Tech Blog

[#1]

Well, maybe Sony is not the Alpha Dog of the DSLR pack quite yet, but the company most certainly has its eyes set on the prize. A recent tally of world wide DSLR sales (measured in numbers sold) reveals that Sony made the biggest stride forward from 6% to 13% (2006-2008) of all manufacturers. In the same timespan Nikon's sales only rose by 4% and Canon fared even worse wit a sales reduction of 9%. Now mind you, Nikon and Canon still have 37% and 38% respectively of the DSLR market (measured in sold units) world wide, so Sony still has a way to go before it is at the top pecking order (source).

↓ Sony currently have 11 DSLRs in their alpha line-up, Canon has 9 and Nikon 8 DSLRs in current production (photo credit: www.sony.net)

Over the past two weeks I have given the a330 camera a thorough test. So the question begs, is it a worthy member of the aspiring Alpha Dog pack?

↓ The a330.

Get a grip

Or rather not. One of my biggest grievances about this camera is its grip, or rather lack hereof.

 ↑ A closer look @ the a330's poorly designed grip. 

For some reason Sony's designers decided to chop off the top part of the grip making it somewhat uncomfortable and unnatural to hold and shoot with. The 'mauled' grip is even more uncomfortable and impossible when walking around with the camera in you hand. Personally, I switched to holding the camera around the lens barrel when walking around. The last nail in the coffin is the fact that my smaller handed wife didn't even find it comfortable. So why, Sony, why?

Real, real-time live view

The a330 sports a really tiny viewfinder. I know the entry-level DSLRs use pentamirror over pentaprism to shave weight and cost, but the viewfinder of the a330 is the smallest I have ever used. Bummer! But the camera does make up for the small viewfinder by having the the best live-view implementation in a DSLR I have come across.

↑ Sony's live-view: best in class implementation.  

I know, I know the video is a bit blurry, but I hope it shows how fast and responsive the a330's live-view autofocus is. Sony's secret sauce is a separate sensor that just deals with the live-view. As a comparison the live-view in Nikon's D300s (which I am also testing) is sluggish an imprecise and doesn't even come close to the Sony implementation.

↓ The a330's fold-out screen

Shooting with the Sony live-view is a real joy. The screen folds out for shooting both low and high. I found this especially useful for low photography such as flowers or these couple of small crabs I found on the beach.

↑ Teleconverter feature (x1.4 on top and x2 on bottom).

Shooting in live-view (in JPG-mode) you can use a nifty x1.4 or x2 teleconverter feature. The feature even has a dedicated button on top of the camera. The size of the image is downgraded from around 8 MP to 2.5 MP, but if you only print small or share online you should be OK.

The frame rate drops slightly when shooting with the live-view, and the screen doesn't fold sideways for portrait shooting, but those are the only minor drawbacks I can think of in an otherwise very well implemented feature.

A beginner's paradise

The a330 was clearly designed with a DSLR beginner in mind, and I mean that as a good thing. The four-way selector on the back of the camera looks an awful like what you will find on a pocket camera. The LCD shooting menu is intuitively laid out with small pictograms of stickmen standing still, running (shutter speed slow/fast) and background blurred or sharp (aperture small/large). Hitting the Fn button brings up a shooting menu where you quickly can change autofocus and metering mode, white balance and other settings.

↓ Sony a330's easy to use buttons (right) and ingenious sliding door (left). 

The shooting menu also features a help menu. When you go to make a selection, but take a second too long, the camera will actually tell you what the setting does. Very handy if you forgotten the difference between centre weighted metering and spot metering. Nifty! The only feature I wish Sony had made a button for is the ability to change focus points on the fly. As it is now you have to go through the Fn menu to change focus points. So it was a bit of a pain, as this is something I often do in my photography.

Nice touches

Before looking closer at the image quality and two Sony lenses, I wanted to call out some nice touches on the a330.

First of all, I love the lefts-side sliding door (see image above). I think it's the nicest, cleanest solution to hide all the slots and ports that are necessary on a DSLR today. The slots/ports are: SD/SDHC card, Sony memory stick card, HDMI out and mini-USB.

In sort of the same fashion, the camera has an easy, no-nonsense lever that switches between the viewfinder and live-view. And more importantly, the lever is in the right place next to the viewfinder on top of the camera.

↓ Steady shot

Like Olympus, Pentax and Panasonic, Sony incorporates the image stabilization in the camera body. This has the clear advantage over Canon and Nikon that any lens you put in front of your camera will be stabilized. It works as well as lens-stabilization giving you a shake-free shot all the way down to 1/25 of a second. Great!

I am not a big fan of the built-in popup flash (more on that in a later post), but the fill flash mode of the a330 worked surprisingly well when used in connection with outdoor portraits to brighten up the facial shadows. Just don't tell anyone I said that.

(Continued in part 2)

Message Edited by klausboedker on 09-15-2009 12:59 AM

[#2]

I've got the A330 and the A100 - essentially an updated Dynax 5D - sitting in front of me now, and I have to say there is almost no similarity between the two other than both being generally camera-shaped. The only controls that are in the same place are the lens release and the AF/MF switch, and they have to be where they are because the Sony cameras use the Dynax lens mount.