Sony A58 versus Sony A57 image comparison!
This is the very first time we see image samples of the new A58. SLRclub (Click here) posted a comparison between the A58 and the A57 and I have to say results are indeed impressive! The A58 has more resolution, more sharpness and less noise than the A57. Again check these images and see for yourself: http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=newproduct_sony&no=9099.
And David K. from Photoclubalpha (Click here) posted his thoughts about the new A58. He explains in easy words what one of the new A58 features is, the “TriLuminos colour gamut“. Nice article!
Loading ...
Kevin
4 months ago |I think you’ll see whatever you want to see in those images. The A57 images looked slightly softer in some areas, but the A58 images had sharpening applied much more liberally.
J Shin
4 months ago |I agree. These seem to be JPEG images, judging by compression artifacts around fine features and smudged ISO noise. What we see might be improved JPEG algorithm, or turned-up sharpening, rather than improvement in the sensor. Still an improvement, and pretty darn good performance, but…
Frank
4 months ago |I’ll wait for a comparison from somebody who knows how to set up two identical shots.
Mike Murphy
4 months ago |I agree. It looks to me as though the point of focus is slightly closer in the A57 shots, and this makes the detail look sharper for the A58. As you say, there is no harm in waiting for dpreview with its identical shots.
Thus far I am sticking with my even older A55.
TorstenG
4 months ago |++
Sky_walker
4 months ago |dPreview isn’t good in focusing spot-on either.
The Lotus Eater
4 months ago |They didn’t downsize the A58 to 16mp or upsize the A57 shots to 20mp, so this test is pretty much pointless. dpreview don’t do that either.
JustSoldMySLT
4 months ago |+1…
its an unfair comparison…
a58 with 18-55 II
vs
a57 with 18-55 I
for all we know the sharpness might come directly from the lens instead of the body.
RB
4 months ago |…and how sets the cameras on a stable tripod to take the shots wiggly-free.
Le Star
4 months ago |+1
Those comparisons are comparing the A58 with new lens and A57 with old kit lens. This leaves me wondering what exactly are they trying to compare, the sensor, or the glass. Frank, you and I know they should be comparing just one thing, but have failed.
That aside, at ISO 6400 the A58 seems to have some very aggressive NR in the shadow regions. Looking at the cropped shot of the tank, the A57 clearly shows definition in the shadows where the A58 shows none. But it’s hard to tell why this lack of resolution arises from – the glass, poor focussing, or NR.
TBH, I do not see anything that makes me say “WOW!” What really stands out is the difference in AWB. But without a reference photo, it’s impossible to say which of the two cameras is more accurate.
don1
4 months ago |Well I have found the AWB to very inaccurate on the A57 under low light.
Le Star
4 months ago |I have no issues with the AWB on either my A580 or A57. And to be honest, when I shoot under fluorescent lights, I want it to look like I’ve shot under fluorescent lights! I want the camera to capture what my eye sees, not what a processor calculates what my eye sees.
Besides, I’ll correct any imbalance later, should I so wish.
I am ambivalent about the A58. Though it is reassuring to see that Sony is tweaking the algorithms in an attempt to improve the cameras.
Seeky
4 months ago |I agree, most of the time I need to use custom wb in degrees Kelvin, AWB is often too warm/red under artificial light. Of course I want the camera to record what my eyes see in addition to what I find appropriate for the shot, so improved AWB would be nice.
Ian
4 months ago |exactly, this is a bit useless
Robin Edgar
4 months ago |Exactly.
The focus point is different and it seems that even the exposures are not identical, even if nominally so.
Tom S
4 months ago |Agree 100%. The objects are hardly ever the same size, some of the shots are out of focus – I cannot for sure say the A58 is that much better..
MdB
4 months ago |JPEGs in good light, not much to gather. JPEG engine does look better on the A58 at higher ISOs to me, but I can’t really tell as I’m never looking at JPEGs. Looks better than 24MP models though…
Andrew Lynch
4 months ago |Can’t see a difference
Damir
4 months ago |I dont see any improvments. Only sharpening applied.
alphaman
4 months ago |I dont see improvement either. if anything the extra sharpening makes it look more point and shoot.
