As the middle of the SLR market starts to look increasingly homogenized it's more and more important for manufacturers to carve out little niches for their products by offering something unique. This is especially important for brands like Sony, which still have a long way to go to challenge the dominance of the big two (Canon and Nikon), who between them account for around three-quarters of the cameras sold. In the last couple of years Sony has launched nothing short of an all-out attack on Canon/Nikon's market share, undercutting at the low end (with the bargain-priced Alpha 200 series, for example) and introducing the world's first sub-$2000 full frame model (the Alpha 850) at the top end. And with in-camera stabilization on nearly every model, Sony had a clear leader in nearly every category: on paper at least.
But you can't compete on price forever, and Sony's more recent models have a far more solid unique selling point: a clever twin-sensor live view system that - unlike all others - doesn't sacrifice speed for the convenience (and, for compact camera upgraders, familiarity) of framing using the screen on the back rather than the traditional viewfinder. A
All of that preamble is a long way of saying that the A550 (and to a certain extent its sister model, the A500) have many competitors, but none that offers exactly the same mix of features at the same price point. For this comparison we'll start with the new Pentax K-7, which has a broadly comparable feature set (for around $100 more you get a movie mode and considerably more advanced photographic features, but lose the A550's superior live view and tilting screen).
To represent the market leaders we're also going to include the Canon EOS 500D, which costs a little less, and has a movie mode, but lacks the A550's live view and image stabilization gadgetry. We could just as easily have picked the Nikon D5000 or even D90, but we went for the one with the nearest pixel resolution. I've included the D5000 in the table below for the sake of completeness, but not in the studio comparisons that follow.
| |
Sony DSLR-A550 |
Canon 500D |
Nikon D5000 |
Pentax K-7 |
Price
(single lens kit) |
US: $1050 [check price] |
US: $895 [check price] |
US: $800 [check price] |
US: $1050 [check price] |
| Sensor |
• 23.4 x 15.6 mm CMOS
• Exmor Sensor
• 14.2 million effective pixels
• 14.6 million total pixels
|
• 22.3 x 14.9 mm CMOS
• 15.1 million effective pixels
• 15.5 million total pixels |
• 23.6 x 15.8 mm CMOS
• 12.3 million effective pixels
• 12.9 million total pixels |
• 23.4 x 15.6 mm CMOS
• 14.6 million effective pixels
• 15.1 million total pixels |
| Dust reduction |
• Charge protection coating on low-pass filter
• Sensor-shift dust reduction mechanism |
• Anti-dust materials
• Low pass filter vibration
• Dust reference image |
• Low pass filter vibration
• Airflow Control System
• Dust reference image |
• Anti-dust coating
• Low pass filter vibration
|
| Native image size |
4592 x 3056
(3:2 ratio) |
4752 x 3168
(3:2 ratio) |
4288 x 2848
(3:2 ratio) |
4672 x 3104
(3:2 ratio) |
| Video |
No |
1080p @ 20fps
720p @ 30fps
MOV (Video: H.264, Sound: Linear PCM) |
720p @ 24 fps
AVI Motion-JPEG, with monaural sound |
1536 x 1024 @ 30 fps |
| FOV crop |
1.5x |
1.6x |
1.5x |
1.5x |
In-body
shake reduction |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Live view |
• Dedicated live view sensor (pentamirror tilt system)
• Phase detect AF
• Optional main sensor live view system (manual focus only) |
Yes, Contrast detect (inc Face detection) AF |
Yes, Contrast detect (inc Face priority) AF |
Yes, Contrast detect (inc Face priority) AF |
| File formats |
• Raw (.ARW)
• JPEG (2 levels) |
• Raw (lossless comp.
