High ISO: Still impressed by my "old" Sony

Recently, my a580 had been pretty much neglected since I got my D600, which offers some amazing high ISO performance along with a load of other improvements.

However, I decided to give my neglected a580 a workout by taking it as a lightweight, casual walkaround camera to the Chinese New Years Wizards game. I expected to be underwhelmed by the image quality after spending so much time with the D600, but the a580 held up far better than I expected it to. The lighting around the concourse was absolutely terrible, and fast movement meant I couldn't try to get away with slow shutter speeds by using good handholding technique. I also forgot to bring my fast 50/1.7 lens. My photo taking there should have been a train wreck, but the a580's ISO 12800 performance let me get away with it.

There are newer APS-C cameras available today, but in challenging lighting conditions, the a580 still sits at the top of the heap unless you're willing to go full frame. Anyone who says Sony can't keep up with regards to high ISO performance hasn't met the a580.

Oh, and the 70-210/4 "beercan" is a solid lens, especially for the price. I can't see how Canon can charge over $600 for their 70-200/4 L lens, and really don't understand why Nikon is offering a 70-200/4 for almost $1400. I could easily get a used f/2.8 telephoto zoom for less than $1400 (which is what I did).