SonyAlphaA550
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Sony Alpha A550 DSLR reviewed: new tricks, new trade-offs
It's been a long haul since it was officially announced way back in August, but we're guessing there's a good number of folks that have been waiting for Digital Photography Review's take on Sony's Alpha A550 DSLR before making their final decision on the camera. Thankfully, the site has now come through with a usually thorough review, which unsurprisingly finds that while there's a lot to like, there's also a few notable trade-offs with this challenger to the likes of the Nikon D90. On the upside, the camera packs quite a few features not seen on many of its competitors, including two different live view modes, built-in HDR options, 7 fps burst shooting, and reportedly great image stabilization, to name a few -- all of which add up to make this was DP Review calls "the best APS-C camera Sony has produced since the Alpha 700." On the downside, however, the site found that the A550 sits somewhat uncomfortably between the low and high-end, with its slightly stripped down controls turning off pros, and its rather weak performance in auto mode potentially being a problem for beginners. That doesn't prevent the camera from receiving fairly solid recommendation though, which hinges on the caveat that folks know what they're getting into.
