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Camera Review


I have had my a500 for a few months and am very happy with my purchase. This is a great camera for someone wishing to switch from advanced point-and-shoot to full d-SLR. The menus are intuitive, and this camera is generally easy to use. It has some nice features like HDR imaging, manual live focus, and an amazing live view. I tested this camera with Nikon and Canon models in the same price range and felt this was the superior product. I also like that this camera has the autofocus motor inside the camera itself (unlike many similarly priced models by other brands), making it compatible with my 20-year old Minolta lenses. As you probably know, lenses are as important, if not more important, than the camera body so it's nice to be able to use older, reasonably-priced, solid glass. This generally takes nice low light shots although there is some noise at higher ISOs. This is to be expected from a camera in this price range. Also the kit lens is not the greatest, but this is usually the case with entry level SLR cams. I'd recommend buying the body only and picking up a 50mm prime lens. Then start shooting. I gave this 5 stars because it's great at what it is --- a starter SLR camera with some room for the photographer to grow. This of course can't compete with $2000-$3000 full frame models, but it has none-the-less exceeded my expectations. Great value. In general, I think this brand is underrated in the digital camera world. If you are in the market for your first d-SLR, give Sony a try. VIEW PRICE

Camera Review

 My title is rather pessimistic, I know, but I've been playing with this camera now for a couple of hours, so I've had a chance to get a feel for what consumers are going to probably like, and not like, about this lens kit.

First, if you are a serious photographer, you are going to be better off buying the body of this camera separately from the lens. It isn't that the 18-55mm, 3.5-5.6 aperture lens is bad: it just isn't great for inside work, as far as I can tell. The kind of "meh" aperture range means you'll struggle a bit in "normal" indoor lighting to get hand-held shots that don't really want flash, and the problem with the flash is it is straight-ahead flash, so that your attempts at head shots are going to potentially have a deer-in-the-headlights quality about them. This will be because even zoomed in to 55mm, you're going to need to be close to a subject for a portrait shot--closer than you really would like to be. Getting the two-lens kit, for a couple hundred dollars more, might be a really good alternative here, because I think the longer telephoto in that kit can go out to 200mm, giving you more flexibility in where you need to stand for shots. I was pretty sure when purchasing the kit that I was going to quickly need a really solid prime to go with it, and the Sony 50mm f 1.4 has already proven itself a valuable addition.

The good news is that, aside from the "adequate-but-kind-of-meh" lens, everything else on this thing mostly rocks! I was a bit nervous because I had seen other reviews in which some reviewers chewed on the ergonomics a bit, but I'm not really finding that to be a problem so far. The battery door, the door to the memory cards, etc., are rigid and open happily and confidently. As far as the battery goes, my advice would be to pick up an extra battery, because after charging mine the first time, I was down to roughly half power without having taken that many photos (maybe 75 RAW out of what I was being told was a 500-image total available. I didn't expect the battery to make it for 500 shots, but it looks like I would have gotten about 150 shots out of the charge, and I can definitely see situations where a photographer would run into trouble from that.)

One thing that may not be immediately obvious from pictures is that the right-hand grip is quite comfortable, and there is a design feature on the back (basically a bit of a "hump" that provides the right thumb a place to get a kind of secure purchase so that you really shouldn't ever feel like the camera is in danger of slipping out of your hand. I always put my left hand under the bottom of a camera anyway, so that I can adjust the focus ring easily, and even though this camera and its lenses have auto-focus, that's still a comfortable place for the left hand.

Many of the features and details of the camera are things that you can find in other reviews or in detail lists for this product, so I won't repeat all of that. I will state that I had no problems with the placement of the shutter button. I had seen some criticism on line suggesting that the reviewer felt like he was putting a lot of stress on a couple of fingers while firing the shutter button, but I really just didn't find that to be the case.

All of the controls are really pretty intuitive. I turned the feature off that shows the pictures of what various things mean. If you are stepping up to a SLR from a point-and-shoot, do yourself a favor and learn what aperture is, and white balance. The joy of this camera is taking a photo with "automatic" settings, and then going to manual, taking the same shot, and realizing how completely screwed up your own sense of the shot is! <smile> Actually, this is kind of valuable, in that the digital nature of the camera means that you (and I) can get a real lesson about what happens when changing aperture or shutter speed, even sometimes by very small amounts.

