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One year with a Sony Alpha SLT-A55

Sun, 2011-11-20 09:11 — Jaharmi

I’ve now spent just over one year with my EVIL (electronic viewfinder, interchangeable lens) DSLR-like camera, the Sony Alpha SLT-A55V. It has been a rewarding year for me photographically.

I can’t express how much more fun it is to use this camera compared to anything I’ve had earlier. I was in the land of point-and-shoots (including a “super zoom” of its time, the Olympus C-750UZ) before the SLT-A55.

There isn’t much I don’t like, and most of that is simply comes with the territory of a DSLR-like camera. The extra expense and bulk and even uncertainty (which lens should I take?) of having interchangeable lenses could be a drawback. All things considered, I am a happy and satisfied SLT-A55 owner, nothing more.

But beyond that, I have found this camera very freeing. I worry less and less about the pictures I take. I love the camera’s:

  • fast startup time
  • focus and depth-of-field
  • fast shot-to-shot time and rapid-fire shooting
  • automatic GPS tagging (although for best performance, you should keep the GPS Assist data up-to-date; I Download Sony GPS Assist data automatically when a memory card mounts with a LaunchAgent)
  • 1080i movies that I can play on my flat panel TV
  • availability of Minolta lenses on eBay (I wish I’d known more about this up-front), as well as new Sony lenses (online and in a more limited fashion at retail)

There’s certainly more, but this camera has removed so many barriers for me. I’ve taken at least 17,375 photos with it in a year, and I haven’t counted how many video clips. The best part is that I think a higher percentage of my images have been good than ever before.

The camera has gotten some press but I’m continually surprised that I don’t see it advertised more or presented in the weekly sales circulars (where it’s all Canon and Nikon, predictably).