Sony’s New DSLR Has Mass Appeal

Sony’s New DSLR Has Mass Appeal

Photos by Grayson Schaffer/Wired

Sony’s new α57 is aimed at serious enthusiasts who are more interested in the outcome than the process. The camera delivers some high-powered DSLR features in a package that’s intuitive enough for less-experienced shooters. And at a print-worthy 16.1-megapixels, it won’t be fighting for supremacy only in Facebook photo galleries.

Full manual overrides give more experienced shooters the ability to perfectly control the settings, but thanks to a few simple and well-placed buttons, I never strayed from the auto settings.

Start with the LCD viewfinder. Swapping out a physical mirror for a digital viewfinder allows the camera to shoot as fast as it can process the images. For the α57, that’s a blazing 10 frames per second at full resolution or 12 fps cropped down to half resolution — quick enough to get the best moment out of any sports action. Some purists will chafe at having to view the world on an LCD monitor instead, but the benefits — like the ability to autofocus while recording 1080p HD video at a motion-slowing 60fps — win out. (Note that Canon’s $1,550 7D drops to 720p to shoot 60 fps video.) A bottom-hinged LCD panel on the back makes for convenient and less-conspicuous waist-level shooting.
Full manual overrides give more experienced shooters the ability to perfectly control the settings, but thanks to a few simple and well-placed buttons, I never strayed from the auto settings. The two most important features, exposure compensation and ISO setting, sit right next to the shutter button and allow for quick adjustment without a learning curve.
The Sony Exmor APS-HD CMOS sensor has a 2:3 aspect ratio and about two-thirds the surface area and image clarity of the ones you’ll find in a pro-level DSLR — but this camera will make up for it by doing some of your Photoshopping before the files ever reach the computer. Besides the built-in Instagram-type filters for both photo and video, the α57 includes one of the better panorama-stitching settings I’ve seen. Hold the shutter down and sweep from left to right to create seamless panos right in the camera. Its facial-recognition auto-focus also seems particularly good at locking onto any mug in the frame.

An example of the a57′s in-camera panorama feature

The basic kit model comes with an 18–55mm lens, but for an extra $200 you can get the more versatile 18–135mm. Both lenses open up to a respectable f/3.5 and, paired with the camera’s onboard 2x digital zoom, can produce tight, if somewhat grainy, action shots. With the 18–135 zoomed in and doubled on the camera’s cropped sensor, you’ll have the equivalent of a 300mm lens. On a jerky point-and-shoot, that wouldn’t be much to brag about, but at 10 fps and with the camera’s high ISO range and quick and reliable autofocus, you’ll be able to freeze crisp sports action across the field.
WIRED Saves you a bundle on software. Pro-level functionality at rookie prices. Higher frame rate than all but the top-shelf HDSLR cameras.
TIRED The bells and whistles come at the expense of image quality; low-light, high-speed, and digitally zoomed photos will be noisy. If you ever upgrade to a full-frame HDSLR, it likely won’t be a Sony, so you’ll need all new lenses.