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Sony DSLR-A550 user reviews and ratings

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Sony DSLR-A550 user reviews Date: 2009-09-07 - 10:41:31 Author: Danel Rating:    A500/A550 I'm pleasantly surprised I haven't had much time to follow the discussion very closely until this morning because I have been out straight working. Over the last hour and a half I have read everything I could find about the new 500 series cameras, looked at all the early photo examples, and I must say that I am very pleasantly surprised. To start with, these are the only cameras in this price range that shoot 5fps. The A550 even does 7fps with limited focusing ability. This is huge! Someone could legitimately use one of these cameras to shoot action sports. I have seen some complain that the 7fps is of no value due to the fact it doesn't focus track in that mode. I disagree and can see many instances when this feature would work great. For instance, focus on a batter in a baseball game and start shooting when the ball leaves the pitcher's hand, or, when someone is about to take a penalty shot in soccer, etc. Finally, finally, finally, Sony seems to have made some cameras whose JPEGs at high ISO look to be competitive with Canikon. This one area has probably generated enough text in this forum to fill an encyclopedia. This is the one area all of the reviewers have been hammering Sony on since they started making DSLRs. Now, at long last, Sony appears to have closed the gap. The 500 series cameras are the first DSLRs, at least to my knowledge, to do in-camera HDR at these price points. What a great feature! I have messed around with HDR using Photoshop and had some fun with it. Now, in challenging lighting situations one can get the HDR benefit with a simple camera setting. Along those lines, we have the good version of DRO in these cameras. These two items, DRO and HDR, will greatly improve the photo possibilities of these cameras. Also, we now have two live view options. Many complained the Sony's fast focus live view did nothing to help them focus for close up work. Now Sony has the best live view on the market, offering both fast live view and manual focus live view. Everyone who uses live view should be happy now. Lastly, we have the return of the larger battery. These new cameras with the large battery have the best battery life in this class of camera. Folks who own the A200, 300, and 350 who want to upgrade will have a couple of cameras to chose from and will be able to use their old batteries too. All and all, a couple of impressive cameras IMHO. Yes I know about all the complaining about no MLU, no DOF, Rebel sized viewfinder, etc, etc, etc. These complaints are not without merit. There are many things Sony could have done to improve these cameras further. Still, these are great cameras that break some new ground, and I think many will be very pleased with them. Date: 2009-09-11 - 12:19:31 Author: Danel Rating:    I have been using 2 systems for the last year or so, Sony with the A100 and A200 and Nikon with the D90. I like the D90 so much that I was leaning heavily towards selling off all my Sony stuff and using the proceeds to expand my Nikon gear. Now, I'm not so sure. While the D90 is in many ways a more advanced camera than the A5xx series, and has most of the features folks complain that the Sony cameras lack, it doesn't have body based stabilization. It doesn't have a flip out lcd. It doesn't have a 7fps mode. Most importantly, I own more lenses for the Sony system. I may very well sell off my A100 and A200 along with a few odds and ends and put the proceeds towards the A550 at the end of this year once prices drop a few of bucks, and continue to go with two systems. I will wait until the cameras come out, look at the sample images, and see what the reviewers and users think. For me, it will all come down to the IQ. If the IQ is what I'm thinking it is, and with the A550 doing some thing the D90 doesn't, I'll likely get the A550. Date: 2009-10-05 - 23:17:35 Author: Mal Rating:    Depth of field button in a550 People are complaining about the lack of the depth of field button in the a550. If you think about that for an instant - just take the photo and check on that on the viewfinder after shooting. That will take a lot less time and because it is a non-moving image faster to evaluate the depth of field function if the camera had it. Shoot again at a different setting if you are not happy. But standing there and checking the depth of field without moving the camera from its focused position would be awkard and time consuming whilst you positioned yourself in such a way to look at all of the image. So just take the shot and comfortably hold the LCD up and move around the Photo. Having that function with such a good live view is redundant and likely cumbersome. Mal

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Add review/rating Date/Time: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 - 04:08:26 Type this code: Your name:                              Title: Opinion: Rate this product: 1 2 3 4 5

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