Ken Rockwell SLAMS the A55

[Lonnie Utah]

http://kenrockwell.com/sony/a55.htm

The whole review is almost laughable. I almost hate to post the link as it will drive up his ad revenue.

"Sony is several years behind Nikon and Canon when it comes to basic settings. There is no way to set any green-magenta color trim on any setting except the manual-white-card setting. Worse, one cannot set warm/cool shift on the Auto White Balance setting, which is how I get great images out of my Nikons, and even my Canon point-and-shoots, but something that this Sony can't do. Because of this design defect, all the pictures I took with the A55 were too blue for my taste. Oops!"

I never could find how to shift the exposure program. Even Canon's first EOS 620 of 1987 had a shiftable program. Canon is a camera built for photographers, while Sony is better at making electronic baubles.

I wouldn't buy one of these, but that's just me. If you want something similar to a DSLR, but with better video, 10 frames per second and great GPS tagging, check this out. I'm all about photography, not gimmicks like crummy video or GPS.

The A55 is a nice taste of what cameras might become in a few years when Nikon and Canon offer professional models with pellicle mirrors.

The last review of a Sony that Ken did was of the A100 in 2006. Of COURSE he's going to be thrown a little bit by the menus. He also complains loudly about not being able to shift the white balance. Umm, question please, is there ANY "pro level" photographer that DOESN'T shoot RAW and balance the white balance in post? Anyone?? Throughout the whole "review" he keeps comparing it to the Nikon D7000, a camera that costs twice as much.

The whole thing stinks of sour grapes to me...

[ftomas_2010]

I never could find how to shift the exposure program. Even Canon's first EOS 620 of 1987 had a shiftable program. Canon is a camera built for photographers, while Sony is better at making electronic baubles.

He is right about this one. I don't understand why sony abandoned this feature... for those who shot in P, it was an handy feature, of course i can change to A or S and choose the aperture and velocity.

[Lonnie Utah]

He is right about this one. I don't understand why sony abandoned this feature... for those who shot in P, it was an handy feature, of course i can change to A or S and choose the aperture and velocity.

Serious question, why shoot in P if you are going to manually select A or SS anyway?

[ftomas_2010]

He is right about this one. I don't understand why sony abandoned this feature... for those who shot in P, it was an handy feature, of course i can change to A or S and choose the aperture and velocity.

Serious question, why shoot in P if you are going to manually select A or SS anyway?

I shoot in P most of the time... and most of the time A/S combination was correct for me... BUT if i need a different combination for the next photo i could select A/S with just the front wheel... now i must select A or S for the next photo.
Not a serious con, but IMO it was a good feature and a simple one (dont understand why sony abandoned)

[pakodominguez]

He is right about this one. I don't understand why sony abandoned this feature... for those who shot in P, it was an handy feature, of course i can change to A or S and choose the aperture and velocity.

Serious question, why shoot in P if you are going to manually select A or SS anyway?

I think it is more useful to work on A Mode and to use the AEL button than shift Program mode.

[alphaomega]

I never could find how to shift the exposure program. Even Canon's first EOS 620 of 1987 had a shiftable program. Canon is a camera built for photographers, while Sony is better at making electronic baubles.

This is one of Barry Fitzgerald's old gripes. I used to set my XD7 & X700 in Aperture Priority for years. When switching to A700 and A350 I used P and frequently I furiously turned the front wheel to get the correct A/S combination as I was in the habit of switching off the camera. Barry Fitzgerald told me that proper photographers do not use P and I should use A. I did that, wondering how I ever got into the habit of using that useless P. Now I am calm and collected and mostly use F7.1 and can turn the wheel calmly up or down as required to alter the settings. I used to say in my MD days that the P on X700 was an anomaly and the A/S settings on my XD7 were much more logical. Glad I went back to A and cannot understand why this forum continues to be filled with that complaint that P shift has been removed. Don't miss it one bit on my A550/580.

[ftomas_2010]

I think it is more useful to work on A Mode and to use the AEL button than shift Program mode.

What does AEL have to do with Program shift?
Ps just adjust the A/S combination to obtain the same exposure.

alphaomega, Sorry i'm new here.... and don't understand why my complaint is not valid.... because:

I used that feature AND,
I think (maybe i'm wrong) but the shift feature is only an software / firmware feature, so no money costs involved for sony
it's not hardware dependent, so no design problems involved
so why?
Some people complaint about mirror lock up (i dont because i dont use it), but that decision i understand from sony.... money / design

[Lonnie Utah]

Ehh. Different strokes for different folks. People find ways to make cameras do what they need them to do. I shoot A mode most of the time. It works for me. Your mileage may vary....

