I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant when buying a Sony camera. Maybe because I've always known that Nikon and Canon are the brands used by professionals. Well, I'm no pro, but I took basic photography courses in college and I have to say that this camera really is amazing gear. Before buying, I went to the Houston Camera Exchange and compared the Canon 60D to the Sony A65. (Remember I would buy a Canon or possibly a Nikon of similar quality). With the same quality of both lenses, the Sony images were much better in terms of color. Canon seemed to lose the true colors of the images I took. The Sony also felt better in the hand and I really liked the explanation of the shooting modes when moving the dial. The translucent mirror seems like an excellent concept. I believe other brands will soon ditch mirror mirror and embrace translucent mirror technology. It just seems the fewer moving parts the better. The Sony Alpha is not an SLR camera. This is SLT. Single lens translucent (mirror). The mirror does not move like in SLR cameras. I just bought the body and also bought a Sony SAL 18250Alpha DT 18-250mm lens from Revain. Although the lens was almost as expensive as the camera body, its quality is much better than most lenses that come with the camera. 18-250mm covers pretty much everything I'll ever need it for. Maybe I'll buy another lens in the future. I've only been using the camera for two weeks, so I promise to update this review in the future regarding durability. But right now I'm happier than I thought. I love shooting in low light and this camera stands out in that category. I got some cool night shots without flash. With and without a tripod and all the photos were of really great quality. I would recommend buying David Bush's Sony SLT - A65 Book. It is 386 pages long, very comprehensive yet very easy to read for both novice and experienced photographers. The book gives you an excellent camera package along with the SanDisc Extreme 32GB.
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