In many ways, this camera is an ideal camera for a serious hobbyist (I'm not going to go hyperbolic and say "professional," because the limitations of this camera are the sort that wouldn't be tolerated by a professional being pushed to the limits of digital photography. It isn't that a professional shot can't be taken on this camera, but that there are digital bodies that would make a professional's life much easier than the a230 would).

It is going to pretty much meet all of my needs for awhile, at least with the better lens on the front, and maybe a really good zoom to give me a bit more range of options.

The build quality seems fine to me. Nothing is jiggling. Lenses go on and off with no problems. Definitely buy the LCD cover that's available from Amazon. Otherwise, you'll discover that basically everything smudges the LCD display. It isn't the end of the world, but your nose will constantly be pressed against the display, so there will always be a bit of oil and moisture smudged on, otherwise.

This isn't a bad camera at all, and if you are JUST looking for a system that will give you some flexibility to take "normal" shots of the variety that other people make you sit through after they've fed you dinner, then you are going to be immediately happy. The camera will do many of the things that you need for it to do automatically, and can easily take better shots than you would take, if you knew nothing or little about photography, and had no interest to learn. But like many things, if you DO know something about photography, you will be pleasantly surprised about the sorts of things that you CAN do with this rig, as long as you are willing to make an investment in accessories that will give the body a chance to show its stuff. VIEW PRICE

Camera Review

 The Sony A33 (A55) Not is not exactly What I expected .... the good and not so good

First of all this camera is a great movie camera with continuous auto focus and an good photo camera.

The reason I say good and not great is because if you intend on shooting in any of the 3 auto modes you are not going to get great photos the same as you would get with a Canon T1I, T2i or canon G10. But the photos are more predictable in auto than with the Canon's

The kit lens is good, does not have much range but works well even though its a cheap kit lens. Better than the t2i

The body is plastic therefore light
The fold down LCD is a winner although a little small.
Viewfinder is a real treat giving you the same read out info as the LCD
Switches automatically back and forth from LCD to viewfinder as you place your eye close or take it away from the viewfinder.
Or you can easily switch between LCD screen and viewfinder by pushing the LCD/viewfinder button.

If you have a big lens or a lens hood the flash may cast a shadow in your photo

I have large hands but the body is very comfortable to hold
Controls are easy to reach but again these cameras are are far to complicated than they need to be need, but that is where technology takes you.

I did not see the battery life as being an issue - My G10 is much better.
Charging takes 4 hours per battery so get yourself a another battery and maybe an extra charger.
I specifically bought the a33 because I did not want the GPS sucking the life out of my battery as I learned on a Panasonic Z10.
My travels do not take to normal tourist data base gps way points so I felt it was of no use to me. Another thing to break down

Used Minolta AF lenses work great and are half the price as new Sony ones and are of equal or superior quality. Many of the Sony lenses on Amazon are just rebranded Minolta lenses.

The a33 and a55 uses Steadytshot an in camera stabilization
Lenses for this camera are not stabilized which is good and bad
Good because the lenses are cheaper and lighter
Bad because the stabilization in the camera is not as reliable as say Canon

When you take a photo you cannot just press the shutter all the way down quickly.
You have to press halfway wait for the steadyshot indicator to drop to one bar, wait for the focus beep and then press all the way
Canon seems quicker?

The A33 could be less noisier (photo wise not sound wise) than the a55 because it packs less pixels on the same size sensor

An Azden SMX-10 mic $65 from Amazon is a great accessory. It takes the mic out of the body to minimize the focus noise of the lenses and adds stereo.
Alert the hot shoe on this camera is a proprietary one meaning you need an adapter to hook on a regular shoal For $12 the Seagull SC-5 Hot Shoe Adapter to Standard Flash Shoe with PC Connection - for Konica Minolta Maxxum & Sony Alpha Digital SLR Cameras works from Amazon

At about 10 minutes of using the video it shuts down from overheating and you cannot film until it cools and then it will only go for a few minutes and will shut down again. I luckily only shoot short clips so its not an issue but Sony made a statement below.

