The Sony A55 has the best APS-C sensor (says DxOmark)
DxOmark tested the 14 Megapixel (A33) and 16 Megapixels (A55) sensor and surprise surprise…the A55 has the best APS-C sensor ever tested on DxO. Look at the following sensor ranking graph: http://dxomark.com/index.php/en/Camera-Sensor/Sensor-rankings.
It beats all Canon
The real fun with DxoMark tests is that you can easily compare the cameras like here for example: A55 vs D90 vs 7D (click here to see the comparison).
Reminder: The A55 is in Stock at Amazon US
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Comment from ET: D90 performs worse than Nex-5. See
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e_dawg
2 years ago |… but not for long. I’m sure the D7000 will have a higher score, partially because it doesn’t lose 30% of the light diverted to the AF sensors.
acolyte
2 years ago |And then A77 will have a higher score ;p ;p
nostromoavs
2 years ago |well, good for A55 but i’m still waiting on A580 test !
Damiga
2 years ago |It will be interesting to see how the a590 compares and exactly how much the mirror really affects it.
Damiga
2 years ago |580 not 590. My bad
mike
2 years ago |scores don’t mean anything, cause i would still rather shoot with the canon 7d over that a55 any day.
it’s not always about the image quality since pretty much all dslrs now have excellent quality.
people who believe the a55 is a better camera because this score prob believe in the easter bunny and the tooth fairy.
Ze
2 years ago |“it’s not always about the image quality since pretty much all dslrs now have excellent quality.” I’m sorry but since when photography is not about image quality, if it isn’t I think photographers have been fooled since the beginning of photography and let’s forget about improving the sensors and lenses because who cares about image quality, that makes the companies waste huge amounts of money on development.
I may not be a a fan of the A55 because of it’s size and having an electronic viewfinder, but I have to give “kudos” to sony for coming up with a new camera concept and injecting it with capabilities only the professional cameras have, not to mention the good reviews it has received.
acolyte
2 years ago |Ideally, it’s not about image quality. Realistically, it is. And it is my personal reason choosing Sony over Canon. But again, it’s personal.
Luis
2 years ago |The interesting part is that the 16MP sensor is quite an improvement over the already great 14MP one. Looking at the performance of the A33 vs. the NEX-5 (not exact same sensor, but pretty similar) it looks like, as predicted, the translucent mirror makes it lose between 1/3 and 1/2 of an f-stop. That means that without the mirror, the 16MP sensor is quite better than current ones (7D, D90, K-x,…). The A580 should get a final score of about 78 (and D7000 something similar). That’s pretty close to full frame performance.
Holy Bear
2 years ago |Is not D90 also using a Sony sensor ? I don’t understand why the latest Sony sensor gets the same score as a 2 years old Sony sensor…..
And I think the D7000 and A55 uses the same sensor…
Chester Lam
2 years ago |The D7000 would not lose to the a580. Neither camera loses light because of a translucent mirror.
santela
2 years ago |if u believe that stuff, then Canon cameras are all crap, there are four Nikons ranked above the best Canon.
Also the D3x would be God, it’s better than all medium format cameras but one.
And yes I’m a Nikon shooter, also a NEX shooter anxiously waiting for my Zeiss E-mount.
Q
2 years ago |Why are you getting your knickers in a knot, it’s a test of sensor’s not overall camera ability. Sony has driven the latest wave of sensor’s, so it’s no surprise that they sit at the top according to the DxO tests
acolyte
2 years ago |Q you need to wake more people up with that. This is the Canon poison =p They want to think they’re the best in everything XD
nostromoavs
2 years ago |anyay A580 is pure DSLR not translucent.
I bought A580 3 weeks ago in Croatia and i’m really happy with it .
It’s great for my weddings session with 50mm/f1.4 SAM along with standard 55-200 SAM.
Only thing that i need and yet this camera don’t have it is AF wile in movie mode and A55 has it. but I’m “old-fashined guy and I like mirrors
Bob
2 years ago |“the Nikon D90 is as good as the A55″ I don’t think so.
Take a closer look; the Nikon is better on every single graph. Only the subjective overall scores are equal.
Nice; Sony makes a camera “almost” as good as 2 year old entry-level Nikon.
Game over – nice camcorder you got there.
acolyte
2 years ago |Sheesh.. Back to the drawing board.
Pride is one’s downfall.
We try to appreciate other competitors so that the designers will hear our interest in other’s technologies.
