[clevermax]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Finally narrowed my choice down to Sony SLT A35 and the Canon EOS 550D.
After extensive research on the web, and countless reviews later, I have now narrowed down to these two. From what I read and understood,
>Sony SLT isn't the traditional DSLR, but claims to be more advanced than DSLRs
>In burst mode, Sony A35 shoots 7 frames in a sec, opposed to 3.7 by the Canon 550D
>Canon has Image Stabilization in its lenses, while Sony has it in the camera body
>Canon has a much better screen and an optical view finder
>Sony can shoot pictures in wide mode (16:9) whist Canon can't do that.
>Canon 550D has a superb copyrighting feature that puts the user's name in all the photos clicked. Sony A35 doesn't have this (Please correct me if I am wrong here)

And everybody I know has advised me to go buy a Canon, that is saying something about the brand recognition that Canon has in the DSLR space.

Price:
Sony A35 : INR 35,990 / USD $ 699 - not much of a saving!
Canon 550D: INR 37,990 / USD $ 799 (But US version comes with 2 lenses now with the festive offer - additional lens - 75-300mm/f4.0-5.6 Without Image Stabilization)

I have a friend coming down from USA in a weeks time. Is it sensible to get the product from USA? What about warranty? Will the power supply change require a step down transformer/adapter?

Your replies and suggestions are most welcome, please do help me take a decision

Good choices

I have A35 , been using it for a couple of weeks now for about 1200 clicks - you can ask any questions about the cam, I'll try to clarify. Hope you have seen the sample videos above.

>> A35 has multi-shot noise reduction but I doubt whether 550D has it.
an ISO 1600 image in Multi-shot NR

and its 100% crop


And, you don't have to pay 35K to get the camera in India! I got it for slightly lesser price than the US price here in India itself, with bill and warranty. JJ Mehta quoted me 32.9K but I believe that's not the cheapest deal.

And everybody I know has advised me to go buy a Canon, that is saying something about the brand recognition that Canon has in the DSLR space.

And what you thought? that people will recommend any other brand than Canon or Nikon? No way!

[aravind.anand]

Thanks a lot Clevermax Does the A35 have the copyright feature that is present in the Canon EOS 550D?

And I always thought Noise reduction had to be selected in the menu and would be standard for all the photos being shot, unless the ISO setting is fiddled with, but your post is news to me :-o

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Thanks a lot Clevermax Does the A35 have the copyright feature that is present in the Canon EOS 550D?

And I always thought Noise reduction had to be selected in the menu and would be standard for all the photos being shot, unless the ISO setting is fiddled with, but your post is news to me :-o

No copyright feature. But why does one need it? EXIF of a photo can be tampered to anything you want!

NR mode (Auto or weak) has to be selected from Menu, but you can easily access the ISO settings by pressing the down button.

In A35, the ISO settings are

AUTO, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800 and
Multi-shot NR position which again offers NR in all ISOs mentioned above plus one more level, that is ISO25600. Even the shots taken at multi-shot ISO 25600 is well viewable in smaller sizes I should say.

This will come in handy when you want to take stable noise free shots in low light, hand held. The camera even cancels out small movements across multiple shots in the final output as you can see from my previous shot - the hand movements etc.

Hope that clarifies.

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by clevermax

No copyright feature. But why does one need it? EXIF of a photo can be tampered to anything you want!

NR mode (Auto or weak) has to be selected from Menu, but you can easily access the ISO settings by pressing the down button.

In A35, the ISO settings are

AUTO, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800 and
Multi-shot NR position which again offers NR in all ISOs mentioned above plus one more level, that is ISO25600. Even the shots taken at multi-shot ISO 25600 is well viewable in smaller sizes I should say.

This will come in handy when you want to take stable noise free shots in low light, hand held. The camera even cancels out small movements across multiple shots in the final output as you can see from my previous shot - the hand movements etc.

Hope that clarifies.

That really does clarify Boss. Thanks a lot And the EOS 550D has ISO settings as - 100,200,400,800,1600,3200,6400 and extended 12800. And the steady shot built inside the camera body seems to be really nice.
Please give me your $0.02 about the Canon EOS 550D too boss.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

That really does clarify Boss. Thanks a lot And the EOS 550D has ISO settings as - 100,200,400,800,1600,3200,6400 and extended 12800. And the steady shot built inside the camera body seems to be really nice.
Please give me your $0.02 about the Canon EOS 550D too boss.

Have not used 550D. But it has to be a very good camera.. major difference is that it is SLR and A35 is SLT. So 550D can't offer you 7 fps. Then in HD movie shooting, SLTs do continuous auto-focus really well where DLSRs struggle a bit. A35 is lighter and smaller. Should weigh those factors and decide whether you should pay up that extra and buy this or A35.

