Review on Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only): Professional-grade Imaging Power at Your Fingertips by Anthony Lopez

The Sony A550 has many good qualities that will make you want to buy it, especially at such a low price that Revain is offering. I bought one and was very excited, took hundreds of pictures. I like the style of landscape photography. Most of the pictures were taken near lakes, rivers, roads and mountains. I used a Minolta 50mm F1.7 Prime, Sony SAL-55200 and Sony SAL-1870 (I hardly use it because of the low IQ, I need a decent wide angle lens). I mostly use aperture priority. The features I like are: 1) live view and screen tilt 2) manual focus check 3) good button layout except for the power button (this is personal, some other people, like most pros, might think that the layout of the keys is a scam ). 4) high resolution screen 5) good flash (I don't usually use flash and I still don't use it. But I took a few shots and got a very satisfactory result. 6) low light shooting 7) high shooting speed (continuous shooting) I will list all the good ones here. Just check out other reviews if you want to hear all the good ones. I would like to note what disappointed me: overexposure and noise. Among the hundreds of photos I've taken, some are overexposed. It seems random and it's hard to predict when and why they are distorted. I saw some reviews on the internet. They said if you photograph the sky it will most likely be overexposed. It may be true, but not 100% true. The pros offered to adjust the exposure. I think it works, but you have extra work to do each time or scene. If overexposure always occurs, then this is the best solution (but why didn't the manufacturer do it in the first place). Because it's unpredictable, you'll need to check the exposure every time, which can be difficult in bright sunlight. By the way, I shoot in RAW format. So there is more to do after that. I can still endure working only on select photos. But for properly exposed photos, shadow noise becomes a problem. I photographed several buildings on the streets, there is a lot of noise in the shadow area, especially red objects. I got a lot from Revain but really struggled with the quality of the photos. Maybe I have a bad body. By the way, this brand new camera has dust on the sensor and it always shows a speck "in the sky". That's not the main reason I ended up returning the camera after arguing with myself, but it affected me and made me question the quality control at the Sony factory. The A550 and A500 are made in Thailand, not Japan. All in all, this should be a great camera for people who like to shoot sports or shoot in low light (I think noise is to be expected in those conditions anyway). For product photography you might like ISO 100. I'll keep my A200 for now. I'm thinking about buying the A500 (some reviews recommend the A500 over the A550) or waiting longer for the next model, or maybe Sony will fix the issue with the A550 in a firmware update. I'm willing to listen to any offer. What I don't like: 1) Noise, ISO 200 isn't as good as ISO 100.2) Stabilized capture switch is built into the menu instead of a toggle button 3) No mirror lockup (I think Sony deliberately doesn't use this feature for people who shoot fast .For them, mirror blocking is not important) 4) not very clever automatic exposure control 5) questionable quality You can comment on this if you have an A550 or A500. Many Thanks. (9/11/2010) Sony will release the A580 and A560 in October 2010 and early 2011 respectively. These two models offer Full HD and ISO 100-12800 movie recording. Its 15-point phase-detection autofocus and 3D panorama also sound appealing. I look forward to one of these. B&H is currently taking pre-orders. (1-2-2011) I have had A580 for almost a year, I am very satisfied with A580. I'm so glad I made the right decision to return the A550 and receive the A580. See my sample photos at [.]