 Has Bells, has Whistles & Delivers too |
| Review Date: January 24, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Dave Mayer, Huntington Beach |
I can remember sitting in an outdoor cafe in St. Martin on the French side with my Canon EOS film camera on the table. I was alone, looking out over the bay in Marigot, wishing I was on one of the sailboats going out to sea, when a man asked if he could join me. It's not what you think, all the other tables were full with couples or more. I was the only one dining (actually drinking) alone. So I told the portly Dutch guy, "Sure, no problem."
He sat down, immediately pointed a small digital camera out to sea and snapped a few shots, then he showed them to me on a small LCD screen. Damn, I thought. Digital photography just might catch on.
And it did, but I didn't make the jump from film to digital until the the summer of 2006, six years after I'd met that guy in Marigot. Why, it took me so long, I don't know. The laundry room I'd converted into a dark room, maybe. I was a pseudo, photo taking stuck up snob, who thought film was better, probably. I was an idiot, certainly.
My ex, also a photo taking snob, got the house, the darkroom, my heart in the divorce and I threw in all my gear and moved to a condo by the beach. Huntington Beach, where I could see the ocean from my front door. Lots of surf there. You can see Catalina on a clear day and the pollution makes for gorgeous sunsets. The sunrise on the water is gorgeous, too.
And because there was no room for a darkroom in my small condo, I decided it was time to go digital and I bought a new Sony Alpha 100. And I liked it. Rather than upgrade the body year after year, I concentrated on lenses and I have a lot now. But my Alpha 100 body got long in the tooth, so I upgraded to an Alpha 550 and wowza, this is a camera.
Bigger pictures, 14.2 megapixels, a bright three inch LCD. The resolution is so good you can even read it in bright sunlight. The live view is great, but there is no video which you can find on Canon and Nikons, but I don't do video, so I don't miss it. The camera accepts both SD cards and memory sticks.
This camera has bells, it's got whistles. Built in IS, which helps keep the price of the lenses down, five frames per second shooting with auto focus, seven without. Want face detection? This camera has it. Smile detection too, though I believe that's overkill and I don't use it. I could go on and on about this cameras features, but all the bells and whistles in the world wouldn't be worth a hill of beans if it didn't deliver and this camera really delivers. For me it comes down to noise, because I do a lot of low light shooting. I got noise at 800 ISO & above on my Alpha 100, but not now. Shooting at 6400 ISO and you don't see any noise. You can shoot 12.800 and it's barely noticeable, depending what you're shooting.
And this camera just feels right in your hands. They say this isn't a professional camera because it's not full frame. Well, that's just crazy talk, because if you can't full fill your photographic dreams with this camera, you can't call yourself a pro. |
A Fun Step-Up From Entry Level DSLRs
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| Review Date: May 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Keith Slawson, Twentynine Palms, CA |
Since the other reviews have quite a bit of practical information in them, I thought I'd post one that was more of a gut reaction from a new user. What it lacks in detail, it more than makes up for in brevity.
I own an A700, and love it, but wanted a good back-up camera/second body. Naturally, I kept going back to Sony, since I have quite a bit invested in glass and gear.
Unfortunately, none of the previous models felt quite right in my hand. The grips all seemed too slight and uncertain. I have big hands and long fingers (perfect for a pianist or strangler, not so hot for a DSLR shooter,) so finding a camera with a "good feel" is a bit tricky. The A550 fits the bill (and my hand,) quite nicely. For me, it's a great second camera. I also found it be fairly responsive and easy to use, as well as alot of fun. I may never take full advantage of all
the "bells and whistles," but they're alot of fun to play with, and may come in handy from time to time as well (a bit like an amp that goes to 11.)
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A very responsive DSLR with clean pictures
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| Review Date: October 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Andrew Siew, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
Sony has been trying really hard to compete with Canon, Nikon, Olympus and other major DSLR players since the release of the alpha 100. The 550 along with 500 are the latest additions to Sony's already very crowded DSLR line-up.
On the outside, the 550 looks just like the recently released 380 and 330, and some might even mistaken it for the entry level 230 at first glance. However, everyone knows that appearance can be deceiving.
Unlike its other live-view siblings, the 550 is a very fast live-view enabled DSLR. Clocking at 4 frames per second under live-view (with continuous focusing), the frame rate surpasses many of the earlier Sony DSLRs, trailing behind only the alpha 700 and 900. None of these models are live-view enabled. There are a few options for continuous shooting for the 550 here: Hi, Lo, and speed priority. At "Hi" mode, the DSLR blasts away at 4 fps while it tracks the subject's movements. There are few instances of hesitation here, where the camera slows down a little, but the bottom line is, Sony did not lie about the 4 fps capability. Switching to speed priority, however, was a bit of a let down for me. Although the continuous rate immediately went up to an amazing 7 fps (you can literally hear the shuttle slamming away like mad at 7fps), the live view was disabled and the screen went dark. Therefore, you can't track the subject while you're firing at 7fps with the live view mode turned on.
The maximum number of continuous shots according to the manual is as follows: Fine (JPEG) = 32 shots, Standard (JPEG) 116 shots, RAW & JPEG = 7 shots and RAW = 14 shots. One good thing about the camera is that it does not slow down as you're reaching toward the limit of these figures, so far I've tested Fine and Standard mode, and the camera does not disappoint.
