Thank you indeed. That chuck-will's was an awesome first-time sighting - I really hope I can catch one again in that area...I intend over the next week or two to get back to that same beach park and see if I can find him.
The A500/550 was the first of the new generation Sony DSLRs with their new sensor (same as D90, Pentax KX, etc) that really performs comfortably at high ISO...this was really the first Sony DSLR that could shoot at ISO1600 and up as well as the competitors. Most of the Sony cameras since have been very competitive using this new sensor development as well as processing. I will routinely shoot to ISo3200 without a thought...and 6400 if needed...only ISO12800 remains emergency-only. The newer ones with the multistacking abilities sound like they can really crush the APS-C competition for still scenes at least. It's great that all of the manufacturers are making such good cameras today, and technology has made them all quite capable and competitive.