One stop improvement my ass.
Jesse Lim
4 months ago |Seems like the A57 has better shadow details and better bokeh noise than the new A58… Notice the A57 has a better transition and well defined shadow and lite area on the close up tank shot compared to the A58′s.
The A58 simply blobbed up the in-focus and bokeh transition zone… definitely a step back and proves too much MP on a small sensor is a bad thing to do…
CTPhotographX.com
4 months ago |The test is invalid. The a57 is back focused and the a58 is front focused. Don’t judge shadow detail with two different focus points. Bad test.
alphaman
4 months ago |so tehy both have bad af systems…nice
Jesse Lim
3 months ago |Disregarding either it is front focused or back focused, the idea is that the transition zone between in focus and out of focus object, the A58 seems to struggle to give a more “smooth” resolving capabilities. As from the cropped sample, it simply blobbed the entire zone out, not as tiny bit more “smooth than the A57.
Anyways, it was just an entry SLT only, no big fuzz to be made here.
ageha
4 months ago |“Bokeh noise”? lol
Jesse Lim
3 months ago |In a bad sensor/lens, the out of focus bokeh will not be will resolved thus will instead “infested” with noise.
A good sensor/lens will be able to resolve it much more properly. I have compared with a Zeiss G Lens and 3rd party tamron and indeed, Zeiss & the G resolves the bokeh region much more better rather than being becoming a blob of noise.
mouse
4 months ago |Looks like A58 has jpeg much more sparpened. Alse there is a lot less detail in the darks (last 100% images show it the best).
But I would say that RAWs will be impressive, my old A200 is far beyond this level
mouse
4 months ago |Not beyond – below…
CTPhotographX.com
4 months ago |The test is invalid. The a57 is back focused and the a58 is front focused. Don’t judge shadow detail with two different focus points. Bad test.
Kenk
4 months ago |This brings up a very sensitive subject. Sony is making superior sensor probably largely dependent on the fact that they provide sensors for other camera manufacturers. Sooner or later, there will be a Nikon with subtle improvement over the A58 while still using the sensor.
Question:
Would you rather:
a) Have a Sony camera that is among the best always beaten by the Nikon
OR
b) Have a superior Sony camera that is still worse than what we are having today.
?
Sky_walker
4 months ago |And than there will be Pentax getting better results than Nikon.
Question:
Would you rather:
a) Have a Nikon camera that is among the best always beaten by the Pentax
OR
b) Have a superior Nikon camera that is still worse than what we are having today.
?
John Maverick
4 months ago |The technical advantage SONY has in sensor performance is not enough to swing the photographic community to it’s cameras. Selling to other makers therefore makes sense to increase volume. At the same time it’s worth nothing that SONY don’t sell to everyone, so they might be playing a game of trying to isolate some makers and reduce the fiels of competitors.
Kenk
4 months ago |Good point.
After all, no sales at all is bad for the brand and the photgrapher as well.
E
4 months ago |I have no problems in losing a third to a half stop towards Nikon and instead gaining PDAF using live view and video.
I also dont mind that the EVF gives me a brighter view in dusk to dark light, or that I can see the consequences of WB and EV adjustments in the EVF before I shoot.
I also like that the screen doesn’t become completely black when I do DOF preview.
It is more a matter of remembering the good sides of the design.
/E
Joe
4 months ago |yawn, NEX7 news please
Ken
4 months ago |whats the meaning by comparing 2 different camera with 2 different lens?
E
4 months ago |I see no problems with that, just make the right conclusions.
If these are out-of-the-box shots, I think I would take the A58 instead of a special deal on the a57.
Zohee35
4 months ago |More shadow smudging isn’t impressive in my book. That’s the Canon approach too.
Based on these jpegs and the claim that the engine is improved too, it’s hard to imagine there will be a substantial improvement in RAW.
CTPhotographX.com
4 months ago |The test is invalid. The a57 is back focused and the a58 is front focused. Don’t judge shadow detail with two different focus points. Bad test.
knurd
4 months ago |That could also show the new and better focusing system in the a58. My a55 can’t focus worth a crap. So that trumps the a57 if focusing is consistent on the a58.
spaceman
4 months ago |Seems like A57 JPEG has more noise reduction, but in any case we need a RAW comparison.
