Sony Alpha A500

amazon Sony Alpha A500 reviews

With the launch of two mid-range models, the Sony Alpha A500 and the Sony Alpha A550 at the end of 2009, Sony has made its mark on the market for high-end DSLRs – spotlighted at competitive prices and feature sets outstanding. In addition to targeting high end users, the Sony Alpha A500 remains loyal to its simplicity and ease of use, reflected in its intuitive interface design, versatile flip screen and exciting Live View. The ability to reproduce accurate colors, fast continuous shooting speed are also very welcome in this new machine.

On the surface, the A500 is no different from the A550. Although the Ephotozine is classified as a mid-range DSLR, the A500 seems to resemble a high-end version due to the correlation between price and feature set. The body is three-dimensional 137 x 104 x 84 mm and weighs approximately 600 grams, is comparable to the Nikon D90 and is only slightly smaller than the Canon 50D. The front grille is completely covered with rubber, giving a firm feel but not too hard when needed to avoid shaking. However, this part is quite shallow that people with big and long fingers feel a little tired if used for a long time.

The front of the machine retains the same design as previous models from Sony. You can quickly change some common modes such as Live View, Contrast Control, ISO Sensitivity … without having to search in the system menu. The back of the A500 is quite similar to the Sony Alpha A350, however, the left side of the LCD panel has been moved upward for both hands. On the connection side, the device supports data transfer via USB, HDMI and infrared touch control embedded on the grip. Another noteworthy feature of this new model is that Sony supports the parallel use of SDHC memory cards alongside Memory Stick Pro Duo cards, which are expensive proprietary formats.

The A500’s 3-inch display is similar to the “A550”, but its resolution only rises to 230,400 pixels to minimize costs. This screen can also be turned 90 degrees along two axes, which is very useful when using the live view feature in difficult shooting angles such as high overhead or close to the ground. This LCD utilizes Xtra Fine technology to prevent glare and reduce color defects. The Auto Brightness Control feature automatically adjusts screen brightness and contrast depending on the environment. If you are not satisfied, the machine also allows you to adjust manual up to 5 levels. Unfortunately, Sony did not equip the A500 and A550 sub-monitors on the desktop as mid-range models come from Canon and Nikon.

The soul of the Sony A500 is the 12.3 megapixel APS-C sensor built with Exmor CMOS technology. The entire lighting mechanism is on a removable plate that allows the SteadyShot body shake mechanism to work with all compatible lenses. The test showed that this mechanism works quite well. Exposure time can be up to 2.5-4 stops, which is virtually free of blurring due to camera shake. The 40-area metering system tends to make old-fashioned exposure to high-contrast scenes that leave some details, such as the sky or coat color often burning if taken in hot sun. When the light sources are uniform and not too complicated, the metering of the machine is more accurate. Photo has a relatively high color saturation. Red gam slightly brighter than the other colors a little but not bad quality picture.

By integrating a sufficient amount of pixels on a 23.5 x 15.6 mm sensor, Sony has made the A500 a good match for serious lighting situations. Noise does not appear below ISO 800. At ISO sensitivity 1600, there is some color whitish noise and white blotches appear in dark areas. You can even use medium-sized prints at ISO settings up to 3,200. The auto-optimized auto-contrast feature works great, giving good control over the missing and overfilled areas. White balance works perfectly under daylight conditions. With a large incandescent light source, the image is slightly yellowed. In some special cases (such as under fluorescent studio lighting), the white balance on the A500 is sometimes poorly functioning, causing the contrast and color to be too high.

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The camera also offers two Live View modes similar to the A550, Quick AF Live View and MF Check Live View. The focus speed is quite accurate and faster than the competition even when using the live view. However, according to Ephotozine, 9 focus points are designed too close to the center of the frame, which makes focusing on the edges of the image relatively difficult. Of these nine points, there is only one central point in the cross-type. Therefore, with low contrast and low light, you are forced to focus on the center, perform focus locking and frame reshaping. This is quite inconvenient for those who enjoy night photography or photography at sunset.

The Sony Alpha A500 has good continuous shooting speed, at about 5 frames per second (4 frames per second if using live view). However, the caching of the camera only allows shooting at this speed in the first 6 RAW images or 12 JPEGs, far less “elder” A550. The A500’s lightning speed is only 1/160 seconds, which is quite a disadvantage if you want to flash during the day without to burn.

Unfortunately, the A500 is not yet equipped with the video-recording capabilities of the current DSLRs. The included NP-FM500H Lithium battery allows up to 1,000 images to be taken using the optical viewfinder or 520 images if live view is enabled.