Dubai: We gadget reviewers are a jaded lot. The frequent handling of the best and latest in technology eventually brings on a slight feeling of ennui — a certain "been there, tested that" lull.
So, on the rare occasion a new product comes along and jolts us out of our stupor, the conclusion is that some boffins somewhere must have really got it right.
They certainly have for Sony Alpha SLT A55, which comes with an 18 to 55mm lens as standard. But Sony's entire range of lenses is open to be tapped into with the A55. The camera's outward appearance gives away nothing. It is like any DSLR, albeit a very small one.
Its piece de resistance, however, lies deep inside — a translucent mirror. Instead of using a moving mirror like normal SLRs, Sony has introduced a translucent reflecting surface that remains fixed when the shutter is clicked.
It lets 70 per cent of the light through to the image sensor and reflects 30 per cent to an auto-focus mechanism. The traditional optical viewfinder has been replaced with an electronic one.
The most obvious benefit is the camera's ability to shoot ten shots per second at 16.5 MP aided by the time saved by not having to move a mirror out of the way. Another benefit is fast and accurate auto-focus, returning pin-sharp images under most lighting conditions.
Bizarrely, though, the focusing mechanism gets a little confused in medium light, even though it performs brilliantly under bright and low lights.
Low-light edge
And low light shooting is where the camera excels. An in-body anti-shake feature, coupled with the translucent mirror, enables superb hand-held night shots at very low shutter speeds, previously unthinkable without a tripod.
The A55 also offers full-HD 1080 video recording, and here the translucent mirror enables continuous auto-focus in video mode — a feature more common to dedicated high-end video cameras. Movie quality, too, is near impeccable.
A gimmick is the Sweep Panorama mode, which creates a multi-exposure panoramic image. This can also be shot in 3-D, with a built-in software.
To sum up, the A55 excellent though it is in its own way, is not going to replace a regular DSLR. For one, it depends too much on shooting modes and does not afford the same level of manual control that a proper SLR does.
Toggling through a mix of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and focusing controls in manual mode is slightly cumbersome, with the danger that you may miss that crucial moment while fumbling to get the settings right.
The built-in flash has less carry than you'd expect in such a package. And handling suffers due to the small body size.
However, in case you do not use a full-fledged DSLR yet, the A55 could be the best tool to step up to it.
Pros
- Ten frames per second shooting.
- Excellent images in low-light situations.
- Fast auto-focusing.
- Impeccable Full-HD movie quality.
- Sweep Panorama mode for wide angle shots.
- 3-D capability in panorama mode.
Cons
- Auto-focus inaccurate in medium light.
- Over-dependence on shooting modes.
- Lack of easily accessible manual controls.
- Built-in flash not powerful enough.
- Handling hampered by small size.
- No in-built 3-D screen to view 3-D Panorama shots.