Admin – Any chance the NEX-7N will be around 30Mpix, or is it pretty safe to expect 24.3Mpix again and get something similar to the new Nikon D7100?
John C
3 months ago |Sony hasn’t bumped the resolution on any of the other cameras in the Nex lineup after the Nex-7 was released, so, I think it would be safe to say that the Nex-7N (or whatever it is called) will not get a higher resolution sensor. The real question is whether or not they will decrease the resolution on the Nex-7 lineup, I doubt it, but it could be a possibility.
knurd
4 months ago |The images look great but since Sony is claiming the a58 has better dynamic range, I have to say that I’m disappointed. You can see more details in the shadows in the a57 pics. The a58 just has more detail in what it shows. But the high ISO results so far look pretty good. If I can get sharper images with less shadow detail then I might get this until I have money for a 6D.
shamb
4 months ago |It just looks like a bad subject for dynamic range: inside a dark room pointing at a bright window (or just landscape and sky) would have been a far better test for that.
Colamango
4 months ago |A57 more detail after ISO 6400,
conclusion is A57 still better then A58
spaceman
4 months ago |Haha, I see the exact opposite. Silly to conclude anything based on a jpeg test anyway.
Colamango
4 months ago |actually, this is very unfair comparison,
i need the RAW test,
J Shin
4 months ago |I don’t understand why reviewers *ever* post sensor (or lens, for that matter) comparisons using out-of-camera JPEGs. I’m guessing that’s all they have access to when they have a preproduction body, but they do this even when RAW is available. This review does not even have any caveats about this.
I’m curious, Admin… Maybe we could do a poll. How many people shoot stills JPEG only, RAW only, or both only? I shoot both only.
Tom S
4 months ago |RAW only
John Maverick
4 months ago |Who cares about comparing sharpness – it’s mostly a function of the lens and the jpeg engine and whether there’s an AA filter. Instead low and high ISO performance and dynamic range should be the focus of interest.
Carl
4 months ago |The biggest difference seems to be the white balance algorithm to my eyes.
Still, having the 18-55 I on one camera and the 18-55 II on the other means its more of a lens comparison than a camera comparison.
Denis
4 months ago |Not interesting. Waiting for RAW at imaging resource.
GreenLens
4 months ago |Irrespective the focus points, a58 seemingly applies more sharpening and also more NR locally in the shadows. The worst looking jpegs ever, remind more TX10 files than Minolta’s.
Jason
4 months ago |They need to use a tripod if they are going to judge sharpness.
elipsoid
4 months ago |While I agree with the above comments about using a tripod and the same lens for this test, it does show something. If you don’t compare the two cameras pixel by pixel, the result is pretty much the same – it is very hard to spot any difference.
I am most likely to go ahead and get the a57 for around USD470. The image quality seems to be on par with the a58 + I get 1080p@60fps and metal lens mount (not that I really need one). The OLED viewfinder would be nice, but that doesn’t affect the resulting picture quality.
Or is there another reason for a58?
GreenLens
4 months ago |RAW resolution and DR. Both unknown yet. Better battery life.
elipsoid
4 months ago |Personally 16 mpix is enough for me. DR seems to be the same, judging by these pictures. Maybe the difference will be clearer with better comparison shots. The battery life seems to be better, true.
Stan
4 months ago |Those are halfassed jpeg snapshots that aren’t using the same lens, not focused the same way and are not kept at the same distance. Might as well put a piece of semi-clear plastic sheet over those shots… That comparison is just useless.
Damir
4 months ago |it should be a48
anon
4 months ago |Number 4 is considered unlucky in some Asian cultures.
Shashi
4 months ago |Big fan of Sony. But hate to see Sony going back and reducing the quality & specs for
Nex 3n and A58.
A57 pic looks better here.