[Shome]

Bought the A35 yesterday from JJMehta in Mumbai and absolutely loving it. The 3D video/photographs are really amazing! Took a short video and watched it on the 3d Sony LED. Awesome combo. Depth is pretty decent.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Shome

Bought the A35 yesterday from JJMehta in Mumbai and absolutely loving it. The 3D video/photographs are really amazing! Took a short video and watched it on the 3d Sony LED. Awesome combo. Depth is pretty decent.

Congrats Shome! A35 is my second Alpha, I'm loving it too. It is definitely selling at a price which is less than where it should have been - by its specs and performance.

I keep clicking such 'test' pics at home and keep looking at them in the PC
1/30s, ISO1600, f/2.8, 75mm, manual focus with the help of zoomed view in EVF

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by Shome

Bought the A35 yesterday from JJMehta in Mumbai and absolutely loving it. The 3D video/photographs are really amazing! Took a short video and watched it on the 3d Sony LED. Awesome combo. Depth is pretty decent.

Congratulations . Good to see more people invest in Sony.

Originally Posted by clevermax

Congrats Shome! A35 is my second Alpha, I'm loving it too. It is definitely selling at a price which is less than where it should have been - by its specs and performance.

I keep clicking such 'test' pics at home and keep looking at them in the PC
1/30s, ISO1600, f/2.8, 75mm, manual focus with the help of zoomed view in EVF
Attachment 855212

Very nice. Someone seems to be liking their new EVF .

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Someone seems to be liking their new EVF .

Very correct sir.. I am not missing Optical finder at all. In fact, EVF is a step ahead for you to easily click better images the first time itself without 'chimping around' as you said.

Manual focus example - with Minolta 50mm lens, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO1600. Before EVF came, I wasn't using this lens much frequently because of the difficulty in getting focus right in manual mode with such open apertures.

In the picture is the kit lens that came with A35.

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Very correct sir.. I am not missing Optical finder at all. In fact, EVF is a step ahead for you to easily click better images the first time itself without 'chimping around' as you said.

Manual focus example - with Minolta 50mm lens, 1/50, f/2.8, ISO1600. Before EVF came, I wasn't using this lens much frequently because of the difficulty in getting focus right in manual mode with such open apertures.
Attachment 855216
In the picture is the kit lens that came with A35.

Very nice . I am happy it worked out well for you. If you're interested in macro, you should go out and get some nice Minolta MF macro lenses (Vivitar Series 1) and shoot with this setup. Also, I like the fact that WB changes are immediately noticeable. I am yet to try the WB shift to try and get the right colors though.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Very nice . I am happy it worked out well for you. If you're interested in macro, you should go out and get some nice Minolta MF macro lenses (Vivitar Series 1) and shoot with this setup. Also, I like the fact that WB changes are immediately noticeable. I am yet to try the WB shift to try and get the right colors though.

In most of the lighting, I get it right with just the Auto WB setting. But it is so easy to set a custom WB by looking through the EVF.

[anvancy]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Thanks a lot Clevermax Does the A35 have the copyright feature that is present in the Canon EOS 550D?

And I always thought Noise reduction had to be selected in the menu and would be standard for all the photos being shot, unless the ISO setting is fiddled with, but your post is news to me :-o

Regarding your copyright question, you can put your own details via the Metadata function in Lightroom. so any camera you buy you can do this step to showcase that its ur pic.that will come by default on each EXIF you take.

DSLRs like the 550D do not continuously focus for video.They work on contrast detect mode which is pretty slow. They Do AF but you start video and you move, the focus is lost.Thats why you find a Lot of 3rd party Follow focus systems.

The D7000 does AF continuous in video.its good.

The 550D is stated as a mini 7D partly due to two things. Not same but near the same sensor as of the 7D and the exact 63 metering system which is on the 7D. That answers why you see A LOT of 550Ds roaming on the streets.

FPS is a question that you yourself has to answer.on your type how many times will you use a continuous FPS?

Anvancy

[Shome]

just a quick question for the A35. When I switch the camera off, there is a slight whirring sound for about 1/2 a second. Is this normal?

[thalavoy]

May be sensor getting cleaned? Just guessing. In my Pentax, when set up for that, the whirring happens when the camera is switched on.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Shome

just a quick question for the A35. When I switch the camera off, there is a slight whirring sound for about 1/2 a second. Is this normal?

Originally Posted by thalavoy

May be sensor getting cleaned? Just guessing. In my Pentax, when set up for that, the whirring happens when the camera is switched on.

Sensor cleaning - don't worry about it. Happens in all Alphas.