Product Comparison: Nikon D3400 vs Sony Alpha a6000

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Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

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Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

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General Specifications

Brand

Nikon

Sony

Model

D3400

Alpha a6000

Origin

Thailand

About the Product

Before the D3400, you chose your smartphone camera for convenience. Zooming was clumsy. Shooting in low light was nearly impossible. Capturing fast action was a game of luck. But after the D3400, you'll see that you were compromising image quality. That some of the greatest photos happen when the light is low. That fast action can be frozen in perfect clarity. And that a camera and a smartphone can work together in harmony to make the photos you share absolutely amazing.

Test the limits of your creativity with the premium mirrorless DSLR that’s focused on speed. Every artistic shot you take—from fast-action to candid—benefits from 24.3MP detail and the world’s fastest auto focus6. For capturing crucial moments that go by in a blink, the a6000 can shoot 11 photos in one second. It’s compact and easy to use, too. Two quick-access dials let you change settings on the fly. Very intuitive.

Key Specs

Sensor Resolution

24.2 MP

24.3 MP

Viewfinder

Optical (pentamirror)

Electronic

Sensor Type

CMOS

APS-C, Exmor® CMOS

Lens

AF-P DX NIKKOR 18–55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

16-50mm Power Zoom Lens

Sensor Resolution

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

What customers say about "Key Specs"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

ISO management is great, you can still get semi usable photos all the way out to 25600. 24.3 mp Sensor is crazy sharp.
Any lenses you buy for this will work with any other crop sensor nikon when I upgrade.
The sensor is much improved. Shots taken at ISO 12,000 are very usable. Makes shots in darker scenes possible which is a big improvement over the D-3200.
The 18-55mm lens is what you would expect from a kit lens and has VR (vibration reduction, the Nikon version of image stabilization).
This is the only Nikon SLR without a sensor cleaner inside. This missing feature vibrates the sensor cover to shake off dust so spots do not show up in the photos.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

Viewfinder: You’re not going to mistake it for a traditional mirror box, but it gets the job done and it plenty functional. It’s not grainy or low quality by any means. Being my first OLED viewfinder, I have no comparison points but I’ve come away impressed so far.
Taken for what it is - which is not a full DSLR - this camera is incredibly impressive! Lightweight, compact, and just about on par with any other crop sensor camera I've ever owned, this thing has become my go-to everyday carry camera.
This is a very small camera but it packs a great sensor that is far better than the one my old Canon 50D has in it, it also has amazing autofocus in good lighting.
The 24mps of this sensor really do a great job at resolving detail, and the lens performed incredibly well.
The sensor is a bit noisy, due to the resolution increase from 16mp to 24mp, but that can be remedied with faster lenses and lower ISO, or Adobe Lightroom

Size & Weight

Height

3.9 in.

2.6 in.

Width

4.9 in.

4.7 in.

Depth

3 in.

1.8 in.

Weight

14 oz.

12 oz.

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

What customers say about "Size & Weight"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

Great camera. Pictures look wonderful, easy to use and light weight.
I really like this camera. Great functionality for an enter level DSLR and light weight.
Pretty all black matte finish, light weight, and quiet camera!
Lighter weight than my last Nikon, but still provides excellent pix.
I like the size and weight, not as heavy as my Nikon D200.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

Another thing I really like about this camera is the size and how solid it feels.
I primarily bought the a6000 for it's very small size and great image quality for quick short trips.
Loving the small camera size and all the controls they give you.
Larger than a point and shoot and consideraby more compact than a full size SLR, this camera, in my opinion, clearly outperforms its size and price tag.

Imaging

ISO Settings

100-25600

Burst Mode

Yes

Low Light/High Sensitivity

Yes

Face Detection

Yes

Image File Format(s)

JPEG, RAW

JPEG, RAW, RAW+JPEG, MOV, MP4

Digital Zoom

4 x

Face Detection

What customers say about "Imaging"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

It is WAY better than my phone or point and shoot camera. The d3400 allowed me to be able to be in full control of my exposure settings. I love that.
The image quality with the 18-55mm VR lens is spectacular, and you can go from no experience with photography to taking some pretty epic shots in no time.
This camera is able to take high quality photos with minimal effort. I still only know the basics of this camera and we love what we are able to do so far.
The photos are very sharp and then quality is awesome.
It doesn't have the easy panorama mode that the D3300 has. As a beginner, I do not own lightroom or photoshop and it would be nice to be able to make a panorama without post processing software.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

The sensor is pretty good. I can get great shots at ISO 3200 in most situations... sometimes at 6400. The auto focus is amazing... just works.
I consistently get amazing shots equal to or sometimes better than APS-C based DSLRs.
It has very good image quality and the high ISO noise is very close to what I get from my Canon and it has close to the same resolution in the APS-C sensor.
Photograph quality is excellent in outdoor lighting as well is under low light conditions. The camera gives all the control you want, or need. It does an excellent job of evaluating the scene and automatically selecting the right mix of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
This camera has an ISO range of up to 25,600, but even at just 800, the grain/noise in the low-light photos is incredible, especially around the edges of the image.

Display

Display Type

LCD

Touch Screen

Screen Size

3 in.

