I don't have several hours to do a proper review on this excellent camera, but I can quickly share the high points. It has great "human factor" engineering, meaning it fits your hands like a glove and all the controls are easy to access. The camera/lens combo is very light and easy to handle. If you have any Minolta lenses, they fit. The ability to view the picture on the large, bright LCD instead of through the viewfinder is a definite plus in many situations. 14+ megapixels ... really, how many more do you need?Here's the bottom line ... I worked for Kodak, I've been a serious amateur photographer for decades, I've shot thousands of pictures (hundreds so far with this camera) and it leaves nothing that I can think of to be desired. If you want to spend more bucks on a Nikon or Canon, have fun. But for my money, this little beauty is a clear winner.
The solution? Minolta lenses. I got my camera in the mail this morning and have played with it all day. From the second I unpacked the lens I was disappointedeven before I put it on the camera. It has an extremely cheap and plasticy feel, probably because it is cheap and made of only plastic. I'm actually pretty sure there's not a single piece of glass in the lens (which means, for those of you are new to this, that it sucks). I put it on and sure enough the results were not pretty. Don't run off to Canon's page so quickly, thoughremember that this IS a 5 star review.
What makes up for sony's crappy crappy lens is the fact that you can use any Minolta lens from the past 20 years. In anticipation of purchasing this camera I brought 2 Minolta lenses from a garage sale a few weeks ago for a hundred bucks, and when I put them on the camera it was like magic. The autofocus still works in an instant, and the sharpness and color combined with Sony's 14megapixel sensor have left this former film-snob utterly impressed.
So my advice to advanced amateur photographers is to buy this camera. But just the body only. Save the hundred bucks to buy yourself a Minolta lens (or two). I thought I'd throw in the extra hundred bucks with this cam just to have an extra lens for my collection, and it was absolutely not worth it. I don't even know if I'll mount it onto my camera ever again. Seriously It's a big plastic turd. I wouldn't buy it again if it was 20 bucks.
Also I learned the complete menu for this camera in less than a day. The only negative things about this camera (except for the crappy turd plastico lens) are that it's not a full frame sensor (look it up, and then decide if you really want to spend and extra 1300 dollars to get a full frame sensor DSLR), and that there's a really dumb and pointless digital zoom button that is a total tragic use of space. I could think of ten more used/usable functions that could have gone there instead.
Really though, I couldn't be happier with this camera.I've been able to handle an Alpha 350 one and off for about a month now, and I'm quite pleased with what I've seen so far.
First, the camera's appearance is very much like that of the Alpha 200, and identical to the Alpha 300. All share the same, comfortable grip that uses a full-size lithium-ion "info" battery, and should feel good in most peoples hands. The tilting LCD screen is added from the A200, and makes it a bit thicker at the back. This thickness doesn't seem to be much of a drawback for handling, but it might make it a bit more ackward for those who wear eyeglasses.
Most of the camera controls are located in easy to use places, although the rear toggle might be too easy to hit (by mistake) for some, the idea is for it to be quickly accessable.
Performance wise, the camera seems to be greatly improved from the older Alpha 100. Image Quality (IQ), both sharpness and color wise, appear to be very good. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do critical, side-by-side, low-light/high ISO testing, something which is of a possible concern with such a high megapixel CCD sensor. Visually, those images I shot in poor lighting appeared reasonably good, but more serious testing needs to be done.
Autofocusing speed is very decent, especially when the eye-start feature begins the AF process for you. The 9-point AF seems fast and accurate. My only disappointment is that an upgrade camera such as this does not have the "instant" manual focusing ability of the Alpha 100. [This feature allowed you to use the camera in AF. Once the camera focused, it released the gearing, making manual focusing instantly possible to make corrections, without fiddling for an AF/M switch].
Of course, the built-in anti-shake ability is great. Although we can argue the merits of in-camera vs. in-lens, there is no doubt that this feature is much less expensive, and works with lenses that neither Nikon nor Canon offer with IS/VR (e.g. 50mm f1.4), and a whole bunch of older lenses as well.
Like the anti-shake system, everyone will have their opinion on what's the best way to implement Live View. I prefer the way Sony has chosen to use Live View, where AF speed is unaffected. The drawback is that only 90 percent of the actual image is previewed with Sony's system. Adding the articulated, nice quality LCD seems to me to make this system a bit more useful, and the 1.4x and 2x digital cropping may come in handy (but keep in mind, you're just cropping out megapixels).
Another feature I would have liked for this price is a wireless shutter release (it does offer a wired release).
It will be interesting to see how this stacks up to the competition. The biggest threat will come from the Canon Digital Rebel XSi. The XSi will be smaller (using a new, smaller battery), and have a 12 megapixel CMOS sensor, which may prove to be better from someone doing low light with high ISO speeds (such as museum or stage photography). Also, for $200 less, the Alpha 300 will need serious consideration. The only feature difference is it has 10 megapixels vs. 14, and this may actually improve IQ in poorer light.
Overall, a very fine addition to the Sony lineup!
Canon Digital Rebel XSI 12MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Silver)
Sony Alpha DSLRA300X 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization with DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 & DT 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Zoom LensesI already owned a Sony A100 and liked it alot, so when the A350 came out I was expecting it to be good and it is. Some additional controls, true TTL viewing, even longer battery life than the A100 which means I've taken more than 1,000 photos at maximum quality without a battery change and it handles quickly and accurately. I have a few lenses, but like the flexibility of the Sony 18-200mm zoom so it's on the camera most of the time. The disadvantage with that lens is that it's slow (4.5 to 6.3 at 200mm) so it's not really suitable for people shots, unless they're in bright sunlight. However, the lens is fine for objects, buildings or anything that's not going to move quickly. I was in Marrakech recently and found the camera and lens a great combination, although they're big and obvious enough to make it difficult to shoot candid portraits. Now I'm looking for a 135mm f.2.4 lens so I can shoot in shadows.I got the Sony A350 about 2 months ago. The camera is great. I like the way it's laid out and it's easy to use. The live view and tilting screen is very hand when shooting small objects on the ground.
HOWEVER I'm a bit disappointed in the 18-70mm lens supplied with it. Under certain conditions (which I'm not sure I understand what these are) there is quite a bad flair. Red on the left, green on the right of objects. Bright and contrasty pictures seem to show this up most.
When viewing the pictures normally, this defect isn't obvious. When the pictures are enlarged to the extent that you are starting to see the pixels, this flair becomes quite obvious. I'll try to submit a picture here illustrating this. If I'm not successful, trust me that it's poor.
The good aspect of this defect is that it's not obvious unless the pictures are enlarged quite a bit, so for most photographers, it's not an issue. Dispite this problem, I like the camera and I'm glad I got it. This amazon price was also good.
I bought the Tamron 70-300mm zoom and it works well on this camera and doesn't seem to have this red/green lens flair. The Tamron is a good companion at a great price.
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