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Add to SafariWhen comparing Sony a6300 vs Nikon D500, the Slant community recommends Nikon D500 for most people. In the question“What are the best cameras?” Nikon D500 is ranked 1st while Sony a6300 is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Nikon D500 is:
The camera has a tilting screen allowing easy above the head or near the ground shots, a touchscreen for easily adjusting AF point and a joystick for adjusting it even faster.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Built-in flash
Pro Great subject tracking
a6300 is among the most capable cameras in its class in identifying and tracking subjects.
Pro Lots of video-friendly features
The camera supports a flat color profiles (S-Log2 & S-Log3) for improved dynamic range that can then be used when color grading in post, it can record time code in order to help you sync audio and video when you record them separately, it allows for an external mic allowing you to record higher quality audio in-camera, and includes focus peaking and zebras that help make sure the subject is in focus and no areas are over or under exposed.
Pro Good image quality
The camera captures detailed 24MP images with neutral colors. Detailed, interactive studio tests can be seen here.
Pro Great continuous autofocus
The autofocus is fast. It uses a hybrid phase-detection and contrast detection autofocusing system.
Pro Excellent video quality
The camera can capture video at up to 4K30 and 1080p120 resolutions and is capable of saving footage in XAVC S at up to 100 Mbps. Captured footage provides impressive levels of detail. It's important to note that 4K30 capture is from a smaller crop of the sensor while 4K24/25 is from the full width of the sensor.
Pro Offers excellent control over video
The camera allows manually setting and adjusting during shooting shutter speed, aperture and ISO, supports Auto ISO in movie mode, allows turning subject tracking on and off during filming, supports live autofocus with control over focus drive speed and subject tracking persistence.
Pro Good Auto ISO
Auto ISO changes ISO based on user-defined rules. a6300 allows setting ISO ceiling and floor, minimum shutter speed and additionally has 5 automatic rules (from Slower to Faster) for controlling shutter speed based on focal length.
Pro Excellent AF point coverage
The camera has 425 phase detection AF points spread across the frame.
Pro Weather sealed
Pro Good dynamic range
Pro The viewfinder can be run at 120fps
Unlike most other viewfinders in this camera class, a6300's can be set to run at 120fps instead of 60fps.
Pro A flat color profile for video is available
a6300 supports a flat color profiles (S-Log2 & S-Log3) for improved dynamic range that can then be used when color grading in post. It can also preview how a graded footage would look.
Pro Excellent low-light performance for an APS-C camera
High-ISO retains a good amount of detail and has a well balanced, context-sensitive noise reduction. Saturation is accurate up to ISO 12800.
Pro Reasonable battery life
The cameras is CIPA rated for 400 shots per charge using the rear screen, and 350 using the EVF.
Pro Easy to use
The camera has a tilting screen allowing easy above the head or near the ground shots, a touchscreen for easily adjusting AF point and a joystick for adjusting it even faster.
Pro Good buffer
Buffer can hold 200 compressed or 71 uncompressed RAW files. To achieve the 200-shot compressed RAW speed, you'll need a XQD card.
Pro Excellent autofocus
D500 has 153 AF points of which you can select 55. 99 AF points are cross-type (of which 35 are selectable). 15 AF points work with f/8 lenses (of which 9 are selectable). The autofocus works down to LV -4.
Autofocus is fast at 10 frames per second with great accuracy - in autofocus tests performed by Tony Northrup the D500 trailed D5 just slightly by getting 16% fewer of shots in focus and 1DX Mark II by about 18%.
Pro Great AF point coverage
Pro Can automatically microadjust lens focal point for autofocusing
Pro Illuminated buttons
Makes shooting in the dark easier.
Pro Can record to an external recorder over HDMI
Cons
Con No touchscreen or joystick for setting the AF point
The quickest way to set the AF point is by pressing the middle button of the four-way controller to enter AF point selection, then using the controller to set the point which is considerably slower than using a touchscreen or a joystick.
Con Lens availability might be an issue
There are some APS-C specific prime lenses from Sony, but not many, and zoom lenses are few and far between.
Con The amount of settings available can be overwhelming
The menu is grouped in 5 categories and each category has up to 9 pages of settings. Remembering the location of all those settings can be a time-consuming task.
Con Accessing second dial requires reposition the hand from shooting grip
The second dial that's among other things is used for changing the AF point is positioned at the bottom-right side of the camera and it can't be accessed using the shooting grip.
Con Lacks mode dial for custom presets
Unlike some other Nikon cameras, D500 doesn't have a mode dial that allows quickly switching between custom presets.
Con Video has a 2.2x 35mm-equivalent crop factor
The camera has a 1.5x 35mm-equivalent crop factor and shooting video adds another 1.5x crop factor on top of that resulting in a 2.2x 35mm-equivalent crop factor. The effective sensor size is near the size of a MFT sensor. That means you would need wider lenses to achieve the same result in each situation.
