A550 has arrived... first impressions

Salad at iso12800



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http://mike2008.smugmug.com

I sold my A300 already three weeks ago.

Beercan and Tammy are waiting their new companion. Thanks Mike - it looks nice...

These photos appear to confirm that low ISO image quality does not necessarily have to suffer to gain good high ISO image quality. I am looking forward to DPR's review of the a550 where they evaluate "per pixel sharpness".
-Phil

mike_2008 said:

Inevitable bottle shot at low iso200,



And at iso12800



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http://mike2008.smugmug.com

Click to expand...

The shutter sound is pretty significant certainly you'd get dirty looks if you used it in a quiet environment.

Sharpness is hard to assess I think. I have the sal18250 too and it's pretty sharp at f/8; most lenses are. This is one reason why I was looking for a good high iso camera to shoot at iso800 with no real noise lets you stop lenses down to their sweet spot. If you want dof then it's usually central sharpness that counts, and this is usually good in cheaper lenses too.

Just my opinion, but I think it's very rare to need a fast lens that is sharp edge to edge wide open.

Starting to really quite enjoy the a550...

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http://mike2008.smugmug.com

Wow. That's really quite amazing, I think. I've never shot a salad though.
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Gary

Any reason why you went with the 550 over the 700. I have a a100 and was looking into upgrading to the A700, because I have heard so much "information" on the new bodies I dont know which way is up. lol. Even tho I am new to the DsLR world, there have been a few instances where the ISO limitations of the 100 left me a bit in want to say the least. Your 12k ISO looks like mine on 800, so I am beginning to rethink my a700 quest.
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http://flickr.com/photos/11320237@N06/sets/72157604836082167/

Can you or any A5xx owners please post some iso800, 1600, 3200 shots

Cheers, Stephen

I was looking for a sports body and sony come up trumps with the a550. At some point I'll get the 70-300G as well... together they should be pretty good.

The A700 is going to be replaced so soon I know I'd kick myself for buying it. Also, for my needs the A550 does all I could ask in a smaller lighter package. I'm even getting used to the grip and OVF; I've been using a cnaon 5d a lot lately and it has conditioned me a little to bigger bodies and ovf's.

Antonlm said:

Any reason why you went with the 550 over the 700. I have a a100 and am looking into upgrading, but I have heard so much "information" on the new bodies I dont know which way is up. lol. Even tho I am new to the DsLR world, there have been a few instances where the ISO limitations of the 100 left me a bit in want to say the least. Your 12k ISO looks like mine on 800, so I am beginning to rethink my a700 quest.
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http://flickr.com/photos/11320237@N06/sets/72157604836082167/

Click to expand...

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http://mike2008.smugmug.com

This is iso1600



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http://mike2008.smugmug.com

MAn that 1600 looks like my 400! Is it my imagination, or do the high ISO shots you have posted look better than the a700 6400 ISO soccer shots thread posted?
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http://flickr.com/photos/11320237@N06/sets/72157604836082167/

It will be interesting to see what the reviews say, but high ISO performance on the A550 seems to be near 3 stops better than the A300.

It should arrive at the end of the month, from SonyStyle.

Looking at these pictures, and others like them, makes the wait unbearable!

So far I seem to have a love-hate feeling toward this camera. I love the IQ I've seen so far, love the main sensor live view, great articulating screen and the price is good. These features would be great for when shoot tripod architecture.

But what it doesn't have compared to the A700 makes me have to cross it off my list. I hate that Sony took spot metering off the AEL button (I use this alot for portraits and general snapshots). The lack of MLU is a big concern given the mention of mirror slap vibration (not sounding good for slow-shutter tripod work). The A700's Custom button has spoiled me. The smaller VF I could live with but the first two items would greatly impact how I use the camera. If it had spot meter AEL toggle and MLU I would probably be planning how to buy one.

I hate to sound like a camera snob but after using the A700 this camera would be a big step backwards in the control department...steps I am not willing to pay money for. For the intended audience I'm sure this camera will do just fine, but for advanced enthusiasts looking to add an ace budget model, I'm afraid this one makes too many sacrifices.

It's a shame that in recent years budget models have been able to add so many great "features" yet take away basic controls in the process. Most budget models from 4 years ago have a better "photographic" feature set.
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Newest galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/gipper51/portraits
http://www.pbase.com/gipper51/architectural

Many people who enjoyed the A3xx series will absolutely love it as it does everything they do but much better. A700 users will not get much out of it due to handling mostly, but also for those few who really use MLU it's a downer to not have it.

Zoomable main sensor live view rocks, as does the dynamic screen in the ovf.

