DPR say A57 RAW images are best in class?

[Greg Beetham]

I think it’s as agorabasta pointed out with DXO, their ‘tests’ are of a too narrow nature to be of much relevance. I won’t be bothering with DXO any more.
Greg
Ps how is the EVF treating you Barry? Asymilation into the collective going ok…

(Ugh! I said empire instead of collective, I'm getting my sci-fi shows mixed up).

[bfitzgerald]

The EVF is ok..I can use it, but I still no questions about it prefer an OVF. It's usable and has some plus points (MF is dead easy) but it's a bit "surreal" and lacks the immediacy/pure clarity of an optical finder. No doubt I will pick up an OVF A mount DSLR next year (maybe an A700) I suppose I could wait in vain for Sony to cave in and make another penta prism DSLR.

If you're coming from a cheap bridge camera the EVF is amazingly better v that (but lets be blunt they are AWFUL) I can't see the SLT concept gaining traction for higher end APS-C and def not a hope in hell v a full frame OVF these types of OVF's are clearly superior to Sony's EVF (the APS-C ones not as big but far clearer, the FF ones kill Sony's EVF hands down). So overall mixed feelings. I will say one thing the AF is superb so far..which makes me wonder if I'd need to use focus peeking or MF at all most times (bar macro stuff) It is a useful additional body/tool which could work out quite well for some types of shooting. I'm not convinced enough to feel the desire to spend more on a higher end SLT body..despite the higher res EVF's they are more contrasty and more prone to blocking up the shadows.

I don't feel other makers are going to follow Sony on EVF's def not in their penta prism VF models.

[Greg Beetham]

Yep Sony don't seem to be concerned about venturing into uncharted waters, with some degree of success it seems, if Nikon and Canon keep up with their present amount of ineptitude and glitches they will hand Sony a bigger market share on a platter.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

Greg can't comment on Canon much not really used many recent models. Not noted any serious issues with the ones I have tried (there are always quirks and minor annoyances)
Nikon are winning the marketing war with their big pixel counts, but QC oh my I have first hand experience of their problems. Seems it was only a matter of time before oil splats turned up on the D600, no doubt the D5200 will have back focus problems too

Onto Sony maybe they are being a tad over optimistic with their SLT range, I would have thought a mix of SLT and OVF's would suit them better and keep those doors open to more potential buyers. Oh well what do I know eh?

Funny thing is everyone is roasting Canon for being behind everyone else, using old sensors etc. But I don't see Nikon overtaking them market share wise despite the QC issues (D800 was a big blunder with AF problems too) I honestly don't think it matter what Sony do they are not likely to eat into rivals market share unless they can pull something amazing off

[Headcell]

I love the EVF on the A57. My experience with OVF is mixed, probably due to the model of DSLRs I've used.

- On the A230 the OVF was far too small, and and I found it very difficult to frame accurately.
- On the A580 it was better in as much as I could frame more accurately, but it was still not as good as on other brands - Nikon viewfinders I have found to be more to my liking.

To help, I bought a cheap 'Angle Finder' adapter from ebay which made framing much easier to me.

But on the A57 it's everything I could want. Maybe my background in video is why I prefer it.

[bfitzgerald]

Whilst you are here quick video question for you. So why do Sony chop the sides off of the video? Your WA is no longer as wide as it should be. Unless I have overlooked something it "crops" in the video mode. (at the sides) this seems pretty odd to me.

On the OVF/EVF side there are pros and cons to both it depends how you use/view things. How that stacks up will vary from user to user (to some it will bring more pros than have cons, to others it might have more cons than pros) At the moment I'm 50/50 on it I can see where it makes life better, and in some cases it makes life harder v an OVF
A580 well depends which Nikon's you are talking about if it's the D90/D7000 obviously they have bigger penta prism VF's. Some folks use a VF eyepiece which magnifies the view. The models below that have similar VF's to the A580 with the D5100 being a bit smaller.

