Sony has released two new Alpha cameras today alongside the incredible A850 that are very competitive in their price range. The 14.2 megapixel A550 has the features of the $1,400 camera for $500 less and 12.3 megapixel A500 is nice at $750, respectively. Let’s take a look – Sony is calling these “the camera for photographers.”
For a higher level of performance, the new Sony α550 DSLR camera is a simply delicious at $949 (for camera body), with the 18-55mm DT zoom lens package at $1049. It has Quick Auto Focus, Manual Focus and live view on a tiltable 3.0″ LCD. 7fps at 14.2MP and up to ISO 12800 sensitivity should capture any situation perfectly, while you command the full range of light and shadow with Auto HDR. For critical focus in macro and tripod shooting, the α550 also offers Manual Focus Check Live View. Temporary 7x and 14x zoom views enable you to focus on extremely fine detail while the 1x view shows 100% framing in the LCD.
There is many other features that you can read about at the well designed SonyStyle page for the A550. I noticed that you can take up to 1000 shots on a single charge (optical viewfinder mode); up to 520 shots (Live View mode) with Sony Stamina battery power. Sony’s InfoLITHIUM battery system enables you to see the percent of power remaining, so you can keep shooting in confidence.
The α550 accepts Memory Stick PRO Duo/Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo and SD/SDHC media (sold separately), and has an HDMI output.
The A500 is virtually similiar in many ways to the A550, as expected, but has 12.3 megapixels and 5fps continous shooting. The LCD also has less pixels at 230K compared to the 921K on the A550. Both models have the usual features including Face Detection, Smile Shutter, and so forth. Read about the new Sony A500 at SonyStyle.
Other links of interest include an incredible and complete overview of the A550 at DPreview. Be sure to check out their hands-on preview of the A550. I particuarily enjoyed how DPreview said “intends to break the entry level market down into more segments than any other manufacturer has before tried. So now, in the sub $900 market, Sony offers five DSLRs – the price conscious A230, the simplified A330 and A380 live view cameras and the A500 /A550 for the more experienced DSLR user.”
