Sony Alpha DSLR-A450

Opinion: It is a good camera,fast,nice features, well built(high iso,hdr,long life battery).
Excellent
pictures if you know how to take pictures,because the camera it just a tool,no
matter brand so much as the man behind the camera.

Opinion: I'm own 450 for 2 weeks, and I'm really enjoy it. Several years ago I have Minolta film system, so I've choose Alpha for expected reasons - want to breath new life into Minolta lenses and accessories.
450 does not have all those bells and whistles from 1-3 series, however more important - it has exellent CMOS sensor, shutter speed, HDR. If you really want to use it for photography and have fun - it will give you such apportunity.
It's really near instant ready for work from off state. All important features has separate button on the body. Viewfinder is bright and big, it has all needed info including AF points. Shutter is solid and quick, it's not quiet but sound is pleasant. It's really can make 7 per sec, but in motion program mode. In other modes like A priority it up to 5 per sec which is also quiet well. It's very nice in hand, not so heavy but solid thing. Menu is nice and user friendly.
Sensor produces very good images, nice tone and sharpness, ISO up to 3200 is usable (of course try to use 200 where possible). Stabilization also take place, however you should keep eye on the indicator.
HDR feature really works, e.g. nature images in sunny conditions looks like you are using polirized filter. However tripod required for better results, camera makes two shots continusly.
Battery life is briliant - more than 1000 shots before recharge. Screen is nice, it's not very sharp, but you can easly zoom to see the focus point.
BTW, 450 still has Live view, but with Manual focus - not sure it's very usefull.
If you have old minolta lenses you will be enjoyed of them on alpha. I have 3 lenses (my fav are 50/1.4 and 70-210/4), external flash and some M42 lenses with adapter - all them works fine, even flash fires remotely.
Kit lense (I have 18-55/3.5-5.6) is not so bad as I expected. It's pretty sharp and colors are good. Bokeh pattern is also pretty well. Of course, it's not so bright but high ISO and steady shot can help you with that. It does not have Macro feature and also does not came with a hood, so I'm use one from Minolta film lense. So I will not sell it right now.
I thank to Sony for 450 - I don't want to pay additional dollar for Live View and bigger screen on 550. If you counting your money but anyway want to make nice photos on Sony - choose 450.

Opinion: This camera is simply great for users like me :). Photography is my hobby, I don't have lot of time for it but I really enjoy taking pictures. Build is very good for the price and entry lvl class. If U don't need full live view and larger display - it's A550 performance (IMO). Pretty good @ low light / high iso. Most important thing for me - price... this camera is really cheap! And I still can use Minolta lenses - that's great :)