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Review Summary
2012-08-26T21:00:00
I am not a professional, just like taking pictures. I take mostly landscape and wildlife photos. I also do alot of macro shots of flowers, bugs etc. I recently bought a second A55 Sony body. I wanted to be able to put another lens on it, so I wouldn't have to keep changing lens all the time. Once I was familiar with the camera I loved it. It is not heavy, and has alot of great features. If I had one complaint it would be, getting use to the small grip it has. I was use to the Sony A100 before I got the A55.I would reccommend but phasing out for newer models!
Harley G.
2012-05-13T21:00:00
Have been using for wedding and vacation shooting since May 2011. Love the sweep panorama for doing a bridal party shot. My customers love it when I present an 8x24 group shot as a thank you for their wedding business. The 16mp is more than enough for the enlargements and handles well in all situations.
GLEN E.
2012-04-02T21:00:00
I find this camera very easy to use and the resulting pics are great. My only compaint is the on / off switch location and action makes it easy to turn on / off by mistake. Good battery life.
abaneki
2012-01-28T19:00:00
Advance innovations with internal HDR, sweep panoramas, and many other leading features. Very reasonable price for all that it offers.
WALLACE P.
2011-11-20T19:00:00
great camera at low price. Just love 10fps and panarama capability
FRANK M.
2011-11-02T21:00:00
Sony has been very smart to continue most featyres pioneered by Minolta
Fast F.
2011-10-16T21:00:00
Having owned big dslr with heavy lenses is always an hassle during travels. Lugging around pounds of equipment while walking around France whole day or any other cities is such a pain. Coming from big grip cameras handling the A55 was awkward and uncomfortable at first but after weeks of daily use it's the opposite. Eventually I sold all my big cameras and lenses and went to the lighter one. A55 + Sal 16-105 and 70-300G was the perfect combo for me. Now I enjoy more photography and liveview is very useful, in fact my usage of this feature is 85% (as I avoid the casual photographers pose, peeping through OFV, it's a magnet to pickpockets in some third world countries) though the image in EFV is huge. One thing annoying is the battery life but solved when I bought an extra battery. Don't believe to those people in the internet that bashes this camera because of loss of light due to translucent mirror blocking the sensor. It's only a half stop, in real life shooting and printing it will show no difference. Don't also believe pixel peepers because they don't really shoot and most of them don't own this camera. ISO 3200 hundred is still very useful though the highest value I use is 1600. There's also a lot of fun features such as HDR, face detection, smile shutter, sweep panorama, posterization effects, 10 frames per second for sports and a lot more to discover. Buy this camera, AF is amazingly fast compared to it's peers, and I'm sure you'll gonna enjoy it! Life is too short lets buy the most enjoyable things that will make us happy, A55 is one of them hehehehe!
aml43
2011-09-03T21:00:00
Have used for 3 weddings and a fireworks show. Everything I needed to capture fantastic memories. 10fps and the panoramic feature allowed me to present the newlyweds with images that left them nearly speechless.
GLEN E.
2011-09-03T21:00:00
I have 2 small kids doing all kinds of sports. The phase detection autofocus VDO and 10 fps allow me to take great pictures and VDO.
Tommy
2011-09-03T21:00:00
I like the potential built into this technical wonder. The weight savings alone for me, as I am older, is a boon to my photography, as I carry my camera often, wherever I go. Point and shoot camera's do not have the quality or versatility this unit delivers, and at a modest price. Sony has really advanced in the field very rapidly, and has unlimited potential with their developing product line.
lDICK F.
2011-09-03T21:00:00
Have used this product in all my travels, famjily situations, etc. No problems thus far after several thousand pictures.
DAVID O.
