Sony a390?

[chito beach]

I keep hearing excellent things about this new Sony A55...like lightning fast, SOLID, class-leading autofocusing performance when shooting video. I saw an on-line comparison of the A55's video autofocusing against the Nikon D7000, and the Sony blew the Nikon's doors off for unobtrusive,fast, accurate, non-hunting autofocusing when shooting a video clip of a woman moving forward toward the camera, then side-to-side.

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Derrel that is Blasphemy!

I love my A55 It is a major step forward for Sony over the earlier models including the A700 dare I say. IMHO

The auto focus is much faster than my A100 or the A700 that I have used in the past. very little hunting.

You can set the camera to AF continuous when you bring the camera to your eye.

It will shoot 10 FPS in fine JPEG and 7FPS in RAW, has about a 30 shot buffer before it starts to lag. .

Still full manual control all the usual stuff and even has tutorial info for beginners if you wish.

The upgraded super steady shot allows me to shoot a 500mm at under 1/100 second in decent light conditions

ISO to 3200 is quite satisfactory prior Sony Cameras 800 was pushing the limits

There are some issues as with any camera

It needs an upgrade in the firmware to be more studio friendly. as it stands now the Live View EVF goes dark when you set your camera in manual and set for flash lighting. simply being able to toggle off live view would solve the problem.

The body is a little compact for large hands.

The EVF has a little lag when shooting at 10FPS which takes a little to get used too

Im sure I will find other quirks as I use the camera but you do with all cameras

Over all it is a great camera and I really dont think you can buy a better DSLR now for under 1000.00

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[FlakoFigZ]

I have an a330 and a Maxxum 7D (older 2004 cam) as backup. Best thing is the interchangeable lenses.

The Maxxum has the benefit of having almost all controls as knobs on the body. I've gotten great Maxxum AF lenses for around 150 on ebay (f/1.7 fixed and f/2.8 zooms)

[kassad]

I really want to find a used 7D. I wish Sony or frankly and company would put the controls back at your finger tips rather than burrying them in menus.

[chito beach]

I really want to find a used 7D. I wish Sony or frankly and company would put the controls back at your finger tips rather than burrying them in menus.

That was easy when you only had several functions to control. But now we have many more options. On my A55 I can change ISO, WB, Shutter, Aperture, focus mode, DRO, and a few others without ever taking my eye off of the Viewfinder

[kassad]

I love the idea of the A55 but I'm worried it's too small. I hoping for a A77 or a99.

[chito beach]

I love the idea of the A55 but I'm worried it's too small. I hoping for a A77 or a99.

since the a33 adn a55 are the same size Im sure any future A77 or A99 would be the same size. and frankly the A55 size is not an issue. I have large construction worker hands and its fine for me. Took all of an hour to get used too.

The numbers of the A580 surpass the A55 for ISO performance and IQ and the A55 is a big jump above the A700. If I had not already purchased the A55 I would be ordering an A580 today. OVF and Live view