Sony a6000 APS camera opinions

BH Photo has a house brand called Watson, which is generally well regarded as far as aftermarket batteries go…

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/836864-REG/watson_b_4228_np_fw50_lithium_ion_battery_pack.html

This seems pretty interesting to read: a6000 camera batteries | Sony Alpha APS-C and NEX Cameras
I would personally buy only official batteries to be on the safe side. But that’s just me. I’m not the most concerned with budget.

When I got my A6000 I just started charging it immediately, I didn’t want any chance of the battery dying during the first boot up or something that could possibly screw up the camera.

Thanks Pete! I agree, the D40 isn’t a focusing king to say the least. It’s one of the reasons I was looking for a new camera. The Sony got high marks when it comes to focusing, etc. I’m sure I’m going to love it.

I powered mine up and I got a message on the LCD screen “Battery Depleted”. It’s charging with a solid amber LED. I’m pretty sure I didn’t damage anything. (At least I hope I didn’t) The OEM battery is $50, a bit expensive. But if I have to, I’ll buy one

Yeah, those Sony camera batteries have chips in them to monitor the pack and report info to the camera. As a result, they self-discharge pretty fast. I have to charge mine every couple of months, whether or not I use my camera at all. That bugs me. Other than that, I like the Sony alpha cameras.

When I was buying a new camera, I really wanted one that took 4xAA Eneloops. Unfortunately, there was really only one dSLR that used AA cells. Almost everyone uses proprietary battery packs nowadays. They’re lighter, and they get to charge ridiculous prices for replacement batteries.

Yeah it’s probably fine, mine took a few hours to charge up.
When it’s done charging the amber LED turns off.

Coolness! Can’t wait to start taking pictures with it :slight_smile:

G'Day atbglenn,

Congratulations on your new camera. Superb choice and great value.

Btw, I have Sony, Nikon and Canon Mirrorless and DSLR cameras. They all have pros & cons.

IMHO Canon & Nikon have the best ergonomics and UIs.

I strongly recommend you get genuine Sony batteries, because you get more pics per charge, they last longer, and they are more reliable.

As far as I am concerned the battery is the most important piece of equipment apart from the camera. And the Sony a6000's battery life is quite short as it is, particularly compared to DSLRs

Best Regards,

George

My personal recommendation would be to stick to OEM batteries as well. I paid $60 for a spare OEM one for my Nikon.

However, I’ve read a lot of positive feedback about durability and life of Watson’s batteries, which seems to put them a cut above all the other no-name alternatives out there. So, if you are really in a pinch, that might be a viable alternative.

I second that. Been using one for about 6 months and it’s fine. Arrived about 50% charged. Both sony batteries arrived depleted. Wasabi brand of batteries is also good.

Congrats on your purchase.

C :+1: ngrats on the new SONY !

Thanks everyone! Just ordered the Nitecore USN1 2-Slot Sony Camera Battery Charger for Sony NP-FW50 Batteries from this ebay seller.

Click here

Oh nice, I had no idea Nitecore made a charger for these batteries :slight_smile:

I hope it’s good. I’ll let you know.

Just be aware that the a6000 has a notorious problem of overheating when recording video.

No, the 6000 is fine, it’s the 6300 which overheats easily due to 4k recording.

I am using Wasabi batteries for my sony a6000, i feel that the run time is longer(didnt measure)
3 fully charged batteries is enough for one day shotting

a6000 also has the overheat problem especially in warm weather (see this Sony forum )

The entire alpha line is known to be prone to overheating (see this article ). a6000 is not as bad as the newer 4k models, but it will still get hot if you try and shoot a long video. No worries for stills though.

Must be only some cases then, because there are also people saying that they’ve recorded with it for 30+ minutes in direct sunlight.

The a6300 is the one that overheats in like 10-15 minutes in any conditions.
If you’re not in direct hot sunlight, you won’t have any problems with the a6000.

Sunlight can heat objects up to like 60C+ regardless of it recording or not.
And, if you have a black camera, it can heat up to even more.
So yeah, “it heats up in sunlight” is a pretty trivial argument.
If you plan to do continuous recording for that long you probably would have bought a different camera though in the first place.

If I read that dpreview forum correctly, the person that got 30+ minutes actually took his camera apart and made some internal modifications to get better thermal conductivity. Hmmm… sound familiar? :slight_smile: