Sony SLT A55 16.2 Megapixel Digital SLR Reviews Roundup

Sony today finally announces the two new Alpha cameras - the 16.2 Megapixels A55 (model SLT-A55V) and 14.2 Megapixels A33 (model SLT-A33). These two cameras adopt Sony's newly-developed Translucent Mirror Technology, which achieves the highest-level of auto focus speed for both still image and movie shooting.

Using the new technology, the A55 and A33 models can continuously and quickly focus (with TTL phase-detection) while shooting stills and recording Full HD AVCHD video. The A55 can shoot continuously at up to 10 fps (frames per second), while A33 can shoot 7 fps. Because of its structure, the Translucent Mirror Technology does away with the motion of raising and lowering the mirror. The absence of the moving mirror mechanism contributes to making the whole body size significantly compact compared to traditional DSLR cameras.

Sony SLT A55 Sample Photos on Flickr



Sony SLT A55 Camera Reviews Roundup


PhotographyReview: "The Sony Alpha SLT-A55 image quality is excellent and compares well with any other entry-level or mid-range crop-sensor digital SLR. It's not publicized, but the imaging sensor in the very popular and much more expensive Nikon D700 appears to be the same that Sony uses in the A55. When I reviewed the D7000 a few weeks ago I was surprised to discover that the Nikon and the Sony have almost indistinguishable image qua..." - May 16 2011 More »
N/A
PhotographyBay: "Overall, the A55 works and handles well.  The grip is a bit small for those with larger hands; however, if you are looking at the entry-level offerings from Canon and Nikon, the A55's size shouldn't be a factor.  The well-placed controls and smart menu system serve the A55 well.  Just make sure that you aren't expecting too much out of the video autofocus or need to use it for fast-action sports. I wa..." - Apr 27 2011 More »
N/A
digitalcameraHQ: "The A55 is an excellent camera all around, and absolutely worth buying. It's the speediest consumer dSLR out there and doesn't compromise on image quality, either. The handling is unique within the dSLR realm, and incredibly versatile out in the field: Nothing else at this price combines a dSLR's speed with such a useful live-view -- the tilt-and-swivel LCD becomes a huge asset in this case, rather than a somewhat u..." - Mar 26 2011 More »
Photography BLOG: "The Sony A55 turns conventional design on its head to provide what is in many ways a better user experience than traditional DSLRs can achieve, at a price point that Canon and Nikon must be worried about. If you can overcome your reservations about electronic viewfinders, the Sony A55 is a great choice for both beginners and more cautious enthusiasts alike. If you don't need the 2 extra megapixels, built-in GPS or 3..." - Feb 18 2011 More »
BJOP: "Unlike contrast-detection focus off the main sensor, used by the Micro Four Thirds cameras and by Sony's pocketable NEX range, phase detection can track fast-moving subjects and give responsive, fast, predictive AF during video capture. It is the first system camera design to allow this with legacy SLR lenses, and it even works acceptably with screw-drive focusing glass from a quarter of a century ago, give or take..." - Feb 04 2011 More »
N/A
NeoCamera: "The Sony Alpha SLT-A55 is an innovative camera that provides a unique compromise between DSLRs and other SLDs. Most importantly, this camera closely matches the image quality and performance of modern entry-level DSLRs. Its translucent mirror also gives it the unique ability to use phase-detection autofocus during video-recording and continuous-drive up to 10 FPS. While it is clear that some of its features and desi..." - Jan 31 2011 More »
PCWorld: "The A55 received impressively high ratings in our lab's subjective image and video tests. We tested it alongside the Sony A580 and Nikon D3100 DSLRs. The A55's scores were extremely close to those of the A580, and it did slightly better than the D3100. It received word scores of Very Good for exposure, color, and sharpness, but only a Good for distortion (the one category where the A580 did noticeably better). ..." - Jan 20 2011 More »
KenRockwell: "Image quality is poor, because the A55 lacks some very important image adjustments. There is no color trim for the Auto WB setting. (page 112, US manual). Because of this, all the photos look too cool (blue) for my taste. On the other WB settings, there are only basic warm/cool WB trims that go to ±3, with no green/magenta adjustments. The only setting with a green/magenta trim is the Kelvin setting. ..." - Dec 15 2010 More »
N/A
ePhotoZine: "The first thing to note is that the A55 does seem to produce rather light images. There is no real detail lost in the highlights, so the mid-tones must be being shifted to the right of the histogram. Dialling in some exposure compensation corrects this to personal taste, so it is something to bear in mind. Likewise, dark and light subjects definitely need compensation to be correctly reproduced. This is true whether..." - Dec 14 2010 More »
