Question on Sony Alpha Series of Cameras
do you have any positive or negative thoughts on the Sony Alpha A65 and A77 cameras vs Canon or Nikon?
Also, what are your thoughts on Sigma lenses?
Answer:
I am a big fan of Sony Alpha cameras and that is the system and brand that I have chosen to use for my own photography.
Prior to moving to digital cameras, I had been a long-time Canon user but when shopping for my first DSLR I end up deciding to go with a Sony A100 which was Sony’s first entry into the DSLR market, after buying out Minolta’s DSLR technology. Since then I have upgraded to an A700 and then to the A77 when it first came out.
I have found all three Sony DSLR’s that I have owned to produce excellent picture quality and be competitively priced. I believe the Sony line of translucent mirror or SLT cameras to be well deserving of the praise and good reviews that they have received. As you are likely aware the Sony A55 was Popular Photography’s camera of the year when it came out and then the next year the new A77 was one of the top contenders for that honor again having been narrowly beat out by the Sony NEX7.
After using my Sony A77 for almost a year and having taken thousands of pictures with it I just as much if not more impressed with the camera today than the day I took my first picture with it. The image quality from the 24-megapixel image sensor is outstanding, plus you have a camera capable of shooting up to 12 frames per second which is unheard of in a camera of this price range.
Before getting my A77 I was not one who used many of the special modes and instead shot mostly in aperture or shutter priority. But with the new A77, there are some features or modes that would be hard to live without now that I have used them for a while. Some of my favorites are the built-in HDR mode, some of the specialty picture art modes and the 1.4 or 2.0 times smart teleconverter feature
I use the built-in HDR function often and find it does a pretty good job plus I like the fact that it saves one normally exposed photo as well as the merged HDR photo. This gives me a choice of two photos to work with. The built-in bracketing also works well for doing HDR photos using software but in many cases, I find the built-in HDR image the camera produces to be a good starting point and have produced some excellent images with it. Along the same lines, you have a couple of HDR painting modes and a miniature effect mode that do a good job on the right type of photo.
The last feature I will highlight is the 1.4x or 2.0x smart teleconverter. Unlike older digital zooms that resulted in pixilation this feature works remarkably well and I find myself using it quite often to extend the zoom range of my attached lens. The one drawback of this feature is you are essentially cropping the image and thus end up with a lower resolution file but I have found both sizes to be adequate for most of my photography needs. Of course, if you were planning on enlarging the photo to the large size you would want to avoid using this feature as the resolution of the photo is reduced to either 12 or 6 MP.
As for Sigma lenses, I have found them to be a great value and overall good quality lens. Being on a limited budget, as many people are, I purchased a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and a Sigma 50-500 lens for my A100. Both lenses were used when I bought them and both have been amazing workhorses and produced good quality images. Certainly, the professional G model Sony/Minolta lenses are the highest quality available for the Alpha line of cameras' but Sigma lenses are good quality, affordable options that I use and recommend to others.
As for how the Sony Alpha A65 and A77 compare to Canon or Nikon…I think in their price range of camera they offer more features and better performance than similarly priced Canons or Nikon’s. Of course, remember that I am a Sony user so it is natural that I lean that way. Both Canon and Nikon make excellent cameras and many others would recommend them over Sony so it really comes down to personal choice. For me, that choice is the Sony A77 and I could not be happier with my choice. I have taken pictures side by side with other photographers using high-end Canon and Nikon and Sony compare favorably in almost every if not all situations. The one area where the Canon and Nikon have a slight edge is in low light, high ISO shooting. The translucent mirror technology of the Sony requires slightly more light since some of the light is reflected by the translucent mirror instead of passed through to the sensor.
In all, you cannot go wrong with a DSLR from any of the major manufacturers and it comes down to your own personal choice and what features you like, etc.
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