If you try to completely put down others, what you’ll get is Canon, who’s content up there and is not pressured to innovate.
acolyte
2 years ago |Or Microsoft several years ago XD (and maybe now?)
steve
2 years ago |The A55 advantage is only at base ISO. Once you go above base ISO, the D90 has a 1/2 stop advanatge and the 7d and A55 are the same.
ET
2 years ago |D90 RAW is cooked though. If D90 was really that good, Nikon would have used the same sensor in D300s. D90 (and D5000) is just overrated due to cooked RAW
e_dawg
2 years ago |Everybody uses cooked RAW to some extent. Sony did it very blatantly and poorly with aggressive “inter-pixel” NR in the A700 and only changed that in firmware v4 after much criticism on the net. But every mfr uses some at least some form of “intra-pixel” NR on the image sensor data before it hits the RAW output stage. Reviewers and users only cry foul when the NR is done so poorly that it is destructive to image quality.
Don’t slag on Nikon for being so good with their RAW NR algorithms. Every mfr does it, but not always as effectively. It’s the end result that counts, and Nikon’s high ISO performance is very good no matter how they achieve it.
John
2 years ago |HORRAY!! SONY RULES!!!!
Now show me where it will make a difference in the images and how they will translate that to market share!!!!!
ET
2 years ago |D90 performs worse than Nex-5. See
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Alpha_NEX_3_5/high_ISO_noise.shtml
dk
2 years ago |Why fussing all over this… Current technology has peaked out, ISO performance difference between the sensors is minimal at best.
Neonsquare
2 years ago |@steve
Well – that still means the A55 is from ISO 100 up to ISO 400 and in parts ISO 800 better than the 7D and that even with this light loss through the fixed mirror. The D90 is according to the benchmark better in high iso but it actually is worse in low ISO (100-200). So with enough light the image quality is better than all you could get from the D90 sensor or any other current APS-C sensor. Again – all this even with a fixed mirror that actually causes a light loss. The A580 will not have this restriction and should therefore top the results.
WTF with A33???
2 years ago |A33 have 591 point for ISO performance. even lower than A350 or A380???
doesn’t A33 have the same sensor technology as A55???
WTF??????
Sky_walker
2 years ago |A33 uses the NEX inherited sensor. A55 uses the new one.
A33 may have lower score due to poor performance at highest iso – it’s the cost you pay for having much wider ISO range.
Joel
2 years ago |compare images at sites that reviewed the A33 and A55. The A33′s sensor definitely doesn’t perform as well as the A55′s above 400 ISO. That’s the thing that swung me to the A55.
qbic
2 years ago |Great SONY, now implement this CMOS readout mode in A900/850 firmware.
SLRist
2 years ago |Yes, the new D7000 will blow it out of the water, in every respect.
Andy
2 years ago |I expect the Nikon D90 successor the D7000 will take the top spot once its tested
hunterlar
2 years ago |pentax k-r, pentax k5
Myst
2 years ago |silly comparisons… 7d d90 are priced well above a55, a55 wipes the floor with them when it comes to price/quality. Nikon have always made great cameras there is d no doubt there, but canon’s current apsc 18mp sensor is below the nikon and sony offerings, slowly but surely canon is losing ground unless they come up with something spectacular.
i am curious about the a77 if it has a different sensor, cause we all know nikon will improve a bit on every sony sensor design, and also jack up the price by a lot.
Joel
2 years ago |Well, Nikon/Canon does still have the A55 beat on build quality. And I prefer their lens lineup to Sony’s if only for their breadth of full focus motors (SSM) instead of Sony’s propensity to use micro focus motors (SAM) in mid-range lenses.
acolyte
2 years ago |Myst, A77 is mostly likely will have a new sensor, the rumored 20+ MP sensor. But it will definitely jack up prices. BUT they should have the pressure to keep it at +/- 1k, because higher and you’re pushing it to A8xx..
Myst
2 years ago |so far, only rumors we will have to wait and see
and yea build quality and mechanics are with canon and nikon, but for me image quality and price are paramount, couple that with zeiss lenses, and some g glass and you have a worthy line-up though canon and nikon both have great lenses for me sony is the way to go forward.
and +1 on the sam, it sucks in comparison to nikon and canon’s implements of micro motors.
Sky_walker
2 years ago |Yep. SAM so far has proven to be a bad idea.
It isn’t faster nor quieter, but it eats the battery noticeably quicker, not saying about production costs. If I’d have two identical lenses, but one with and one without SAM – I’d pick this without it any time.
Harry
2 years ago |How is the sponsor of this test? LOL
Sky_walker
2 years ago |DxO Labs. It’s the company which makes DxO Optics Pro, which is a RAW tool, as well as various other stuff.
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