I've had a Panasonic FZ30 "bridge" camera for five years. It is the type of camera without interchangeable lenses and a small sensor. I've really enjoyed that camera as it had good ergonomics, a great 35mm to 420mm 12x zoom lens, shot video, a good set of features, and pretty good stills. However I found it limited me in three areas (there's always something right?):
1) I wanted better image quality.
2) I wanted better low light capability.
3) I wanted better video performance.
Not wanting to carry and change lenses I searched for another bridge mega-zoom type of camera but they all suffered from the same small sensors and limited low light capability. So I decided I had to make the leap to an interchangeable lens camera. I would search for one that had a sort of mega-zoom lens available so I could just have one lens.
I looked at DSLRs but they are so big, so expensive, and so heavy that I shyed away from them.
Recently several micro four-thirds size sensor cameras came on the market, all using a new set of lenses, but I wasn't impressed with them. I thought if the sensor had been the biggest problem in my FZ30 I didn't want just a step up, I wanted a large leap up in sensor size.
Then I saw Sony introduce the A33 and A55. Reading through the specification I was so excited to see it would likely meet all of my wants and then some.
I've had the A55 for just over a week and I am very happy with it. I have the one lens I wanted (sort of) which is the Sony SAL18250 with a 33mm equivalent of 27mm to 375mm, almost as much zoom as my FZ30. I do appreciate the wider 27mm and can crop on the PC to extend the zoom range. Photo quality with this camera/lens combination is a huge improvement, just what I was looking for.
This camera is small compared to most other DSLRs on the market, but it is competitive in photo quality, ahead in video quality, and has some great features not found on even much more expensive cameras.
The sensor used in the A55 is an ASP-C size used in many prosumer DSLR cameras. Sony has done a great job combining advanced features into a small and light body.
As for low light the FZ30 was limited to 400 ISO while the A55 goes up to a somewhat grainy 12,800 and can mimic 25,000 in one mode. So it far exceeds my needs for low light capability. There is little noise up to about 6,400.
The video quality is astounding at 1080i/60fps (captured at 30fps, recorded at 60fps). It is smooth, sharp, and the color is good even in low light. Check it out on youtube.com
There are lots of detailed professional reviews online so I won't go much deeper and I'm not the one to do that anyway. I'm just an amateur photographer who wants to take good photos of my seven month old grand son, some videos of wake boarders behind our boat, and photos of family gatherings. This camera will do that and much more.
There are many complaints of low battery life but it is better than my FZ30 so I am happy. I have three batteries which should solve any low battery issues anyway. It depends a lot on your shooting conditions. Yesterday I took 700 photos with very little auto focus required; the battery level showed 75% after those 700 shots. This was just a test and the total duration was less than 15 minutes. I just offer it to say that your shooting conditions will dramatically alter battery life.
Pros:
Light weight, small and easy to handle.
Great photo quality
Even better video quality than most.
Very fast, continuous Auto Focus even during video.
Level indicator on screen (I can't tell you how many images I've had to adjust photos on the PC for a crooked horizon)
Fully articulated 2.9" LCD (I won't buy a camera without one of these)
Very nice Electronic View Finder. Some see this as a "Con" if they've come from an OVF. I've only used EVF for 10 years so this is no big deal for me.
Nice, sharp, 18-250 lens (an option I purchased separately.
Panorama mode take an auto-stitched sequence of photos in one quick motion. Awesome feature.
High Dynamic Range Take, for example, a photo indoors with a bright window in the background. HDR will properly expose both the inside of the room and the image outside the window automatically in the camera.
Hand Held Twilight mode take a photo in very dark conditions. The camera will take 6 photos and combine them to achieve amazing 25,000 ISO equivalent photos.
Night portrait uses the flash for the person in the foreground but properly exposes the background too.
Amazing Night View scene mode take great city skyline photos at night.
Built in pop-up flash
Built in GPS records where you are in the photo data. Display on Google Earth
Face detection
Smile shutter
10 Frames Per Second yes 10fps. You can't find that in any other camera in this price range. And it will focus during the burst!
Sensor switches from LCD to EVF when you put your eye up to the EVF. Neat!
I can have one lens and just leave it there. No carrying two or three lenses and having the frustration of having the wrong lens attached for a given situation. I did the three lens dance many years ago and don't ever want to do it again. With one lens there is no issue with cleaning the sensor if it gets dust on it because I'll never have the sensor exposed to the air.
Cons:
With the 18-250 lens the camera and lens weight about 2 lbs. That is about 1/2 lb. heavier than my FZ30 and I notice it.
Lots of shooting, especially long video with the image stabilizer on, can result in an over heat shutdown. I've only had this happen once. Most of my videos are 1-3 minutes, well inside the overheat warning.
To me the grip is uncomfortable and too small. I have average size hands for a man. After doing some research though I've learned I've been spoiled by my Panasonic FZ30 which had a very nice grip. I've tried a number of DSLRs and it seems many of them have grips that are not as comfortable for me as the FZ30.
If you are the owner of a larger, more expensive, DSLR you may find some things of this camera to fall a little short for your needs. One big issue is the lack of an OVF, another might be battery life. You may find, though, that the Sony A55 is a good addition to your camera inventory that is much smaller and lighter as a carry-around but still has great image quality and features. For you there are a lot of great Alpha lenses available for this camera.
If you are the owner of anything less than a DSLR I suspect you'll find this to be a gem of a camera. It has a lot of features that you can take your time to learn, but it also has several auto modes so you can treat it as a point-n-shoot. My wife picked it up this morning and took several photos without ever having touched it before. She took the lens cap off, turned it on, popped up the flash and took several great photos of me with my grand son.
Don't be scared away by those that tell you Canon and Nikon are the only good digital camera manufacturers. Sony makes sensors for Nikon.
June 2012
I use this camera almost every day and I'm still very happy with it. I purchased a third party manual on Amazon.com which taught me a few things about the camera that I didn't know. The camera is still teaching me how to be a better photographer.
I also added an expensive, heavy, large second lens (the Sigma f/2.8 70-200) which I will use occasionally but the 18-250 is still my primary lens. The Sigma takes sharper photos, and allows for better low light photos without a flash (like a wedding reception for example). The good news is if you don't mind changing lenses this camera is still a good choice because there are some great lenses available for the Sony Alpha line.
I still don't change lenses. When I leave the house I have a target photo shoot in mind and attach either one or the other lens for the day.
I'm going to attach a photo of my 28 month old grandson in the pool with my wife that I took with the A55 and the Sigma lens so you can see how sharp it is. That photo is right out of the camera, unedited in any way on my computer.
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