Sony α57 DSLR Camera and Lens

You get what you pay for..and it's A LOT!!

Pros: Will track a Indy Car at 200mph+

Cons: Thumb pad is coming off

Let me tell you. This camera Rocks!! My first DSLR was the awesome A200 RIP. The bag and gear was stolen in April 2012 at the LBGP. I was devastated. Thank goodness for insurance. This camera has taken some time to get used to. But let me tell you. When I get dialed in to what the camera can do..I know I will take even better pictures.

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Beautiful Camera

Pros: Quality camera with many great settings and features.

Cons: Not much really.

Overall, this camera gives you very good photos, and it's really easy to use. The translucent lens allows for 12 fps, which lets you capture that perfect moment, especially with fast moving subjects. I'm into macro and still lifes, and even the 18-55 mm lens kit works great with those areas of photography. This camera produces great photos and landscapes as well. The only other thing I would like to have had in this specific model is a faster loading time after the continious shooting limit. Other than that, this camera is perfect for the beginner or intermediate photographer. I would definitely recommend this camera.

SLT-A57K

Pros: very Fast focus even in low light, Intelligent auto

Cons: No fish eye in the effects. 3D is only in sweep panorama., No GPS. No editing in camera.editing

I ordered the bundle in fast focus you cannot miss a shot even in low light. The intelligent auto plus will decide the scene mode I love it. Color view finder with magnifying looks a 3D.Battery life is amazing . I do recommend this camera even though it is pricey.

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HAVING FUN

Pros: Image quality, speed, weight, options etc.

Cons: None

It took a lot of time to decide, but very happy with the purchase. This is my first dslr so I am still learning. I bought this in November. Cant wait till summer for nature trips. Sony made a nice product.

New DSLT user

Pros: internal user guide, too many to name here

Cons: none so far

Years ago I used a film SLR but since just point & shoot digitals. Love this camera. I have not had a chance to use many of the features and settings yet but got some great fireworks pics on the 4th. I liked being able to have more control over the settings. I'm still getting used to all the different settings

Everything I wanted and MORE!

Pros: Easy to Use; Excellent photos; Tons of effects

Cons: None, so far

I went to Wolf ready to buy the Nikon D5100. I left with no camera and, based on the rec of the salesman, started researching the a57. After a few days I went back and bought the a57. I owe this guy a huge debt because this camera is everything I wanted and more. The almost instant auto focus and 12fps just cannot be beat and (as someone who hasn't used a dslr seriously in years) the menu makes the camera so easy to use. Plus, the photos are top notch!

2 weeks with the A57

Pros: Excellent picture quality, fast, fast fast!

Cons: Complicated beyond my ability

As a long time user of 35mm SLRs (film), it took me a while to invest in a good Digital SLR. I have found the A57 can be very easy to use, or complicated beyond beleif. Excellent pictures can be obtained in automatic mode by anyone, get out of auto and the choices are so diverse one can get lost in the technology. I will learn and catch up, but I do not consider the A57 a beginers camera, the manual is written for an experienced photographer. Good points, all my Minolta AF lenses work great, and speed is awsome. Flash is slow to recharge and flash with auto has mixed results. Quality excellent as with all Sony products, but very poor manual and online help files for this camera. Not for the faint of heart, high technology with high complexity.

Great Camera!

Pros: Excellent image quality, good EVF, solid construction

Cons: A tad heavy , at this point no RAW support

Not much to complain about with this camera. My biggest concern was the EVF, but it is very nice and has some huge advantages over optical viewfinders (guideline overlay, histogram, orientation level, picture review). The size of the camera is great, but can get a bit heavy when shooting with one hand. Battery life is good, especially when considering it has to power both the viewfinder and the rear LCD. I cannot comment on the video quality at this point because I have not really used it in any serious video situations. The burst shooting is incredible and makes shooting fast moving subjects very easy. The biggest problem with this camera at the writing of this review is the lack of RAW file support for iPhoto/Aperture and Lightroom.

