has a 3″ fully articulated touch screen with 1 million dots (the older A6600 has a 0.92 million dot tilt screen). The EVF is also pretty similar with 2.36m dots.
The A6700 gains the new menu system with some of the recent improvements we have seen in other Sony models and when it comes to storage it still has only a single slot but this one is placed on the left side and supports SD UHS-II (instead of USH-I in the older model).
Video is an area where this camera has advanced considerably. The A6700 can shoot 4K 60p without any additional crop and up to 4K 120p with an additional 1.58x crop. It can shoot video in 10-bit 4:2:2 up to 600Mbps (which will require SD V90 cards). It also supports S-Log3, HLG, and S-Cinetone.
In terms of ergonomics, the A6700 has a deeper grip and a new front dial which is very welcome although it is still missing that very useful joystick that can be found on most A7 models.
The battery is the same NP-FZ100 as that found on the A6600 but the new processor/sensor requires more power and so the official shots per charge is only 550/570 (EVF/LCD) compared to 710/820 of the A6600.
When it comes to connections, the camera is limited by size and hence still uses the tiny (and annoying) micro HDMI connection as well as headphone and mic connections but the USB-C 3.2 (10Gbps).
Sony FE 70-200 F/4 G OSS II Specs
Back in 2014, Sony introduced the FE 70-200 F/4 G OSS lens. Since then a lot has changed in the camera industry and today Sony introduced the second version of this lens – the FE 70-200 F/4 G OSS II.
This is not a minor upgrade but a completely different lens which is about 15% smaller and slightly lighter with completely new optics and AF system and a big headline feature – 1:2 magnification across the entire focal range which can be converted into 1:1 (full macro) by using a 2x teleconverter which this lens support.
The new lens supports the Sony A1’s 30fps shooting mode, it has fluorine front element coating and unlike the original model it does extend when zoomed but has a dust and moisture-resistant body.
The new Sony-70-200mm-f4-II on the A1
The lens has many buttons and switches including a focus limiter with 3 modes – full, Infinity to 0.3m or Macro. it also has a 3 mode image stabilization toggle including Normal shooting (Mode 1), Panning (Mode 2), and the new Mode 3 which focuses on framing stability when shooting dynamic, unpredictable subjects.
The lens has a collar and foot but sadly like other Sony lenses, this has no Arca connector.
Here are the main specs of the new lens:
- Lens: 70-200mm f/4 lens with FF coverage
- AF mechanism: Two XD (extreme dynamic) Linear Motors.
- Optical design: 19 elements in 13 groups including 3 ED, 1 ED aspherical, 1 aspherical, 1 AA element.
- Aperture blades: 9.
- Minimum focus distance: 26 cm (1:2 macro magnification).
- Filter thread: 72mm.
- Weight: 794g/1.75lbs.
Sony ECM-M1 mic
This is Sony’s latest compact digital mic. The new mic has no less than 8 modes including super-directional, uni-directional, omnidirectional, super-directional (rear), super-directional (front and rear), Super-directional (front/rear separate), and stereo (R/L).
The small mic doesn’t require 3.5mm cables but instead (just like other Sony digital mics) can connect to the supported camera Multi Interface Shoe.
The mic also has noise suppression functionality as well as low cut and gain (both manual and automatic with an option to boost with 10db or 20db.
The new compact Sony ECM-M1 mic
Pricing and availability
Here are the prices for the new products:
Hands-on and review from across the web
There are already several previews, reviews, and hands-on videos published online about all of these products and we bring you a few of them below.
Gerald Undone testing the Sony A6700
Manny Ortiz with the new Sony a6700
Arthur R with the A6700
Gordon Laing with the A6700 vs. A6600
Christopher Frost testing the new Sony FE 70-200 F/4 G OSS II
If you don’t want to miss any new photography products be sure to check out our product photography section on our photo gear channel.
Iddo Genuth 
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