2011-04-06T21:00:00
Along with my Sony G 70-400 lens, this is great for my bird photography hobby. It has very fast focus with the lens unlike my old Sony camera. I love having both the HD video and panarama mode on one camera. So far I haven't found any cons. Love the GPS so I can see where I took a photo.
littlebirder
2010-11-10T19:00:00
Being a previous user of an A700 the new A55 is a big step forward, it is sharp, great image quality, light and easy to use. The only big problem here is that the electronic viewfinder (awesome)cannot work independently from the LCD. Being that the case when I tested it with my Interfit studio light and set the camera to the settings for shooting with the softbox and umbrella the LCD goes almost black and therefore the viewfinder as well so you need to shoot blind. I called Sony and there was no way to fix that. Hey, is an electronic viewfinder. I returned it to the place I bought it and ordered the A580 from Sony with a optical viewfinder in hope the problem would be solved. If you don't shoot in studio this camera is great. Otherwise consider the A580.
ERNESTO G.
TTL phase detection AF (CCD line sensors)
15 points (3 points cross type)
Single-shot AF, Automatic AF, Continuous AF, Manual Focus
Wide, Spot, Local (15 local areas selectable)
-1 EV to +18 EV (at ISO100 equivalent)
Predictive Focus Control, Focus Lock
Built-in flash, Range: approx. 3' - 15' (1m-5m)
Advanced 1200-zone evaluative metering
Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot
-2EV to 17EV (at ISO 100 equivalent w/ f/1.4 lens)
+/-2EV (in .03EV steps)
Auto (AUTO), Auto Advanced (AUTO+), Program Auto (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter-speed priority (S), Manual (M), Sweep Panorama (2D/3D), Continuous Advance Priority AE
Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports action, Sunset, Night portrait, Night View, Handheld Twilight
Yes: (Auto, Level 1-5, off)
Yes (AE Lock button)
2500 - 9900 k with 19-step Magenta / Green compensation
Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, B/W (Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness adjustable in +/-3 steps)
Auto: 100 - 1600; Selectable: 100 - 12800; Multi Frame NR (up to ISO 25600)
Long exp. NR: (On/Off, available of shutter speeds longer than 1 sec.) High ISO NR: (Auto/Weak) Multi Frame NR: (Auto/ISO100-25600)
Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Flash, Setting the color temperature, Custom
Sony A-mount lens
Sony A-mount
Sony a A-mount interchangeable lens digital camera
0.46" Xtra Fine EVF (Electronic viewfinder) (1,440,000 pixels)
100%
1.10x (with 50mm lens at infinity, -1m-1 )
Approx. 330 images with viewfinder, 380 images with LCD monitor (CIPA standard)
Easy-to-understand Graphic Display and on-screen Help Guide User-friendly function menu
6-image layering
Yes, (Off/On, Auto Exposure Difference, Exposure difference Level (1-6 EV at 1.0 EV step)
Yes
Yes (2D/3D)
Off, Auto, Child Priority, Adult Priority (up to 8 faces detectable)
Yes - Off, Slight, Normal, Big
SteadyShot INSIDE in-body image stabilization
Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor (23.5 X 15.6mm)
BIONZ image processor
Charge protection coating on Low-Pass Filter and Image Sensor-Shift mechanism
Approx. 16.7 megapixels
Approx. 16.2 megapixels
1.5x
RGB primary color filters
Memory Stick PRO Duo/Pro-HG Duo media; SD, SDHC and SDXC memory card
sRGB, AdobeRGB
JPEG (Standard, Fine), RAW, RAW+JPEG
L size: 4912 x 2760 (14M) M size: 3568 x 2000 (7.1M) S size: 2448 x 1376 (3.4M)
L size: 4912 x 3264 (16M) M size: 3568 x 2368 (8.4M) S size: 2448 x 1624 (4M)
Horizontal Wide: 12,416 x 1,856 (23M) Horizontal Std.: 8,192 x 1,856 (15M) Vertical Wide: 2,160 x 5,536 (12M) Vertical Std.: 2,160 x 3,872 (8.4M) 3D Sweep Panorama: Horizontal Wide: 7152 X 1080 (7.7M) Horizontal Std.: 4912 X 1080 (5.3M) 16:9: 1920 X 1080 (2.1M)
AVCHD / MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC (H.264))
AVCHD: 1920 x 1080/ 60i (59.94i Interlace recording, 29.97 progressive image sensor output) Approx. 17Mbps (Average bit-rate) MP4 HD: 1440 x 1080/ 30p (29.97 Progressive) Approx. 12Mbps (Average bit-rate) MP4 VGA: 640 x 480/ 30p (29.97 Progressive) Approx. 3Mbps (Average bit-rate)
1920x1080/60i (59.94i, 29.97p sensor output)
NTSC color, EIA standards
Stereo Dolby Digital (AC-3) / MPEG-4 AAC-LC
Built-in Stereo Microphone
PMB (Picture Motion Browser) 5.3.01 Image Data Converter SR 3.2 Image Data Lightbox SR 2.2
Windows XP SP3 (64-bit and Starter Editions are not supported, Windows Image Mastering API(IMAPI)Ver.2.0 or later is required to use the function for creating discs.) Windows Vista SP2 (Starter Edition is not supported) Windows 7; Mac OS X(v10.4-v10.6) (Image Data Converter & Image Data Lightbox only, PMB is not Mac compatible)
3"TFT Xtra Fine LCD w/TruBlack (921,600 pixels)
180 degrees from the camera back, leftward rotation in 270 degrees with LCD monitor facing forward
Auto/Manual (5 steps between -2 and +2)/Sunny Weather
100%
Continuous Live View (LCD/EVF Auto, selectable)
Reflects: exposure compensation, white balance, creative style
Yes (On/off)
Yes (On/off)
Grid, Histogram display, Digital Level Gauge, Grid Line, Magnified display for playback
Yes
Yes (Alpha)
Yes, via HDMI with compatible BRAVIA HDTV
Yes, via USB
HDMI (TypeC mini)
Dual memory card slot: - Memory Stick PRO Duo/Pro-HG Duo media - SD, SDHC and SDXC memory card
Yes, with BRAVIA Sync enabled HDTV and HDMI cable
USB2.0 Hi-speed (mass-storage, PTP)
JPEG Standard (39 shots) JPEG Fine (35 shots) RAW (20 shots) RAW+JPEG (20 shots)
Continuous (up to 6fps) Speed Priority (10fps)
Single-shot, Continuous shooting (Hi/Lo selectable), Self-timer (10/2 sec delay selectable), Remote commander (RMT-DSLR1 Sold Separately)
1/160 seconds
2-sec. or 10-sec. delay
1/4000 to 30 seconds, bulb
Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane shutter
+/-2EV in 0.3EV steps
18mm (focal-length printed on the lens body)
Approx. 4 sec.
3 exposures in 0.3/0.7 EV steps
ADI, Pre-flash TTL
Flash off, Autoflash, Fill-flash, Slow Sync., Rear Sync., Hi-speed sync., Red-eye reduction (on/off selectable for Autoflash and fill-flash mode), Wireless
Built-in, Pop-up Auto
10 (in meters at ISO100)
InfoLitium NP-FW50 (7.2V)
Approx. 4-7/8 x 3-5/8 x 3-1/3in / 124.4 x 92 x 84.7mm excl grip & lens mount
Approx. 15.27 oz / 433g (excl battery, lens & media)
Approx. 17.35 oz / 492g (w/battery & media)

No, it’s not a DSLR but it packs a lot of ingenuity and cool features into a light, compact, user-friendly package
Change the way you shoot pictures with Sony's new Translucent Mirror Technology DSLR camera. The SLT-A55V a DSLR camera features professional-grade continuous shooting at 10 fps and visibly faster, more accurate focus in Live View and HD Movie modes. Compose your shots on either the LCD monitor or electronic viewfinder with 100% framing accuracy. Advanced features including Auto HDR, Sweep Panorama and 15-point Auto Focus make it dramatically easier to get the best shot.