α560/α580 are coming

[Mark K]

David...
I have to try an A580 first

[alphaomega]

Mark
I noticed on another thread that you had an A33 for a few hours and posted v. good pictures of small children. So you are familiar with the concept of the A33/55. I have just purchased an A580 with the 18-55 SAM lens. You have really to analyse what YOU need from a camera. Not what other vocal commentators think. I looked at both the SLT/EVF cameras and DSLR/OVF concept. I decided that my requirements were still 1st and video 3rd in line. I decided that I wanted OVF for landscape photography. I further evaluated that the A580 may be the last OVF APS-C DSLR from Sony, so I bought one although I really do not need it as the A550 will do everything I require. I had a requirement to shoot an approaching train at 130Km/H. I used the A550 in Hi-continuous and got the PICTURE out of a sequence of five in a second. The 550 will do exactly all the things I require it to do and the A580 will do it perhaps slightly better with a larger sensor and now also DOF. Lack of P shift is of no consequence as I use A to control aperture and pump up ISO to get the shutter speed required. You should analyse your needs and then pick the camera with the features that cover. The A580 sensor and picture output will be fine so look at the other features and decide if video is important as that may tip the balance. I need a large dynamic range and David's comments about the light bouncing around in the A55 would put me off as well as the smaller battery. All my Sony DSLRs use the same battery and it lasts 600+ per charge. Don't forget the A580 is still not supported by Adobe. I have set up IDC to convert RAW into 16bit TIFF and transfer to LR principally for CA removal.

[Greg Beetham]

How does the VF on the A580 checkout alphomega? I heard a comment elsewhere that it was not very good, not even as good as an A100 VF, is that right? I can get by with the A100 VF quite ok so if it's almost as good that'll probably be ok, not that I'm going to buy one, I'm waiting and watching the 7 space...just wondering.
Greg

[pakodominguez]

I further evaluated that the A580 may be the last OVF APS-C DSLR from Sony...

too much drama, soap opera drama... Lets say Sony will make less OVF cameras int he future (and that is easy since they had been launching a new battery of model every 8 months) but they can not stop doing OVF DSRL cameras simply because there is a strong market for that -next batch of OVF-DSRL will be probably more expensive than SLT-DSRL, but IMHO all the dram will stop there.

Regards

[Greg Beetham]

Hey Pako old son, why do you say DSRL?
Greg

[pakodominguez]

Hey Pako old son, why do you say DSRL?
Greg

SLT-DSRL?
you right, it's a mistake...

[alphaomega]

Greg Beetham wrote

How does the VF on the A580 checkout alphomega? I heard a comment elsewhere that it was not very good, not even as good as an A100 VF, is that right? I can get by with the A100 VF quite ok so if it's almost as good that'll probably be ok, not that I'm going to buy one, I'm waiting and watching the 7 space...just wondering.

Comparing spec. sheets they are identical at Field of View 95% and Magnification 80% with 50mm FF lens at infinity. Looking through the A580 OVF I would agree that it is identical to the A550. I would say that the A580 is an A550 with the larger 16Mp sensor, video and DOF plus a few more features still to be explored. The A550 serves me well and the A580 will too.
pakodominguez is entitled to his opinion and he may be right. I hope for the "traditionalists" that Sony will bring out more well specifiedd OVF DSLRs, it is just that I tend not to agree and I am not prepared to gamble on it. The (so far unfounded) rumours will have it that the high end A700 successor will be SLT and there is a NEX7 in the pipeling with EVF better than A33/77 offerings. I just think that Sony has seen this as their gateway to displace CAN/NIK. I can imagine that an A77 with say 18Mp APS-C sensor SLT, improved EVF, 10+/second shooting rate and improved AF over A55 will see a £1000 camera outdo Canon's 1DIV costing 3.5 times as much and do HD video with phase detect AF as well. (Fill the pocket with batteries and shoot the whole day without getting back pain). I also fear that with the announcement of Sony's newest 35 mm Video taking E-mount lenses we will see more of these and less A-mount lenses being released.

[Greg Beetham]

It's no biggie Pako, I was just wondering that's all....
Greg

[Greg Beetham]

Comparing spec. sheets they are identical at Field of View 95% and Magnification 80% with 50mm FF lens at infinity. Looking through the A580 OVF I would agree that it is identical to the A550. I would say that the A580 is an A550 with the larger 16Mp sensor, video and DOF plus a few more features still to be explored. The A550 serves me well and the A580 will too.
pakodominguez is entitled to his opinion and he may be right. I hope for the "traditionalists" that Sony will bring out more well specifiedd OVF DSLRs, it is just that I tend not to agree and I am not prepared to gamble on it. The (so far unfounded) rumours will have it that the high end A700 successor will be SLT and there is a NEX7 in the pipeling with EVF better than A33/77 offerings. I just think that Sony has seen this as their gateway to displace CAN/NIK. I can imagine that an A77 with say 18Mp APS-C sensor SLT, improved EVF, 10+/second shooting rate and improved AF over A55 will see a £1000 camera outdo Canon's 1DIV costing 3.5 times as much and do HD video with phase detect AF as well. (Fill the pocket with batteries and shoot the whole day without getting back pain). I also fear that with the announcement of Sony's newest 35 mm Video taking E-mount lenses we will see more of these and less A-mount lenses being released.

