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Product Description
Product Description
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At a Glance
Translucent Mirror Technology
Looking for super fast auto focusing when shooting videos and photos? This very clever technology replaces the mirror box used in conventional SLR cameras with a newly designed one containing a fixed translucent mirror that doesn't need to be raised and lowered each time the shutter is released. Perfect for catching spontaneous smiles and step by step footage of your friends getting hammered on the basketball court.
All About Speed
Here comes your favourite Formula One driver down the home straight. There he goes in a splash of colour. Did you catch it? Certainly with this camera as it includes high speed burst shooting with full auto focus at up to 12 frames per second.
High Resolution
Shoot D-SLR quality images with intense colour, rich tonal gradation and subtle background defocusing effects. Despite being light and compact, this camera sports a large, high resolution Exmor™ APS HD CMOS sensor with 16.1 megapixels. Just what you need for capturing detail-packed photos and brilliant Full 1080 HD movies.
Natural Images in Low Light
Dark rooms or twilight, it doesn't matter. High ISO sensitivity of 100-16000 gives you the freedom to shoot at fast shutter speeds indoors or in dimly lit environments without the need for a flash.
Switch Lenses
No need to be limited in any way. Interchangeable lenses give you the freedom to catch precisely the shot you want, whether a distant view or a stunning close-up. And with SteadyShot Inside®, you can be sure that every shot will be judder free, no matter what lens you're using.
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In Detail
Rapid Response with Translucent Mirror Technology
Never miss a moment
How many times have you seen the perfect shot, fumbled around with your camera and only captured the back end of it? You've got to be ready when that all important moment appears because it never announces itself. Translucent Mirror Technology puts you in charge, providing high precision, SLR quality performance for both photos and Full 1080 HD movies. How? By replacing the mirror box used in conventional SLR cameras with a newly designed one containing a fixed translucent mirror that doesn't need to be raised and lowered each time the shutter is released. The result? Ultra high-speed continuous shooting and auto focusing, which in a nutshell is just what you need to catch once in a blue moon moments like your wife being serenaded by a waiter.
Shoot your way
What's it to be? Live view shooting or through the viewfinder? With Advanced Quick AF Live View, high-resolution image data from the sensor can be displayed in the viewfinder as well as on the LCD monitor. You choose which you want to monitor while shooting. Switching is automatic for ease of use and you can activate Quick AF Live View in the viewfinder simply by putting your eye to the eyepiece.
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All About Speed
Catch it before it disappears
There's a secret to capturing subjects that are moving fast. It's called high speed continuous shooting. Cameras with this attribute shoot multiple frames per second, grouping sequences of shots together and analysing them so you can quickly pick out the best picture. This camera can shoot up to 12 frames per second. That's more than fast enough for you to catch a swooping bird, a Moto GP bike at full throttle or your friend Shaun on the half pipe.
Get closer
Maybe you want to get closer to the action? Tele-Zoom Continuous Advance Priority AE zooms in with around 1.4x magnification to keep your subject in precise focus in every frame – ideal for capturing fast sports and fleeting facial expressions.
Literally continuous
With a fast release time lag of just 50 milliseconds and high speed AF, this camera is pretty good at catching the speedy stuff as it happens. Release time lag is the time it takes the camera to begin image exposure after focusing. It's especially quick here because of a new electronic front shutter curtain that synchronizes perfectly with the mechanical second shutter curtain. New Object Tracking keeps moving subjects in perfect focus even while zooming in by locking on to them so you can concentrate solely on composing your scene.
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High Resolution
Big sensor, big pictures
Top notch performance in a lightweight camera? Absolutely. On board is a large, high resolution Exmor™ APS HD CMOS sensor with 16.1 megapixels. That means images with intense colour, rich tonal gradation and subtle background defocusing effects. The sensor works alongside a sophisticated BIONZ processor to give high-speed, low noise, crystal clear images that will take you straight back to the moment you took the shot. Even better, at around 16 million pixels, you can make impressive large prints up to A3 size or crop a picture to focus on something specific without losing definition. Great if you want some framed shots on the wall.
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Smooth Full 1080 HD movies
Want to capture it on film? Press the MOVIE button to shoot Full 1080 HD video in razor-sharp detail at 50p or 25p. Look at the colours of a summer meadow in the sunshine, the detail in the surf as it crashes on the rocks. High speed full-time auto focus precisely tracks moving subjects and with SteadyShot Inside® keeps everything stable and judder-free. Your video looks silky smooth, even when zooming in for a close-up.
Natural Images in Low Light
Don't worry about darkness
Sunrises, sunsets, some of the most dramatic pictures are taken in that twilight between night and day. But the fact is, you need a pretty decent camera to capture it perfectly. How many times have you shot at dawn or dusk, only to get back home and be royally disappointed with the dark, grainy results? With this camera, you'll have no such problem - the Exmor™ APS HD CMOS sensor and high ISO sensitivity of 100-16000 takes care of everything. So when you're standing on the cliff edge looking out at the fiery horizon, you know the darkness won't hide the detail in the scene.
Explore Your Creativity
Go Manual
Try it, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Switch to manual exposure and precisely control light for even more creative freedom. P/A/S/M modes provide perfect control of defocus and brightness. This camera can also record in 24p — the same frame rate as traditional movies, enhancing your video with a truly artistic feel.
Simple sophistication
It's so easy to take professional-looking shots. Latest technology abounds from Auto Portrait Framing, Auto HDR and 3D Sweep Panorama to Clear Image Zoom for virtually doubling your zoom range. There you go. All the tools you need to maximize every photo opportunity.