[pakodominguez]

I think it is more useful to work on A Mode and to use the AEL button than shift Program mode.

What does AEL have to do with Program shift?
Ps just adjust the A/S combination to obtain the same exposure.

My answer was to Lonnie's comment, that I find funny.
You are right, the AEL button doesn't have anything to do with Program shift.
I was just talking about a different way to work and, IMHO, more accurate. Working on A mode and using the AEL button in order to keep the desired exposure. But, if you find Program shift better for you, what can I tell you?

I think (maybe i'm wrong) but the shift feature is only an software / firmware feature, so no money costs involved for sony
it's not hardware dependent, so no design problems involved
so why?

Every time I read someone saying that firmware upgrades are for free, I think on how much an Engineer make a year, then, how much a developer team really cost on a company like Sony, or Nikon or Canon, doesn't matters... I just know that I'm waiting for a couple of new functions on the company's dashboard and I have no answer because adding those functions cost money they can not expend now (and we are a multi million company...)

Regards

[bfitzgerald]

Here we go again..sigh.

Ok I never told anyone to just use A mode you are free to use what you want. I tend to use A mostly myself and the recent DPR survey suggested a majority of others do too (I use M for longer exposures) almost never P and rarely shutter priority (but the odd time I do)

That's why you have exposure modes to assist you in your photography you select what you like. On the other hand I completely agree with KR on the no P shift being a knuckle headed decision (as they Americans say) A LOT of folks will be using P mode esp for this target buyer P shift is actually pretty useful to them. And no you can't replicate the function of P shift with A mode they are not the same for obvious reasons. Frankly for myself I couldn't care less about P mode or P shift but it's still a very valid point.

Onto Ken Rockwell...it's been pretty obvious for some time now (years) that he's putting up stuff in order to drive traffic to his site and I'd imagine boost revenue with more hits, buying ad links etc even the odd donation (don't laugh!) I've never taken him that seriously because it's taken as just that..a bit of fun and it's there to stir things up. Hey I admire the guy if he can generate a decent enough living talking about stuff that's fairly admirable on it's own. What amazes me is why folks "freak out" at any comments he makes and his obviously designed to provoke a response way of putting things is so expected it's far from shocking anyway.

So while he made some pretty iffy and somewhat silly remarks on that piece he does raise the odd point that is valid and worthwhile. I remember with the "yes it matters" Luminous Landscape mega debate and sadly whilst it ended up as extremes to the point of stupidity (pin hole cameras and cell phone cameras etc) he was actually a lot more on target than the Canadian guy was (IMO of course) So he said some bad things about the A55 life goes on.

At least he actually raised a few points and took the gloves off, which is a lot more than can be said of some of the namby pamby reviews flying around for that model. If he'd calm down a bit and be a bit more diplomatic, do more research etc he's actually be a pretty good reviewer..it's stuff like that let's him down a bit

[edrice]

This single statement -

Image quality is poor, because the A55 lacks some very important image adjustments.

...discredits the entire review. As to his motives, it's a very revealing and blatant non sequitur. Maybe he would have been more candid stating, "Image quality is poor, because it's not a Canon or Nikon."

Ed

[bfitzgerald]

The IQ is poor was a stupid statement to make he would have been advised to pick his words a bit more carefully. For example "I don't like the colours as much etc" You can't possibly say the IQ is poor on any of these APS-C sensor models mirror or not..some a bit better in some ways.

Still has some valid points though whatever way you cut it.

[bakubo]

Serious question, why shoot in P if you are going to manually select A or SS anyway?

That is the point, with P you don't have to select A and SS, but if the camera chooses a bad combo you can very quickly change it.

[bakubo]

Every time I read someone saying that firmware upgrades are for free, I think on how much an Engineer make a year, then, how much a developer team really cost on a company like Sony, or Nikon or Canon, doesn't matters... I just know that I'm waiting for a couple of new functions on the company's dashboard and I have no answer because adding those functions cost money they can not expend now (and we are a multi million company...)

I wonder how much it costs to take out a feature? I was a software engineer for 20 years and taking functionality out also costs time and money.

[bakubo]

Onto Ken Rockwell...it's been pretty obvious for some time now (years) that he's putting up stuff in order to drive traffic to his site and I'd imagine boost revenue with more hits, buying ad links etc even the odd donation (don't laugh!) I've never taken him that seriously because it's taken as just that..a bit of fun and it's there to stir things up. Hey I admire the guy if he can generate a decent enough living talking about stuff that's fairly admirable on it's own. What amazes me is why folks "freak out" at any comments he makes and his obviously designed to provoke a response way of putting things is so expected it's far from shocking anyway.

Yes, exactly the way I see it.