Sony A6300 Performance

Very good to excellent performance, though buffer clearing is still slow.

The Sony A6300's startup time (power on to first shot) of 1.4 seconds was about average for a mirrorless camera, and much improved over the A6000's 2.2 seconds in our tests. Switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was slightly improved at 0.7 vs 0.8 second.

The Sony A6300's full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) was quite fast, measuring only 0.16 second in Single-area (Center) AF mode with the FE 35mm f/2.8 lens. That's very similar to the 0.15 result we got with the A6000, though we tested that camera with the kit lens.

Enabling the flash added a noticeable delay for preflash metering, increasing lag to about 0.437 second, compared to 0.424 second for the A6000.

When manually focused, the Sony A6300's shutter lag was 0.107 second, a bit faster than the A6000's 0.143 second. The A6300's prefocused shutter lag was incredibly fast at only 0.020 second, a touch faster than the A6000's 0.022 second result.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were very good, at about 0.5 second for Large/Extra Fine JPEGs and RAW + Large/Fine JPEG frames, about the same as the A6000. (Note that we no longer test single-shot mode with just RAW files, as the results are usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG modes.)

Be aware that the Sony A6300 cannot capture highest quality "Extra Fine" JPEGs together with RAW files, dropping to "Fine" quality JPEGs when shooting RAW+JPEG. (The A6000 didn't have an Extra Fine option.) Also note that unlike the A6000, the Sony A6300's normal single-shot RAW files are now 14 bits (however RawDigger histograms indicate they are effectively 13 bits due to Sony's lossy compression scheme), but like other 14-bit Sony models, the A6300 drops to 12 bits in burst modes (and during Silent Shooting, Bulb mode or when Long Exposure NR is applied).

The Sony A6300's fastest Continuous Hi+ mode was very fast at about 11.1 frames per second no matter the file type, slightly exceeding Sony's spec and very closely matching the A6000's top speed. Note that continuous AF is supported in this mode, but unlike the A6300's other continuous modes, Hi+ mode displays the previously captured image which can make tracking a moving object difficult during a burst. Also note that front-curtain electronic shutter was enabled by default for these tests, and speeds may be slower with it disabled.

Continuous Hi burst mode performance easily met Sony's spec at about 8.3 frames per second regardless of file type. There are also Continuous Mid (6 fps) and Continuous Lo (3 fps) settings, however we did not test those options in the lab. With these modes, tracking a moving subject is easier than Hi+ mode since the real-time preview is updated between captured frames.

Buffer depths were quite good considering the speed and resolution, roughly matching the A6000's. When shooting best quality JPEGs, buffer depth ranged from 44 frames in Hi+ mode to 46 frames in Hi mode, but you might do better with typical scenes as our test target was designed to be difficult to compress. Of course, when shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG files, buffer depths are lower, but still pretty good at between 21 and 24 frames depending on the mode and file type, also very similar to the A6000.

Buffer clearing after max-length bursts took some time even with a fast UHS-I SDHC card, though, ranging between 15 seconds after a max-length burst of RAW files, to a rather lengthy 36 seconds after a max-length burst of Large / Extra Fine JPEGs, and the camera won't let you adjust settings or view just-shot photos while the buffer is clearing. 36 seconds after a max-length burst of best quality JPEGs may seem worse than the A6000's 22 seconds, but keep in mind the A6000 didn't support the much larger Extra Fine quality JPEG files the A6300 does, and we always test with the best quality available. Buffer clearing times after RAW and RAW+JPEG bursts were within one second of the A6000. (This is one area where adding UHS-II card support would have really benefited performance if implemented correctly, assuming the card interface is the bottleneck.)

The built-in flash was able to recycle from a full discharge in 2.5 seconds, which is good.

Bottom line, the Sony A6300's performance is generally excellent and very similar to the A6000's, but with improved startup time. Both offer extremely fast AF speeds, very quick prefocused shutter lag and fast burst modes. Buffer depths are very good, however clearing time after max-length bursts is slow even with a fast UHS-I SDHC card; it's a shame Sony didn't add UHS-II support to the A6300.

Battery Life
Good battery life for a mirrorless camera.

The Sony A6300 uses a custom NP-FW50 rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and ships with a single battery and a Micro USB cable for in-camera charging. No AC/USB adapter is included and a dedicated battery charger is optional. While CIPA-rated battery life is good for a mirrorless camera, it's well below most DSLRs, especially when using the electronic viewfinder. We strongly recommend purchasing an additional battery or two for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))