Sony A350 Review

The Sony A350 is a new mid-range DSLR camera with some headline-grabbing features, most notably a 14 megapixel sensor and a 2.7 inch, tilting LCD screen complete with Live View. The A350 has a lot of rivals, with the Canon EOS 450D / Rebel XSi, Nikon D60 and D80, and Olympus E-510 all vying for your attention, but it’s certainly competitively priced at less than £500 / $400 with a kit lens. Mark Goldstein took the Sony A350 to Brussels, the heart of Europe, to find out just what it has to offer the aspiring shutterbug.

Website: Sony A350 Review

Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Reader Comments

1. Giving Essential rating to A350 shocked me. Espacially after seeing raw files it is incredible to say A series machine or any machine that Sony produced is on par with the quality of Canon or second big Nikon. Pictures are underexposed poorly metered and has no fine detail like Canon or Nikon.I lost my belief in this blog review after reading last 3 months reviews.DIWA award turns to mean nothing to me as day by day..

   Mustafa Ajlan Abudak at 08:10am on Wednesday, June 18, 2008

2. What nonsens, the comment from Mustafa!
   Sony is the same as Konica/Minolta,and those are high recommended machines.Why should Canon or Nikon always be the best. The compatable digitals are not, for example. For the price and features the Sony 350/300 are the best at the mid-range DSRL camera's, at this moment!So, the rating is correct. Thanks for the revieuw, it was very usefull.
   Netherlands, 10-7-2008

   roos at 02:55pm on Thursday, July 10, 2008

3. great review do you think my old slr minolta lenses will fit,when i bye one i will pass on my opinion

   walter derbyshire at 01:08pm on Tuesday, July 22, 2008

4. The review for the Sony 350 was helpful for me. I traded in my Canon Rebel XTi for Sony 350 with 16-105mm lens just last week so I still am trying to get familiar with it. For the Canon, I had upgraded to the 17-85 IS USM lens but the Sony so far is taking superior pics. The image stabilization in the camera is great and much better than my Canon IS in the lens. The metering is far superior in the Sony - it has spot metering which the Canon does not have. The colors are truer and crisper on the Sony. The menu functions are less cumbersome in the Sony. I can now change the flash, metering and AF from one button. The Sony tells you in percentage how much juice is left in the battery - huge advantage for me as I only have 1 battery. My Sony is better balanced. The Canon with the 17-85mm lens is front heavy. My 2 major complaints of the SONY are it takes horrible pictures indoors (esp incandescent) on "auto" and the focus select point is so small that you can't really see it over your image unless you are taking a picture of a solid colored object (not red). The Sony feels very 'plasticy' but it is small and light and a comfortable grip for me (female). I wear glasses and find all viewfinders difficult to use so the comments about the smallish viewfinder are not really relevant to me. I find the center of the viewfinder much clearer and I see way more detail than I did in the Canon. It is very easy to use on manual focus. I'm very happy with the camera at present. My pictures are mostly close-ups, in and outside, black poodle, landscapes and the Rebel just didn't cut it.

   JFong at 02:59pm on Tuesday, July 29, 2008

5. Great Review. Dead on!!!!
   
   I think that if Sony continues its aggressiveness in the market than Canon and Nikon will have a serious contender to worry about. I live in Japan and have my own Camera and Lens store and everyday more and more people are preferring the Sonys. I think the a350 is my best seller and the tilt screen and live view is the main reason. I am not so sure how the rest of the world finds the Sony DSLRs but here in Japan so far they are hits.
   
   Often the people that buy Sonys as well are newbies to the DSLR market. I think that they have been happy with their cybershots and other point and clicks and now are ready for the DSLR range. The more hardcore and serious buyers I find here in Japan are all about he Ricoh Cameras. I have to admit they are quite nice and the quality is outstanding, however just like a sport scar you need to know how to handle them.

   Nabil at 02:05am on Friday, August 29, 2008