PhotoclubAlpha: "The question then has to be asked - does the 'Translucent' mirror reduce the image quality? It does reduce the light reaching the sensor, but the ISO settings of the A55 appear to be adjusted to allow for this. If you shoot 1/125th at f/16 at ISO 100 with the A55, it is similar to the same settings on the A580 (a conventional SLR with the same sensor), not half a stop darker. That means the sensor is being given a t..." - Dec 13 2010 More »
N/A
USAToday: "Why do I love the A55? It's dead simple for those who are new to DSLRs, has a really nice menu system which explains the advantages of different buttons on the dial, a fantastic panorama mode, and the best video shooting I've seen on a consumer camera. Shooting hi-def videos on cameras like the Rebel, Canon 60D and Nikon D90 look great, but they go out of focus once you've started recording and moving around. Y..." - Dec 08 2010 More »
N/A
MacWorld: "The A55 received impressively high ratings in our lab's subjective image and video tests. We tested it alongside the Sony A580 and Nikon D3100 DSLRs. The A55's scores were extremely close to the A580, and it did slightly better than the D3100. It received word scores of Very Good for exposure, color, and sharpness, but only a Good for distortion (the one category where the A580 did noticeably better). The video..." - Nov 30 2010 More »
LetsGoDigital: "The Sony Alpha SLT-A55 is a remarkable camera. Not only due to its compact dimensions, as there are even smaller cameras available, but more because of its design. The current series of digital SLR cameras on the market is based on an 'old' technology and although in terms of functions and image solutions, much has changed, the way in which the camera works has not even seen such a revolution. This makes it remarkab..." - Nov 22 2010 More »
CNET US: "The camera functions very much like Sony's standard dSLRs, which is a big plus over the NEX's paradoxically dumbed-down yet awkwardly arranged interface. The relatively sparse mode dial contains the usual PASM, auto, flash off, and scene modes, as well as the new Auto+, a late-to-the-party automatic scene selection mode; 10fps Continuous Advance Priority AE mode; and Sony's Sweep Panorama mode. On the back, a Fn but..." - Nov 18 2010 More »
Pocket-lint: "The A55's SLT technology means that the light entering the camera doesn't all reach the sensor - some 30% of it is bounced off the translucent mirror to the AF sensor, so only 70% of actual light can reach the sensor. Although this technically equates to the loss of a third of a stop of light, the sensor processes to compensate for such loss and thus ISO 100 is still the very same ISO 100 output as per any other cam..." - Nov 16 2010 More »
Digital Camera Resource Page: "The A55's movie mode is pretty impressive as well, with the ability to record up to 29 minutes of 1080/60i video with digital stereo sound. The camera can focus continuously while you're recording, and it does so quickly. Recording at lower resolutions is also available, using the MPEG-4 codec. The downsides? If you plan on using the image stabilizer, your recording time drops dramatically, down to around 9 minutes,..." - Nov 06 2010 More »
N/A
Digital Camera Info: "The SLT-A55 is a new spin on the conventional SLR, with a translucent mirror that lets most light through, so the camera can shoot and focus at the same time. The result is a camera that has the advantages of an SLR (quick and flexible focusing and high quality images) but shoots much faster: 10 frames a second. At about $850 for the camera body and kit lens, the SLT-A55 is at the high end of the price range fo..." - Oct 15 2010 More »
PhotoComment: "The Alpha SLT-A55's party piece is Sony's new Translucent mirror technology. This in essence means that unlike the mirror in most DSLR cameras which flips out of the way during exposure, the A55 and A33's mirror allows light to pass through it while still reflecting enough light into the prism where the cameras controls your autofocus system. The benefit of this system is two fold. Fist you have continuous autofocus..." - Oct 11 2010 More »
N/A
Digital Camera Review: "Default images out of the a55 were good. Colors were accurate and perhaps a bit more saturated than in real life but pleasing and nicely sharp. There are contrast, saturation and sharpness settings that range from -3 to +3 in for manual shooting modes in the event the default settings don't meet user expectations. The 16 megapixel sensor provides for files that take some cropping and still produce decent qualit..." - Oct 05 2010 More »
