sony A580

[Anders]

What do people think of the new Sony A580? I'm thinking of getting it.

Cheers,
Anders

[Boo53]

Sounds very interesting, but as I only got a a550 4 months ago I might get some resistance at home, or at least costly payback

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=57713&page=4 post 104

[Bintryin]

Looks Good but I need to wait for some hands on reviews first
Cheers Mike

[ameerat42]

Anders. If you don't already, keep an eye out on the link below. The A580 hasn't had an On-depth Review yet, but the SLT A55 has. Check them out to see what they say. Am.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/

[DigitalRev]

The A580 is quite good. There were quite a lot of orders on this camera. The A55 is also a hit.

[peterw35]

A580 is the Optical finder version of A55.

some awsome reviews going around some overseas forums and I'm kinda keen to swap my a700 for a580 due to much improved ISO noise (w/wo overlay ISO reduction technology) and a new and awsome AF system :D
(just holding my breath atm due to rumers of the new a77 next year XD)

[skunky]

The 580 does look very good, but I'm waiting on to see what Sony deliver with the upcoming A77 model. Rumor has it that it'll have a 24mp sensor and hybrid optical / electronic viewfinder. Exciting stuff!

[Irru]

Dpreview doesn't have a preview yet, but imaging-resource does:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/AA580/AA580A.HTM

This is sort of the first time I've considered Sony (I'm buying very soon).
I was set on the Pentax Kr, but only because I cannot justify the extra cost of the K5/D7000 (I'm particularly jealous of the high iso performance).

If you take a look at dxomark:
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en/Camera-Sensor/Compare-sensors/(appareil1)/672%7C0/(appareil2)/680%7C0/(appareil3)/675%7C0/(onglet)/0/(brand)/Pentax/(brand2)/Nikon/(brand3)/Sony
The D7000 (also PentaxK5) have the same sensor as the A55 and A580.
The A55 is held back 2 stops by the translucent mirror, which should mean that the A580 performs similarly to the Pentax/Nikon versions with the same sensor. But quite a lot cheaper.

I'm not suggesting that it is in the same class as those two, but perhaps that the pure performance in a couple of specific areas will put it above the Kr/D5000, which price-wise is what it is competing with.

Do you agree with my reasoning?

[Boo53]

I'm not suggesting that it is in the same class as those two, but perhaps that the pure performance in a couple of specific areas will put it above the Kr/D5000, which price-wise is what it is competing with.

Do you agree with my reasoning?

On face value it seems plausible, but I know Kym has shown some images that he took with his K5 at very high iso that were very good, if Sony thought for a minute that they could match that I would have thought we would have been hearing it from Sony itself

Still, if it does turn out that way it would be great

[Irru]

A55 is two stops worse than K5, fractionally better than the Kr. According to dxomark anyway.
Stands to reason that if you give the sensor all of the available light (instead of 30% less) you'll get better performance. It still might not be as good, due to the rest of the camera, but they key point is not a claim that it is a K5/D7000 rival, but that it is is Kr/550D/D5000 rival that might just top them nicely, slotting in somewhere between the two classes of camera.

After posting this morning I went walking around town for a few hours. Took a few pics (practicing rule of thirds composition, I'll post a couple later after I process them), and stopped in at the SonyStyle shop here. I had a play with the A580, A55 and Nex 5. They have a massive fish tank (maybe 3m x 1m) with several of each model of camera (different lenses on each) around it that you can take pics of. I'm kicking myself for not putting a memory card in and keeping some shots to post. Anyway.

It is an impressive piece of gear. I couldn't work out how to get more information displayed in the optical viewfinder, and I really don't like the shape/feel of the alphas so I'm not going to buy one. I tried taking the same shot with A55 and A580, in aperture mode. The metering was consistently choosing a faster shutter speed with the A580, but it was a very rough test - no tripod and I couldn't get the cameras in quite the same position (I was sitting them on the display bench).

Anyway, we'll see once there are some full reviews out I guess.

Btw: US$800 on Amazon now, with 18-55 kit lens. In case you're interested, hehe.