Sony has issued a statement concerning an overheating issue with the new Sony A55 and A33 translucent mirror cameras.
The problem arises from the CMOS sensor overheating in certain temperature ranges. Sony has put together a chart that provides an idea of max recording times under certain environmental conditions. You can check it out on the web. They have no solution only shoot less than 10 minutes with stabilization on.
Image stabilization is a big problem for shooting long clips.
5D Mark II and 7D cameras shutdown from overheating also so it's nothing unique to Sony.

This review could also be for the a55 since they are almost identical except for a55 --
* gives you faster continuous shooting,
* GPS
* higher megapixel.
* price
and a few other minor things

I have come to admire this little piece of techno. I have so many Minolta lenses that I purchased from ebay that I have purchased a second a33 so I must give it a 5 although there is always room for improvement and nothing is perfect.

On Ebay you can get a
Minolta 50MM F/1.7 prime for circa $73
Minolta 100 mm f/2.8 Macro The sharpest lens Minolta has ever made for less than $300
Minolta 100-300 APO Zoom $220
Be careful of the new 8mm Fisheye from Korea that is marketed for Sony under different names for $230-$330 It is not compatible with a33 or a55 VIEW PRICE

Camera Review

 I've had a Panasonic FZ30 "bridge" camera for five years. It is the type of camera without interchangeable lenses and a small sensor. I've really enjoyed that camera as it had good ergonomics, a great 35mm to 420mm 12x zoom lens, shot video, a good set of features, and pretty good stills. However I found it limited me in three areas (there's always something right?):

1) I wanted better image quality.
2) I wanted better low light capability.
3) I wanted better video performance.

Not wanting to carry and change lenses I searched for another bridge mega-zoom type of camera but they all suffered from the same small sensors and limited low light capability. So I decided I had to make the leap to an interchangeable lens camera. I would search for one that had a sort of mega-zoom lens available so I could just have one lens.

I looked at DSLRs but they are so big, so expensive, and so heavy that I shyed away from them.

Recently several micro four-thirds size sensor cameras came on the market, all using a new set of lenses, but I wasn't impressed with them. I thought if the sensor had been the biggest problem in my FZ30 I didn't want just a step up, I wanted a large leap up in sensor size.

Then I saw Sony introduce the A33 and A55. Reading through the specification I was so excited to see it would likely meet all of my wants and then some.

I've had the A55 for just over a week and I am very happy with it. I have the one lens I wanted (sort of) which is the Sony SAL18250 with a 33mm equivalent of 27mm to 375mm, almost as much zoom as my FZ30. I do appreciate the wider 27mm and can crop on the PC to extend the zoom range. Photo quality with this camera/lens combination is a huge improvement, just what I was looking for.

This camera is small compared to most other DSLRs on the market, but it is competitive in photo quality, ahead in video quality, and has some great features not found on even much more expensive cameras.

The sensor used in the A55 is an ASP-C size used in many prosumer DSLR cameras. Sony has done a great job combining advanced features into a small and light body.

As for low light the FZ30 was limited to 400 ISO while the A55 goes up to a somewhat grainy 12,800 and can mimic 25,000 in one mode. So it far exceeds my needs for low light capability. There is little noise up to about 6,400.

The video quality is astounding at 1080i/60fps (captured at 30fps, recorded at 60fps). It is smooth, sharp, and the color is good even in low light. Check it out on youtube.com

There are lots of detailed professional reviews online so I won't go much deeper - and I'm not the one to do that anyway. I'm just an amateur photographer who wants to take good photos of my seven month old grand son, some videos of wake boarders behind our boat, and photos of family gatherings. This camera will do that and much more.

There are many complaints of low battery life but it is better than my FZ30 so I am happy. I have three batteries which should solve any low battery issues anyway. It depends a lot on your shooting conditions. Yesterday I took 700 photos with very little auto focus required; the battery level showed 75% after those 700 shots. This was just a test and the total duration was less than 15 minutes. I just offer it to say that your shooting conditions will dramatically alter battery life.

