[shoplink 3617][/shoplink]

Photographyblog posted their new [shoplink 3617]Sony A55[/shoplink] review: “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.“…”The Sony A55 is a great marriage of new and old, competitively priced to take on the best that mid-range DSLRs and Compact System Cameras can offer, and surpassing both in many ways. Highly Recommended.”

Click those links to visit the A55 page and check price and availability: [shopcountry 3617]

The german website Dkamera (Click here) created a nice Sony [shoplink 3617]A55[/shoplink] vs [shoplink 5509]A580[/shoplink] comparison tool. There is no need to read german to play with it! You can select the ISO and RAW or JPG option to compare the image quality. You can select daylight, night and flash image samples. Cool! And now let us know. Which camera shows the better results?

Check A55 price and availability at [shopcountry 3617] (Click on shop name to visit the direct product page).
Check A580 price and availability at [shopcountry 5509]

 Loading ...

Lately we read many positive reviews about the A55 and the A580. But Techradar doesn’t agree with all of them. They tested the A580 and gave them a Overall score of 3/5 only! They didn’t like the Image Quality results: “Although the majority of images are accurate enough, the camera does have a tendency of making them a little too warm. This, together with the odd underexposure, can produce dense-looking results, although the system also shows a tendency to veer towards unexpected coldness at times, which is particularly noticeably when the same scene is shot from a slightly different perspective. In summary, the A580 is clearly capable of capturing good images with plenty of detail, but leaving it to its automated settings doesn’t always produce the desired result.”

Read the full review at Techradar and feel free to share yout thoughts about their test results.

Meanwhile ThePhoBlographer posted the third part of the A580 field review.

P.s.: DxO Optics Pro v6.5.4 adds support for the Sony A580

Direct shop links (Click on shop name to visit the product page and check price and availability):
Sony A580 at: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE, AmazonFR, AmazonUK, eBay

Reviewers worked hard this weekend and tested some of the best Alpha cameras!

First Neocamara posted their Sony Alpha SLT-A55 detailed Review: “Without a doubt, the Sony Alpha SLT-A55 deserves our highest rating and we really cannot wait to know how SLT cameras will evolve from here. For now, the A55 is a very compelling DSLR-replacement, particularly for new photographers and video enthusiasts.“. The final verdict is EXCELLENT.
Click on shop names to check the A55 availability and price: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.de, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr

Than we found two new Sony A580 reviews. The first is from Neutralday: ““Biggest bang for the buck” is a term that’s used quite a bit, but it does seem appropriate in the case of the Sony A580“. The second review is from Cameraguide: “For about $800 the A580 provides the image quality and performance of cameras hundreds of dollars more, but does so in a very consumer friendly format“.
Click on shop names to check the A580 availability and price: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.de, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr

CNET UK tested the Sony A850 fullframe camera: “Offering high performance at a relatively low price, the Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 is one of the cheapest ways to enter the world of full-frame photography. If you can afford it, you’re unlikely to be disappointed.”
Click on shop names to check the A850 availability and price: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.de, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr

DxOmark added the test results of the Sony A560. As you can see from the image above the performance is very close to the NEX-5 whereby it shares the same sensor. The Sony A560 is currently in Stock at Amazon US (Click here) but not in Europe.

P.S.: Take a little bit of time to read the following article at Luminous Landscape: “An Analysis by Peter van den Hamer“. It explains how DxO tests the cameras. And those are just a few interesting info from the article:

• “newer models generally outperform older models. In particular, the newest APS-C models (Nikon’s D7000 and Pentax’ K-5 and Sony Alpha 580) outperform the older 1.3× sensors and even most full-frame (1.0×) sensors due to a significantly lower noise floor.
• The performance of the mirrorless Sony NEX-5 is in line with its 1.5× APS-C sensor. Its mirrorless design and its use of an electronic viewfinder have no impact on image quality: a classic SLR swings its mirror out of the way during the actual exposure. So the lack of a mirror doesn’t affect image quality.
• The Sony Alpha 55 , with its notable semi-transparent^[4] mirror, performs roughly as you would expect given its APS-C sensor. But because its semi-transparent mirror doesn’t swing out of the way, 30% of the light never reaches the sensor. Note the performance gap between the Alpha 55 on the one hand and the Nikon D7000 or Pentax K-5 or Sony’s own Alpha 580: the higher score (lower noise) of the latter group could be explained^[5] by the light diverted by the Alpha 55’s stationary semi-transparent mirror.“

What we are posting now will definitely start a BIG discussion! Than according to DxOmark lab results the [shoplink 3028]Sony A580[/shoplink] easily outperforms the translucent [shoplink 3617]A55[/shoplink] brother! Color dept, Dynamic range and ISO performance are better on the classic DSLR Sony camera! De facto the A580 is as good as the Nikon D7000. It looks like you loose a bit of image quality when using a camera with translucent mirror. Let’s face it, difference is barely noticeable in real world pictures but Sony has to work to close the gap between the two technologies. Maybe that’s the reason why Sony has taken all that time to develop the A77 and A99 cameras. I am sure at the end we will say that it was worth to wait…at least I hope so :)

Direct shop links (Click on shop name to visit the product page and check price and availability):
Sony A580 at: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE, AmazonFR, AmazonUK, eBay
Sony A55 at: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE, AmazonFR, AmazonUK, eBay

[shoplink 3617][/shoplink]

Potographyblog published a new Sony A580 test and get’s highly recommended by the reviewers: “When Sony launched the A55 and A580 cameras alongside each other, many questioned why they needed two such similar cameras in their line-up. While they do share a lot of common ground, the larger and easier-to-use A580 with its trusty optical viewfinder is a great DSLR, and thanks to its 16 megapixel sensor, full HD video and improved AF system, also a real rival to similar offerings from Canon and Nikon.”

Natioal Geographic Shooter Ben Horton reviewed the translucent verison f the A580…the Sony A55. Ben Horton is the same guy that compared Canon and Zeiss lens quality (and declared Zeiss as the clear winner!): “Shooting video with the A55 was a dream. The ability to use autofocus while shooting, coupled with being able to use the viewfinder as opposed to the LCD screen on the back of the camera makes this one of my top picks for HDDSLR shooting. The new Zeiss lenses focus silently, so they don’t interrupt your sound capture while filming.”

Direct shop links (Click on shop name to visit the product page and check price and availability):
Sony A580 at: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE, AmazonFR, AmazonUK, eBay
Sony A55 at: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE, AmazonFR, AmazonUK, eBay