Sony A55VHZ 16.2 MP Digital SLR with Translucent Mirror Technology and SAL18-250 Lens Kit

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Product Feature

• Translucent Mirror Technology accelerates AF performance
• Continuous 10 fps shooting with continuous Phase Detect AF
• 16.2 megapixels with Sony's Exmor HD APS sensor
• 1080/60i Full AVCHD or 1080/30p movies
• 3D Sweep Panorama Mode: incredible views to enjoy on 3DTV

Product Description

Capture your perfect moments with the world's first Translucent Mirror Technology DSLR enabling simultaneous focusing and capture. Continuous shooting is an amazing 10 frames per second, complete with continuous auto focus. Auto focus is also visibly faster in Live View and HD Movie modes.

Sony A55VHZ 16.2 MP Digital SLR with Translucent Mirror Technology and SAL18-250 Lens Kit Review

After spending endless time reviewing articles and talking with several camera and photography professionals, I took the plunge, and finally moved up from a point and shoot super zoom (a small Nikon), with the generous aid of my lovely wife as a birthday present. It has been truly a revelation, in terms of both video and photo quality. Like everything else, it's all about tradeoffs. The larger APS-C sensor (in most digital SLRS and larger format ILC like the Sony NEX series) means a bigger body, more weight, larger lenses, and of course more money for all that glass, but also means much better low light performance, higher detail, and faster performance. The difference in low light is really huge, where a point and shoot struggles to produce a decent 4x6 print, while an APS-C camera can produce a decent 8x10 at ISO 1600. I initially struggled with the question of what lens to get with the camera - the standard kit lens and a modest telephone (75-200) or a superzoom lens like the 18-250. I am glad I chose the latter, as it has been a great plus to not have to change lenses. The lens is reasonably sharp, not as sharp as a prime lens (or the new Sony 16-50mm 2.8), but not bad especially if stopped down a bit (at least to f5.6 if not f8 - lens is sharpest at ~f8). The lens however is heavier by a lot compared with the standard kit lens (which is not a bad lens by any means and offers a cheaper alternative), but then again, it does a lot more. See testing of this lens and the standard kit lens at imaging resource if you want the technical details.

What Sony has done with their APS-C sensor (and by the way they make the sensor that Nikon uses in the 5100 and several other Nikon SLRs) is nothing short of brilliant. First of all, the idea of a translucent mirror that doesn't have to move, and that therefore provides constant live view and constant phase detection autofocus in movie mode (and also provides 10 frames per second high speed shooting to boot) was a stroke of genius - you do have give up the through the lens view (but get a bright electronic viewfinder that is bigger and brighter than all but the very best SLR prisms and is 'through the lens' too but derived from the sensor).

The whole design is well executed, rich with useful (as opposed to gimmicky) features, and provides a rich operating system for those upgrading from small digital cameras, while offering most of the traditional virtues of SLRs. Software provided by Sony is also quite good, offering many useful editing and other features. The panorama and high dynamic range modes are a revelation to work with.

Bottom Line -- you get better movie ability and the same photo capability of most of the best mid-range dSLRs, and with a richer feature set and full time autofocus both for liveview photo and movie work.

Pros:

1) Has won numerous awards (a rare Gold Award from Digital Photography Review, 2010 Camera of the Year from Popular Photography, rave review from Imaging Resources) due to its great feature set, performance, and value for the money
2) Great movie capability (excepting one major and one minor issue)
3) Great photo capability with many useful modes and special features (including a super panorama mode and a 10 fps high speed mode)
4) Easy to use for someone with modest technical ability - just put in AUTO or AUTO+ modes and start shooting.
5) Flexible and powerful for someone with more technical ability willing to master the multiple modes and functions
6) Best LCD panel in the price range, fully articulated
7) Sony's lenses are relatively cheap and fairly light weight with decent optics and performance (compared with Canon & Nikon)
8) Good (and fast) autofocus - rarely misses a shot
9) Neatest feature (among many) - automatic activation of electronic viewfinder and deactivation of LCD by proximity to the eyepiece -- EVF turns on as you get near it)
10) Wide zoom range from 18-250 means that one lens covers almost everything from moderate wide angle to moderate telephoto

Cons:

1) When using IS (image stabilization) in movie mode, camera sensor heats up quickly, limiting movie length to a few minutes (29 minutes max without IS) - temperature dependent
2) Modest battery life, esp. if you use the great LCD a lot (can be turned off)
3) Limited control in movie mode, and only two file formats (AVCHD AND MP4) and three file resolutions
4) Limited playback options for movie files from within the camera - start, stop and pause, no slow motion.
5) Mild tendency towards overexposure in bright conditions (easily corrected) (NOTE: improved in 2.0 firmware update)
6) Movies can get lens noise introduced, requiring external mic for best sound
7) Big lens to lug around, and as always, all that glass ain't free.

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