Sony DSLRA500Y Alpha 12.3 MP Digital Camera + Twin Lens Kit (18-55mm & 55-200mm)

At the heart of the 12.3 MP DSLR-A500 is a new Exmor CMOS sensor that ensures crisp low-noise images, packed with fine detail and vibrant colours. Sharing powerful on-chip noise reduction techniques with the full-frame DSLR-A900, this advanced sensor works with processing algorithms handled by the high-speed BIONZ engine to deliver premium images plus razor-sharp shooting responses. Dramatically reduced picture noise now allows super-sensitive shooting at up to ISO12800, allowing attractive results when shooting handheld in challenging situations like candlelit interiors.The A500 offers a crisp, high-contrast 3-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus screen with the same tilt range for clear, comfortable composition and reviewing shots.

Panasonic Lumix GH1KEB9R 12.1 MP Compact System Camera - Red

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 "Great stills? Yes! Great videos? Yes again!" 2009-09-06
By K. Lim
First of all, I bought a G1 when it was released just a while back (read my review too). It was love at first sight and till now I still absolutely adore it. It's cute, light, takes great stills and best of all - it was extremely FUN to use. The interface was very user-friendly and the iA mode kept things simple for my point & shoot moments. It was HARD not to like the G1! Anyway, a few months later Panasonic announced the GH1. I was excited. Full HD videos in that compact body? What!! Then they announced its release price. £1299? They must be joking. But they weren't. I hesitated a bit at first but eventually I gave in to temptation (and became a thousand pounds poorer). So here I am, now a proud owner of the GH1. And this review is about the GH1 and the 14-140mm kit as a whole, not just the camera body.



Let me be clear: People looking to buy the GH1 do not buy significantly better still image quality. In fact, if you're reading this review, you probably know about it already. Heck, the 14-45mm G1 kit lens actually performs very slightly better than the 14-140mm GH1 kit lens at the 14-45mm range. The good bit? The flexibility of the 28-280mm focal length (after taking the crop factor into account) is much, much handier than you think. A superzoom lens isn't for pixel peepers. So if you're looking for pro-quality images, look elsewhere. Skip the four-thirds and APS-C formats too. You're better off spending the money on a full frame DSLR body. For those who are still interested in learning more about the GH1, do continue reading.



THE GH1 AT FIRST LOOK:

The layout of the GH1 is certainly similar to the the older G1. Again, it has a nice rubberised finish and feels very well-built. Surprisingly, my newer and more expensive GH1 body is 'made in China', whereas the older G1 is 'made in Japan'. While irrelevant, I felt a bit cheated when I saw this (but got over it pretty soon). The interface, just like the G1, is very intuitive and gives photographers the manual control they need (albeit in a simple and straight-forward fashion). The creme de la creme? The newly-added video capture button which allows you to take videos instantly, even while in photo capture mode! This means you won't miss out on any important video moments while using the GH1. High five for you new fathers! The single caveat in the new GH1? It's simply less well-balanced than the G1 in terms of handling. The new 14-140mm lens weighs more than the body which makes things a bit weird, especially after using the G1 with the excellent 14-45mm. Still, this is just a personal opinion. Do try it for yourself.



THE GH1 FOR STILLS:

Superzooms do come with compromises, deal with it. Overall image quality is great, with the tele end being a bit softer at wider apertures. The OIS also works wonders, as in the G1. Now to satisfy your curiosity: the image quality of both the G1 and GH1 are virtually indistinguishable at lower ISO settings. However, I can certainly see an improvement of the high ISO noise control over the G1. The GH1 now takes perfectly acceptable stills at ISO 1600, whereas anything above ISO 800 for the G1 was pretty hard to work with. Plus, I can make great small/medium prints with the GH1 even at ISO 3200 (in certain conditions). Also, the autofocus of the GH1 'feels' faster, although I might be wrong about this one. In short, it's hard to fault the GH1 as a high-end digital still camera. Do take note that in low light situations the slow aperture range (f/4.0-5.8) does feel 'limiting'.



THE GH1 FOR VIDEOS:

This is where the £1300 price tag starts to make sense. And this is the main reason anyone would consider buying the GH1 over the G1. Ever shot full HD 1080p 24fps videos with stereo sound in a digital camera? No? Then you don't know what you're in for. There are so many things which make the GH1 such a great video recorder: FULL HD capture, the 28-280mm focal length, great stereo sound (and even better with the optional mic), the continuous auto-focus, the manual controls, shallow depth-of-field, quiet stepless aperture control... and so on. This has got to be the best video experience ever for still photographers, you've just got to try it to believe it. 5D Mark II? What, no articulated screen? Oh boy.



CONCLUSION:

Of course, you can blab all day about buying both a decent DSLR and a good consumer camcorder to get the best of both worlds. Then again, I do not want both a DSLR and a camcorder when I'm on a vacation. I want something which allows me to take great holiday stills and videos simulatenously with the least compromise on quality, all in one small package. The GH1 does just that. Plus I can just enjoy myself and not miss out on any importany moments, without needing to lug around multiple gadgets (or lenses).



Yes my Nikon D700 and 24-70/70-200 f2.8 combo takes better still images anyday, but the kit weighs a lot more and isn't exactly the traveller's best friend. And it doesn't take videos too.To be honest, the GH1 doesn't come cheap and will certainly be tough for most to justify its cost. To conclude, it doesn't get all five stars for the steep pricing and slightly worse handling. However if you're able to live with the compromises and the cost of this convenient little thing, you'll find that you have an awesome piece of technology waiting to remind you of how fun photography/cinematography(?) is.

