Sony a55 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm zoom lens

by Sony

• DIGITAL SLR with Translucent Mirror Technology accelerates AF performance
• Continuous 10 fps shooting with continuous Phase Detect AF
• Worlds1st consumer HD video camera w/ cont. Phase Detect AF
• 16.2 megapixels with Sony?s Exmor HD APS sensor
• 1080/60i Full AVCHD or 1080/30p movies

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 7.9 x 8.2 inches ; 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0043DKBTK
• Item model number: SLTA55VL
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,618 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 27, 2010

Product Description

Style: With 18-55mm lens

From the Manufacturer

Change the way you shoot pictures with Sony's new Translucent Mirror Technology DSLR camera. The SLT-A55V Alpha 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.

Sony Alpha a55 Highlights

Unprecedented Image Capture
Unlike other DSLRs that can either shoot or focus with the speed and precision of Phase Detection AF, the SLT-A55V is the world's first DSLR that can do both simultaneously1. Featuring an unprecedented Translucent Mirror, the a55V DSLR camera is able to feed both the image sensor and the Phase Detection at the same time. 

Professional Class Shooting Speeds
By transforming the fundamental way DSLR cameras work, you'll experience best-in-class speed3, up to 10 fps continuous shooting at full 16.2MP resolution with exposure fixed at the first frame. This is made possible by a Translucent Mirror that always stays in place. You also get standard continuous shooting at up to 6 fps.

Astonishing HD Video Capture
Experience a revolutionary breakthrough in video capture when shooting fast-moving subjects. The a55V is the world's first camera with the precision of Phase Detection auto focus (AF) for HD Movies1. Translucent Mirror Technology not only enables full-time phase-detection AF for photos, it also delivers the same speed and precision for Full HD movies.

Spectacular Resolution and Detail
Featuring a large 16.2-megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, you'll achieve beautiful image quality during both still-photo and movie shooting. Rich tonal gradation and highlight/shadow detail are assured by the BIONZ image processing engine which supports high-speed continuous shooting, advanced digital compositing, and Full HD movie recording.

Advanced Still Shooting Features
Expand your creativity with advanced imaging features including built-in Auto HDR, which captures more scene contrast by combining the best highlight detail from one shot and the best shadow detail into one unbelievable shot. Map your journey via an integrated GPS receiver, or use 3D Sweep Panorama Mode to automatically capture expansive landscapes.

Versatile Shooting Options
Use both the LCD monitor and Electronic Viewfinder to compose your shots. An all-electronic design enables a wide range of shooting information to be displayed in the finder and on the LCD monitor. Both provide a what-you-see-is-what-you-get preview of white balance, focus, depth of field, exposure and 100% framing accuracy, plus on-screen displays.

What's in the Box

• Alpha A55 digital SLR body
• Shoulder Strap
• CD-ROM
• Battery Charger (BC-VW1)
• Body Cap
• Rechargable Battery (NP-FW50)
• USB Cable

Product Description

Sony Alpha SLTA55VL DSLR with Translucent Mirror Technology (Black)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

276 of 284 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stepped up from my mega zoom to a great camera. October 19, 2010

By J. Donaldson VINE™ VOICE

Style Name:With 18-55mm lens

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.

153 of 161 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent compact DSLR! October 9, 2010

By P. Baek

Style Name:With 18-55mm lens

This camera is probably the best compact DSLR in its segment right now. Here's my summary:

Pros:

1. Extremely fast and accurate AF. It's as good and sometimes better than my Nikon D90!
2. Image quality from ISO 100-800 is good as my Nikon D90 and is as good or superior to anything near or in its segment! Images above ISO 800 are still very decent and competitive with anything with its class.
3. Images from the kit lens are sharp and vibrant.
4. EVF is accurate, detailed, and provides all the info. you need
5. Excellent quality HD (1080i) video.....better than most DSLR's in its class. Low light capability is excellent.
6. Best Live View of any DSLR around....w/very fast AF.
7. Excellent tilting LCD screen....vibrant and hi-res.
8. Light and compact body.....easy to travel with.
9. Tremendous value.....beats anything in its class (best bang-for-buck)
10. Received dpreview.com's coveted Gold Star award!

Cons:

1. Relatively short battery life
2. HD video limited to 9 min. with Steady Shot on (but 29 min. with it off). 3rd-party lenses with lens OIS may be a work-around.
3. Limited manual controls with video.
4. Camera might be too small for users with big hands (be sure to handle it in person if possible)

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Handles difficult photo conditions with ease October 17, 2010

By letsdesign

Style Name:With 18-55mm lens

The a55 makes it easy to shoot great photos in very challenging lighting conditions. The Auto-HDR (digh dynamic range) takes 3 photos and combines them perfectly into one photo, so that very bright sky and darker landscape both are exposed properly in the final photo. The camera also uses a similar process for doing low light situations (where subject movement would cause a blur if no flash was used). These are in-camera processing features that only Sony is offering at this point.

The continuous auto-focus during video is also a first for inter-changeable lens cameras. Overall, it's a great photographic tool.

By the way, one reviewer compared the a55 to his Canon 7D. That's a $1,600 camera, body only, while this is $750 body only. In a way, it's a compliment that a camera costing so little has to be compared not to others in its price class, but to a camera double the price.

William