Great Step up from an A100

Pros: Sharp Pictures at low light.

Cons: Viewfinder has a bit too much contrast in bright daylight.

I had to buy this camera in a hurry. My A100 decided to not record images after taking a two foot fall. I did a bit of research on line....took a look at the Alphas that were available on short notice. I decided to buy the a57 over the a65 primarily on price. I didn't see 200 dollars worth of difference for a OLED viewfinder and 8 more MPs. This is my first use of an SLT and it has taken a bit of getting used to. The a57s LCD screen is a big improvement over the a100. The ability to shoot at low light with less noise (call it electronic grain) is a big plus as well. I am also pleased that the a57 is completely compatible with my HVL-F36AM flash. I am impresed by how fast and how quiet the camera is when taking shots. When I took my first shot I wasn't sure the camera was working. The A57 is a bit lighter than the a100 even with the same 1870 lens attached. Both bodies are just about the same size, which is a good thing. One of the reasons I had not upgraded before now was that I found it hard to grip a lot of the previous models, they were just too small. The a57 controls are easy to understand and are located logically. The only problem is that if I am not careful I can hit the movie button by accident., not by touch but when changing a lense if I hold the camera against my chest. The LCD viewfinder is extremely bright and easy to read. I do find that it has a bit too much contrast when shooting in bright daylight. However it great for reviewing shots under the same conditions. The built in flash location on the body is a definite iimprovement over the a100. Its forward location should help to prevent shadows when using larger lenses susch as the 1118 zoom. I have not used any of the effects that the camera is capable of such as auto Portrating or HDR. I prefer to put the camera in program mode and shoot. I want to decide when to use the flash, not have the camera do it for me. I set the VF to display as little info as possible, however I find the digital level gauge to be very helpful when talking shots of buildings or the horizon, etc. I find the the A57 ito be a very enjoyable camera to use, and a comfortable step up from my A100 (which I hope to repair and keep using as well) just as the a100 was a good camera to migrate to six years ago from my Maxxum 550si.

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A great DSLR camera!

Pros: Takes great pictures.

Cons: None so far.

The only "con" I could mention might be that it's at 16.1 mp & they just released the a58 which has 20.1 mp for shooting. I was also told though if you don't plan on blowing up the picture to some huge thing bigger than a 8 by 11 photo you won't notice much of a difference. My photos I've done look great, & I'm not much of a fan on what they did for the a58, it was like 1 step forward 2 steps back in the design, yes you have 20.1 mp, & a new auto tracking thing, but the viewer on the back of the camera now doesn't tilt left or right for different angles, only up & down now & it doesn't fold back onto itself to protect the screen when not in use, the a57 has this, & its screen is more bigger & defined & it shoots much more faster also. I'm no "expert" but I'm no amateur either. There's web sites that will compare the two, look & decide for yourself, Pros & Cons with each, but I like my a57, & when I have more money to spend I'll probably buy up the a99 later, unless by that time they have something else that's even more intriguing & great from the company that purchased the Minolta company & tech & refined it.

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excellent camera especially for small budget

Pros: Help menus are awesome for beginners, excellent in low light, great feel in your hands, evf is great

Cons: nice if lense cap was tethered to body, lcd screen useless if you want to take self pic cant flip down on tripod, tablel

I've had this for a couple days and just upgraded the firmware today, for the money spent cannon nor Nikon can't touch this camera. The video being shot in 60p is not offered by any camera under $1500 easily and this camera films seemly, no jumps in film. The ISO is great I've used it at 3200 and had no noise issues, the competitors like to talk about 30% light being redirected to the EVF this has had no effect that i have seen thus so far.I recommend buying the body only, save the $100 and get the 55mm x 200mm lens for $249 its a good starter lens and in essence your getting it for $149 if you coose this option. AF is quiet and seamless, buttons in all the right places especially the ISO, and exposure. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better camera for this price. I'll give another review at a later time.