Here's a shot of the moon, just for fun, not a sharpness test as the cloudy conditions do not allow it. I guess it does show the IS works though, as it's not too bad for 1/80s on the 500mm reflex.



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http://mike2008.smugmug.com

headofdestiny said:

headofdestiny said:

I don't think this should be a surprise since the 500D does have a larger viewfinder. The 500D's viewfinder has a magnification of 0.87x whereas the A550 as a viewfinder magnification of 0.80x. For comparison's sake, this is around the same difference in size between the A200 to A700. The A200 has a viewfinder magnification of 0.83x and the A700 has a magnification of 0.90x (although the A700 does have a pentaprism).

Click to expand...

That is misleading. Canon Rebels have a smaller sensor than the Sony APS-C cameras, so you can't make a direct correlation. http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sonydslra550/page3.asp

Click to expand...

T1i in 35mm value: 0.87(magnification) 0.95(coverage) 1.6 (compensation for not using 50mm FOV)=0.52x

a550 in 35mm value:0.80*0.95/1.5=0.51

So the T1i's viewfinder is very slightly bigger, both have the same coverage of 95% which is fair, but not good.

Antonlm

Antonlm said:

Any reason why you went with the 550 over the 700. I have a a100 and was
looking into upgrading to the A700, because I have heard so much "information"
on the new bodies I dont know which way is up. lol. Even tho I am new to the
DsLR world, there have been a few instances where the ISO limitations of the
100 left me a bit in want to say the least. Your 12k ISO looks like mine on 800,
so I am beginning to rethink my a700 quest.

Click to expand...

Absolutely right. Given that according to some posters (beakyd and Jullen), A700 and A100 have equal high-ISO performance, why upgrade to A700 anyway? If you need metal body, whether sealing, mlu, dof preview, WAIT one more year for A700 replacement. Otherwise, get A550.

Amirk said:

Absolutely right. Given that according to some posters (beakyd and Jullen), A700 and A100 have equal high-ISO performance, why upgrade to A700 anyway?

Click to expand...

a700 high iso performance w/ v4firmware, according to the tests that came out at v4 intro last year, was considered to be one of the best.

I would venture to say that, amonst the APS-C Sonys, it comes in second only to the a5xx series.

Thanks to OP for taking the time and effort to submit a great set of sample pics.

Have fun taking pictures!

A.J.

mike_2008 said:

The menu option for AEL button lets you choose between AEL hold or AEL toggle. It does not toggle between spot and area metering, toggle just lets you not have to keep your finger down once the desired metering is acquired.

Click to expand...

What if you press and hold the AEL button - does it do live spotmetering (with the delta to the locked multi-segment value shown in the exposure index) like at least Minoltas DSLRs and later SLRs did?

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Yours etc.
Torsten Balle Koefoed

RAW should be raw, not cooked!

http://www.elgsdyr.dk

ajff

ajff said:

a700 high iso performance w/ v4firmware, according to the tests that came out
at v4 intro last year, was considered to be one of the best.

Click to expand...

We have been over this in the other thread. It's a myth that a700 high iso performance w/ v4 firmware was one of the best. See dpreview of A700 where they updated high ISO section after v4 firmware. A700 performance remained lower tha D300 and 40D.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/SonyDSLRA700/page17.asp

"At ISO 800 the DSLR-A700 begins to exhibit some chroma (blotchy color) noise, the cleanest of the remaining three appears to be the D300 followed by the EOS 40D and then E-3. At ISO 1600 the DSLR-A700's noise reduction appears to become stronger and while noise is still noticeable it's less pronounced, although this at the expense of image detail which is beginning to soften. By this point the E-3 is beginning to look quite grainy and has also lost some image detail to noise reduction, the EOS 40D has some chroma noise and the D300 remains fairly clean and detailed (thanks to Nikon's emphasis on chroma noise reduction).

"At ISO 3200 the DSLR-A700 image has become quite soft due to heavy noise reduction. The latest firmware (V4) actually increases the high ISO noise reduction to remove the chroma noise we originally saw at 1600 and above. Again the cleanest image at this sensitivity comes from the D300 with the best detail coming from the EOS 40D (although distracting chroma noise is visible), the E-3 is struggling at this point. Surprisingly at ISO 6400 the D300's image could be considered 'usable' although very noisy, the same could not really be said for the DSLR-A700. "

cant see the exif data for these images so can you confirm if the aperture was the same for both shots? If so its interesting that the %vol and capacity figures at the bottom of the label are sharper (very sharp) in the Iso12800 shot. Incidentally, these iso12800 shots are incredible. Attention Mr Sony, I want this sensor in a 700 body NOW!!!!....but with a nice quiet mirror though and of course MLU.