NYTimes: "The camera is small and light compared with true S.L.R.'s, but it's still much bulkier than, for example, Sony's own minuscule NEX-5 (the smallest of this type in the world, although you give up a lot of features -- like a flash, a mode dial and a wide choice of lenses). There are two separate playback modes, one each for stills and videos, and it's annoying to have to switch between them. Battery life is about..." - Sep 27 2010 More »
N/A
pixiq: "The a55 tended to overexpose, easily solved with a -1/3 or -2/3 compensation setting. Well-exposed low ISO JPEGs are outstanding, suitable for making huge prints thanks to remarkably high resolution. The RAW captures were even better when I turned Noise Reduction Off in the Sony Image Data Converter software. By ISO 800, Noise Reduction began smearing fine details but my best shots still made very nice 11x15" p..." - Sep 27 2010 More »
N/A
Digital Camera Info: "The Alpha SLT-A55 was something of a mixed bag when it came to our tests on the noise in images. We found that it had low nose at the lower ISO settings, but the noise levels quickly rose as the ISO level was increased. At ISO 800, the noise level is just under 1 per cent, but it climbs quickly as the ISO increases above this.  One thing to note here is that this camera does not allow you to turn off the noise..." - Sep 17 2010 More »
N/A
PhotoReview Australia: "We were pleasantly surprised by the speed and accuracy of the autofocusing system - particularly in the high-speed burst mode, where it was able to keep track with most moving subjects - as long as the motion wasn't too fast. (Really rapid local movements were often blurred in shots.) However, the Spot AF setting was prone to hunting in dim lighting and with low-contrast subjects. The Sweep Panorama function wa..." - Sep 07 2010 More »
PhotoRadar: "Bringing over a feature from the NEX series, sweep panorama and 3D sweep panorama are also included in these models. Sony says you'll have to be a little more fluid with your motion than in their Cybershot models equipped with this technology, but the resulting panoramas are pretty impressive. If you're packing a 3D TV or 3D laptop you'll love both the 3D sweep and standard 3D images the a55 can produce. Again, we o..." - Aug 30 2010 More »
N/A
Thephoblographer: "And it really is that fast. Granted, it only shoots super fast in the 10FPS shooting mode which essentially takes over the camera and puts it in a Program mode of some sort. To be honest, while sitting through the presentation I couldn't help but think to myself, 'What professional photographer needs to shoot that many frames and uses an APS-C sized sensor camera?' The answer: it's not meant for pros. Shooting..." - Aug 26 2010 More »
N/A
CNET: "The video capture, however, will probably annoy a lot of folks who are wishing it's more than it is, and it annoys me because the capabilities feel arbitrarily constrained--like Sony's planning to put them in a more expensive model. First, there are practically no manual exposure controls, and what few there are you can't set independently from still photos. There's an aperture-priority movie capture mode, but it on..." - Aug 24 2010 More »
N/A
LuminousLandscape: "The A55' sensor is based on the one used in the NEX 5 and VG10, except with a slightly higher pixel count. The A33 uses the same NEX 5 sensor. It has received very favorable comments by reviewers and testers, and my experience with it in this and other cameras is that it is at least as good if not better in many of its characteristics than sensors from other makers. Since the launch of the Sony Alpha series Son..." - Aug 24 2010 More »
N/A
Digital Camera Review: "The a55 is noticeably compact, though it doesn't rival the size of the Samsung NX10 and doesn't come close to touching the diminutive NEX cameras. If it's a small interchangeable lens camera you want, Sony already has that covered. The a55 seems to hold the middle ground between a CILC (Compact Interchangeable Lens Camera) and your typical alpha DSLR. The weight of the camera body has also been reduced, though..." - Aug 24 2010 More »
N/A
Imaging Resource: "I found the Sony A55's AF tracking to be very fast and pretty accurate; almost too fast in some cases: If I let the central AF point wander off the subject for a fraction of a second, focus would quickly shift to the background. Many of the missed-focus shots I took were the result of this problem, versus the camera not being able to track focus quickly enough. Some high-end DSLRs have settings in their autofocus sy..." - Aug 24 2010 More »
N/A
dpreview: "Arguably, the age of the consumer-level DSLR dawned in 2000 with the Canon EOS D30, and although a lot has happened in the intervening decade - higher and higher pixel counts, huge improvements in low-light image quality, speed and usability - much has remained the same. A surprising amount, actually. Mechanically, today's DSLRs operate in exactly the same way as their film predecessors. A Sony Alpha A900 might look..." - Aug 24 2010 More »
N/A

DSLR Photography Latest Posts





Cameras In The Article
 
0 user reviews