Nex 3n has lower res screen than all Nex 3 ver…etc
JJ
4 months ago |Man don’t just go out spreading false impressions, there’s no difference in quality only more sharpenning as mentioned above. Pixel peeping at its prime!
harv
4 months ago |Hey, we’re talking ISO 3200 here! Are YOU gonna use it? Given that, the quality is astonishing. For best comparison I’d like to see RAW’s, of course! People shooting JPEG’s AND claiming they aim for quality just shout and can’t be taken seriously.
Roman
4 months ago |I see more noise on A58 in shadow areas. It is not very promising.
Stan
4 months ago |What you see is Jpeg engine sharpening. The colors do seem a bit more natural on A58 Jpegs. But these are still JPEGS!
Carl G
3 months ago |No, he sees more noise in the shadow regions. No need to tell someone what they see. I see more noise too, and the sharpening is trying to hide it (which looks awful by the way, those un-uniform jaggies and such have been around for quite a awhile now). Another unimpressive Jpeg engine from Sony.
mjp
4 months ago |I see:
-more resolution
-different (better?) AWB, it’s cooler.
-either a different tone curve is used or DR is slightly better in the shadows
-seems sharper but as mentioned if focusing is at different points then no judgement can be made yet.
-NR is different
-plastic mount caused lens to wobble (kidding)
mjp
4 months ago |anybody know if the a58 has a MIC input?
ageha
4 months ago |Seriously, what do you think?
mjp
4 months ago |if it does, it is made of plastic…?
ms
4 months ago |is it me or do the colors on the new camera look a little washed out compared to the old one?
mjp
4 months ago |yes just because the AWB is cooler. I thought my nex-5 was too warm – great for sunsets but sometimes made my kids look like they fake baked when shooting in later day sun.
Tus
4 months ago |Pointless comparison! Admin don’t just post things. You will loose readers in the long run.
Quality counts not number of words!!!
AG
4 months ago |This doesn’t seem improved, but about the same. As an A57 owner, I went from excited to disappointed, but now I’m worried that Sony is trashing there credibility with things like a plastic lens mount. The A57 wasn’t old and won respect, but the A58 could really hurt Sony. Saving a few bucks on plastic and cheap LCD is not going to be a winning strategy.
Also, the PS4 stuff is looking weak. Bad week for Sony.
Jules
4 months ago |Like i said many times before: Don ‘t expect too much……….IQ is already nearly optimal for amateur and pro! Suggestion, go outdoor ,take pictures, have fun!!
Me
4 months ago |I need a fourth voting option “About the same….”
alphaman
4 months ago |where is the ONE STOP of improvement promised? Its not even 1/3 stop if at all…
ageha
4 months ago |Well, to be fair nobody promised that. It was just a typical Sony Alpha rumor… Prepare to be disappointed.
ageha
4 months ago |The admin is smoking good stuff again. I always wonder from where he pulls his conclusions?!
Vivek
4 months ago |I have to agree. I am also still trying to figure out how he came to the conclusion that the 18-55 E zoom is inferior to the pathetic 16-50 E zoom???
Stan
4 months ago |His stuff is good, highly recommend it
Hey Admin, pass the pipe, so that we all stop complaining and start doing something constructive, like take pictures. lol
Mando
4 months ago |A57 looks better , less noise in the shadows
mjp
4 months ago |esp at 12K ISO it is really noticeable. However I wonder what NR off and RAW would look like. I hate messy NR. I turn NR off on my e-pm1 but have to live with tons of noise in the shadows at ISO 320 and higher. Maybe the a58 isn’t that bad with NR off…we’ll see.
Baki Çirkin
4 months ago |where development? not satisfactory…Waiting for the big change
Jules
4 months ago |Like i said many times before: Don ‘t expect too much……….IQ is already nearly optimal for amateur and pro!
Suggest, go outdoor ,take pictures, have fun!!
skeptical
4 months ago |This test is indeed pointless as to what the sensor can do; maybe the JPEG engine. Look at the last comparison, ISO 6400. There’s a huge difference here in noise reduction settings. This is not the sensor.
jason
4 months ago |are you drunk? are the same!
Cliff
4 months ago |Gotta love the higher pixel count sensor! Wow!!!