Pros:
- Light weight, small and easy to handle.
- Great photo quality
- Even better video quality than most.
- Very fast, continuous Auto Focus even during video.
- Level indicator on screen (I can't tell you how many images I've had to adjust photos on the PC for a crooked horizon)
- Fully articulated 2.9" LCD (I won't buy a camera without one of these)
- Very nice Electronic View Finder. Some see this as a "Con" if they've come from an OVF. I've only used EVF for 10 years so this is no big deal for me.
- Nice, sharp, 18-250 lens (an option I purchased separately.
- Panorama mode - take an auto-stitched sequence of photos in one quick motion. Awesome feature.
- High Dynamic Range - Take, for example, a photo indoors with a bright window in the background. HDR will properly expose both the inside of the room and the image outside the window - automatically in the camera.
- Hand Held Twilight mode - take a photo in very dark conditions. The camera will take 6 photos and combine them to achieve amazing 25,000 ISO equivalent photos.
- Night portrait - uses the flash for the person in the foreground but properly exposes the background too.
- Amazing Night View scene mode - take great city skyline photos at night.
- Built in pop-up flash
- Built in GPS records where you are in the photo data. Display on Google Earth
- Face detection
- Smile shutter
- 10 Frames Per Second - yes 10fps. You can't find that in any other camera in this price range. And it will focus during the burst!
- Sensor switches from LCD to EVF when you put your eye up to the EVF. Neat!
- I can have one lens and just leave it there. No carrying two or three lenses and having the frustration of having the wrong lens attached for a given situation. I did the three lens dance many years ago and don't ever want to do it again. With one lens there is no issue with cleaning the sensor if it gets dust on it because I'll never have the sensor exposed to the air.

Cons:
- With the 18-250 lens the camera and lens weight about 2 lbs. That is about 1/2 lb. heavier than my FZ30 and I notice it.
- Lots of shooting, especially long video with the image stabilizer on, can result in an over heat shutdown. I've only had this happen once. Most of my videos are 1-3 minutes, well inside the overheat warning.
- To me the grip is uncomfortable and too small. I have average size hands for a man. After doing some research though I've learned I've been spoiled by my Panasonic FZ30 which had a very nice grip. I've tried a number of DSLRs and it seems many of them have grips that are not as comfortable for me as the FZ30.

If you are the owner of a larger, more expensive, DSLR you may find some things of this camera to fall a little short for your needs. One big issue is the lack of an OVF, another might be battery life. You may find, though, that the Sony A55 is a good addition to your camera inventory that is much smaller and lighter as a carry-around but still has great image quality and features. For you there are a lot of great Alpha lenses available for this camera.

If you are the owner of anything less than a DSLR I suspect you'll find this to be a gem of a camera. It has a lot of features that you can take your time to learn, but it also has several auto modes so you can treat it as a point-n-shoot. My wife picked it up this morning and took several photos without ever having touched it before. She took the lens cap off, turned it on, popped up the flash and took several great photos of me with my grand son.

Don't be scared away by those that tell you Canon and Nikon are the only good digital camera manufacturers. Sony makes sensors for Nikon. VIEW PRICE

Camera Review

 This camera is terrific. I have grand children who are constantly on the move...I have several digital cameras that just capture their blurry forms. THIS CAMERA is soooo fabulous. I am totally sold on it and its super ways!!!! I have used it at horse shows and obviously on the grands...JUST GREAT!!

Just bought this about a week ago and went out shooting night scenes of downtown honolulu. Could not be more happy with my purchase. Absolutely excellent starter dslr. I am new to photography and this camera is simply the best. With a little reading up with the user manual and the auto help menu on the camera makes this dslr easy to use. The bag that came with it is not the one pictured in the description but a different Sony bag, small but well made. Enough space to fit the camera, lens it comes with, battery pack, charger, and SD card. Tripod that comes with is obviously not the best, but definitely works great pastic and some parts metal. Ive used it twice already and everything works perfect and easy to use. Could not be more happy with this package, recommend it to anyone seeking a beginner dslr package. By the way pictures came out amazing.  VIEW PRICES