[Headcell]

For me, it's not the size of the OVF per se, but the eye cup. A poorly designed cup on the Sony A230 and A580 means I can't see the whole area. On the Nikon 3100 I can, and the cup on the A57 is better still.

Video... I believe that when entering video mode, the Sony's crop factor increases from 1.5 (due to the APS-C sensor size compared with full frame) to 2x. This has not been a big issue for me, but I do appreciate that when using wide angle lenses it could kill your carefully framed image.

It crops to help reduce moire, I think. But it's not particularly effective in my experience.

Superb as the video is on the SLTs, Sony still has a little way to go to make it truly usable to keen videographers.

[bfitzgerald]

I won't make a big hoot about the video mode I don't use it much nor have I on previous models (overall the quality of the footage is better than the D7000 and the sound is quite a bit better) But I do think it's a very odd thing for Sony with the video crop. If part of the reason for the SLT concept is video..why screw it up with a silly crop off the sensor? I would imagine quite a few more serious video folks would be less than impressed with that. I cannot remember ever using a DSLR that did that (crop the sides)

Someone didn't think about that properly.

[Heidfirst]

I assumed that the crop in video was due to the electronic stabilisation that replaced sensor-shift for video on more recent DSLTs (sensor-shift for video exacerbated heat problems)?
I don't think that the older bodies have an extra crop in video?

[classiccameras]

Steve.
Yes, I read the same report in DPReviews on the A57. DPreviews are one of the most comprehensive review sites on the Net and I have used them in the past on many occasions when doing my research into products. However, they have earnt a bit of a reputation, may be unfairly, I don't know [I'm not the only one to say this] for making a mountain out of a Mole Hill when there is something they don't like. Thus they knock off loads of points in their tests for something that is often not that significant to the average user.

Amateur photographer [Pentax, Nikon and Canon can't do no wrong] Magazine, gave a good report [I'm sure reluctantly] to the A57 and A37.

There are quite a few other review sites with excellent reputations [no names, look for yourself] that have given the A57 and A37 very high marks for handling and image quality with many giving them the full 5 star and editors choice rating.
I got my A37 on the strength of these tests but not from DPReviews rating.

Pete

[bfitzgerald]

DPR to tend to miss some things (and they have in the past quite obvious points) and put a strong emphasis on other areas (like a video button) which is fine if you are biased to a video product. The video crop got a very brief mention in the review (about one line)

I agree that Gold awards and Editor's choice awards are handed out too frequently. The A57 is not a Gold award camera, it is a good one and deserves a good score but not Gold. Even on the Video and Jpeg points alone that is enough IMO to knock it down a bit marking wise.

[classiccameras]

I use mostly Jpeg with my A37, but with some PP I can get some pretty good highly detailed pictures.

One report I read on the new Nikon D3200 with 24mp Sony sensor was a bit noiser at higher ISO than its predecessor. The same remarks were made about the NEX-7. I suspect the same might apply to the new Nikon D5200, but we will have to wait and see.
One of the few cameras with high pixel count [20MP] camera on a cropped APS-C that had a fairly low noise level at high ISO noise was the Samsung NX200 & NX20 and I think that was from DPR.

Is 24mp a step too far perhaps.

[Heidfirst]

the D3200 sensor supposedly isn't a Sony.

[classiccameras]

Any ideas who makes the 24mp sensors for Nikon, or do they make it themselves? I know Olympus did not want you to know who made the sensors for their OM-D EM-5 but in the end it was revealed that is was Sony. Previous to that it was Panasonic and previous to that Kodak.

Fuji has been mentioned on some rumour sites.

[artington]

Yes, there is. That's why I sold my NEX-7 and bought another NEX-5n. The 1600 sensor is versatile and robust in low light, the 24 megapixel is tricky to get right and does not like difficult contrast and light.

David

David

Have you had a chance to see how the NEX-6 compares against the various other NEX and Alpha-SLT iterations for dynamic range and noise? And whether the 16-50 kit lens is any good in the real world?