It's easy being creative
Perk up your pictures easily using Picture Effects. Enhance mood and style by choosing from a full range of effects including Toy Camera, Partial Colour for stunning monochrome shots, Soft High-Key, trendy Pop Colour, watercolour and Illustration. This last effect is really cool, turning your pictures into great-looking cartoons.
Switch Lenses
You choose which one you want
A herd of antelope being stalked by a lion. Killer whales off shore. Eagles atop a distant peak. How many times have you wanted to zoom in and catch the action without moving an inch? With interchangeable lenses, you can capture precisely the shot you want, whether a distant view or a stunning close-up. There's a full range of lenses to choose from including high zooms, wide angles, macros, primes and telephotos. With SteadyShot Inside® in your camera, you won't need to worry about camera shake. Every shot will be super stable and judder free, no matter what lens you're using.
Product Description
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Customer Reviews
Button placement is very good and all are within easy reach, and some can be programmed to do what you want them to do. I do feel there could have been an extra button or two on the top-plate, but the quick fn menu gives fast and responsive access to pretty much everything.
There are so many features this camera has I can hardly list them all here, but lets say the art and creative styles are just outstanding, and all done in-camera and give a superb, sharp result; no need for post-processing to get fancy effects! There is color select, art, retro, miniature, soft, high contrast b&w, HDR-painting, panorama, 3D, sunset and many more creative modes!
I like to shoot air shows and birds and other moving subjects and the speed of the a57 really is amazing. The shutter operates so fast you barely realise the picture has been taken. Burst mode in full resolution at 10 fps is very impressive. Coupled with my TAMRON 70-300 SP, this camera becomes a formidable sports snapper giving razor sharp images (even at big apertures) and bullet-like speed. For some reason that particular lens didn't perform quite as well on my a33.
The kit lens is superior to rival lenses, as it is sharp, fast and can focus down to a few inches making it superb for macro shots. Throw in auto-focus stereo HD video recording with many options for resolution and fps (and even a wind filter at last!), object-tracking (works very well indeed), and ultra-fast phase-detection auto focus in live-view mode, and this really is an absolutely amazing camera. I would recommend this over the A65 as 16MP is a more sensible array on APSC and will give slightly less noise the A65's 24MP sensor.
Over-all the best camera I have ever owned, being fast and responsive and packed full of outstanding features. SLT tech definitely has the speed-edge over conventional SLR's. Very highly recommended.
This camera is a very good mid-price camera. If, like me, you have a number of Sony/Minolta mount lenses and accessories (I've still got an A200 series that was my first DSLR) then this camera takes them all and works with them perfectly and as a result saves you money. It's very easy to set up and all the guides and software are contained on the camera and accessible through the large clear LCD screen on the back of the camera, and also through the viewfinder.
The translucent mirror system (TMS) means that shooting speed increases so you can shoot (allegedly) 12 frames per second in burst mode as the mirror doesn't move, I didn't achieve that when I tested it out; best I got was 10fps, but then I'm not sure that I had it set up correctly. This TMS is used in the A65 and A77 and means that the camera body can be smaller and lighter as the mirror stays in place and so you don't need the mechanics that go with a moving mirror system and this size/weight difference is borne out when compared to My A200 and the D7000. It has the added advantage that the autofocus isn't interupted whilst shooting and this use of a fixed TMS means that you also get much faster autofocussing speeds and this is important if you're shooting in burst mode or shooting HD video, the only problem with using the continuous phase auto focus feature in video is that unless you've got an external mike you can hear the motor driving the focussing on playback. The viewfinder is electronic (not optical), which means that what you're seeing is what you will be committing to memory, the big advantage of this is that you can play system information through the viewfinder and play about with the settings without taking the camera away from your eye, it also detects when you're looking through the viewfinder - clever!
The camera has all the usual functions that you find on mid-range DSLR in fact if you compare it to the A65 and A77 there isn't a great deal of difference in functionality. The adjustable rear live shoot screen is very useful for a DSLR and can be adjusted through different planes and angles and again is a huge improvement on the basic information screen on my A200 and much better than the D7000.
Image quality is excellent and the camera has a number of features built in to the software package that enables you to play about with the image on the camera without having to download it. I really like the continuous shoot panoramic mode (that Sony are now including on their cameras) as all the work is done by the camera stitching the image together and so saves playing about on the computer.
All in all this is a brilliant camera for the money. The only differences I can spot between this model and the much more expensive A65 is; built in GPS and the number of MP's (16.1 as opposed to 24.2). How does it compare against my 8 month old D7000? I wish the A57 had been around then as this is the one I would have gone for.
My only complaint (and it's an on-going gripe of mine with virtually all manufacturers) is that no memory card is included with the package, and you have to have a memory card as there is virtually no on board memory. Why manufacturers can't include a basic memory card so you can use the product straight away, when you're paying a lot of money for the camera, eludes me. When you do buy a memory card, for the best results you need a class 10 (HD Video), preferably 32GB and with a write speed of 45Mb/s. I would have knocked off a star for the lack of a card but the camera is so good I couldn't bring myself to do it.
now and have always been hesitant to move away. But eventually I was swayed by the promise
of the Sony A57 and I'm so glad I did! It's a joy to use, extremely fast when you want it
to be, creative, takes amazing pictures in all sorts of conditions and even takes great,
in focus video too. The camera is really comfortable to use, has loads of options which
haven't taken me long to get the hang of and it lets me take some amazing pictures. I can't
recommend this camera highly enough, if you're considering it, just do it, you won't be
disappointed :)
Ich kann diese Kamera jedem empfehlen.
I'm not an expert and have been using it very lightly. (I may update it later on... Read more
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