ProfHankD
Veteran Member
I bought one of these at a huge discount in the wake of the A380 announcement, since it seemed to be a better step-up complementing my A100 (e.g., use of CF cards, generally more similar feel than the new models). My comments:
1. I wear glasses, and it is hard to see the edges of most SLR viewfinders -- not so with the A350! I don't care if the finder view is smaller, I'm happy to see all of it.
2. The live view works very fluidly, and it is a great feature to have, but I'm surprised to say that I use it almost exclusively with my Sigma 10-20mm -- it allows me to get the camera positioned for ultra-wide perspectives I otherwise could not. For my longer lenses, the extra stability of holding the camera to my face favors the optical viewfinder, and it frankly just seems more natural. The live view also is amazingly good for "street photography" -- nobody expects a DSLR hanging down from your neck to be taking photos, and although LCD reflections often make precise framing difficult in full sunlight, this fast live view is a mode that works without drawing attention.
3. I am shocked at the dynamic range of this camera. The A100 did pretty well in contrasty lighting (e.g., compared to some Canon DSLRs I've used), but the A350 is even better. The JPG dynamic range and freedom from artifacts are impressive.
4. I would never have bought the battery grip, but it was part of the deal, and it is really nice. If I'm ever doing a lot of portraits, I'll be very glad I've got this.
After about a month, and trips to Disney in FL and Turkey, I'm now convinced that the noise issues with the A350 are largely by design -- this camera tends to expose for the brightest spot in a scene and then push the shadows up in the jpegs (especially with advanced DRO on). It is definitely a different approach from other brands, yielding lower contrast and more noise in the JPG files, but frankly getting more of the scene recorded. It's controversial, but I hate blown skies, and I'm slowly starting to think Sony's got it right. That said, I'm finding ISO400 images often need fancy noise reduction (e.g., GIMP greycstoration and/or wavelet denoise) in the shadows.
After a year, this has become my primary camera for use with old (mostly M42) lenses and I've put-in a 3rd-party focus screen with dual split and microprisms; the focus screen is a huge help. This also helps with live view, since the screen is visible in that too. Unfortunately, the old prime lenses mean I'm changing lenses even more often, and dust is THE problem. The A350 definitely has much worse trouble with dust than the A100. I also wish Sony firmware in the A350 would let A mode work with unchipped lenses (e.g., my Samyang 85mm f/1.4) like the A100 does... and it should provide SSS without a chip too (let me enter the lens parameters).
Problems:
No problems, but minor disappointments:
1. Although JPGs are really smooth and resolution is a tad better than my A100 (probably lens limited despite choice of optimal apertures), this sensor definitely has more color noise, and the overall improvement in going 10MP->14MP is small.
2. It took over a year to find dust in my A100, but one day for the A350! The next day, I saw a (the same?) speck on the finder screen. Maybe a bit of construction debris? Fortunately, a rocket blower easily removed every speck from either camera. No further dust has appeared over a month with many lens swaps. Well, after using lots of M42 lenses for a year, I've got dust I can't get rid of. Perhaps it is dirt from the M42 lens threads? Anyway, this is a problem.
3. The A100 feels more "Minolta" than the A350; the A350 is chunkier and less dense feeling, more plastic.
4. DPReview is right about the digital zoom button; it's dumb. Personally, I think some marketing guy misunderstood the idea of magnification for live view focus and a bad spec was sent to engineering -- although one can can somewhat awkwardly use it as a focus magnify function that needs an extra button press to disable. I've actually used it as a focus magnifier more than a few times, and with the new focus screen it can be quite useful in static environments.
5. I really want 100% coverage in both viewfinder and live view; this is neither.
1. I wear glasses, and it is hard to see the edges of most SLR viewfinders -- not so with the A350! I don't care if the finder view is smaller, I'm happy to see all of it.
2. The live view works very fluidly, and it is a great feature to have, but I'm surprised to say that I use it almost exclusively with my Sigma 10-20mm -- it allows me to get the camera positioned for ultra-wide perspectives I otherwise could not. For my longer lenses, the extra stability of holding the camera to my face favors the optical viewfinder, and it frankly just seems more natural. The live view also is amazingly good for "street photography" -- nobody expects a DSLR hanging down from your neck to be taking photos, and although LCD reflections often make precise framing difficult in full sunlight, this fast live view is a mode that works without drawing attention.
3. I am shocked at the dynamic range of this camera. The A100 did pretty well in contrasty lighting (e.g., compared to some Canon DSLRs I've used), but the A350 is even better. The JPG dynamic range and freedom from artifacts are impressive.
4. I would never have bought the battery grip, but it was part of the deal, and it is really nice. If I'm ever doing a lot of portraits, I'll be very glad I've got this.
After about a month, and trips to Disney in FL and Turkey, I'm now convinced that the noise issues with the A350 are largely by design -- this camera tends to expose for the brightest spot in a scene and then push the shadows up in the jpegs (especially with advanced DRO on). It is definitely a different approach from other brands, yielding lower contrast and more noise in the JPG files, but frankly getting more of the scene recorded. It's controversial, but I hate blown skies, and I'm slowly starting to think Sony's got it right. That said, I'm finding ISO400 images often need fancy noise reduction (e.g., GIMP greycstoration and/or wavelet denoise) in the shadows.
After a year, this has become my primary camera for use with old (mostly M42) lenses and I've put-in a 3rd-party focus screen with dual split and microprisms; the focus screen is a huge help. This also helps with live view, since the screen is visible in that too. Unfortunately, the old prime lenses mean I'm changing lenses even more often, and dust is THE problem. The A350 definitely has much worse trouble with dust than the A100. I also wish Sony firmware in the A350 would let A mode work with unchipped lenses (e.g., my Samyang 85mm f/1.4) like the A100 does... and it should provide SSS without a chip too (let me enter the lens parameters).
Problems:
No problems, but minor disappointments:
1. Although JPGs are really smooth and resolution is a tad better than my A100 (probably lens limited despite choice of optimal apertures), this sensor definitely has more color noise, and the overall improvement in going 10MP->14MP is small.
2. It took over a year to find dust in my A100, but one day for the A350! The next day, I saw a (the same?) speck on the finder screen. Maybe a bit of construction debris? Fortunately, a rocket blower easily removed every speck from either camera. No further dust has appeared over a month with many lens swaps. Well, after using lots of M42 lenses for a year, I've got dust I can't get rid of. Perhaps it is dirt from the M42 lens threads? Anyway, this is a problem.
3. The A100 feels more "Minolta" than the A350; the A350 is chunkier and less dense feeling, more plastic.
4. DPReview is right about the digital zoom button; it's dumb. Personally, I think some marketing guy misunderstood the idea of magnification for live view focus and a bad spec was sent to engineering -- although one can can somewhat awkwardly use it as a focus magnify function that needs an extra button press to disable. I've actually used it as a focus magnifier more than a few times, and with the new focus screen it can be quite useful in static environments.
5. I really want 100% coverage in both viewfinder and live view; this is neither.