Sony is capable of anything I guess, who would have thought a camera co. would leave the Canon 60D, Nikon D7000 equivalent niche vacant for so long, if a NEX in a 7ish flavour appears it might work if it's good and the controls are up to scratch, they could mount a slt mirror sideways if they want, the NEX doesn't need the VF hump to be as large as a SLT one. The NEX and the SLT both suffer the same problems in my eyes though, the FP shutter does double duty, and the extra electronics use more battery power.
Sony might eventually bring out a 7 DSLR (OVF type) and an SLT 7 (sooner most likely), in any case I'll be watching what happens.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

It might be soap opera drama but I too feel Sony are not likely to make OVF models for much longer. If the A77 talk from Sony folks meant anything..even the fact they're willing to try an SLT for this class of camera is a sign on it's own. Not a mention of OVF bar FF models.

They might run the OVF for a bit but with a delayed A560 (at this stage why even bother) and only the A580 on the market for OVF APS-C users it's not looking great. 0.80x with 95% is hardly earth shattering either for OVF's. I'm still not sure why we don't have much better OVF's can't be hard to do really. My advice to APS-C OVF users it pack your life jacket and hit the boats fairly rapidly!

[Greg Beetham]

Yeah the SLT concept looks like a brand new model niche that's working well for Sony, I think it works well where it's positioned in the model strata, I'm not so sure of it's reception further up the ladder though. If Sony is going to offer such a design to replace a camera like the A700 it's no good offering one that is inferior in any respect. People spending that sort of money are going to look closely at the camera before spending their hard earned I think.
Greg

[Scooterman]

It might be soap opera drama but I too feel Sony are not likely to make OVF models for much longer. If the A77 talk from Sony folks meant anything..even the fact they're willing to try an SLT for this class of camera is a sign on it's own. Not a mention of OVF bar FF models.

They might run the OVF for a bit but with a delayed A560 (at this stage why even bother) and only the A580 on the market for OVF APS-C users it's not looking great. 0.80x with 95% is hardly earth shattering either for OVF's. I'm still not sure why we don't have much better OVF's can't be hard to do really. My advice to APS-C OVF users it pack your life jacket and hit the boats fairly rapidly!

Well I am very pleased with my A-580 Barry, at least Sony give us the choice of OVF or DVF, I chose the OVF on the 580 because with my larger hands the A-55 was just to small and I rather think no battery grip will fit, also my A-550 grip fits the A-580.
The viewfinder is fine ok it is not100% but far too much is made of the very small amount that is missing, at the price I feel I have had a great deal, fast accurate af and excellent metering, not like Pentax always under exposing by half a stop.
I had Pentax as I have said before the K10 and K20 both capable cameras at low iso’s but very noisy at anything over 400.
Every body wants different things from a camera, I like many others, yes many others Barry, like to do birds, wildlife and fast moving macro.
Not just things that don’t move, most cameras will handle that.
As for “Life Jackets” I don’t think so. The only people who may want those are the ones with Olympus 4 thirds.
Sony seem to be going ahead very well considering the short time they have been in the DSLR market, next year we should see some very innovative cameras from them, not just “warmed over” products.

[pakodominguez]

It might be soap opera drama but I too feel ...

More drama: do you really think Sony will care about the feelings of someone that only got an A200 and kit lens? I do totally understand the concern of someone as Walt, who have invest a lot on Minolta/Sony equipment, but the fact that you are sort of 'celebrity" on the Sony-related forums doesn't make you a good Sony customer -and I do expect Sony to make his good customers happy.

They might run the OVF for a bit but with a delayed A560 (at this stage why even bother) and only the A580 on the market for OVF APS-C users it's not looking great. 0.80x with 95% is hardly earth shattering either for OVF's. I'm still not sure why we don't have much better OVF's can't be hard to do really. My advice to APS-C OVF users it pack your life jacket and hit the boats fairly rapidly!

We knew your advice before the SLT system showed up...

[Mark K]

Mark
I noticed on another thread that you had an A33 for a few hours and posted v. good pictures of small children. So you are familiar with the concept of the A33/55. I have just purchased an A580 with the 18-55 SAM lens. You have really to analyse what YOU need from a camera. Not what other vocal commentators think. I looked at both the SLT/EVF cameras and DSLR/OVF concept. I decided that my requirements were still 1st and video 3rd in line. I decided that I wanted OVF for landscape photography. I further evaluated that the A580 may be the last OVF APS-C DSLR from Sony, so I bought one although I really do not need it as the A550 will do everything I require. I had a requirement to shoot an approaching train at 130Km/H. I used the A550 in Hi-continuous and got the PICTURE out of a sequence of five in a second. The 550 will do exactly all the things I require it to do and the A580 will do it perhaps slightly better with a larger sensor and now also DOF. Lack of P shift is of no consequence as I use A to control aperture and pump up ISO to get the shutter speed required. You should analyse your needs and then pick the camera with the features that cover. The A580 sensor and picture output will be fine so look at the other features and decide if video is important as that may tip the balance. I need a large dynamic range and David's comments about the light bouncing around in the A55 would put me off as well as the smaller battery. All my Sony DSLRs use the same battery and it lasts 600+ per charge. Don't forget the A580 is still not supported by Adobe. I have set up IDC to convert RAW into 16bit TIFF and transfer to LR principally for CA removal.

Thanks a lot
I have given this thought over and over again. I have a good collection of A mount lenses ranging from 16mm to 200mm. I am getting the 500/4 in favour of upcoming A7xx camera and I have just got stuck at the options of A55 and A580. A55 offers lighter body weight and automatic focusing during video recording. As for OVF, I prefer one much brighter than on A580. On the other hand, I really do not like current EVF...maybe I should wait till the A7xx comes out.
I also have a good supply of old Sony batteries for my A700 and A850. I also find the old A100 can use these batteries, too.

[Lonnie Utah]

...and I rather think no battery grip will fit, also my A-550 grip fits the A-580....

And it should fit the A55 as well battery grip...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6 ... p_for.html