Screen Resolution

921000 dots

921600 dots

Viewfinder Coverage

95%

100%

Vari-angle Display

Yes

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

What customers say about "Display"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

I’ve actually been very impressed with the screen on the back of the Nikon D3400. For a beginner level DSLR It’s got very good brightness and detail.
The lack of a touch screen doesn't bug me as much as I thought it might and the features included are all very solid.
No, this camera doesn't have creature comforts like touch screen and a tilting LCD, but its lightweight and Very good for all kinds of shooting.
The screen does not move.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

I love the tilt screen, wifi connectivity to my phone and all the button configurability on this camera.
The tilting display is handy
the customizable screen information is ridiculously good!
The biggest one is that the display screen scratches very easily
The LCD screen is great, but will be difficult to use if you're basing a shot (in manual mode) on what you're viewing. Plus the screen is difficult to view in sunlight

Features

Water Resistant

Shock Resistant

Panorama Mode

Yes

Shooting Modes

Auto, Child, Close-up, Landscape, Night Portrait, Portrait, Sports, Special effects

Programmed Auto, Manual, Aperture Priority, Sweep Panorama, Scene Selection, Movie, Memory Recall, Superior Auto, Shutter Priority, Intelligent Auto

White Balance Modes

Auto, Cloudy, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Fluorescent (7 types), Incandescent, Preset Manual, Shade

Fluorescent (Cool White), Cloudy, Fluorescent (Daylight), Fluorescent (Day White), Color Temperature Filter, Fluorescent (Warm White), Custom, Incandescent, Underwater, Daylight, Flash, Color Temperature, Shade, Auto

Shutter Speeds

30 - 1/4000

Water Resistant
Panorama Mode

What customers say about "Features"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

I love the "bridge" feature which was easy to set up after checking the instructions.
It comes with enough "auto" features to help you gradually get familiar with photography and how the basic camera functions.
I liked the wireless transfer feature, which is actually very nice .
I'll ever need. RAW output means I can use the best capabilities of my editing program.
I love this camera, so many features and Bluetooth straight to my phone say what!!!! I love it 100%.
They removed the external mic jack for snapbridge a completely useless feature. When GoPro did something similar they made an adapter so you could still use an external microphone. Nikon has yet to make such an adapter.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

The Sony app is pretty cool along with the nfc for transferring images to your phone/tablet.
The WiFi connectivity to my iPhone was a god-send! I was able to download pictures as we wanted them, but also loved the ability to remotely "shoot" from my phone
The feature i enjoy the most is the superior auto mode
Memory recall mode is excellent for saving a set of parameters and preferences for different kinds of scenes. Definitely a more pro level feature, but I'm glad it's there.
NFC feature does not appear to work on iOS as of 3/2016; works perfectly on Android platform
Sony PlayMemories mobile app is required for NFC transfers

Connectivity

PictBridge Enabled

Yes

NFC Enabled

Yes

Integrated GPS

Output(s)

HDMI C (Mini), Mini-USB

HDMI D (Micro), USB 2.0, Wired Remote Port

Number Of Memory Card Slots

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

What customers say about "Connectivity"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

However...the bluetooth on it sucks! Will not connect to snapbridge. Tried everything....zip, nada, nothing. Very frustrating. **EDIT** won’t work with my iPad Pro but works great with my Samsung S8. So I am pleased!
You will want extra sd cards and Battery most likely if you do go on a long shoot.
The SnapBridge feature is great and relatively bug-free, with few exceptions.
The camera does not have WiFi and an external mic.
It doesn't have port to connect a cable release. It does have an IR remote shutter release, but I found that it did not work well at all. I found myself wanting a cable release and not being able to have one.
It doesn't have an external mic port. Not a huge deal but the mic in camera is poor. It would be nice to have the option of using a different microphone when recording video.
The Bluetooth connectivity didn't work well and I found that I didn't really use it.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

The WiFi connectivity to my iPhone was a god-send! I was able to download pictures as we wanted them, but also loved the ability to remotely "shoot" from my phone
I like the hotspot and WIFI capabilities of the camera.
The package came with: manuals & warranties, camera, 15-50mm lens, sony alpha neck strap, 1 lithium ion battery, usb and cube for charging, eye cup
USB cable. I think this is pretty trivial but annoys me severely. The USB charging/transfer cable that was included with this camera is ridiculously short

Power

AC Adapter Compatible

Yes

Battery Life

1200 shots

360 shots

Battery Model

EN-EL14a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery

NP-FW50 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery Pack

AC Adapter Compatible
Battery Life

Nikon D3400

Sony Alpha a6000

What customers say about "Power"

Nikon D3400 w/AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Red)

The battery lasts long, convenient wireless transmission.
Controls are easy to learn, battery life is good.
The battery life is even long and the bluetooth transfer makes uploading photos a million times easier.
Battery life is very good - almost a full day of use per battery charge.

Sony Alpha a6000 (ILCE6000L/B) Mirrorless Digital Vlogging Camera

One significant drawback of the incredible set of features is high power draw. This thing goes through batteries quickly. Get the Vivitar or Wasabi kit with external charger and two extra batteries.
The battery life as mentioned by other reviewers is super lame....one time I ran out of a full battery after 30 minutes of video.
BATTERY LIFE. Through my use so far, I’d say it’s around ~300-325 shots. That’s not a lot. When I unboxed the camera I was shocked at how small the battery is.
The only negative point, obviously is the battery life, which even deactivating airplane mode continues to dry very fast.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

1 year(s)

Certifications

Other Information

Manufacturer

Link

Manual

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