Did I buy at the wrong time? (a57 vs a58)

I JUST ordered my a57. It should be arriving on thursday (even though my day off is wednesday...). And NOW I hear about the a58 for the same price ($600ish). Have I made a poorly timed purchase? It does look like the a58 got some of the a37's downgraded gear like the lower res screen, which makes me a little happier.

The "funny" thing is I researched this purchase for a few months and I thought I had checked under every rock. I didn't think to check if they were replacing my camera.

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Which end do I look in to?

I think a57 is higher class than a58 . A58 is something between a37 and a57 .

Don't know where you ordered A57 from or for how much, but it is selling most places for about $200 less than when it was first released, with body only going for about $499 & w/18-55 $599.

Plan on the A58 costing more when released.  Personally, I don't think it has enough features to warrant switching from A57.  OLED EVF is nice, but I find the A57's good for me (and still more useable than any OVF), and the A58 new sensor may or may not be an improvement.  The A57 and A37 came about partly because many were not happy with the image noise on the 24 mp A65 & A77 and they hit a sweet spot of improvements over their predecessors.  With the A57 you know what you are getting and at a lower price than a year ago.

You made great choice I think.

A58 will be nice camera and probably will take a bit better quality photos but it's still lower-end than a57 I think.

A57 is solid, feels solid and makes you confident when you're holding it, and you wont feel that way with a58 IMHO, because it's lighter (which means probably feels more plastic) has small low-res display and plastic mount (so you should try not to change lenses frequently and live in fear :D). and don't forget 60(50)fps of a57's video vs 30(25) of a58

all in all I think you made right decision, I love my a57 and I wouldn't sacrifice the perfectness (for its class of course) of a57 over some minor IQ improvement.

Love the one you're with!

A57 owners have spent the last year or so telling me how noisy my A65 is and how much better the A57 is in low light, so it must be a great camera. 

Seriously though, the lower video spec, plastic mount and smaller LCD on the A58 are definite drawbacks I think, and if you really wanted the OLED viewfinder you would have bought the A65, right?  The sensor in the A57 is proven good; the A58 should be good but it's still a bit of an unknown.  And no matter what camera you buy it's only a matter of a short time before something with an upgraded sensor comes out, and it's usually an evolutionary change.  Over time, those evolutionary changes will add up of course to real improvement, but get your A57, use it happily for 3-5 years, and then worry about the next thing.

I've more than a week left in my return window, but the a57 that I bought, is home for good.  The a58 doesn't do 1080/60p video, and that video was a must for me. 30p to 60p - twice the video information over time.  That's not all though - the a57 is a great package of features.

Like you, when the a58 info started hitting several days ago, I was blindsided, and wondered if I might return the a57... If something doesn't work for me, I return it (I've returned 2 used lenses in the past 2 weeks, paid the return shipping & moved on) But there's just no way.  There's nothing else out there like the a57.  If you look through the forums, a lot of people have posted solid logic as to why the a57 remains strong in the Sony line, comparative to the a58, and dependent on features, on up the line.  It would not surprise me to see a57 bodies going for 6 - 700 on Amazon in a year's time, back up to their original price & beyond.  Sony got it together in a big way with the a57... The a58, seems to have hit more with a thud - I should give it more of a chance, and thought about it as a second camera, but I don't need it - a second a57 would serve me better.  The a57 has minor blind spots like anything - would be nice to have a battery grip that took AA's, for instance.  I bought 2 spare batts/charger, and they last forever.

Enjoy your a57, looking forward to seeing pictures!

Enjoy the A57. It really is a superb camera. The A58 is more like a jumped up A37.

No, I think you did good.  If I was buying today (bought a couple months back) knowing what I knew now back then, I wouldn't have changed my mind and still bought the A57.  There's a lot of lightning in the A57's bottle, much of which was improved upon in some way from the previous model version.  Other than possibly the new sensor (which may be good but has yet to be meaningfully tested), features/specs really didn't improve in the A58 (and unfortunately more than a few features regressed).

