Sony Alpha DSLR-A500 Body Only Digital Camera

Sony has responded to the criticisms leveled at it for its poor A3xx series with the new Sony Alpha DSLR A500 digital camera. It is also accompanied by its sibling; albeit a costlier one. Both cameras provide an improvement from their predecessors but still are not a match to the class topping cameras like the Pentax K-x, the Nikon D5000 or the Canon Rebel T2i. They provide decent and solid features without being particularly outstanding in any important category.

The build of the Alpha A500 is solid and it is easy to hold and use. However the body is plastic and it feels cheaper compared to other similarly priced models. The body of the camera is absolutely crowded with unnecessary buttons and this inconveniences the user and as the buttons are also quite small it is difficult to handle without practice.
The pro in the build of the Alpha A500 is the tilting LCD screen. The LCD screen can be tilted upto 180 degrees and this provides a major advantage and the look of the camera is also improved. An improved Viewfinder in the shape of a large box comes as a relief to many people who have to strain their eyes searching for a tiny dot. In this aspect the Viewfinder is most satisfactory. But the drawback in the Viewfinder is that it is a bit small for panoramic shots and the magnification factor is also quite low.

Coming back to the LCD and the build an important point to consider is the fact that not all controls are available in the LCD and the user has to keep frequently going back to locate buttons and this is bound to irritate any user. The LCD screen produces 230,400 dots and although this is decent it is made to look small by the fact that the A550 produces nearly three times the number of dots than this.

The kit lenses provided by Sony are quite good and they produce sharp and good images. However in the Highlight mode it is prone to fringing. The dust reduction system for the sensor comes in two parts charge protection coating and the sensor shift dust reduction system.

Sony Alpha DSLR A500 has a light sensitivity up to ISO 12800. The automatic range is up to ISO 1600 and the pictures taken in this sensitivity look good. However when the manual controls are used the inbuilt noise reduction system fails miserably and the picture quality is poor unless you reduce the size of the picture. When the ISO 12800 is used the picture size has to be reduced by about 50% to use the picture. However if you do this the noise level gets visibly reduced.

To sum up the A500 is a solid entry level camera and for its price it offers a decent package. The major pros are the 3” LCD screen, the burst shooting and cons are the lack of movie mode and the overall reduction in technology than its peers. If you have a couple of hundred dollars try its sibling the Alpha A550. All in all the Alpha A500 is a mixed bag in reality, bit if you are satisfied with the average performance than this is a good camera that is great for amateurs. To find the best price you can visit Price Compare website like always.