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Great Camera

Pros: focus, weight, picture quality, screen, shutter speed

Cons: makes a lot of noise on auto focus

I bought this camera after having the common debate about a Canon and a Nikon, and in the end I went in a totally different direction and got the A57. I LOVE IT. The shutter speed is amazing fast, and the camera is very easy to use. Also I love the fact that I can see what the image will look like before I take it when I adjust the ISO and F-stop. Over all, LOVE THIS CAMERA. I am a Sony photographer for life!

Sony A57 - Best Bang For The Buck

Pros: Fantastic picture quality & bundled features. Amazing technology at an affordable price.

Cons: EVF is grainy in low light. Flash pops in auto mode when lighting is good. In Auto, it shoots at high ISO in sunlight.

This is my first DSLR and I actually took a long time deciding which camera to go for. My budget was around $1000 and the list of cameras shortlisted was exhaustive (in my opinion at least). From Nikon's D5100 and Canon's Rebel series (incl the 650D) upto Nikon's D7000, I looked at all. At first, I was quite intent on going for the Nikon D90. Being almost like a benchmark for beginners, I almost went ahead and purchased it until an acquaintance suggested I look at the Alpha series from Sony too. The first Alpha I looked at was the A37. The size itself out me off. Too small in my opinion. The next was the A57 which met my requirements perfectly. So I went ahead and did a feature to feature comparison and it beat the D90 hands down (in my opinion). The fact that it was an SLT (not SLR) with Mirrorless technology and it possessed class leading features such as 12 FPS Burst Mode, upto 16000 ISO (25600 with Boost), in-built IS (Body), was quite enough for me. I do quite a bit of low light photography at higher ISO's and also like to Zoom in on objects to capture detail. With the in-built image stabilization, I knew I would never need to splurge on lenses with IS. The 12 FPS Burst is an added advantage, though wouldn't be used much. Other features I liked over the D90 were the better color depth, flip out screen, higher resolution LCD, more dynamic range and the higher number of focus points. Not to forget the 16MP sensor. Though I am not a video freak, its always good to have Full HD capabilities & auto focus in video mode. All these features truly sold me on this camera in comparison to the Nikon D90. I then looked at the A65 and truly didn't feel the 24MP sensor & in-built GPS justified the extra $200. Similarly, the prices for the Nikon D700 & A77 were slightly beyond my comfort, however, and more importantly, their feature set never really pushed me into spending that amount of money. I have had the Sony SLT A-57 for almost 3 weeks now and have shot approximately 2000 frames in mixed environments. The image quality is fantastic. I tried my hand at a few macro shots and the detailing is brilliant. I also took some wide angle shots of monuments and the colors are very well balanced. The camera is fast in shooting with very little time lag between shots. Battery life is surprisingly good as I took around 480 frames with 52% battery life still remaining. All my shots were through the viewfinder. The in-built effects (Pop, Selective Color etc.) are nice to have for the imaginative kind. The functions are very easy to understand and manual adjustments are a breeze once you are used to the layout of each function. The switch from LCD to EVF and vice-versa is automatic and quite fast too. The EVF, though criticized by purists, is quite large and clear. Images look stunning when reviewed on the LCD and I just wish they would look the same on my computer. Even though quite a few of my friends taken pot shots at me for going with Sony, instead of Nikon or Canon, I have to say that I am thoroughly satisfied with this product and its capabilities especially at the price it is available at. It keeps surprising me with its image quality and I am certainly a very content Sony customer. With this series, Sony has truly set the cat among the pigeons and it will be interesting to see Nikon & Canon's response to this.

Great, great camera!!

Pros: Great picture quality, even better video!!

Cons: Battery life

This camera is wonderful! Does great for portraits and the video is spectacular! Does great in low light and captures everything wonderfully! A must have!

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