Got my A55! My first Impressions.... + MORE sample shots

[catalytic]

Got to go out tonight, and tomorrow, down to annual awards of MPA and not back until Tuesday. Photoworld nearly finished but I think I should take the A55 for the three days away, and revise my article before pressing the button to go to press.

David

I think a more thorough evaluation of the A55 would be very worthwhile and very much appreciated by the PCA community!

[pakodominguez]

No, the 16-80m outperforms the kit lens considerably. The extra contrast and bite really helps in the SLT system and with the finer resolution sensor.

I didn't expect less... butI saw good perfomance from the kit lens and I was wondering...

I have posted the full set of shots taken tonight on pBase at 1000 pixels wide:
http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/sony_alpha_55

do you have a 100% crop of this pic?
Just curious about the cows...

[David Kilpatrick]

Here are the cows - not ultra sharp, fences are sharper.

[Simmondsphotography]

A fair amount of discussion going on about overheating on the A33 & A55 over at the Sony section of "Get DPI".

It appears to be not just an isolated incident with several cameras going back. The general view is that the plastic case of the A33/55 is an insufficient heat sink whereas the NEX3/5 with it's metal casing is dissipating the heat. It's fair to say that not every A33/55 user has suffered this problem.

[Ian C]

I like the shot in the first post, nice red colors. Congratulations Ian

Thanks!

I have some cow pictures too!! taken with the budget DT 4-5.6/55-200 Kit lens from my old A300:

Jpeg Straight from the cam, this was at 55mm...


100% Crop:


Kit lens 18-55 results were similar:

[Ian C]

AUTO HDR (+3EV) sample.

I am really liking the auto HDR!!!

The camera saves 2 files, one with AUTO HDR and the one without HDR applied:

With HDR:


Without HDR:

[Ian C]

Last thing for now, just wanted to show the difference between the A300 and A55 for detail...

Same lens, same image settings, 1.4/50mm at f8, both crops are of the bottom right corner of the frame and the A55 shot resized to match the A300:

A300:


A55:

[Dr. Harout]

I'm beginning to like the camera without even handling it yet. Thanks Ian.

[OneGuyKs]

Noise/grain - not what I expected. It's pretty noisy from raw even at ISO 200, but stays under control as the ISO increases. But it's certainly not wiping the floor with the NEX-5 or A550 14 megapixel sensor.
David

The base ISO is 100, an option not in Nex and A550. It's also losing 1/2 a stop to the mirror. A580 would do better than A550 and Nex.

[redsim74]

The base ISO is 100, an option not in Nex and A550. It's also losing 1/2 a stop to the mirror. A580 would do better than A550 and Nex.

That's just an extended ISO though isn't it, native would still be 200? Would have been nice if they slipped ISO 100 into the NEX firmware.

Would still be interested to see how much of a difference there is between the A55 and A580.

[pakodominguez]

Here are the cows - not ultra sharp, fences are sharper.

Nice cows, thanks you

[bakubo]

I got out for an hour with sunshine just before sunset. First, direct into-the-sun shots produce a stack of overall flare and some much bigger patches than my 16-80mm has done on its own in the past; second, you can't see this happening clearly and you can not see any detail at all in bright sky, sunburst through clouds, sunset etc - the viewfinder just shows plain grey when over-loaded by a light source. So no sparkle off water, no ability to compose some type of shots.

Okay, this is exactly what I expected from the A55 EVF. The over-the-top comments I have read about how wonderful it is were, as usual, nonsense. I checked out the Panasonic GH-1 EVF a few months ago and saw that there had not been all that much progress from my Minolta D7i EVF. Maybe a bit better, but not all that much. I suspect the A55 is in the same ballpark. EVFs have a very, very long way to go.

[OneGuyKs]

I got out for an hour with sunshine just before sunset. First, direct into-the-sun shots produce a stack of overall flare and some much bigger patches than my 16-80mm has done on its own in the past; second, you can't see this happening clearly and you can not see any detail at all in bright sky, sunburst through clouds, sunset etc - the viewfinder just shows plain grey when over-loaded by a light source. So no sparkle off water, no ability to compose some type of shots.

Okay, this is exactly what I expected from the A55 EVF. The over-the-top comments I have read about how wonderful it is were, as usual, nonsense. I checked out the Panasonic GH-1 EVF a few months ago and saw that there had not been all that much progress from my Minolta D7i EVF. Maybe a bit better, but not all that much. I suspect the A55 is in the same ballpark. EVFs have a very, very long way to go.

It's still better than most entry-level OVF and better than every OVF. OVF shows the view that your eyes sees but photos are taken by the camera/sensor, so EVF shows closer to what the end result would be than an OVF. EVF will always be superior to OVF. Now and forever in future.

[bakubo]

It's still better than most entry-level OVF and better than every OVF.

I don't agree. Current EVF has some good points, but lots more bad points.

I have used many OVFs over the years of various quality. None of them had this problem:

I got out for an hour with sunshine just before sunset. First, direct into-the-sun shots produce a stack of overall flare and some much bigger patches than my 16-80mm has done on its own in the past; second, you can't see this happening clearly and you can not see any detail at all in bright sky, sunburst through clouds, sunset etc - the viewfinder just shows plain grey when over-loaded by a light source. So no sparkle off water, no ability to compose some type of shots.

Among other things this is the worst thing I saw with my D7i EVF and not much has changed.

OVF shows the view that your eyes sees but photos are taken by the camera/sensor, so EVF shows closer to what the end result would be than an OVF. EVF will always be superior to OVF. Now and forever in future.

Current EVFs do not show what you will get, especially with raw.

Clearly some people prefer an EVF, even current EVF tech, and I am looking forward to checking an A55 out at a store. David has confirmed though that it still has a long way to go and still suffers from one of its worst problems. Others focus more on lag time, resolution, etc. For me the biggest issue overall was the limited dynamic range that did not show what you would get and wouldn't even allow, in certain conditions, for you to see the full scene.

[alphaomega]

The comments just show that it is "horses for courses". There was a Canon 7D and 1DIV user who commented on A55 shooting sports and showing what appeared to be splendid pictures - some taken at 10 shots per second. His comments were that the 1D was better but you could shoot two complete sessions with the A55 without getting tired. Try just one session with the 1D and you are nackered. Having had the R1 I prefer an OVF and the A580 will do me fine. The upgraders coming from P&S and used to video and iphones will like the A55 and feel at home. I personnally believe the future for Sony lies mostly in the A33/55/77 and NEX type cameras. This is where they can usurp CAN/NIK and keep ahead. The attitudes of the new generations will favour the Sony approach and at present Sony and Pana are ahead of CAN/NIK. Canon have been caught out with their heavy cameras and 7D 60D instead of looking where Sony are now marching in. EVF and fixed mirror not for me but in my humble opinion the new reality.