Sony debuts above-entry-level Alpha

Released over a year and a half ago, the Alpha SLT-A55V was at one point the flagship of Sony's (then) new translucent-mirror lineup. It's since been surpassed by the A77 and the A65V, leaving it to occupy the a-bit-less-entry-level position above the A35. The new replacement, the SLT-A57, comes in at the same price as its predecessor but without the built-in geotagging capabilities that were notable in the A55, and with a few new features.

Sony Alpha SLT-A57 (photos)

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The A57 uses the newer, and I think better, body design that debuted with the A77/A65V. And though the A57 is the same resolution as the A55V, it uses a different sensor--the one from the mirrorless NEX-5N--plus the newer image processor. That combo makes it likely that it will deliver better photo quality. Do I think the photos will be usable at its new maximum ISO sensitivity of ISO 16000? Nah. But it might coax it up to decent JPEGs at ISO 1600.

Sony introduces some new soft features, most notably Auto Portrait Framing, which uses face detection to better position the subject in the frame and when cropping in. Sadly, it interpolates using Sony's horribly named "By Pixel Super Resolution Technology" to make sure you have 16 megapixels' worth of photo instead of just leaving it at the cropped size. Thankfully, it will save the original as well. The company has also added more smarts to its Auto+ mode, enabling it to invoke multishot modes such as Handheld Twilight or Auto HDR if the scene warrants.

The camera now updates to AVCHD 2 with support for 1080/30p video. It also has a new EVF; while it's smaller with lower effective magnification than before, it's higher-density with the ability (if I understand correctly) to change the eyepoint by changing the magnification. The A57 also gets the same Picture Effects and addition of first-curtain shutter as the A65V and A77.

Here are some comparisons:

I am a bit perturbed by the mixed messages Sony sends with its specs. On one hand, in order to get the highest spec number it could for burst shooting--12 frames per second--it created an 8-megapixel crop mode with continuous autofocus and fixed autoexposure (with another cumbersome name, "Tele-zoom Continuous Advance Priority AE"). It does 10fps at full resolution with fixed autoexposure, and 8fps in its fully capable burst mode. I guess that means 8 megapixels is great! But then it feels the need to offer a bunch of interpolation options, as with the aforementioned Auto Portrait Framing and its 2X Clear Image Zoom digital zoom modes to make sure you get all 16 of your precious megapixels, faux though they be. So 8 megapixels is bad! I suppose I should be thankful that the digital camera folk don't pull the same schtick as the camcorder folk and plaster "32 megapixels" on the front of the camera. The truth is 8fps is a darn good burst rate and an 8-megapixel portrait is fine.

My biggest complaints about the A55V were the poor battery life and the lack of manual controls for video; the A57 rectifies those. Assuming it doesn't backslide in performance or photo quality, it looks like a pretty good deal relative to competitive, similarly priced cameras, and the extra $200 for a better EVF, GPS, and higher resolution in the A65V makes sense. It may not be a terribly newsworthy camera, but it looks like one that a lot of people might want to buy.