14-bit)
• JPEG (2 levels) |
• Raw (compressed)
• JPEG (3 levels) |
• Raw (PEF or DNG)
• JPEG (4 levels) |
| Auto focus |
• TTL CCD line sensors (9-points,with center cross sensor)
• EV 0 to 18 (ISO 100) detection range
• Predictive focus, Focus Lock |
• 9 area TTL
• Cross-type F2.8 at center
• Range: -0.5 to +18 EV
• Contrast detect AF in live view |
• 11 area TTL
• Cross-type at center
• Range: -1 to +19 EV
• Contrast detect AF in live view |
• 11 area TTL
• 9 Cross-type sensors
• Range: -1 to +18 EV
• Contrast detect AF in live view |
| AF illuminator |
Flash strobe, must be raised |
Flash strobe, must be raised |
Built-in lamp |
Built-in lamp |
| Metering sensor |
• 40 zone sensor
• 2 - 20 EV working range |
• 35 zone sensor
• 1 - 20 EV working range |
• 420 pixel RGB sensor
• 0 - 20 EV working range |
• 77 zone sensor
• 0 - 22 EV working range |
| Metering |
• Multi-segment
• Center-weighted
• Spot |
• Evaluative
• Partial
• Center-weighted average
• 4% spot |
• 3D Color Matrix Metering II
• Center-weighted average
• Spot |
• Multi-segment
• Center-weighted average
• Spot |
| Exp. comp. |
+/- 2.0 EV |
+/- 2.0 EV |
+/- 5.0 EV |
+/- 5.0 EV |
| EV steps |
1/3 EV |
1/3 or 1/2 EV |
1/3 or 1/2 EV |
1/3 or 1/2 EV |
| Sensitivity |
ISO 200- ISO 12800 |
• ISO 100 - 3200
(with 6400 and 12800 equiv) |
• ISO 200 - 3200
(with 100 and 6400 equiv) |
• ISO 100 - 3200
(with 6400 equiv) |
| Auto ISO |
Auto (200-1600) |
Auto (100-1600) |
User definable maximum ISO and minimum shutter speed |
User-definable ISO range |
| High- ISO NR |
Yes (2 levels) |
Yes (4 levels) |
Yes (4 levels) |
Yes (4 levels) |
| Shutter speed |
• 30 - 1/4000 sec / Bulb
• 1/160 sec Flash sync |
• 30 - 1/4000 sec / Bulb
• 1/200 sec Flash sync |
• 30 - 1/4000 sec / Bulb
• 1/200 sec Flash sync |
• 30 - 1/8000 sec / Bulb
• 1/180 sec Flash sync |
Continuous
shooting |
• Approx 5 fps max
• 4 fps in Live view
• Speed- Priority: 7 fps max
• 14 Raw frames
• 32 JPEG/Fine frames |
• 3.4 fps
• 170 JPEG/Fine frames
• 9 RAW frames |
• 4 fps
• 67 JPEG/Fine frames
• 11 RAW frames |
• 5.2 fps
• 40 Best JPEG frames
• 15 RAW frames
• 14 DNG frames |
| White balance |
• Auto
• Six presets
• Manual preset
• Kelvin temperature
• Fine tunable |
• Auto
• Eight presets
• Manual preset
• Kelvin temperature
• Fine tunable |
• Auto
• Twelve presets
• Manual preset
• Fine tunable |
• Auto
• Nine Presets
• Kelvin temp
• Manual preset
• 3 memories (K or mired)
• WB shift |
| Viewfinder |
• Pentamirror
• Eyepoint 15 mm
• Frame coverage 95%
• Magnification 0.8x
• Spherical Acute Matte focusing screen |
• Pentamirror
• Eyepoint 18 mm
• Frame coverage 95%
• Magnification approx 0.87x
• Precision matte screen |
• Pentamirror
• Eyepoint 18 mm
• Frame coverage 95%
• Magnification approx 0.78x
• B-type Bright View Clear Matte Mark V |
• Pentaprism
• Eyepoint 18 mm
• Frame coverage 100%
• Magnification approx 0.92x
|
| LCD monitor |
• 3.0 TFT Xtra Fine LCD
• 921,600 dots
• Articulated |
• 3.0 " TFT LCD
• 920,000 dots |
• 2.7 " TFT LCD
• 230,000 dots
• Hinged/swivel |
• 3.0 " TFT LCD
• 920,000 dots |
| Mirror Lock Up |
No |
Yes |
No (exposure delay mode) |
Yes |
| DOF preview |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Other features |
• Auto HDR (3 shot)
• Dynamic Range Optimizer
• Smart Teleconverter
• Smile Shutter
|
• Multi-shot self-timer
• Image verification data
• Auto Lighting Optimizer
• Highlight Tone Priority
• Remote Live view shooting (via USB)
• Eye sensor |
• In-camera retouching
• Active D-Lighting
• RAW Development
• Interval shooting
• Stop motion movies |
• In-camera RAW conversion
• Digital Filters
• HDR/Multi-exposure
• Composition adjustment
• Intervalometer
• Program line options
• Adjustable distortion correction
• Level display
• Weather sealed
|
| Storage |
• SD/SDHC
• Memory Stick Pro Duo |
SD/SDHC card |
SD/SDHC card |
• SD/SDHC card |
| Vertical grip |
VG-B50AM (option) |
BG-E5 (option) |
No |
D-BG4 (option) |
| Software |
• Picture Motion Browser
• Image Data Lightbox SR
• Image Data Converter SR |
• Canon DPP
• Canon PhotoStitch
• Canon ZoomBrowser EX
• EOS Utility (Remote Capt.) |
• Nikon Transfer
• ViewNX
• Nikon Capture NX (trial) |
• Digital Camera Utility |
| Dimensions |
137 x 104 x 84mm
(5.5 x 4.2 x 3.9 in) |
129 x 98 x 62 mm
(5.1 x 3.9 x 2.4 in) |
127 x 104 x 80 mm
(5.0 x 4.1 x 3.1 in) |
131 x 97 x 73 mm (5.1 x 3.8 x 2.9 in) |
| Weight (no batt) |
599 g (1.5lb) |
480 g (1.1 lb) |
560 g (1.2 lb) |
670 g (1.4 lb) |
