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Best4Reviews, Home, Review, Sony Alpha 350 Review
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| | Sony Alpha 350 Review | Sony's Alpha 350 sports a new type of Live View, but how does it fare here, in its first full Best4Reviews test?
By Doug Harman | 30/5/2008
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Manufacturer: Sony
Price: Price: £519 (Body only), £599 (Single Lens Kit with standard DT 18-70mm F/3.5-F/5.6), £749, (Twin Lens Kit with standard DT 18-70mm F/3.5-F/5.6 and 55-200mm F/4-F/5.6 zoom lenses).
Key Features:
Sony digital SLR with APS-C sized 14.2-megapixel CCD sensor, Super Steady Shot anti-shake, Anti dust system, Eye Start and Live View.
We Like:
Excellent specification for price, Great image quality, Super Steady Shot, Anti Dust system, Eye Start, D-Range Optimiser, Ergonomics.
We Don't Like:
LCD cannot be swiveled back into the body (for protection), “Fn” function button replaces hard buttons for some controls, No direct manual focus control; Spot metering via menu selection only.
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The Sony Alpha 350 is the step up model from the Alpha 200, itself the replacement for the original Alpha 100 tested here in August 2006. Significant improvements have been meted out and there is some streamlining in terms of controls as well. However, it is an accomplished model and it’s the highest resolution sub-£500 D-SLR on the market.
The A350 marks the mid-point in the range in Sony’s D-SLR range that includes the Alpha 200, Alpha 300, Alpha 350 and of course the Alpha 700. The A350 sports a high resolution 14.2-megapixel sensor at its core that sits upon a CCD-shift platform to allow both anti shake (called Super Steady Shot) and sensor cleaning features, which vibrate the sensor on that moving carriage when the camera is switched on and off.
The big 2.7-inch colour screen doubles as a large information display when not being used for Live View – the other key feature of this model – and a neat orientation sensor ensures the information always the right way round as well. The screen can also flip out, making it usable for overhead shots or as a waist level finder, such as that found on a medium format camera for example.
Sony’s implementation of Live View on the A350 is unlike other manufacturer's Live View however, but is similar in many respects to that employed in Olympus D-SLRs. It uses a tiny CCD camera built-into the reasonably bright pentamirror viewfinder’s housing, which focuses on the ground glass viewing screen and relays that image to the big screen. In other words, you don’t look at the image captured by the imaging sensor.
Two drawbacks become apparent at this point: the pentamirror viewfinder has a frame coverage of 95%, so not brilliant, and because the Live View camera cannot “see” the entire ground glass viewing screen, you get just 90% coverage in Live View. Most competing models will provide 100% field of view.
So, framing options are slightly more challenging than some competitors, but on the upside Sony’s Live View does allow the “normal” use of auto focusing without the usual sequence of press shutter button, wait for mirror to raise, wait for the AF and then wait while the shot’s taken. So, the drawback in terms of framing is ably offset with Sony’s responsive and aptly named Quick AF Live View.
This means you can use the camera (in Live View mode) just like a point and shoot compact, something not possible with the more usual mirror up Live View cameras. Another Live View plus is the way the camera meters a shot using Live View. The A350 has a 40-segment evaluative metering set up when not using Live View; switch Live View on and the metering changes to a 1,200-zone metering system that is very accurate indeed.
As with all the Alpha models, the A350 uses Sony’s A Mount lens mount system, actually the old Konica Minolta Dynax (Maxxum in the US) lens mount from which all Alpha models have been bred.
Other kit includes Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimiser (DRO), which has been improved here and helps get well-balanced backlit shots and works by pulling more detail out of highlights and shadows; it can also be used in RAW +JPEG shooting and you can tag RAW files so that Sony’s supplied RAW processing software can even apply the DRO when the images are processed on PC later.
DRO provides off, standard and advanced (or DRO+) modes and works well particularly when combined with Sony’s tweaked and enhanced BIONZ image processor (since the introduction of the Alpha 100), to help reduce noise issues and more on its effectiveness later.
A new, streamlined, control layout helps you get to the Live View, ISO and drive modes while a large mode dial provides the P, A, S and full Manual shooting modes along with six subject program modes that incorporate the standard set of landscape, portrait sports and macro modes. There’s also a useful flash off position as well.
On the back plate there’s the tilt and flip out screen, plus a set of buttons down its left side for menu, display, delete and playback, while the on/off switch sits high and to the left of the screen. Across the top of the screen are two Eye Start sensors that fire up the camera, activate the AF - and all as you bring the camera to your eye to the finder, which helps make the 350 even more responsive.
Speaking of responsiveness, the nine-zone AF system has been tweaked with a new, cross type central sensor and is extremely fast and accurate and I found it to be extremely effective particularly when combined with the faster frame drive of 2.5fps that allows you to shoot until the CompactFlash Type I/II storage is full in JPEG mode, or, four RAW files or three RAW+JPEG shots.
Other controls include the new function or “Fn” button. This in effect replaces external controls for white balance, flash modes, metering, AF area selection, D-Range Optimiser settings, and the focus mode. I preferred the hard button access of the Alpha 100 (which I own) but understand the simplified layout offered here. It’s just slower to use.
Auto exposure lock and exposure compensation buttons are ranged across the top of the right side of the back plate and there’s a single control wheel just forward of the shutter button; the four-way jog buttons sit on the back too and the central button is an additional AF control which helps when using Live View with the camera tripod mounted, for example.
Last up, in terms of controls, is the smart teleconverter button. In Live View, the smart teleconverter crops into the centre of the sensor making it a digital zoom option for any lens you have attached. Of course, the downside is reduced resolution. Step one is a 1.4x magnification providing 7.1-megapixels and at step two, you get 2x magnification and an effective resolution of 3.8-megapoixels.
Happily, the Sony Alpha 350 acquits itself very well indeed in terms of all important image quality. White balance is excellent and noise is extremely well controlled right up to ISO 3200, while ISO 1600 is equivalent, in terms of noisiness, to the older A100 at ISO 800.
Metering is excellent but with the Live View, the 1200-zone metering performance is amazingly accurate even in difficult lighting situations. Overall then the 350’s performance is excellent and the image quality, even at higher ISOs is very good indeed and makes the Sony Alpha 350 certainly worth considering if you’re in the market for a mid-range digital SLR.
| | PRODUCT SHOTS |  |  |  |  |  The Alpha can be equipped with a power boosting, accessory handgrip with vertical controls. | The 350's LCD can be flipped down for viewing from below (overhead shots)... | And be flipped up a la waist-level finder style. | The Alpha 350's screen has an orientation sensor for the info display and will switch off as you bring our eye up to the viewfinder, which has two eye start sensors. |
| | | | PICTURE EXAMPLES |  |  |  |  | | Difficult lighting is no match for the Alpha 350's 1200-zone metering in Quick AF Live View mode. | Low noise and detail in spades come as standard. | More general scenes are well handled and the kit lens is a corker too. | Colour and white balance performance are very good too. |
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Verdict: | |
Despite the limited frame coverage in live view, Quick AF Live View works and the camera’s otherwise excellent performance and great image quality combine neatly within an easy to use body. Factor in the good price and the Sony Alpha 350 is worthy of serious consideration.
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