Introduction

Ease of Use

Despite its historic roots, the Sony SLT-A35 has changed a lot from the blocky Minolta SLRs, or indeed the early Sony DSLRs. The camera has a curvier look to it with smooth bulges and sweeping edges. There's lots of buttons on the A35 to keep you occupied. Newcomers to photography thinking about this camera might be a bit bewildered at first. There are 5 buttons on the top plate alone. Funnily enough, though the camera isn't cluttered. There's even enough space for a contoured thumb rest area next to the function menu button.

Pressing the function menu will open up a quick access menu on the screen which can then be accessed using the navigation pad on the back. The 3.5 inch LCD only uses the equivalent of a 3 inch screen for shooting, the black sides are used for the function menu options which are constantly displayed. It sounds an unusual way of doing things but it serves as a constant reminder of what settings the A35 has. General shooting information is displayed across the top of the screen such as shooting mode, file type, pictures left and battery power which is shown as a percentage. In the bottom right corner are the picture styles. The 6 options are standard, vivid, portrait, landscape, sunset and black & white. Within these settings, you can also manipulate the contrast, saturation and sharpness. The exception is black & white which can't adjust the saturation for obvious reasons.

The screen features a TruBlack coating which is a gel coating that sits in between the LCD and the glass. It removes the traditional air gap making images clearer, contrasts harder and the actual screen more durable. The resolution of the screen is 921,000 dots, which is around 307,000 pixels. The viewfinder is electronic and doesn't come on as a default. It's activated by the small sensors on the bottom of the eyepiece that detect when you've moved the camera up to your eye. The screen then switches off and the electronic viewfinder (EVF) comes on. One of the 5 buttons on the top plate is to switch between the two, but it's not a permanent thing. If you switch it to EVF by pressing the button, as soon as you take your eye away again, it switches on the screen.

Front	Rear

Getting back to the translucent mirror, Sony aren't the first company to have such a feature. Canon had a pellicle mirror from as early as the mid 1960s and released one every decade until the Canon EOS 1n RS in 1994. Nikon also released 2 models called the F2 HS and the F3 HS. There are distinct advantages to having a mirror that doesn't move for a number of different styles of photography. For example, the lack of mirror movement means a quieter function because of the lack of mirror slap. However, the Sony is still loud in its operation. No movement also means a still camera which is great for macro or fine detail photography where even the slightest movement can produce a blurred image.

The Sony A35 has a continuous shooting capability of 5.5fps or 7fps when the command dial is in the telezoom mode (this reduces the resolution to 8.4 megapixels and sets the compression rate to medium). It also allows continuous focusing in Full HD video using the 15 point TTL phase-detection instead of settling for the slower contrast detect AF system. This is the reason behind having the translucent mirror. You see, the camera operates in a similar way to mirrorless cameras such as Sony's own NEX series. However, those cameras have to use a contrast detection AF system. The mirror reflects part of the image onto the phase-detection AF system which is in the roof of the mirror chamber. phase-detection is much faster than contrast detect and a lot more precise with less hunting.

There are downsides though, such as an amount of light loss because the light is split between the sensor and the viewfinder or in this case the EVF. The mirror has to be kept as clean as possible as well because unlike a DSLR, any dust on the mirror will affect the end result.

Front	Top

The Sony A35 is an intermediate level camera designed for users who want the advanced features and manual control of a high end camera with the small size and ease of use of an entry level model. The body is a polycarbonate shell and is covered in the mottled paintwork associated with higher end models.

The battery door has a lock on to stop it opening by accident and the battery is a Sony Infolithium NP-FW50. Alongside the battery sits the memory card. The A35 has a dual slot for either Memorystick PRO Duo, PRO-HG Duo or SD/SDHC/SDXC.
On the left side of the body are the ports for plugging in the USB or HDMI cables and there's also MIC and Remote ports. The covers are bendy rubber and it would be nice to see hard covers here.

The SLT A35 sample that we received came with the standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM lens. It's a typical kit lens with a plastic lens mount and standard optical ability. We found we got the best results from around 35mm while at an aperture of f/8 or f/11. This is usual for any lens but the Sony still manages to produce some crisp shots. There's an AF/MF switch on both the lens and the body and this is because not all lenses that are compatible with the camera have an AF/MF switch. Bear in mind that not only can you fit Sony A mount lenses, you can also fit Minolta A mount and Carl Zeiss A mount lenses.

