Sony A350 & 18-70mm zoom
The basics
14.2MP digital SLR with 3x zoom kit lens, built-in image stabilisation, Live View with autofocus and folding 2.7-inch display.
The good
Live View framing on SLRs has been a mixed bag – some feel nearly as sluggish as old-fashioned manual focusing. The A350, on the other hand, has Live View with near-instant autofocusing, a tilting screen and built-in stabilisation to keep those over-the-head shots rock steady. Its 14 million pixels capture plenty of detail and very natural colours, in daylight at least. An anti-dust system helps keeps your snaps grit-free, too.
The bad
Use the A350 at night and image quality takes a tumble, with grainy noise creeping in. Using the flash helps a bit, but the irritating strobe focusing system might encourage your subjects to punch you repeatedly about the head, even if they’re not Russell Crowe. Burst mode shooting is pretty relaxed at just three frames a second, some buttons are in weird places, and why did Sony have to make even the USB cable a weird, custom fit? There’s no movie mode.
The bottom line
The geeky A350 won’t win any beauty contests but the Live View is great and images are solid. You could even do your wallet a favour and step down to the near-identical A300: it has a perfectly respectable 10MP sensor, slightly faster burst shooting and costs around £100 less.
User comments (8)
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Chapin27 August 2009
I own this camera and I love it, the images are very good, colour quality is excellent. I don't want a video mode on this, I use it for stills photography and anyway I own a very good video camera as well. The lens supplied is a little noisy but not enough to distract me, the live view is very good and the tilting LCD is useful. I had the Minolta A200 and used this feature very often, which I guess is why I went for the A350 as my choice of DSLR, all in all I find its comfortable in the hand, menus easy to find and useful,so I would recommend this camera, at the end of the day it's personal choice.
Report as inappropriateBazco10126 October 2009
Picked out the A350 body as the camera for my girlfriend (she had asked me to select one for her), not bothering with the kit lenses (due to several average reviews). Bought her the Tamron 18-250mm f3.5 Di II Macro lens, and she's so happy with the combination that she now disses my equipment...The Sony does take beautifully coloured/textured photos though, and I've made some amazingly detailed shots of the full moon (craters etc), just with the Tamron at full zoom. Highly recommended.
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Steve05 December 2009
I agonised over features, reviews and price, then bought this camera. The battery life is fantastic, and it is capable of so many things a compact cannot do that I will spend months just exploring it's features. It is heavy, and carrying / changing lenses is a bit of a fiddle so really think hard before buying an SLR over a super zoom camera. All in all I'm a very happy owner.
Report as inappropriateyaser201009 February 2010
I like sony SLR in zooming and giving the best images but i dont like taking photography outdoor in the dark i prfer the canon outdoor in the dark .
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Jamie10 March 2010
I have used this camera along with many many others, and i can honestly say that this is not the best camera in this price bracket, the Canon 450d, or ever 500d are much better cameras, and produce better photos, and being canons there is a much wider selection of lens to pick from. so honestly, but a 450d. Faster frames per second lighter better kit lens takes SD cards instead of CF (they are cheaper and at this level you do not need the speed of a CF) Thanks
Report as inappropriateJake16 March 2010
I am a very happy Sony A350 owner. First of all this camera is not ugly, I like it better than any Nikon or Canon. I love the Sony brand as it gives me peace of mind in terms of reliability. The lenses they produce a great, even the standard zoom lens is professional as I have had some great macro shots showing incredible detail. Unlike other camera brands Sony has chosen to put stabilization in the camera body called steady-shot, which offers 4 stops anti-shake. I can hand hold the camera and take a shot at about 1/10 second Hand held, in darkness with no blur. This keeps the price of the lenses down which, don't need image stabilization in the lens, unlike other manufacturers. Great Camera! Must Buy!
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