Sony a55 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm zoom lens

The Sony A55 is rather unique camera. Although it looks and handles like a (small) Digital SLR camera, it does not have the traditional Reflective Mirror and consequently, no optical viewfinder. Instead the camera relies on a very good Live View (LCD Framing) system and a very good electronic viewfinder. The technology is called Translucent Mirror Technology and I believe it is propietary and only found in some SONY manufactured digital cameras.Although Live View is a feature found on most, if not all, recently released DSLR cameras, focusing and shooting performace is sluggish on all non-Sony cameras. The Sony A330 series was actually somewhat revolutionary as it featured a traditional single lens reflex (SLR) mirror system with an optical viewfinder and a very responsive Live LCD view system on the same camera by employing secondary-sensor Live View.Translucent Mirror Technology takes this technology to a new level. The optical viewfinder has been replaced with a fully electronic viewfinder.Although I personally prefer an optical viewfinder to frame photographs, I was very impressed with the A55. Both the LCD and the electronic viewfinder are very bright and sharp. The LCD fully articulates but inexplicably, pivots on the bottom (not on the side) making it less useful than it could be. The camera knows when to switch from the LCD to the viewfinder (and visa versa) based upon a sensor for that purpose. I learned that an electronic viewfinder has one convenient and practical advantage over its optical counterpart. With an electronic viewfinder it is no longer necessary to review the photo just shot on the LCD; the viewfinder may be used for both shooting and reviewing. This is especially helpful when shooting multiple photographs in rapid succession.The camera uses an excellent 16mp sensor found in other quality DSLRs including the Nikon D5100. Default settings generally renders natural color and fine details. ISO performance is fine through ISO 1600. ISO 3200 does show some grainy noise and loss of detail upon close inspection (but still very pleasing color and generally very usable photographs). There are no ISO settings between 1600 and 3200, an issue definitely not unique to the A55. Automatic white balance and metering are excellent indoors and outdoors except that there is some overexposure in bright sunshine (easily fixed by adjusting the exposure compensation a bit or by switching to spot metering). I highly recommend using a small external flash with bounce capabilities for indooor shooting(ie the HVLF20AM) for more accurate and more even exposure.The A55 is a bit smaller and lighter than almost all traditional DSLRs (but a bit larger and heavier than most compact series cameras). Image stabilization (steadyshot) is built in to the camera body; consequently all lenses are automatically stabilized and a bit lighter than the Canon & Nikon equivalents. A really versatile lens that is very inexpensive, very light and reasonably sharp is the Sigma 18-200mm (27-300mm equiv). This lens is branded under other names such as Quantaray and can be found for not much more than the price of a kit lens. I believe that all Sony Alpha & many Minolta Lenses are fully compatible with the A55 (some high quality/fast aperture Minolta lenses are available rather inexpensively). The Sony 18-55mm (27-84mm equiv) kit lens is pretty good as far as kit lenses go. The older 18-70mm kit lens is not very good and should be avoided.For those who like the shooting experience of a DSLR and prefer live view and/or an electronic viewfinder, the A55 is a great camera and a terrific value.

I bought this camera specifically for my trip to Central America. My hope was that the camera would be durable enough to bring it to the beach...I was wrong. I literally was able to bring it to the beach once (trying my best to not expose it to ocean mist or sand) and the next day the camera wouldnt take pictures, only video. Now Sony is telling me that the repairs will cost $450!!!! More than half the cost of the camera! I guess if you are taking pictures of flowers in your garden or in controlled environments where nothing can go wrong, this is a good camera. If your plan is to bring it on an adventure, I would stay away from this camera...it is way to fragile.

I purchased a Sony A55 (with lens) whilst in the USA (i reside in the UK) as i travel there frequently. After around 2 months i had noticed that this model (I had previously purchased a Sony A300 btw) didnt take shots at night correctly - very frequently blurring (i have 6 lenses which i tried against it - all started to do the same eventually)... Being a long term Sony user and supporter i thought that maybe it was myself (as i'm not a pro camera user) and i needed to understand the settings , etc... exactly 32 days later - the Sony A55 decided to stop working... i couldnt anymore attach a lense of any kind - because once i did - the camera body started going into a continous loop as if it was autofaocusing (to which i turned off all auto focus features and lenses)... howeer this didnt help... with a lense attached - very stranegly the camera would not let me go into any menu option... almost like the software was working oddly... anyway - to cut a long story short - i contact amazon as i purchased it from here and they sold this directly to me - to which they would no longer exchange it - despite the fact it was a few days after i purchased it and it went out of the 30 days warranty .. As i travel frequently and havent been able to get back to the states (been in far east for a while) - i now sit with a camera which costs $799.00 and cannot be used under any circumstances.... Sony a55 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm zoom lens