Top	Pop-up Flash

So the Sony A35 is driving technology forward and there's fear that older functions could be lost. The exposure compensation button has already started to disappear from digital compact camera backs. It's refreshing then, to see a small depth of field preview button on the underside of the lens.

Because the Function menu is always displayed it's easy to get used to where the options are and speed of use will increase steadily as you use the camera. The main menu is a lot bigger with 6 sections, each having 2 or more pages with the exception of the memory card section which has 1 page. It's interesting that Sony have removed the resolution from the function menu and placed it in the main menu. This could be an indication that they don't consider resolution to be that important anymore (though given the ridiculously high pixel ratings lately, that's unlikely). The menu is scrolled through using the navigation pad on the back. It's not the easiest one to use because of the bowl design of the pad and because the right side has a small lip around it. It's there because the body drops away and without this lip, it would leave a big wedge of the pad showing on the side. However, it gets in the way when pressing right which is annoying.

Apart from the fast continuous exposure, the A35 also has a fast start up time. We managed to get the camera on, focused and taking a picture in less than a second (0.965sec to be precise). Our shutter lag timings came up at 0.08 seconds which is around the same as a compact camera with the pre-focusing. Without pre-focusing, the camera responded in around 0.15 seconds. In video, the focusing uses a smoother focus routine and doesn't have to hunt through the focal plane in the same way a digital compact camera does. So it's a pretty quick camera in all fields. It's just unfortunate that the processing time takes what seems like an age.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

There's not a great deal to do in the playback menu which is simply fine by us. Putting editing functions in there to make it an all-in-one module would sully the professional outlook that the A35 has. There's a provision to make a slideshow, adjust the image index and specify pictures for printing among other more frequent options such as deleting pictures or protecting them. There is a 3D view option if you have any 3D Sweep Panorama pictures on the card but this is only available with a compatible television.

Within the box, you get the camera body and the standard 18-55mm lens if you get it in a kit. There's a battery, charger and USB lead for camera to computer connection. Most computers come with a built-in card reader these days and if not, a dedicated card reader will work faster than the camera and a decent one costs around £20.

Hoping you'll love the A35 so much that you want to invest, there's a brochure on lenses and accessories which makes interesting reading. A full manual is also included while the CD is reserved for the RAW converter and Picture Motion Browser (PMB) software.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16.2 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Sony Alpha A35 takes great photographs. It's one of the few cameras that we've been comfortable raising the sensitivity above ISO 400 knowing that we'll still get good results. All sample images were taken in RAW/JPEG mode except the file quality test for lower settings. The average RAW file comes out at around 16Mb. A large size JPEG records at about 4.6Mb while a normal size file records at around 3.1Mb with no noticeable loss in image quality.

Noise performance on the A35 is very good. At ISO 100, the lowest setting, there's absolutely no indication of noise whatsoever. Edge definition is excellent and this trend continues through the stages to around ISO 1600 where salt and pepper noise is starting to become distracting. However, this is a type of noise that is tolerable at normal viewing distances and certainly on the A35. Colour noise starts to seep into the pictures at ISO 3200 and while edges are starting to get a bit fuzzy, it's very mild. By the end setting of ISO 12800, the image quality takes a drastic downward turn and while colour noise has taken over the darker areas of the picture, the camera still garners decent results. To compare with a digital compact camera, the results at ISO 12800 are similar to what we'd expect at ISO 800. Obviously there's a big difference in sensor size, but it still bodes well.

Colours are recorded nicely on the Sony A35. Primary colours are punchy while darker, earth colours are rich. The camera saturates JPEG images satisfactorily and the adjustment options in the picture styles helps quite a bit. Some of our samples have been adjusted: for example, the black & white image of the bench had a contrast value of 3 and a sharpness value of 1 while the sensitivity was raised to ISO 1600 so that the noise would resemble grain.

The standard kit lens produces some decent results for what it is. Kit lenses are pretty much seen as a stop gap before purchasing better glass. That's important with DSLR style cameras where the lenses are interchangeable. However, we only used the kit lens to test how they collaborated together and we're happy with the results. It suffers from chroma and has a poor build quality but it's good enough to start with if you're new to the Sony system.

