Sony Alpha NEX-6

The Sony Alpha NEX-6 ($999.99 direct with 16-50mm lens) is more expensive than some of the other cameras in the NEX lineup, but for the price you get an excellent package?a compact body with a big 16-megapixel image sensor, built-in EVF, Wi-Fi, and a power zoom kit lens that retracts when not in use. It costs about $400 more than our Editor's Choice winner for entry-level compact interchangeable lens cameras, the Sony Alpha NEX-F3 , which is still the best mirrorless camera for casual photographers, but the extra features that are packed into the NEX-6 make it a more attractive option for advanced photographers.

Design and Features
The NEX-6 takes its design cues from the top-end body in its family, the NEX-7 . The cameras share the same 2.75 by 4.75 by 1.7 inch (HWD) footprint, although the 12.2-ounce NEX-6 has about 2 ounces on its sibling. There are a few notable differences?the NEX-6 has a dedicated mode dial with an integrated control dial on the top plate, where the NEX-7 has two top-mounted control dials; the Movie Record button has been moved so it's less likely to be triggered accidentally, and can now be disabled entirely via the camera's menu; and the NEX-7's proprietary hot shoe has been replaced by an ISO standard accessory shoe.

The standard kit lens for the NEX-6 is a 16-50mm power zoom design?this allows it to collapse when not in use. It actually makes the camera pocketable, assuming you've got some leeway in your pants. The only other APS-C compact interchangeable lens camera with a collapsible kit lens is the Samsung NX1000 ?its 20-50mm lens adds about 1.6 inches to the depth of the camera, while the Sony power zoom only juts out 1.2 inches when collapsed.

You can frame images via the large 3-inch rear display?it tilts up and down and is extremely sharp thanks to a 921k-dot resolution?or via the built-in OLED EVF. The 2.3-megapixel viewfinder is bright and crisp, and features very high contrast. It's easy to see if your image is in focus, and if you opt to focus manually you can enable peaking, which highlights in-focus parts of your frame in red, yellow, or white. This makes it possible to focus accurately, even when working with the shallow depth of field that a wide-aperture lens creates. The EVF is identical to the one built into the NEX-7 and is available as an add-on for the NEX-5R and NEX-F3.

The physical Mode Dial is a first for the NEX series?all other models require you to change the shooting mode via the menu system. It's a welcome change, and it works well in conjunction with the two control dials?one that is built into its base, the other located on the rear of the camera. There are dedicated physical controls to adjust ISO, Exposure Compensation, and Drive Mode, as well as to activate Exposure Lock and video capture. There's an Fn button next to the shutter release that gives you quick access to adjust other functions?the focus mode, autofocus area, white balance, and metering mode. There's also a programmable soft key on the rear?by default it activates the Wi-Fi sharing, but you can change its functionality to suit your needs, with its current function displayed right next to it on the LCD.

The pop-up flash is on a hinged neck, which makes it possible to bend it back to point upwards and add indirect light to your scene by bouncing it off of a ceiling. This simple technique can help to make your flash photography look more natural, as it eliminates the harsh light that a direct flash creates.

The menu system can take some getting used to?there's a lot there, and not every feature is available in every mode. Hitting Menu on the back of the camera brings up six options: Camera, Image Size, Brightness/Color, Playback, Application, and Setup. If you can remember that Focus options are in Camera, Exposure controls in Brightness/Color, and any sort of customization options are in Setup, you should be good to go.

Auto Portrait Framing and Clear Image Zoom options are both located in the Camera menu, but are only active if you're shooting in JPG mode. The former works automatically, saving a cropped version of a portrait alongside your original shot?both in full 16-megapixel resolution. Clear Image Zoom effectively doubles the focal length of your lens via an in-camera crop, but provides better quality than a traditional digital zoom. It can be assigned to the programmable soft key, although this function will only be useful if you have multiple NEX lenses?it's not supported when you're using the 16-50mm power zoom lens.

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