Sony A350: Full-Time Live View at 14.2MP
by Wesley Fink on April 3, 2008 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Current Sony Lineup
Below is a comparison of current Sony models with the Sony 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 lens. For those who wish to buy the body alone, only the A350 ($799) and A700 ($1399) are available without a kit lens. A two-lens kit is available for the A200, A300, and A350. The two-lens kit adds the 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 to the A200K and the 55-200mm f4-5.6 to the A300/A350 kits. The two-lens kit adds $200 to the single lens kit prices.
 |
At 14.2MP, the A350 is the highest resolution Sony you can buy until the A900 is introduced later this year. The current top-of-the-line A700 is the only current CMOS model with a lower 12.2MP resolution. Canon will have a similar situation with their announced 12MP XSi entry-level model in their line with the prosumer 10MP 40D. As we have said in many articles, image quality is about more than sensor resolution. The resolution, sensor sensitivity, and sensor noise levels all contribute to the final image quality - all else being equal - and this is often reflected in the fact that top prosumer models often have a lower sensor resolution than less expensive entry-level models.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
113 Comments
View All Comments
steveChance - Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - link
[please disregard this post if this topic has been covered already in the readers' comments as I have not read all twelve pages of them]I find it odd that you would test cameras using printed matter as sample subject. Like digital images printed matter (esp. 4-color process) has its own errors that will (IMHO) negatively effect the photographic results.
Use a loupe to view at the actual item shown in the crops...
jcbenten - Friday, April 25, 2008 - link
Nice article. I presume I have come across this with all the corrections. I look forward to comparisons to the XSi, K200, and A300. I am "attempting" to purchase my first (D)SLR and I continue to out think myself. Your A350 crops came out much better than I anticipated. Maybe there is still life in the CCD.punchkin - Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - link
... before performing another "comparison".cputeq - Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - link
You should also consider the text of the review before making snide comments.The review indicated all camera white balance settings were set to Tungsten. If one camera or another has a warmer look than another, that's the "fault" of the camera.
The issue of the image comparisons was noise, not color accuracy.
Zak - Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - link
I'm not saying the review was bad or good, I can't care less for SONY's cameras, and I don't want to put down your efforts, but I think AnandTech is losing focus. Please return to your roots: computer stuff and leave the camera reviews to other established camera review sites that don't do computer stuff review;) When I come here I want to read about about computer stuff. If I want to read about cameras I go to DP Review, Steve's Cams, Digital Camera Resource, Fred Miranda, The Imaging Reource just to name a few. Honestly, I see at least 50% drop in number of interesting articles on AT. Oh, and the same goes for game reviews. XBox game reviews on AT? Please…Zak
MKFAGAN - Monday, April 7, 2008 - link
I was wondering why everyone is down playing the in camera zoom feature this is huge..The way I see it I have a 50mm 1.4 which is actually a 70mm with the 1.6 crop I press the button to get 1.4x zoom this gives me a 98 1.4 lens I press it again I get 2x zoom so I get a 140mm 1.4 thats huge It is like having 3 prime lenses in 1 so what if I lose a few MP This is big could you imagine a 135mm 2.8 with crop factor 216mm 2.8 press the button to 2x zoom I have a 432mm 2.8 this is a huge featureWesley Fink - Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - link
The auto-teleconverter is convenient, but it is really just a crop of the 14.2 megapixel image. You can do that by croppping images from any digital camera. I was also disappointed that the auto teleconverter does not work in Live View mode.In fact, there is no real zoom mode in Live View to assist in focusing, as I learned the hard way in trying to set critical focus for the resolution/noise crops. The tiny viewfinder and no zoom in LV made accurate manual focusing a real chore. While Sony's Live View is the fastest and most convenient LV we have tested, both the Pentax K20D and Olympus E-3 allow you to select an area to enlarge in LV and then magnify it (7X, 10X) for manual focusing - which does work real-time on both cameras. That made manual focusing MUCH easier for the test series on those two cameras.
haplo602 - Thursday, April 10, 2008 - link
Briliant Wesley ... THIS is that kind of information that should have been in the review !!!That's also what I meant in my earlier post. Camera handling and the little quirks that either get in the way or aid in actual shooting.
Maybe I missed the part in the review, but I do not recall you mentioning the auto-teleconverter. Also the LV limitation on focusing (coupled with the horrible viewfinder) are a critical point that should have been in the review.
retired hiker - Monday, April 7, 2008 - link
I have a problem with the title of your review. Tell me how I can Live View at 14.2MP. Certainly the tiny display on the camera can't give me that resolution.krakman - Saturday, April 5, 2008 - link
also they sell fer around 30$ on amazon.