We tried a few shots with the lens on backwards. Without an adapter, we had to hold the lens to the body and the example is the extra close up shot of the small pine cone on the next page. It was around the same size as a 10p piece. The normal macro capability of the 18-55mm lens wouldn't manage it. We got a little light leaking through but it's to be expected and we think it adds to the appeal of that type of photography. The advantage of having a zoom lens means that operating the zoom while holding the lens backwards to the camera body increases and reduces depth of field.

Noise

Below are the noise results for the Sony Alpha A35. Noise results are great on the A35 and we're comfortable using it up to and including ISO1600.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

While the pictures produced from the A35 are sharp, we found that a bit of sharpening in Adobe Photoshop CS4 proved to improve the edge definition to a more pleasing result.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Sony A33 has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

14M Fine (4.62Mb) (100% Crop)	14M Standard (3.15Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The lens is only a standard kit lens so does suffer from chromatic aberration. Upgrading the lens will help to avoid the problem although it can still occur from the microlenses found on the sensor.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Macro

The macro mode of the kit lens isn't all that good. We managed to get in to a reasonable degree but for proper macro photography you need to invest in a macro lens. However, taking the lens off the body and turning it round gives near point blank macro with very shallow focal planes. Adapters can be bought from Ebay but we simply held the lens up to the mount. You need to program the camera to take a picture without a lens attached which is done in the main menu. It's a lot of fun and the more abstract sample images are done with this technique.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

The built-in flash on the Sony Alpha A35 gives very good portrait results. At wide-angle there is a distinct amount of light fall off towards the edges but this doesn't happen at the full telephoto of the kit lens. Red-eye isn't a problem for the flash but a pre-flash can be set up if you want to be safe. However, this adds a delay of around a second from pressing the shutter button and the camera taking a picture.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (27mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (82.5mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (82.5mm)

And here are a couple of portrait shots. Neither the Auto setting or the Red-eye reduction mode caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye reduction	Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)

Night

We found that taking pictures in the night scene mode still used a relatively high ISO 1600 but using the manual modes obviated the noise issue because we controlled the ISO levels. The A35 has a long exposure noise reduction facility because heat from long exposed pixels can add a type of noise to neighbouring pixels.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Dynamic Range Optimizer

D-Range Optimiser (DRO) is Sony's solution to improve shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light. There are 4 different levels and an Auto option.

Off	Level 1
Level 2	Level 3
Level 4	Level 5

Creative Styles

There are 5 Creative Style preset effects that you can use to change the look of your images.

Standard	Vivid
Portrait	Sunset
Landscape	B/W

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony A35 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony A35 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Pop-up Flash

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Shooting Mode

Rear of the Camera /D-Range Optimiser

Rear of the Camera / Function Menu

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Panorama Mode

Top of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Top of the Camera

Top of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

There's a lot to say about the Sony A35. Considering that it's the baby of the range, it certainly packs a punch. The 16 megapixels should produce moderately good pictures, but they're stunning. The build quality should be noticeably lower at this price point, but it's solid and the camera is nicely styled. Sure, the small size means you have a little finger curled under the base plate but is that a bad thing considering the weight reduction?

The amount of buttons could be reduced on the top plate and back of the A35, but DSLR users generally appreciate buttons over touch screens. The screen is lovely and bright and works very well in direct sunlight. If you decide to get the kit lens, don't expect too much in terms of build quality but it produces sharp pictures which is the important thing.

However, the glass is most important and this is a key factor when deciding on a new camera. If you're looking at the A35, you might want to look at this instead as a body only and with the money you save, buy a good quality lens. The sensor on the A35 will do its job and give excellent images.

The area that we're most impressed with is the noise performance. It's a pet peeve so we were gushing over the higher ISO settings which showed little or no noise at all. The EXMOR sensor gives punchy primary colours but not so much that they look unrealistic. In fact, in some cases, we preferred how the Sony recorded the colours to what was in front of our eyes.

We don't like the RAW converter much. It doesn't batch process and we had to sit for an hour converting by hand, near to 100 pictures we took in the test. But that aside, if you're looking for a camera that's small, good value for money, produces brilliant photographs and records Full HD video with fast focusing, then the Sony A35 is for you.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony A35 from around the web.

Specifications

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