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Lori Grunin from CNET reviewed the Sony A55: “Expensive and probably a bit large for the typical point-and-shoot upgrader, the Sony Alpha SLT-A55V nevertheless delivers the performance and photo quality boost those shooters are expecting.”

There is also a very long and detailled review at Letsgodigital: “What remains is a remarkably good performing camera, we cannot deny it. The Sony SLT-A55 uses an old technology to innovate and optimize, which has raised the camera to an outstanding level.”

For our japanese readers: Itmedia and Journal.mycom also posted a new A55 review.

Les G. sent us the following text: “There is a full review of the Sony A55 in this week’s “Amateur Photographer” magazine in the UK, in the issue dated Sat 20th Nov 2010. The tone of the review is mostly very positive and enthusiastic. (NB – The AP never prints any review without including at least a few ifs & buts! The AP always awards marks out of 100. The reviewer has awarded 84% (ie 84/100) to the Sony A55. This compares very well to their rave review of the Nikon D7000 in last week’s issue 13 Nov, which gained just 85% (85/100).”

Feel free to use those direct product links to check the A55 price and availability:
Amazon, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Pixmania DE, Pixmania BE, Pixmania AT, Pixmania UK, Pixmania NL, Pixmania PL, Pixmania IT.

Image courtesy: Photozone.de

Photozone released a triple lens review:

1) Sony 30mm f/2.8 DT macro review: “Like most dedicated macro lenses it is extremely sharp straight from f/2.8. Possibly the nicest aspect of the Sony lens is its pricing. At less than 200EUR/US$ it’s really a steal in relation to its capabilities.“

2) Sony 50mm f/1.8 DT review: “The Sony 50mm f/1.8 DT ( SAL-50F18 ) is pretty much a no-brainer for Sony APS-C DSLR users. The lens is very sharp even at f/1.8 and the resolution is about as good as it gets around f/5.6.“

3) Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical review (on Sony NEX): “So all-in-all it isn’t really a perfect lens but it’s fairly affordable on the used market.“

Not all of you may kow that Lensbaby announced new Tilt-shift lenses for Sony at Photokina. Those lenses were first available for US citizens via Amazon (Click here). Now even the rest of the world can get it via Adorama on eBay (Click here). The Lensbaby is actually divided into two parts; the standard Composer optic and a Tilt Transformer, which allows photographers to mount any Nikon lens onto a Sony NEX camera.

Click here: Lensbaby-NEX auctions on eBay

Thanks Tyson!

And here I am again with the next A850/A900 firmware rumor. Sony was expected to release that firmware a few months ago but as I learned from my sources Sony had many problems with the “old” minolta software architecture of the A850/A900. I confess that I thought we would never see a new firmware for these cameras. But a few weeks ago I received a new rumor and it looks like the impossible will (finally) become possible. The Sony Santa Claus will make a (well deserved) present for every A850 and A900 owners!

UPDATE: Another source said that “there are 4 updates which will come to A850/900 firmware. Most of them is exposure compensation, AF performance and Release w/lens in menu option..”

There are three reasons why Sony releases the firmware:
1) To improve the autofocus performance and to give a big image quality boost! This is a major upgrade (I have been told). I hope this will bring the cameras closer to the Nikon D3X performance.
2) To push the christmas sales.
3) This is also a message to current users that Sony takes care of you and will support and soon expand the fullframe system!

So let’s cross the finger and hope that the firmware will REALLY be announced soon and REALLY bring some major improvement! Thanks Sony!
Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors! I hope to get some more details soon…

Check price and availabiltiy of the A850 at:
Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

Check price and availabiltiy of the A900 at:
Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

Our friend Kurt Munger published the new Sony DT 35mm F/1.8 SAM review: “The little Sony DT 35mm F/1.8 SAM lens turned in a stellar performance.  The good points are; center sharpness is very high, even at F/1.8!  The mid-sections and corners sharpen up almost to match the centers at F/5.6-8, so it would make a great landscape/architecture lens. Color fringing is well controlled overall, and distortion is about average, but has a simple, easy to correct curve. ”

This is really a must have lens for all Sony APS-C camera owners (it’s not a fullframe lens!).

Click the links below to check price an availability of the lens:
Amazon US, BHphoto, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon UK.

Via kurtmunger.com