Sony NEX-6 Flash

Coverage and Range
Limited flash range, with narrow, uneven coverage at wide angle. Our standard indoor portrait shot required above average exposure compensation.

Coverage. Flash coverage is quite narrow and uneven at wide angle (16mm), leaving very dark corners in our flash coverage test image, though keep in mind the 16-50mm is wider than most kit lenses. Coverage is more uniform at full telephoto (50mm), but some fall-off in the corners is still visible.

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene is a touch dim even with +1.0 EV flash exposure compensation at ISO 200. The average amount of flash exposure compensation required for this scene is +0.7 EV, so the NEX-6's flash struggled a bit here. The camera's Auto white balance also rendered the scene too warm. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced very bright results with no flash exposure compensation, though with a stronger orange cast from the ambient room lighting.

ISO 200 Range. With the 16-50mm kit lens, flash exposures at wide angle are bright to about 10 feet, falling off gradually from there. At full telephoto, flash exposures start out a bit dim at 6 feet and decrease in brightness fairly rapidly with distance.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Sony NEX-6's built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 6m or 19.8 feet at ISO 100. That works out to about 5.6 feet at f/3.5 and 3.5 feet at f/5.6 and ISO 100, the maximum apertures of the kit zoom lens. In the test shots above, the NEX-6 performs as Sony says it will, producing bright flash exposures at the rated distances with ISO set to 100.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.