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Here I go with an explanation. The real story behind what you are saying is, Sony makes APS-C sensors for Nikon, (example, the one used in Nikon D 7000), which are tweaked and improvised by Nikon. And Nikon themselves manufacture the sensors for more higher-end models. They do plan to use their own APS-C sensors, but that might probably be a bit far off as of now.

Which makes all the more sense to go for a Canon, considering the fact that although Nikon is catching up fast with Canon with the use of Sony's sensors, Canon sensors are still far superior, and for the most part, Canon cameras have much lower read noise than Nikons.

For example, at least what I have observed, at higher ISO settings, the grain amount is marginally lesser in a Canon than in a Nikon.

I am not a die hard brand fan by any means (atleast from the history of my posts here). But the sensor superiority is a matter that's debated day and night by die hard fans. If I am given a 'free of cost' choice to pick what I love, I would take a Nikon D3s any day for low noise and a D3x for high MP.

In an artificial lighting environment, I would be as happy with a D40 (no more in production) as a D3x :)

Question here is: How often you want those high ISO images ? How many beginners are bothered about it anyway !! The cheapest 50mm 1.8 could solve 80% of the high ISO noise in the ordinary life situations, if not more !

Sony does make the FX sensor for Nikon, but as a fabrication lab,. I believe that Nikon have customized the sensor. The reviews state that the Nikon implementation is better than the Sony one.

Thanks for confirming that fact. I did not want to put here any misleading infos about these things. Sony has few exclusive technology to their credit as I understand. I am a fan of their translucent mirror :)

Anyone here using Sony SLT cameras? As there is a potential buyer for my faithful Alpha 200, I am planning to upgrade, keeping my Minolta lenses (70-210mm & 50mm) with me.

Was reading reviews of SLT-A35 and I am impressed!

* Multi shot ISO 25600 option which produces better pictures than single shot ISO 12800
* Auto HDR
* Picture effects
* Wide LCD
* Sweep panorama - though I'm not gonna use it much
* EVF with accurate WB and exposure compensation & DOF preview
* Super high ISO performance
* 16 MP, HD movie
* Significantly smaller size compared to other DSLRs :thumbs up
* 7 fps

All for a price just above 30K INR. (India Sony site says 35.9K, Sites like Amazon offers it for less)

My only worry is its EVF. Can that be a limiting factor for any kind of shooting needs? Anyway I am not going to do sports photography or birding.

Samurai and HellWrath are EVIL camera users (Olympus) though Samurai has put his camera up for sale due to limited lens options. They should be able to give you some hands on advice before you buy the EVIL.

Regards,

I am not buying EVIL... D-SLT to be precise. Yes, it also has EVF.

Yups, they should be able to guide you nevertheless as your query was about the EV on that camera.

Clevermax,
You'll love the EVF if you are into low-light and manual focusing. EVF will show you exactly what DOF you'll get without actually holding down any button and without light loss in your VF. The same goes with low light shots. As it's an EVF, it will bump the display brightness up. The display will be noisy in low-light but will definitely help you in focusing. Also, I am not sure if the EVF has this box in box thing for manual focusing. Basically, looking through the view finder I can maximize a portion of the frame to see whether it is in focus or not, a great help in MF again.

Do let me know if you have any other question just related to EVF and I'll be more than happy to answer them all.

Thanks mate, one more immediate question - is EVF laggy? I mean, will you be comfortable looking through the EVF as far as its real-time nature goes? Have you ever missed the optical VF in that sense?

I had used a FujiFilm camera with EVF way back in 2002 but it was quite laggy and missed detail. But EVF was so unique then!

Yep yep, it's not laggy at all. It's real time and the refresh rate is pretty high.

EDIT: No, I haven't missed VF as much as I thought I would. I had a 350D and I used to struggle to look through it and focus. Now, I am a happy customer. Plus, it gives me so much info such as live histogram etc, that I actually like using EVF.

You must have read this already, but for others, this is what dpreview says about SLT-A35's EVF:
" Full-time live view is a necessary consequence of the unique way in which the SLT series is designed, and it works very well, with no perceptible 'lag' and plenty of detail visible on both the LCD and EVF.

Any concerns about lack of detail on even a high resolution EVF should be overcome with the two-step magnification option. Once activated, using the delete button, it ensures accurate focus in either manual or AF modes - a huge benefit for anyone that needs ultra-precise control over focusing, when shooting macro subjects, for instance.

The A35's EVF has a very high effective resolution of 1.44 million dots, and is crisp and detailed enough for accurate manual focusing using the 15x magnification option. "

I guess the EVF mechanism in Nex and Alpha SLT cameras are slightly different, that the SLT ones have got a secondary small sensor for EVF and an APS-C one as main sensor unlike Nex which has only one main sensor.

Hope it will be the same or better experience on A35.

EDIT: Read your edit, thanks!

I saw a Nikon D5000 for Rs. 25K. A D3100 costs Rs. 27K. Now am confused again. Nikon D5000 is a segment higher-upper entry level, but D3100 seems to have better features. I aldready have a camcorder, The camera is purely for stills of my children. maybe some nature shots on trips.
Please help.

The reason for D5000 being cheaper than D3100 is probably because its from the previous gen of Nikon cameras. Experts can comment better. D5000 has been succeeded by D5100 which costs anywhere between 36-39k. Read the comparo between D5000 & D3100 here Nikon D3100 vs D5000. Hope this helps.

An update from my side. I contacted the dealer (fotocircle) and its taken to the shop with a duplicate copy of the bill. He checked it there and it will be send to Elinchrom's Mumbai service center for repair. Expected time: 5 days. So far no idea what would be the cost, probably its free, will update as it comes back.