Giz Trials The Sony α550 DSLR

As well as playing with the DSCTX1 at Sony’s Twilight Football event, we also managed some time with their α550. Despite rarely using a DSLR (read: never), we were surprised to find the camera wasn’t nearly as intimidating as we had feared.

Aimed at DLSR novices who want to take their photography to the next level, the 14.2MP a550 has a 3-inch screen size and 90-degree tilt screen. It features Live View, as well as a substitute viewfinder, Sony’s impressive noise reduction, Auto HDR mode, a relatively fast shooting speed (seven shots per second) and offers sensitivity of up to ISO 12800. The two-toned α550 sees the return of the larger 11.8Wh FM500H batteries and, as with the slimline DSCTX1 point-and-shoot, is based around Sony’s new CMOS sensors.

So with the stats out of the way, what did we think? Well, check out the results for yourselves.

As to be expected—we were at a twilight football match after all—we spent much of the little time we had in sunset mode. The colours were sharp even in low-light, processing speeds were rather quick and it was supremely easy to use; you literally point, focus and shoot.

Sony’s α550 DSLR retails for $1499.