Have you ever bought used camera kit before? A surprising number of people haven’t, and a common reason for this that we hear from customers is that they are worried about buying tech that’s already out of date. This is understandable, but I think many people are worrying unnecessarily. I’m going to use a Sony APS-C camera comparison to show you what I mean.
I’ll look at the Sony A6400 vs the A6700. These cameras are both part of Sony’s APS-C range, meaning they use a smaller sensor than the full-frame flagships. Sony’s APS-C cameras are designed to be speedy all-rounders, combining image quality with fast autofocus and impressive burst speeds. The kinds of cameras you can use to basically capture anything.
The Sony A6700 was released in 2023, preceded by the A6400 back in 2019. That’s quite a significant gap in terms of camera tech, and you could be justified in being concerned that the A6400 is simply too old to be worth buying, even at a discount.
But let’s crunch the numbers. Right now, you can pick up a new Sony A6700 in a kit with the 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II PZ lens for £1,449. That’s a great deal for a new mirrorless kit. But on the used market, a Sony A6400 goes for as little as £449 in ‘Good’ condition. Pair that with a Sony E 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS, a broad and flexible zoom lens that can be nabbed for around £145 in the same condition, and you’ve spent a total of £594 – less than half the cost of the new combo. That leaves you plenty in the budget to add a prime lens.
Sure, the A6400 isn’t as good a camera as the A6700. But all that matters is whether it can still deliver the goods in 2026 – so let’s take a closer look.
Is the Sony A6400 really still good in 2026?
I truly believe that at £449, the Sony A6400 is the best budget Sony mirrorless you can buy right now – and possibly one of the best budget mirrorless cameras, full-stop. Its 24.2MP APS-C Exmor CMOS image sensor doesn’t offer quite as much resolution as the 26MP APS-C sensor on the A6700, but its fundamentals are really solid.
Its phase-detect autofocus system still acquires focus and tracks subjects with massively impressive speed and accuracy. Sony has long been renowned for its excellent autofocus, and even without the latest and greatest AI-powered subject detection, the Sony A6400 can still deliver even for tricky subjects like sports or wildlife.
The A6400 has got shooting speed where it counts, too. Its mechanical shutter moves at a maximum clip of 11fps, which is more than enough to freeze any subject that moves. And if you knock that speed down to a still-respectable 8fps, you can shoot silently with continuous full AF/AE tracking. I’ll be honest – for £449, that’s nothing short of amazing.
Ultimately, the A6700 is a next-generation camera. It incorporates a dedicated AI processor to deliver next-level features on par with Sony’s professional cameras, and it very much represents the future of photography. That’s great! But the A6400 is a camera where Sony just got the fundamentals right, and while its AF isn’t as advanced, it’s still fast and capable enough to produce crisp, sharp and dynamic images of any subject you care to shoot.
Take a look at our extensive range of second-hand products here!
About the Author
Jon Stapley is a London-based freelance writer and journalist who covers photography, art and technology. When not writing about cameras, Jon is a keen photographer who captures the world using his Olympus XA2. His creativity extends to works of fiction and other creative writing, all of which can be found on his website www.jonstapley.com
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