Camera Test: Sony Alpha 350

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What's in a name? With DSLRs, not much. Case in point: Sony's new Alpha 350 ($800, street, body only; $900 with 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Sony DT lens). Based on quick math, you might guess it's half the camera the Alpha 700 ($1,300, body only) is. But the A350 actually boasts a higher-megapixel (14.2) sensor than the A700, plus several conveniences such as a tilting LCD and a live-view mode with fast autofocusing.

Then again, Sony didn't design the A350 to compete against advanced DSLRs such as the A700. It's geared toward photographers coming from digital compacts, who may be drawn to its live view, high megapixel count, compact size, and friendly price. The A350's closest competitors in terms of megapixels, the 14.6MP Pentax K20D and Samsung GX-20, both cost $500 more. The Canon EOS Rebel XSi, priced similarly to the A350, offers 12.2MP. And the less-expensive Nikon D60 and Pentax K200D pack 10.2MP.

Experienced DSLR shooters know that megapixels don't tell the whole story, and the A350 confirms this. In Pop Photo Lab tests, the A350's APS-sized 14.2MP sensor delivered less detail (average 2150 lines of resolution at ISO 100-800) than the 12.2MP Sony A700 (2280 lines). Resolution was significantly below the 2350 lines of the Pentax K20D at ISO 100, and nearly the same as the Pentax at ISO 6400 with noise reduction on. (Indeed, the Sony captured detail on par with the 10.1MP Canon EOS 40D.)

Still, the A350's resolution, combined with Excellent color accuracy (Average Delta E of 6.9) and Extremely Low noise at low to moderate ISO settings, helped the camera achieve an Excellent image quality rating at ISO 100-800.

Detail heads south quickly if you set the camera to ISO 1600 or 3200, where the shadows and midtones require cranked-up noise reduction -- especially in JPEGs. RAW shooters will have plenty of choice, control, and better results at all ISOs when converting to TIFFs or JPEGs using the included Image Data Converter SR Version 2 software.

At ISO 1600, we set the noise reduction slider to 50 (on a 0-100 scale) and got a Low noise rating, while resolution dropped nearly 20 percent to 1730 lines, just making an Excellent rating. To keep noise under control at ISO 3200, especially in shadow and midtone areas, we slid NR up to 100 and watched resolution drop further to 1530 lines. That's still an Extremely High rating, and overall image-quality results at these ISOs followed a similar trajectory.

Steady as she goes

While noise performance at high ISOs doesn't come close to the latest DSLRs we've tested, Sony has another low-light weapon: Super SteadyShot image stabilization. Based on our DxO Analyzer 3.1 Blur tests of A350 images shot using a 100-300mm zoom set to 200mm, this sensor-shift system delivered between 2.5 and 3 stops of improvement, similar to the A100 and slightly less than the A700.

So while you might have to crank up the ISO to get a good exposure in low light on the Canon and Nikon, or spend more on image-stabilized lenses for them, you can slow the A350's shutter speed a few stops without needing a tripod.

Most of the A350's competitors boast a slightly faster burst mode of 3 or 3.5 frames per second. We got a continuous rate of 2.5 fps for Fine-quality JPEGs using a super-fast CF card, the 4GB SanDisk Extreme Ducati (rated at 45MB/sec). We captured up to 7 RAW images at 2.1 fps (better than the 6 Sony claims). There's no RAW + JPEG burst, and in that mode JPEGs can be set only to Large/Fine quality.

In our field tests, the Sony's 40-zone metering system proved fast and accurate, except in very low light below EV 2. Menus were easy to navigate, and we readily accessed important exposure adjustments with the press of the function button.

Image-quality controls are extensive, and include Sony's proven Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO) for expanding highlight and shadow details in high-contrast scenes. (The included conversion software also allows you to apply advanced DRO settings to RAW files.) Adjustments can be made to all white-balance presets (including flash), and you can select Kelvin temperature or custom settings. Access to the exposure and white-balance bracketing adjustments is tricky -- you have to press the self-timer/motor drive button and scroll down the menu to find them.

Soccer moms and Nascar dads will like the speed and sensitivity of the A350's autofocus, as will anyone who uses live view. The 9-zone AF system has only one cross-type sensor in the center, but it's extremely fast in bright light, very fast in low light from EV 4 to EV 0, and respectable in dim light at EV -1 (its limit). To compare, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi is faster in low light below EV 0, and its AF can still lock onto detail at EV -2.