It seems that Sony intends to dumb down the A5x series a bit and push those wanting more into higher series bodies.

not wanting to sacrifice the 'perfectness' of the a57 for an unknown.

The way electronics are now every year, or thereabouts, you must expect a new model, just to have a new model.  It's not necessarily better than what it replaces.

Nothing wrong at all with the A57. It's a highly competent camera, and in some respects it will outperform the A58 while in some it's a very close second. Image quality wise it will be toe on toe, almost certainly, unless Sony has a very well hidden ace up their sleeve. Handling wise it will be a matter of taste. I, for example, hardly ever use the rear LCD, making that difference moot. Others rely on it all the time, making that difference paramount.

If the A57 suits your needs, not much more needs to be said. It's a great choice.

Jesper

As does anyone who can read a DxO chart.

Jesper

I disagree.

So what part of the DxO chart shows an SNR advantage above measurement tolerance for the A57?

You know as well as I do, none. So where is this advantage of the 16MP sensor? In your mind?

Jesper

Nope. I bought at the wrong time...about a week after it was released...and I haven't regretted it for a minute

Cheers

Try as you might, you can't disagree with facts. Scientifically-proven, in this case, and theoretically sound; information does not get destroyed purely because you take more samples.

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http://500px.com/draek

I think A58 is more intended to get a first-time SLR-class buyer to buy Sony, and when the A58 kit price discounts to $498 in a few months, I think they'll accomplish that. Bigger market = Bigger Share for Sony, so why not?

I think the A57 was a bit of a "happy mistake" that resulted in an amazing tool for the price, especially with the current $200 discount. I say "mistake" only for Sony because I think it steals some sales from A65 (and even A77) at times. Too much product line confusion at times, but it looks like they're shaking it all out with the new "ISO shoe" generation.

Second and third-time SLR-class buyers will likely be interested in a future A68, and it will surely cost more than the A57 does now. I'd say a smart move to pick up an A57 while you still can, unless the new ISO shoe is a necessity. Future A68 and/or A78 will likely be positioned like A65 and A77 now, but with new sensor and the ISO shoe.

I've observed otherwise first hand. I'm sick of this topic, and I'm sick of people defending their beloved purchase choice.

It's not "my" "beloved" "purchase choice", as I don't have an SLT, I don't love my SLR (I'm more of a rangefinder guy, but the SLR works), and my next purchase choice is either an A57 or A58 since I find the A65 provides a lousy value here in my country, being priced closer to the A77 than the A57 and I'm a strong believer in "there's more to a camera than its sensor". Nevertheless, facts are facts and not acknowledging them changes the truth no more than rejecting gravity allows you to fly.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/draek
http://500px.com/draek

I just checked DxOMark.
A57: 785 ISO
A65: 717 ISO

The A57 wins. But I don't care about a rating that I don't know is scientifically sound. A lot of people say a lot of things.

Ultimately, I've had both, and especially indoors, the A65 produced less quality, period. Yes, I'm fully 100% aware of SNR, noise per area vs pixel. I've rescaled images until I got sick of it.

But in the end, what was the actual deal breaker for the A65 for me: video was too dark indoors. It stopped at ISO 1600. The A57 goes to 3200. It made the difference for me. Plus digital zooming during video, although I'm not finding myself using that much. Although... now a little more again, because I now have this Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens.....

Comparing with the A58. The A58 doesn't offer 60p (or 50p in PAL) video. And that'd be a deal breaker for me. I can't begin to say how much nicer 60 fps is vs 30 or 24 fps. 60 is smooth (or 50 in Europe - others?), below it, is not. Pan around, film running around kids - it's quite quite obvious.

Less articulating screen.

Less fps burst shooting.

And all for just a little bit better resolution. Not worth it. In my view, the A57 remains the clear winner. It costs the same in the US and Canada.