 "A true hybrid camera!!" 2009-08-29
By MR Y WADA
I always wanted a proper high quality hybrid camera and I can say that this is the one to get. It takes brilliant HD videos in stereo and the still photos are amazing. I just came back from a family trip to the Jurassic Coast. It took brilliant photos and videos of the trip. Usually, hybrid cameras have very poor video capabilities. I have a video camera but it takes poor quality photos. I am no professional photographer but this camera does both jobs very well. I no longer need to take a camera and a video camera on trips. It really kills two birds with one stone. One more thing that makes this great is that the videos I take with my GH1 plays on my PlayStation 3 (videos need to be in ACVHD format)!! Just insert the SD card into the PlayStation 3 and you can view both the photos and the videos. I have loads of .mov files in my NAS drive that I cannot view with my PlayStation 3. Those days are now gone. Now I can store all the GH1 videos on my NAS and watch all the videos via my PlayStation 3 as well...but this time in HD!!



The only problem is the price. It is very expensive. As my wife was visiting her family in Japan, I had her buy it in Japan for 65% of UK price...Why are Japanese goods in the UK still so expensive?




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Sony DSLRA500L Alpha 12.3 MP Digital Camera + Zoom Lens Kit (18-55mm 3.5-5.6)

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At the heart of the 12.3 MP DSLR-A500 is a new Exmor CMOS sensor that ensures crisp low-noise images, packed with fine detail and vibrant colours. Sharing powerful on-chip noise reduction techniques with the full-frame DSLR-A900, this advanced sensor works with processing algorithms handled by the high-speed BIONZ engine to deliver premium images plus razor-sharp shooting responses. Dramatically reduced picture noise now allows super-sensitive shooting at up to ISO12800, allowing attractive results when shooting handheld in challenging situations like candlelit interiors.The A500 offers a crisp, high-contrast 3-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus screen with the same tilt range for clear, comfortable composition and reviewing shots.
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- Sony's Latest DSLR with 12.3 MP EXMOR CMOS Sensor
Shoots up to 5fps
BIONZ Image Processing Engine with Nine Point Autofocus
Features Include: Smile Shutter, Steadyshot inside and HDMI Port
3 LCD screen with 2 -way Tilt and Live View
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 "Mid range marvel" 2010-06-08
By A. S. Styles
The Sony Alpha 500 sure is one hell of a camera for its price.

It has all the advanced features you want from a mid level camera without the £700 price tag. The new Exmor image sensor is a revelation providing low noise photographs upto ISO 800 and usable photographs upto 3200. At 12.3 megapixels the images are nice and detailed and this resolution means you can do A3 sized prints/canvas without worry of getting a pixelated image.



This camera is fast too so it can handle sports photography no problem, on the JPEG FINE setting it can fire around 5 frames per second in good light and fires about 30 in a 10 second burst (buffer starts to slow frame rate down a tad). The shutter itself goes down 1/2000th sec which will freeze any amount of motion you point the camera at.



The LCD liveview screen is good quality and allows you to compose decent shots without trouble. It is also really handy that it tilts so you can hold it over your head in a crowd and still take decent shots. The optical viewfinder is bright and clear and is as good as a camera without liveview and there is a simple selector switch to choose between the two aiming methods.



The 18-55mm SAM kit lens this camera comes with is a good quality lens and is fine for portrait and landscape work. It autofocuses quickly and produces good images with no noticable ill effects.



Battery life is very good and I can believe the rating of 1000 shots on one charge if using the optical viewfinder, the camera also has power saving options that are adjustable. If you do find yourself turning the camera off between shots it is not a problem as it starts up very quickly (1-2 seconds).



To sum this camera up; it is an excellent buy at this price point with a decent kit lens. And for those who are unsure of how this compares to other cameras I would say this matches the Canon 450D in performance, which would actually cost more as it does not come with a lens for this price. Also not to mention the 450D is not as fast in continuous shooting and does not have a tiltable liveview screen. This camera is well worth the purchase.

 "Sony's little treasure!!!!" 2010-04-28
By C. Eason (Kenilworth.UK)
In a world where all the camera snobs insist on Nikon this and Canon that, it comes as a refreshing change to find a so called mid range camera that can rub shoulders with the best of them.

Sony itself can be accused of dampening the A500 down by touting its bigger brothers with their big price tags.

At the moment the Sony camera range appears over crowded with all the A2- A3-A4- and A500 ranges and to be honest none have them have set the world on fire.

Until now!!

Ive been a keen photographer for twenty five years, at the age of 15 i got my first proper camera, the Ricoh Mirai.

Recently ive been using my Nikon 700 to produce brochures for a local florists, but i thought i would test out my new spare camera- Sony Alpha 500.

With a little bit of tweeking, the Sony matched the quality of the Nikon with ease which was a shock for me, infact you would have to take the photos to a lab to pick out any trivial differences.

Its a very user friendly camera with very impressive systems inside to produce extremely high quality pictures.

You really need to look at the specs. Its also quite a big manly camera which is good for me as some other cameras, epsecially compacts can look really girly.

This is a message for anyone thinking about buying a Dslr, dont listen to the fan boys!!!!!


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