The A350's commendable performance (where it is at least as good as its closest rivals at ISO 100), starts to get a little shown up as the light dims and sensitivity rises.
Despite offering High ISO options, the Sony is struggling at sensitivity levels as low as ISO 800 with detail being smeared quite dramatically by noise reduction. Comparing the level of detail in the A350 shot to those of the Pentax and Canon show just how much detail is being sacrificed. And, despite these noise reduction efforts, the ISO 1600 and 3200 shots show noise very clearly. This loss of detail makes the benefits of having over 14 million pixels begin to seem a little tenuous.
