Let’s take a look at our contenders today, and why each appealed to me in different ways. I won’t go too deep into each camera’s feature list, as you can find that easily on plenty of other websites like Camera Decision. This will just be my justification and reasoning to my thought process. Today’s post will be a bit photo-light, since I have not personally handled most of the cameras mentioned below.

Eliminated Competition
First off, I eliminated quite a bit of competition and narrowed my field down to these choices based on a few additional factors I didn’t really mention previously. If it lacked a microphone jack or a viewfinder (electronic or optical), it was immediately cut. Fujifilm with their X-mounts I discounted due to the high cost of first-party lenses and general lack of native third-party lenses. I really wanted to consider Canon cameras due to their huge aftermarket support and reasonable cost, but in the end, each one was taken off my shrinking list. If you ask me why now, I probably don’t even remember… probably something arbitrary.

Nikon D5600 DSLR w/ 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 and 70-300mm F4.5-6.3 Lenses $700
The cheapest and the best value camera on my shortlist is the D5600. Priced at around $700 with two Vibration Reduction kit lenses, this is a real bargain. It still has plenty of features that I want, such as the larger APS-C sensor, fully-articulating screen, microphone port, and the fact that it was the same lens platform as my current camera, keeping the mount functionality and compatibility in the family. The only major drawback for me was the average-quality and lower-resolution 1080p video that is known to focus wander, even with relatively still objects. The focus wandering issue is pretty apparent with any number of videos on the internet and is quite distracting. If it learned to lock on faces at the very least, I would’ve not been so harsh. It could be alleviated with turning off the autofocus, but that would make for only very static or limited movement shots. (Whether I am planning on taking a lot of video is another matter entirely.) With its great value and general features, this was the closest camera I was nearly going to purchase before my switch over to the Sony.

Panasonic G85 (G8, G80) Mirrorless w/ 12-60mm F3.5-5.6 Lens $800
There are so many reviews on the internet touting the G85’s great features, it was surprising to me, having not known of Panasonic stake in the mirrorless game until recently. Apparently, it’s quite the video star with its in-body stabilization, fully-articulating screen, and great kit lens, resulting in amazing 4K video. The microphone jack, weather-sealed body, and overall ease-of-use really made it even more desirable to me. However, after much consideration, the two huge drawbacks were the (comparatively) slow autofocus which is critical to many of the quick shots I use the camera for and the MFT sensor. Combined, those two limitations make taking pictures of my kids running around, doing sports, or other impromptu shots in varying lighting conditions really unsuitable in comparison to the next contender on my list.

Sony A6300 Mirrorless w/ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Lens $850
This brings me to the third option on my list, the Sony A6300. As the most expensive, I expected the camera to be as feature-rich as the above G85, however, surprisingly it lacked many features the others have: a fully-articulating touchscreen, a quality kit lens, or IBIS. Add to the fact that buying the camera in Japan meant the menu system would be in Japanese only with no way from the factory to change the language setting. (My next post will cover more about this in-depth.) To make matters worse, the camera has the most expensive factory lenses on this list, so now you might wonder why I decided on this one after all that.

According to many reviews and Sony themselves (of course, take that with a grain of salt), the A6300 has the fastest autofocus in its price range, with an incredible 425 focus points and face-detection tracking. This makes shooting moving objects and people incredibly easy, quick, and idiot-proof, essential for a lot of the types of photography I do. It also utilizes an APS-C sensor with a lot of light-gathering ability, allowing a fairly notable benefit in low-light conditions in comparison to an MFT sensor, using lower ISO, producing less noise, and brighter colors. These were the largest positives to me, but there are others as well, including it’s amazing downscaled 6K (!!!) to 4K, producing amazingly sharp and vibrant video. The Sony E NEX mount has huge aftermarket support and allow more adaptability than Nikon or Canon.

Even though I had essentially made my decision, poking around the internet, I was looking for a deal. A few hundred dollars off the retail price could sway me to one of the others. Black Friday came and there were no huge discounts on the Nikon or Panasonic in America or Japan. While it wasn’t directly a “Black Friday” special, there was quite a sizeable discount on the already fairly cheaper price on the Sony A6300 in Japan. Sony also offered a mail-in rebate on the A5100, A6000, and A6300, further sweetening the deal. I was initially going to stick with the dissatisfying 16-50 kit lens due to the lower price point, but with the amazing sale price also on the positively-reviewed high-zoom 18-135 kit, I felt that it would be remiss for me to not pick up the wide range zoom lens for my needs.

On November 23rd near the time of this writing, Amazon US sold a new, directly-shipped A6300 with 18-135 for $1148, but on Amazon Japan the price was 96600￥ with a 10000￥ mail-in rebate… making it only $766 USD after… a $350 difference. Regardless of a Japanese-only menu system, that was a discounted price I could not pass up so in only a few minutes of debating, I clicked “Buy.”

As for the camera itself, I wonder if I made the right purchase, after all...