Photoclubalpha

Looks like hitting stores next Wednesday according to dealers/info from Sony - stocks have arrived but they are doing stuff with their computer order/despatch system which has delayed shipping to retailers.

David

Thanks for the information. I will give the A55 a miss. Not sure about the durability of translucent mirrors, dust, reflections and higher ISO to compensate for light loss. I quite like the A550 now and agree with David's initial assessment that the only real problem is the less than smooth blue sky. I will purchase an A580 when the price hits £500 for body only and that will probably be me considering my age. As far as I can see the A580 is a worthwhile advancement on A550 with slightly larger sensor and now DOF. I would think it will be reliable and proven technology.

I think the A580 is due in stock soon. It's priced a bit below the A55. Shame the A560 isn't available as that's an even better price.

bfitzgerald wrote:I think the A580 is due in stock soon. It's priced a bit below the A55. Shame the A560 isn't available as that's an even better price.

A580 is priced $50 more than A55

A55 with kit $849

http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1284138451.html
A580
Pricing for the Sony A580 in the US market has been set at around $800 body-only, and $900 with an 18-55mm kit lens

Just looked at Park Cameras pricing. A580 is cheapest at £640 and A55 at £670. I am just looking for the multitude to buy A55 so that the A580 price falls quickly to my target of £500 body only.

UK price is cheaper A580 but only just. It might take a while and don't forget you've got a nice VAT increase that won't help next year.
It probably will hit £500 odd but I'd give it 6 months or so to get there maybe more.

The point is that I don't need the A580 at the moment. My combination of fully usable A700/350 and A550 can do all the photography I want to do supplemented by my Pana LX2 and 3. I have simply concluded that Sony will probably not release any more OVF DSLRs above the 2/3 class and by buying an A580 I will have covered myself for a long time with suitable cameras that are excellent for what I want to do. So it is no hassle waiting until the A580 price reaches £500 here in UK. With LR3 technology even the A350 produces acceptable results at ISO 800. I rarely go above that. In fact I think that Barry Fitzgerald could probably save a lot of money by buying an A560 when available at his target price. Switching to Pentax or Nikon will cost an awful lot of money if quality lenses are added in. As suggested by someone else he might even pick up a new A700 for less than £500. That is what I paid for mine. With firmware V 4 this is a fine camera.

I don't really like to gamble! Thus whilst the A560 would be an acceptable/decent (though it could be stronger in some areas) purchase. I see no point in digging in even more with a maker that might not offer OVF models for much longer (in this range) Great it might last me years..but then what?

Maybe DK can move this thought down the passage of Sony management and see what the response is..probably not very much!
Something along the lines of "we're committed to providing customers with a choice of OVF and translucent models" would do the job nicely.

bfitzgerald wrote: Maybe DK can move this thought down the passage of Sony management and see what the response is..probably not very much!
Something along the lines of "we're committed to providing customers with a choice of OVF and translucent models" would do the job nicely.

There you go making sense again and once more making me agree with you!

Dusty

Thanks David!

I have been scouring the internet for a while now and couldn't find a solid release date! I cant wait to get my hands on an A55! I have been looking to upgrade my A300 for over a year now (I started with the awesome A100!) and the A55 ticks so many boxes for me! 16mp Cmos, Lower ISO noise, Lighter weight and HD Video Recording! IMO, It looks to be the ONLY Alpha camera that is truly an advancement for the alpha entry/intermediate level consumer range, not just ANOTHER 2xx-5xx that ads to a confusing amount of updated cameras. Bear in mind, I am not a pro photographer, so I don't know the ins and outs of the whole alpha range, but the A55 appeals to me as a more than worthy upgrade to my A300.

I was a little frustrated however to find out that the new Alphas don't take CF cards! So bought myself a new Pro Duo HX 16gb after reading the A33/55 manual you kindly linked on your homepage.

Thanks,
Ian C

Just an update, I emailed Jessops and they said the a55 will be in stock next week...

...More waiting!

Sony PR say 'several weeks' for A55 samples. Warehouseexpress said 'no idea' after saying yesterday last week. I am about to cancel my A55 order, with regret, as it's just too close to my magazine deadlines to do anything useful if the camera is not with me until next week. I have an A33 apparently sent to me on Sept 28 by Sony, but it has got lost - send to the BJP London address, marked for me, it has not turned up at my address and they say they haven't got it. Anyway, I think now I will have to abandon the 55 until a test sample is available. It's only worth my buying one if I can complete my work in time, earlier than other magazines. Since plenty of people all round the world seem to have got hold of the A55 there's little point in much of what I could do anyway.

David

Tons of A55V in Moscow, Russia. Price starts from U$950 for a 18-55 kit, though.
And it seems like nobody is really interested... That's quite unlike the Nex launch.

I just got this from amazon.co.uk

I've searched our catalogue, but the item you asked about is not currently listed.

However, I have checked our records and can confirm that we still have not received any update regarding this item from our suppliers.

However, we are constantly adding to our catalogue listings. As soon as we receive any update from our manufacturers, we will list this item for sale in our website.

So we would encourage you to check back on our website soon, to see if this title has been made available.

I have been checking every day almost every hour!

As for stocks in Russia/Moscow, is that because of the price? isn't the A55 more than the NEX over there?

As for stocks in Russia/Moscow, is that because of the price? isn't the A55 more than the NEX over there?

The Nex5 double lens kit was about the same at launch, and remained badly overbought for well over a month. It was even worse with the LA-EA1 adapters.

The A55V was launched in Russia on Oct 5th. It's too widely available for a product of high demand. So there's simply not too much demand there.