Sony's a6400 is a compact 24MP mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with an APS-C sensor that will serve plenty of photographers from family documentarians to pro shooters looking for a lightweight second body. The big news is that it has a new processor based on that used in Sony's sports-shooting flagship a9 which enables 'Real-Time Tracking' autofocus, which is one of the most effective autofocus implementations we've yet seen. It's also among the easiest to use, once you've got it set up.

Key specifications:

24MP APS-C sensor

425-pt phase-detection AF system with Real-Time Tracking

Tilting screen, 180° up, 90° down

2.36M-dot electronic viewfinder

New Bionz X processor

ISO range from 100-32000

11fps burst shooting (8fps with silent shutter)

Interval shooting option added

4K/30p video capture

Mic input, no headphone output

410 shots per battery charge (per CIPA)

Wi-Fi with NFC and Bluetooth

The Sony a6400 officially replaces the older a6300: it uses the same sensor but comes with some subtle enhancements aside from the impressive autofocus capabilities. It arrives in an increasingly crowded field, though, with cameras like the X-T30 from Fujifilm and the EOS M50 from Canon being similarly priced and with similar-sized sensors. Do the enhancements make the a6400 the standout in this crowd? Find out its strengths - and weaknesses - in the pages to follow.

The a6400 is well-suited for both photo and video creators, ranging from professionals to vloggers. Revolving around a 24.2MP Exmor CMOS sensor and BIONZ X image processor, clean image quality is provided with a wide expandable sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 102400, along with accelerated readout speeds for internal 4K24 and Full HD 1080p120 video recording with full pixel readout. The processor further benefits videographers with the inclusion of an S&Q (Slow & Quick) Motion setting that permits capturing Full HD video at a variety of frame rates ranging from 1-120 fps, plus HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), which supports HDR workflows, and both S-Log2 and S-Log3 for color grading flexibility. Stills shooters also benefit from the processing speed, which enables continuous shooting at 11 fps for up to 116 JPEGs, 46 raw images, or 44 raw and JPEG frames in a burst, as well as 14-bit raw file output. The sensor and processor combination also avail 4D FOCUS, with a wide-coverage 425-point phase-detection system that covers around 84% of the image area, and a 425-point contrast-detection system, both of which provide quick and precise focusing performance. This focusing system also enables Real-time Eye AF, which delivers improved accuracy, speed, and tracking the performance of Eye AF, so the eyes of your subject are automatically detected. Furthermore, Real-time Tracking uses AI-based object recognition and processes color, subject distance (depth), and pattern (brightness) as spatial information to ensure that all subjects can be captured with accuracy. Increasingly versatile and fully featured in both photo and video realms, the a6400 is a fast and precise imaging tool for multimedia capture.

Inside the box: Body, Lens, Charger, Battery, Camera Strap and, Manuals