Sony A6700 Review: The APS-C Camera That Borrows Sony's Best Autofocus
Sony’s A6000 series ran for almost a decade on the same small rangefinder-style body. Each update added a bit. None of them fixed the basics. The Sony A6700, released in mid-2023, finally did. Bigger grip, bigger battery, a fully flipping screen and the AI-based autofocus from Sony’s full-frame bodies. It’s the APS-C camera Sony fans waited years for.
It costs around $1,400 for the body, which puts it against the Fujifilm X-S20 and Canon’s R7. It’s smaller than both, and for hybrid shooters it’s the more complete package.
The sensor is a 26MP back-side illuminated APS-C chip, read by the Bionz XR processor and a separate AI processing unit, the same pairing found in the A7R V and A7C II.
Video review: Gerald Undone
The autofocus is the headline
That AI unit recognizes the shape of a body, so the camera keeps tracking a person even when they turn away and the eye disappears. It also detects animals, birds, insects, cars, trains and planes. In daily use you pick a subject type, tap the screen and forget about focus. Of all the APS-C cameras made in the last five years, few track people as well.
Video punches above the price
4K at 30p is oversampled from 6K and looks crisp. 4K at 60p is there too, and 4K at 120p with a crop of about 1.58x. You get 10-bit 4:2:2, S-Log3, S-Cinetone, and the ability to load your own LUTs into the camera. A tiny fan-less body shouldn’t be able to do this much.
The screen flips out to the side, so you can see yourself when filming. In-body stabilization is rated at 5 stops, with an extra electronic “Active” mode for walking shots that crops in a little.
It also takes the big NP-FZ100 battery from Sony’s full-frame cameras. That alone fixes the A6000 series’ worst habit. You now get roughly 550 shots or a long session of video per charge.
The compromises
The viewfinder has 2.36 million dots. That’s the same class as the X-S20 and well behind the X-T5 or any recent full-frame body. Fine for framing. Not a pleasure.
There’s one SD card slot. Mechanical burst shooting is 11 fps, which is ok for kids and pets and short of what sports shooters want.
And Sony’s APS-C lens range is uneven. There are a few great native choices like the E 15mm f/1.4 G and the E 11mm f/1.8, but much of the best APS-C glass for this body comes from Sigma, Tamron and Viltrox. The upside is that those third-party lenses are excellent and affordable. The Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 is almost the unofficial kit lens.
Who should buy it
Hybrid creators who want a small camera that shoots solid stills and serious video. Travel vloggers. Parents. Anyone who wants Sony autofocus and the E-mount lens catalog in a bag-friendly size.
If you mostly shoot stills and love dials, the Fujifilm X-T5 is the better photographer’s camera. If you want cinema-style video above all, the Sony FX30 uses a similar sensor in a video-focused body. For everyone in between, the A6700 is the APS-C camera to beat.