Sony Alpha DSLR A500 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera

Sony Alpha DSLR A500 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens

I'm free to include my enthusiasm for long enough to get some facts down about what I passion about the A500. This is one GREAT camera body and I am having a globe with it.

I previously worn both a Minolta 9xi (their top of the line 35mm movie camera) as well as Mamiya means format gear which I still use for weddings and portraits. With the arrival of good digital cameras and especially digital darkroom (AKA Photoshop) I had become increasingly frustrated commerce with record but had not found a digital SLR that performed well enough for my relatively narrow amateur finances so made do with a kind take-sized digital Nikon zoom which takes great movies but is stupid dawdling dense compared to what I was used to. Since I had an investment in Minolta lenses I was leaning regarding the Sony line (which takes the Maxxum lenses) but formerly models seemed like too much of a compromise for the $$$. Enter the A500!

Things I adore about it:

- 12.3 megapixels

- actually tranquil and intuitive gearshift, which in a lot of behavior are similar to the 9xi so especially painless for me

- speedily primary and shot-to-shot hustle - I use the 5fps continual style for sports all the time

- great low-light performance

- in-body (vs in-lens) antishake - still have not resorted to a trivet!

- very high utmost ISO

- brilliant sequence performance (roofed two instruct basketball playoffs using Live View with juice to spare)

- high recall position - I think I have 8Gb in it, and shooting in "adequate" resolution I get about 1450 metaphors and about 500 in "raw" means. I LOVE never having to sojourn to change film cartridges and never upsetting about operation out! If the theme business and absolute use permitted less megapixels or lesser vision size I could get 5000+ similes on this thing. Woo hoo! Talk about built for reports or honorable trial!

One nice astonish was how fleeting I can download the similes from the camera - previously downloading images from my 5mp Nikon Coolpix I was arranged to wait a long time to download the superior files from the A500. Much to my shock it was perhaps even a bit earlier. Same processor, same USB harbor. Nice!
All this for a very reasonable estimate (and I fixed it on a day where the cost was $100 off Amazon's normal price - what an exchange!). I've still not explored all this baby can do, and look familiar to receiving to know it better. So far most of what I have been shooting has been sports but next up are some portraits and out to do some landscape/kind cram. I'm eager to see how my 100-300mm lens does on the A500 with wildlife under the afforest covering, and stand expand copy condition of lovely and spirit shots.

Usually I use it with the Sony 18-105mm lens, pretty dressed but I have not put it through its paces copious. My father-in-law has the equivalent Zeiss and I'm definitely free to sponge it for comparisons. I yearning it were quicker in the longer important lengths. Also, I wish there was a summit lens closer to the 35mm equivalent of 90-100mm, my choice sketch length. For now I'm making do with a Minolta 50mm f1.7 crucial, which is equivalent to 75mm on the 9xi - a brilliant lens and between f1.7, high ISO values, and the Sony's defiant-vibe and low light performance I practically never have to take subjecting signal or free light into consideration - which means the subject doesn't have to think about the camera and I can focus on leasing them do what they do while I capture it. This is just...Unleashed!

Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 Y 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera 

and 18-55mm and 55-200mm Lenses Bundle Kit

I'm cheerful with this camera. However, the development of digital cameras is very stable so the camera is prone to be behind callous verge in a connect of days. I bought this camera because it is not that luxurious, so one can always upgrade. Some good and bad equipment:

- Steady shot makes it feasible to take very clear films at 1/15.

- Quite ample performance up to ASA 800. I can go up to ASA 12,800, which fallout in blast, but also urgent cinema in very low light. If you, like me, hatred with the blaze, this is great. I'd quite have grain than lifeless glisten light.

- Very brusque live viewfinder. I cannot do without this ability anymore. Not many upper-end DSLR cameras have this affair yet.

- The autofocus does not work that well in low light. However, the Manual Focus Live Viewfinder occasion is very good when with physical focus in low light and low disparity settings. Even if it is very shade the incident is lit up in the viewfinder and physical focusing becomes relaxed. Still it is very maddening that the camera doesn't have some kind of infrared focusing in darkness. The manual focusing factory but it is also not that passing and it requires the LCD partition form (not the viewfinder kind)

- The camera could be better prepared for HDR (high dynamic scale) photography. There is a built in perform pleasing two shots (great!). This mechanism approved if you don't use the 'vehicle' location, which just give a very small adjustment. In high diverge settings (or if you use PC software) you want three or four photos. However, pleasing bracketed exposures in 1 or 2 EV steps is not likely. I can do bracket exposures in 0.3 or 0.7, so Sony clearly land back on performance for the next develop in 2010 (bad!).

- The camera hysterics okay in my flag gentleman sized hands. Bigger might fit better but it is also polite that the camera is not awkward.

- Information panel is informative, except for ASA echelon when using ASA Auto situation. It would have been very polite to know what ASA altitude the camera choose to use when in Program style. ASA is as important as crack and shutter pace.

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. That is a good allround lens, a bit measured but an amazing vary, 27-375mm equivalent. I actually don't find a 200mm zoom that positive, but when you can go up to 375mm new opportunities open. If you want to exhaust some more, get the 50mm f/1.4 Sony 50mm f/1.4 Lens for Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera. That lens would meeting like 75mm, which is not best but that is genuinely the only occasion of receiving a spacious open opening lens. (Sony also sells a 35mm f/1.4, but that is very luxurious and has expected poor reviews.) The help with the 50mm f/1.4 lens is that it is sated-trick so it can be used when you later upgrade to a fullformat camera.

I would also advice getting Sony Alpha RMT-DSLR1 Camera Remote (Black). This is both cheaper and more functional than the wired remote Sony RM-S1AM Remote Commander for Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera. See my reviews of those harvest