Taro
4 months ago |The pictures are not taken from the same view point (compare background feature locations relative o the subject) nor are they focused on the same point in the subject (see the background is sharper in the A 57 shots while the foreground is sharper in the A58 shots. With that said the “test” is useless.
MrLee
4 months ago |Not very promising… And neither was the Playstation 4 release…
Sony needs HELP…
Kevin
4 months ago |I think if you pixel peep your going to be disappointed. Never knew that pixel peep was required to make a decent Photograph. From what I can see if you don’t pixel peep, the Photographs look better. Perception is always perception. This is a constant discussion here. Canon is better. Nikon is better. This guy is better. That perception and opinion.
If you look at film. The film that gave the best color, didn’t necessarily have the best control ever noise or grain as they called it. What can you learn from this. Look at the whole picture. I’m sure Sony is!
Kevin
4 months ago |The trouble I have with Sony is miniaturization of everything and there constant need to make everything so small. If they where in to making hand for people they would make it so small that you could not hold it. The nex cam might be great, but I think it’s to small. If they try to push Photographers into the nex without a design change to a larger format? They’ll lose.
Photographers are not people who just take a picture. They are more. We care about what we do with our images that we make. In return we expect those who make gear we use to care for us. This is what makes the world go around. The world can spin, but a human can put a better spin on it.
Kevin
4 months ago |I heard people say Sony is a gadget making company. That’s not true! Sony is a miniaturization manufacture with the ability to make fine Electronics. Ho much smaller can things be made?
Simon T
4 months ago |A58 does not seem to be any better than the A57 or even as good but we await the raw results. Big yawn really same applies as previously want a half decent camera get the A57 now and forget the plastic disaster A58
Kevin
4 months ago |I keep telling everybody get a A57, $150 mic, and the sal-55300 retial $300.
total retail $1,150.
Sale price $700. If you except the lens and the mic for there price. You can pick up a metal mount A57 for just $250 bucks grant it it’s a bundled package.
That’s the price of a repair through Sony repair.
bonafit
3 months ago |croping frame and angle! comparison that is not balanced
Mark
3 months ago |Letz wait and see for a real review on the new a58.
so far this dosnt say anything, as different lenses were used. what you can see so far is that noise reduction is much more present on a58, but maybe this is a setting in firmware…
as mentioned, letz wait for a real review and then judge
Carl G
3 months ago |I’d have to see raw. Using Sony’s Jpeg engine gives such a false representation of the final image quality. Sony’s NR and sharpening algorithms are a few generations back from DSLR maker competitors… still. Not impressed with what SLRclub are showing there. My guess is that although the A58 will have more DR, it won’t have the better noise control that the A57 has, even if you downsize images to the 57 level.
Differences won’t be catastrophic, but noticeable.
-Carl Garrard
kelly
3 months ago |funny people comparing a58 to a57…
a58 replace a38… not a57 (just look at plastic mount, lcd not articulated, not 1080p, PRICE!!!)
if sony pull out the a38 at last minute, it means they pull out the a38 name, but the same body came out as a58
wait for the a57 replacement in the a68, with all the upgrades they put in the a37 -> a58…
25% more pixels
high dinamic range
new autofocus
wifi play apps
they will put the a68 probably by summer and a78 by fall
next year they will put a cheaper ff in the a88 (a99 less weather sealed body and other tiny downgrades)
probably price will be like this
a68 $799
a78 $999
a88 $1999
Simon T
3 months ago |Sony are more likely to bring out a camera where you can play Gran Turismo than release an A38. They can’t afford to buy the metal mount anyway so what’s the point. Jpeg engine is broke too, they put bracketing on the A58 yet ignore other users with a lame firmware update.
This company is going down they’re completely out of touch lost the plot
They’ve sold about 2 A99′s as well wow that was good!
SALik
3 months ago |new images:
http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=newproduct_sony&page=1&divpage=2&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=9106
http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=newproduct_sony&page=1&divpage=2&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=9101
Vamp898
3 months ago |Did anyone noticed that the A58 Images have much less color saturation and that the color saturation have a huge impact about how image noise stands out?
I think ill wait for Imaging-Resource or dpreview before doing any judgement.