The Exmor sensor is impressive, although it won't impress Canon DSLR owners (Do refer to the sample images on top, and observe how the noise level of this new sensor increases with the increase in sensitivity). Maintaining details and color all the way up to ISO 1600 is no easy feat, but the 550 does it well with the new APS-C CMOS Exmor sensor. There is unfortunately still enough chroma noise visible at full zoom, probably due to the fact that Sony's noise reduction engine has never been great to begin with (all their earlier alpha models had alot of chroma noise at high ISOs), but the Exmor sensor helped alot in bringing the 550's sensitivity up to 12,800. Granted, chroma noise is really high at that ISO and details are being sacrificed with the noise reduction engine aggressively filtering out those stray signals, but when you really need to shoot at that sensitivity, you'd be glad that the 550 actually gives you the option to do so. Earlier alpha models maxed out at ISO 3200, with heavy noise reduction that had no effect whatsover on chroma noise.
The Auto HDR should only be turned on during really severe back-lit conditions. When applied, it brings the shadows out of the dark and produces a well balanced image without the use of fill-in flash. However, when used under normal conditions, the Auto HDR will over-compensate the shadows and produces a dull and "flat" image. The Auto HDR should also not be used for capturing moving objects, as two consecutive frames will be captured and overlapped against each other to produce the final image. A football flying across the football field will turn into two footballs in the final image. Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO, 5 different selectable levels) should be used under normal shooting conditions and when shooting fast moving subjects. However, do note that as the DRO function pushes the shadow areas out of the dark electronically, the noise level in those dark areas will increase along with the DRO setting. DRO Lv4 and Lv5 produce very noticable noise, so should be used sparingly.
The new DT 18-55mm lens has less zooming power than the DT 18-70mm model that comes with older alphas, but the resolving power of this new lens is somewhat impressive. The DT 18-70 could barely make it past the 10MP mark, whereas the DT 18-55 seems to be able to capture details beyond what the alpha 550's 14.2MP sensor could see. The focusing mechanism is very quiet and responsive, making it easy for you to get close to pets and creatures that are easily startled by sounds. But if you already have an army of alpha mount lenses waiting for the 550, I would recommend that you skip this camera-lens combo and go straight for the body only package.
Another thing to note about the DT 18-55mm lens is that is has an amazingly minimum focusing distance, at 25cm. This is the shortest distance you can place the camera's sensor from your subject. With the zoom dial set all the way to 55mm, this entry level lens is able to capture very impressive macro photos. The DT 18-70mm (bundled with older entry level alphas) had a minimum focusing distance of about 40cm, so this new lens, unlike its older sibling, makes a great macro lens too, if you are not trying to magnify a button or a bead. The actual distance of the subject from the glass of the lens is alot less than 25cm, as the minimum distance is measured from the surface of the sensor to the subject.
I'm still playing with the 550 as I'm typing this review, trying to look for flaws that'll make me regret buying this DSLR to replace my 350, but so far I'm having no luck finding any. Although the screen is a little bit crowded with alot of unnecessary information for the sake of point-and-shoot camera users, the design of the updated graphic user interface is simply sublime. The camera is surprisingly affordable, and yet stands up well next to alot of high-end DSLRs out there. |
Get the camera but dump the 18-55 lens
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| Review Date: November 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jackal, Singapore |
I'm happy with this camera. However, the development of digital cameras is very fast so the camera is likely to be behind cutting edge in a couple of years. I bought this camera because it is not that expensive, so one can always upgrade. Some good and bad things:
- Steady shot makes it possible to take very sharp pictures at 1/15.
- Quite decent performance up to ASA 800. I can go up to ASA 12,800, which results in noise, but also sharp pictures in very low light. If you like me hate using the flash, this is great. I'd rather have grain than flat flash light.
- Very sharp live viewfinder. I cannot do without this facility anymore. Not many higher-end DSLR cameras have this function yet.
- The autofocus does not work that well in low light. I don't know if other cameras are better. However, the Manual Focus Live Viewfinder function is very good when using manual focus in low light and low contrast settings.
- The camera isn't well prepared for HDR (high dynamic range). There is a built in function (works just so so), but I'd rater be able to do bracketed exposures in 1 or 2 EV steps. That is not possible. I can do bracketed exposures in 0.3 or 0.7 EV steps but that isn't really useful for HDR. Clearly Sony is holding back on performance for the next model in 2010.
- The camera fits okay in my standard male sized hands. Bigger might fit better but it is also nice that the camera is not bulky.
- Information panel is informative, except for ASA level when using ASA Auto setting. It would have been very nice to know what ASA level the camera decide to use when in Program mode.
If you buy this camera, skip the 18-55 lens and go for the 18-250 lens instead Sony SAL18250 Alpha DT 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 High Magnification Zoom Lens w/Lens Hood. It just doesn't make sense to buy a USD1,000 camera and fit it with a USD100 lens. The longer zoom is a good allround lens. A bit slow, but with an amazing range, 27-375 35mm equivalent. I actually don't find a 200mm zoom that useful, but when you can go up to 375mm new opportunities open. If you want to spend some more dollars, get the 50mm f/1.4 lens. That lens will function like 75mm, which is not optimal, but that is really the only chance of getting a wide open aperture lens. (Sony also sells a 35mm f/1.4, but that is very expensive and has received poor reviews.) The advantage with the 50mm f/1.4 lens is that it is full-frame so it can be used when you later upgrade to a fullformat camera. |
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