Image courtesy: Photozone

There is a new Sony lens review at Photozone. They had the good idea to review the Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM DT lens which is probably one of the most used lenses. SO how does it perform? Photozone: “Optically there’s really little to complain about – the lens is very sharp throughout the zoom range and the subjective sharpness perception benefits from quite low lateral CAs (color shadows). There’s a bit of a focus shift issue at the wide end so it’s a good idea to double check your images in shallow depth-of-field situations here.” Click here to read the full test.

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So here we are back at SAR! Christmas party is over and I hope you had a nice time with your family!
Ther first after-xmas news is coming via Cameralabs which tested the Sony A580. As you know the [shoplink 4617]Sony A580[/shoplink] shares the same Sony 16 Megapixel sensor featured inside the Nikon D7000 (although Nikon says they designed the sensor). Camerlabs made a very accurate comparison: “The Nikon D7000 metered a slightly longer exposure by default, so we applied -0.3EV of compensation to match the exposure of the Sony. So the D7000 sequence below also starts at 100 ISO with a exposure of 1 second at f8“. The Nikon has a slightly advantage at 12.800 ISO but “despite a minor advantage to the Nikon at the very highest sensitivities, we’d rank the Sony A580 and Nikon D7000 pretty much neck-in-neck here”

Now let’s compare the price:
$1,199.95 for the D7000 and $799.99 for the A580.
Although there are some differences between the two cameras (ergonomics, handling and so on) to me the Sony A580 looks like a real winner. The future A77 (and A750?) will play in the same Nikon D7000 price league and probably easily bit the High-ISO performance of the Nikon. So please Sony, release the A77 as soon as possible ;)

Those are direct shop links to the Sony A580:
Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, [shoplink 4617]eBay[/shoplink], Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Pixmania DE, Pixmania BE, Pixmania AT, Pixmania UK, Pixmania NL, Pixmania PL, Pixmania IT.

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David Kilpatrick from Photoclubalpha posted a nine page long and very accurate Sony A580 review: “there is no better APS-C DSLR available from Sony.”

P.S: On page eight he writes about the flash delay issue: “Whatever the reason, the new generation suffers from flash exposure delays all round, and this one is set to cause Sony a problem. No matter what the explanation, if other makers can provide near real-time flash and all the other required features, Sony should be able to do so too.” Hope Sony is listening…

Cgarrard from Alphamountworld published the second part of the Sony A580 review: “Sony’s A580 is the most fun to use DSLR that Sony has produced to date. I’ve used every Sony DSLR they have manufactured, owned most of them, but this one has yet to leave my side.” And how does the A580 compare with the Translucent A55? “In comparison to the SLT series I believe that less video and a couple other mentionables, the A580 is a superior value to an Alpha photographer.”

As you know Cgarrard lately critized Sony products strategy. So the fact he likes the A580 a lot is good news for us and for Sony ;)

And the good news is that unlike the A55 the A580 is in Stock almost everywhere:
Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Pixmania DE, Pixmania BE, Pixmania AT, Pixmania UK, Pixmania NL, Pixmania PL, Pixmania IT.

Image courtesy: Photozone

Today I read the article where Ken Rockwell criticizes the Sony lenses. But maybe he should took a look at the following two tested by Photozone! Both lenses do deliver a very good and in case of the Zeiss an impressive image quality!

Zeiss ZA Distagon T* 24mm f/2 SSM

The Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm f/2 SSM may not be as fast as its Canon and Nikon counterparts but it’s capable of delivering a better image quality at comparable aperture settings. Click here to read the review at Photozone. And don’t forget that there is a $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto!!!

Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 SSM G

The Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 SSM G impressed during our APS-C format test and it is capable of delivering high quality results within the full format scope as well. The build quality of the lens is very good and a step above than the mainstream. Click hee to read the review at Photozone. And also in that case you have a $50.00 Instant Savings at Adorama and BHphoto!

And visit our full US Instante Rebates page (Click here)!!!

That review will start a huge discussion on SonyAlphaRumors and elsewhere. After getting tons of positive reviews the Sony A55 camera gets completely “blamed” by the “famous” blogger Ken Rockwell (he usually tests Leica-Nikon-Cony stuff only). He analyzed the pure “photographic” aspects of the camera and came to the conclusion that “I wouldn’t buy one of these, but that’s just me. If you want something similar to a DSLR, but with better video, 10 frames per second and great GPS tagging, check this out. I’m all about photography, not gimmicks like crummy video or GPS.”

And:”Image quality is poor, because the A55 lacks some very important image adjustments.” and “Sony could have been brilliant, and made this camera silent. Nope, even without a flipping mirror, the Sony A55 is at least as noisy, and has at least as much sharpness-robbing mechanical vibration as a conventional SLR.”…”Steady Shot doesn’t work as well as VR or IS.”

What’s good? Exposure, AF is good, Ergonomics.

Read his review because he added tons of arguments against the camera. read carefully and please argument why you do or do not agree with his review!