Is the Sony A6000 is Achieving Cult Status?
I’ve noticed something interesting in my web stats lately. I’m getting an awful lot of traffic from articles related to the Sony A6000. Considering that I probably talk about Fuji cameras and processing far more, it surprised me that this is the number one thing that people come to my site for from search engines. But that’s not all, on my YouTube channel, videos about the A6000 are also getting a lot of traffic. In fact my first Street Photo Diary video about the A6000 is my highest watched video of all time.
Sony’s APSC cameras often get slated as being the semi-forgotten half siblings of the bigger full frame series. Despite there being a number of impressive cameras in this lineup. Sony is constantly criticised for not giving enough love to the lineup, especially when it comes to lenses. A few years ago, Sony sort of rebooted this line, taking it from the NEX brand and making it part of the Alpha lineup, and the first camera to do that was the A6000. I bought that camera at the time and I still use it and love it.
Despite three newer A6K cameras released since, the A6000 still sells (as new), and by all accounts sells pretty well. I was doing some research for another article in January and when looking up the Amazon sales rankings over the holiday period I found that the A6000, despite being several years old, outsold all new Fuji and Sony mirrorless cameras. As the price is now pretty cheap for what its capable of, even brand new, it seems to be a really poplar choice for those looking for a good entry level mirrorless camera. It seems especially popular with those who want something small and light for street or travel photography.
So, based on all this and the numerous comments and feedback I get, I really think that the diminutive little Sony is achieving something of a cult classic status, in the same was as the original Canon 5D did. I find this really interesting because it wasn’t a massive hit when it was first released. It was seen as a successor to the NEX-7 but it wasn’t anything groundbreaking. Now, however, because of its relatively good specs and really low price, it seems to have taken on a second life.
Of course all of my evidence for this is somewhat anecdotal, but it seems to track with what I’m seeing. And I can understand why. It’s still a great little camera. Coupled with a couple of cheap Sigma primes, you can get great results from it. It’s still my preferred camera for street photography, despite having the technically more capable Fuji X-Pro2. Anyway, I’m not really going anywhere with this, it’s just something I thought was interesting.
You can see my original review of the A6000 here, and I have some samples taken with this camera over the years here. If you’re looking to buy one of these cameras, yo can get good deals on them through Amazon UK, Amazon USA or B&H Photo.
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