Sony Alpha DSLR-A350

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/digitalcameras/0,39030233,49296408,00.htm

Reviewed 24 April 2008

Reviewed by Lori Grunin

With its 14-megapixel CCD, flip-up LCD, sensor-shift image stabiliser and built-in wireless flash controller, the feature-packed Sony Alpha DSLR-A350 seems like a cornucopia of photographic goodness for the budget shopper. You wouldn't be far off the mark: the A350 is certainly likeable.

Unsurprisingly, Sony made some compromises so that the A350 -- £570 with the 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens -- could lay claim to the title of highest-resolution budget dSLR. Sony does offer an almost identical 10-megapixel model, the Alpha DSLR-A300, which lists for about £170 less.

Design
Heavy at 582g, the solid A350 has a solid, rubbery grip that's very comfortable to hold, and the extra heft makes it feel more substantial than competitors such as the Canon EOS 450D. Another positive aspect of the extra weight is that it doesn't get overbalanced when using accessories like the external flash we tested it with.

The A350 shares the straightforward layout design of the A200. Flash, AF, white balance, AF area and D-RangeOptimiser settings are grouped under a screen pulled up by the Fn button

Since much of the design matches that of the A200, we have similar complaints about the USB placement as well. The USB connector sits inside the CF card compartment, which means you have to leave the door open while downloading, potentially allowing all sorts of gunk to get on to the card-slot contacts -- and, if you're as accident prone as us, providing a protrusion to hit and hurl the camera to the floor.

More importantly, Sony uses a semiproprietary combo micro USB/audiovisual connector on all its dSLRs, for no reason that we can see other than to force you to buy a cable from them if you lose the bundled one.

Additionally, all of Sony's lower-end dSLRs use lines rather than squares for the 9 off-centre focus-point indicators. They're very dim and some people may have trouble seeing them. Especially since the A350 has a very low-magnification 0.74x viewfinder.

Features
Sony's 2-sensor live view implementation harks back to the more seamless approach pioneered -- and subsequently discarded -- by Olympus. With a secondary sensor dedicated to receiving a preview image off the imaging sensor, there's no need to flip the mirror up for preview and focus, then flip it back down to shoot, proving a more typical snapshot-like experience when framing via the 69mm (2.7-inch) LCD.

We had to read the manual to figure out this button: it's the Smart Teleconverter, actually a 1.4x or 2x digital zoom, which only works in live view mode

In addition, Sony incorporates a flip-up LCD, which makes the feature not just practical, but actually useful, predominantly for overhead and from-the-hip shooting. Like the A200, the A350 also supports wireless flash, uncommon but not unique in this price class, using the same appropriately bare-bones implementation as the A200. Rather than grafting pro multichannel support on the camera, which can be quite confusing to configure, it's basically binary: on or off.

The rest of the specs are typical for its class: sensitivity up to ISO 3,200; sensor antidust protection measures; shutter speeds from 1/4000 second to 30 seconds with 1/160 second flash sync; various white-balance presets plus manual and colour-temperature chooser; spot, multi-segment and centre-weighted metering; and spot, selectable spot and wide-area AF.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim light)

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Alpha DSLR-A350 (with 18-70mm lens)

0.6

0.9

0.6

0.3

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 (with 18-70mm lens)

0.5

0.6

1.2

0.3

Nikon D80 (with 18-55mm lens)

0.1

0.3

0.9

0.5

Canon EOS 450D (with 18-55mm lens)

0.2

0.4

1.2

0.5

Pentax K10D (with 18mm-55mm lens)

0.5

0.5

1.6

0.5

There are also various drive modes including white-balance bracketing. Sony-specific features include the same D-RangeOptimiser as in the A700 and Creative Style presets with editable contrast, saturation and sharpness.

Performance
Because it generally costs too much to add faster processing in this price segment, the A350's higher resolution exacts a performance toll. There are a couple of bright spots, but in our overall tests, the camera ranks on the slow side.

When you take processing and file writing out of the equation, the A350 handily zips past the rest of the pack: shutter/shot lag lasts a mere 0.3 seconds in optimal conditions and 0.6 seconds in dim. The rest doesn't look quite so rosy. It powers on and shoots in 0.6 seconds, kind of slow relative to the rest. Once focused, shot-to-shot time typically takes about 0.7 seconds for JPEG and 0.9 for raw, both at the bottom of the class.

We will say that it doesn't feel that slow while photographing, and we routinely shoot raw+JPEG. Adding flash recycling time almost doubles the lag to 1.5 seconds, also at the bottom of the scale for dSLRs. As you'd also expect, the camera is a slow burst shooter as well -- 2.5 frames per second. Though it can keep that up until your card fills with JPEGs, it maxes out at 4 raw frames.

As usual, its Super SteadyShot sensor-shift image stabiliser does work well. At the long end of the range for the 70-200mm f2.8 lens (effective focal length 300mm), we successfully shot at 1/10 of a second, about 4 stops beyond the 1/200-second shutter speed determined by the reciprocal focal-length rule.

One of the A350's image-quality problems comes from pairing a middling lens with a high resolution sensor. On the left is the 18-70mm kit lens on the A350; on the right, the lens on the 10-megapixel A200. The A350's version looks more magnified, but perceptibly softer

Speedwise, shooting in live view with the A350 feels very similar to shooting with a snapshot camera. However, because it uses the two-sensor approach, the LCD only previews 90 per cent of the scene compared with 95 per cent with the optical viewfinder. Battery life is rated for 730 pictures.

Image quality
Rating photo quality tends to be difficult, but the A350 was particularly waffle-worthy. It renders good colour and dynamic range. Up to and including ISO 800, photos look solid, with a minimal increase in softness. However, at ISO 1,600 and ISO 3,200 colour noise kicks in and smeariness from the noise suppression algorithms degrades detail.

With some really expensive lenses -- an 85mm f1.4 Zeiss T* lens, 11-18mm f4.5-5.6 lens, and 24-70mm f2.8 Zeiss lens -- we got some nice low-ISO shots. But you're unlikely to buy those lenses for a budget/entry-level camera like this.

Conclusion
If you need the resolution bump at a low price, the Canon 450D is probably a better choice than the Sony Alpha DSLR-A350. It lacks in-body image stabilisation and the A350's intelligent live view implementation, but it does have the mode, and Canon offers better comparable kit lenses and a better selection of budget lenses, as well as better photo quality and performance. If you don't need the resolution, you can save yourself the extra money with an A300 and put it toward a good lens.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday