Sony Alpha SLT-A57K 16.1 MP Exmor APS HD CMOS Sensor DSLR with Translucent Mirror Technology, 3D Sweep Panorama and 18-55mm Zoom Lens

So liking the a57. I read reviews at length, for weeks, before settling on this model and I am so glad both to have made an informed choice and to have that choice proven in reality now that I've had the camera in hand and used it. The a57 is more complicated than a DSLR, with dependent inter-relationships across both common and novel functions and priorities. The a57 is not point & shoot; it's more like a lump of clay, that sees you as a lump of clay as well. If you know what you want from both a visual and a technical perspective and have the right lens for it, the a57 will get you there. If you have blind spots now, but want to learn to be a competent all-around amateur DSLR photographer, then this is your gateway drug. The a57 doubles as an excellent digital photography tutor, and will help you build understanding and skills every step of the way. The Sony way, that is. If you just want a pro-looking DSLR with a big black lens that makes impressive clicky noises on the 50 yd line, but is otherwise a simple point-and-shoot, then look elsewhere. In its' various Auto modes the a57 can serve as the King Tiger tank of point-and-shoot; the issue is that a novice to the camera could select settings or lenses that counter this functionality and then become lost, with mixed end results. The user may not realize dependencies to a setting in some other menu area (where was that, the Menu menu or the Function menu, or wait was I in Movie Mode, or did I hold down the ISO button then roll the knob...?), and one could spend time puzzling over why it's not doing now what it did before, when you're in some manual mode rather than auto. If you haven't done the reading, which I will mention further on, you may find it hard to keep the dependencies straight. When in doubt, reinitialize! In the more manual modes, there are several of these newly arrived Sony tech settings that can throw you off and I'm not talking fstop vs shutter speed, the rabbit hole goes way deeper on this camera. Sony has introduced new concepts and approaches to a pro DSLR while also attempting to maintain "point & shoot ease" and though this camera succeeds at the former two it is initially at least, a fascinating & robust failure at the latter. Works fine though, if one devotes the head space to learning some new feature concepts. Do that, think through your shots and vids first, and this camera will reward you handsomely for the effort. Rolling the dice WITHOUT first reading the manual (THIS manual btw, thanks to TCav of Steve's Digicams forum for the link: [...oops please do a search]), will probably result in some mediocre shots at first. Note that the a57 can take (and I'm doing it) the quality Minolta a mount AF lenses that you can find cheap on Ebay. It amuses, considering that many reviews argue that there aren't sufficient lenses for this camera, when there dozens of pages full of reasonably priced Minoltas, Tamrons etc. that will work with this lens. I got myself a Tamron 90x300, a Minolta 50mm f1.7 prime and an Abeline 500mm for less than $230 including shipping! So if you like to play around and really test to see what works for you there is an abundance of lenses available, from fish-eye to macro to 4000mm tele zooms on Ebay. Keep in mind though, that there's an approximately 1.4X mag factor on these lenses which is going to change your field of view compared to what you might normally expect - a Minolta 50mm f1.7 lens perfect for tight interiors, is gonna be a 70mm lens and you may notice that difference. You also have to remember that the 300mm you are reading on the lens is actually 714mm, etc. A labelmaker would resolve that issue. I got my a57 with the 18x55mm kit lens and I have no complaints thus far. The kit lens is solid but not overly heavy. If it's plastic like the body is, as some reviews have written, then it is a metal-like plastic. It seems more like aluminum to me, but there is little relevance in plastic vs. metal at this level of product engineering. Consider that this is an SLT rather than a true DSLR, for instance. Since there is no mirror-flipping going on for every focus instance, that vibration common to DSLR's is not existent in this camera. This means that the camera does not have to wait around for itself until the mirror has stopped vibrating, before it can image again. And this means, faster finger press to shutter releases, and continuous photo bursts in shorter timeframes. So, even if metal were a more stable material for a body (which, at this level of engineering, I rather doubt), that is hardly helpful when you still have to wait around while your mirror vibrations dissipate through that metal body before you can image again. To say nothing of being able to autofocus real-time continuously while taking 1920X1080P 60P video! The 1.4 firmware update is out, you would want to snag that, just because. The camera has a cool target reticule, that indicates pitch and roll alignment of the camera body, like a built-in level. Since the display can be folded out and around, this does help to maintain a level shot in these awkward positions. One cool, new-to-me feature, is what Sony calls Peaking Level for manual focus. When set to manual focus and with 3 settings, low medium & high, the Live Display (which generally shows the final picture live all of the time, essential) shows a fine pixelated wash across the image, in a plane that IS the actual focal plane of the lens cutting through the 3-dimensional image space, so you move the focus out and this plane of (I choose white) pixelation occurs across the image telling you precisely where the focal plane is hitting! You don't even have to see the fine elements of what you are shooting. Fantastic! For instance, one of my cats is black, so he is a black blob in the viewfinder or display. But with Peaking Level, I can clearly see delineation as to where his nose is, then whiskers, then the surface of his eyeballs, as the Peaking Level effect illustrates the focal plane's position as it moves in - and I take the shot when the white noise is where I want the focus to be. You do need 2 hands, to use this feature. And to be clear, this is not one of the "3-D panorama" features of the camera. I have not used the 3-D panorama or panorama features as yet. The a57 feels solid and heavy, as one would expect. I picked up a Nikon D6 the other day and it felt like a toy in comparison to the a57. Even my Casio EX-FH20 Super Zoom felt more solid than the D6 actually, not that I have anything against Nikon. Just saying, build quality should matter. The image that you take is more important than the image that you want to project as a "serious photographer," ha ha... The a57 sports myriad display symbols within multiple configuration menus, all of which you will have to learn in order to interface with it. This camera takes on the bushel of both tool and tutor, and its' abundance of menus does reflect that. Now that the world has not ended, any familiarity with Mayan hieroglyphic script will find new application as one works through understanding the functionality of this camera. Hey I did it, and learned a lot in the process. The tutorial aspect of the camera is somewhat separated from the controls aspect, so you don't have to constantly work through menus full of advice to get where you need to be. It is there if and when you need it. I found it helpful mostly for understanding the new concepts and terminology that Sony labs have come up with, in advancing the field of digital photography. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for other companies to figure it out, when many are after all, buying sensors made by Sony to use in their own "cutting edge" cameras. Take it slow with the a57; the amount of information needing assimilation, will overwhelm anyone so take it task by task, in stages. I find connecting the HDMI out to my flat screen TV, lessens the tedium of the small display. I learned the camera (and still do) in 'study sessions' on the big flat screen. You see the complete display on the flat screen monitor, in both movie and pic mode. I'm experiencing macular degeneration for the first time (joy) due to age, and have recently begun using readers, so I rely on the diopter-adjusted viewfinder when taking stills, but for me studying menu settings of a digital camera for long periods, through the viewfinder, is an added strain that I do not want. It certainly works, but learning on the flat screen is much easier. You can toggle back & forth between your camera's HDMI in to the TV, and the .pdf a57 manual on your computer's input to the TV for instance, for learning ease. You can even go picture-in-picture. The autofocus system is fast, and great for video, particularly when you learn all of the autofocus modes and settings and creatively apply that understanding to your project. You can deliberately pace & plan your pans, to take advantage of this amazingly snappy autofocus capability. You may have read reviews that complain of the a57's limited manual controls over video when in autofocus - there is a little switch on the lens that says AF MF. Just set it to MF and focus manually, if you find yourself trying to use AF in an MF environment. If you aren't good at manual focus for pictures, use the Peaking feature. You will get better. There is even an unlabeled 'mystery button' on the camera. Now, any cold-blooded, dyed-in-the-wool amateur photographer would have immediately asked what the little button on the bottom of the a57 is for. I did, and it is the Preview button. If you push this near-unnoticeable button while in Auto Aperture, it will display for you the full depth of field effect of the shot, with the blurred fore-and background to either side of the focal plane. I am still testing this, as I can already clearly see depth of field in the WYSIWYG display/viewfinder. There are lots of APS-C sensors out there. The a57's APS-C sensor has comparatively good sized individual sensors, which is just one small part of all of the tech working together in the a57 to result in great video and picture quality. I know of no camera that works harder to get at what you want, if you know what it is that you want to get to in the first place, that is... The a57 records in AVCHD 60P, and is about the only DSLR under a grand that can do that, apart from the other Sony's, like the a65, a77 & a99. And that is what I needed, and it works. I can rewrap and convert footage on my Macs w/no issue between Free MTS M2TS Converter, JES Deinterlacer & MPEG Streamclip, and get 50% frame rate reduction that way for good HD slow motion, though I can't watch the AVCHD natively on my Macs (no need to yet). I can watch a57 footage via VLC player, but with a stream rate of 26Mbps, my Macs are better at editing than AVCHD playback anyhow, and what I do is use Toast 11 with the Blu Ray plugin to burn to Blu Ray disc if I'm not going to a lesser stream rate. Toast 11 is stable and provides the option of crude Blu Ray menus if you need that for weddings and such, and it's not expensive. The a57 has a separate button for recording video, not the shutter button; it took me all of 2 tries to set that difference to memory. You can disable the button, if your fingers are in a constant and unknowledgeable flail. I've never had a problem with it and even if I did, I wouldn't call that a problem as I have actual real problems in life to deal with. As with any camera new to you, there will be subtle and not-so-much subtle differences. Low light performance is all there with the kit lens. I find that the kit lens has a little stiction in the zoom but there is an element of my own inexperience involved here; hand muscle memory for stylish manual video zooms is something that has to be worked at anyhow. The a57 is only dust sealed, not weather so one should have a rain sleeve in their bag just in case. Battery life is long with the camera. Though it doesn't have GPS, I happen to have a Pentax WG-2 GPS for that. The Sony a65 at about $200 more than the a57, has GPS that I believe tags every video key frame with GPS data, if you need that. Double-check first before picking one up, it's just what I read. If I thought the a65 were a better camera overall, I would have bought one of them, but 24mp is a lot of video color data and though I wasn't certain it would be a factor in post processing I'm happy to have avoided that possibility. The a77 though weather sealed, is a lot of money and some users have noted sloppy knobs after significant use cycles; I can't attest to that but since I can't afford an a77 anyhow, I am indifferent to the issue. I can't comment on the on-board stereo audio recording capability, haven't needed it yet - but there is a stereo mini plug jack to connect an external microphone. I haven't been paying ANY attention to sound yet and that bit me in the boo boo recently as I learned from a colleague that a slow motion test of mine had slowed audio, that then cut out halfway through the video leaving silence for the remainder! Of course I had expected the audio would be played back at 1/2 speed, but I did not anticipate the truncation. When I get to the point of working with on-board camera audio in a project, I hope to remember to post my impressions of it here. The a57 is dust sealed however the sensor cleaning is accomplished through vibration cycles. I find that a bit unnerving and so I try to carefully prep when swapping out lenses; if swapping where you can ground out static electricity with a wrist ground strap that might be worth the bother; setting down a lens on a surface with a pre-existing static charge and dust, could cause a static attraction with dust lifted to the lens that could then become pulled in to the camera sensor if the camera were differently charged than the lens, and we don't want that. The sensor can do 16X9 or 4X3; in 16X9 you are not using the whole sensor, but since full HD is only 2.1Mp or so anyhow the subset of this 16MP sensor is sufficient. I have been running in 16X9 but then I mostly shoot video with it. The low light capability, short focal length of the 18X55 lens, huge sensor (comparative to camcorder) and enormous fun of playing with depth of field in video, and smooth realtime video autofocus make the a57 just hugely fun to plan and shoot video with, and there is a uniqueness to DSLR video shot with this feature set. It's a frontier camera, but sans weather sealing, not perhaps a camera FOR the frontier. About the viewfinder, it is a full WYSIWYG so you don't have to push down the button halfway to know what you're dealing with, in most instances. And you don't have to look from the viewfinder to the display all of the time to change settings, it's all on whichever you want. It has diopter adjustment which is a big help for those of us who need it. The feature set is so rich with this camera and I haven't done it justice but you can read of the camera's excellence in other reviews. I will update this review occasionally, as I learn more about the a57. It is now my primary camera. Thanks for reading, hope this helps you to make an informed choice.

This limited review coming from a lifelong amateur. For the last 10 years I've used a Coolpix 5400; if you know the model you know it was a step up from the "casual" Coolpix series. One feature I loved on it (and still use) was macro shooting at 1.4 inches! Always had trouble getting enough light for it, though. Not so with the A57! Great light gathering allows me to succeed at a lot of shots that used to fail. I'm not a pro; although I understand the concepts of manual 35mm operations (I had two of those previously, too), I tend to rely on the "auto" features... the intelligence of the camera. But I'm never satisfied with "pocket" cameras, so I always look for the best thing I can possibly afford. I never paid $600+ for a camera before but I can almost promise you that you will not be disappointed with this purchase! It's an extremely intelligent camera, pulling detail and color out of the dark and mists that I would certainly miss with a manual or cheap camera. I can't make comparisons to other models on the market but I can't imagine they would be any better or have more wonderful features. I could talk all day about the focusing intelligence alone (I almost never touch the manual focus). The automatic 3-frame combining feature has gotten me several cool bird shots at distances up to 100 yds using a fully extended 450mm zoom... HANDHELD! This camera's technology is perfect for an amateur like me who wants great photos without learning a lot of photography "tricks" or spending 2 minutes adjusting for every shot (although I do that, too, when necessary and sometimes just for fun and practice). The feature I love best is the battery (LOL)... it's an "intelligent" rechargable so it can be charged anytime, even if it has a half-charge. And it can be removed from the charger at any time... even at 1/4-charge. It won't harm the battery or setup "short-life" problems. AND, compared to any other camera I've used, the battery lasts forever! I've shot 400+ shots on 2 recharges. Two small details that concern me... the battery door is just a little bit "stiff" to shut; I'm worried it might break someday. Also the mode dial seems too tight... sometimes hard to turn or "feel" if I have it in the notch or between settings. Haven't had any problems, I just hope it loosens up a tad with more use. I agree with the previous post/review that mentions the clutter in the viewfinder, although it hasn't annoyed me enough yet to make adjustments to the display settings. I've only had this two months so there are many functions/features still to try, but I've been perfectly pleased with the ones I've tried like the 12-frame panorama feature (captures about 120-140 degrees, I think??) I also really like the fact that there are controls to disable auto features that might get in the way of a shot. For example, it automatically switches between LCD display or viewfinder depending on if it detects your eye in the viewfinder. But if it's not serving you correctly there's a button that lets you manually select which view you want to use. Overall the button/control layout is good, but I'm still trying to get used to the mode select knob and the Menu button being on the left side. Once I master it I think I'll like it though; it does give the left hand something to do and unclutters the right-hand side of the camera back/top. The best final comment I can give you is that I am a very picky person who finds fault with most anything, but there's nothing for me to criticize about this camera. Unless you're a pro I doubt you would regret owning/using this unit and if you're an amateur who justs wants to take better photos without reading books, step up... you will probably love this thing like I do. Heck, it even has built-in on-screen help!

I am coming from a Sony alpha 300, I bought it here on Amazon in 2007, the reason I went with sony again was b/c of their innovative designs and excellent products. I have multiple lenses and flashes so I went with the body alone. Wow, was I in for a delightful surprise. The reviews for SLT A-57 were scars, but I decided to take the plung nontheless. First the camera feels comfortable in my hands and the buttons layout is much better designed then the older model (alpha 300). The screen is bright and crisp, the EVF is nothing short of amazing, and the pictures it takes are just stunning. I shot in total darkness and got pristine images ! The panorama function is amazing. The overall build is excellent and reaks of quality, which is what I came to expect from sony. my 5 years old first dslr, alpha 300 still works like the day I bought it. I could not justify the extra expense to get the Alpha 65 model: both have the same size with few extras on the 65 model, which I would not use. The 24 mp although tempting is not useful for my situation. The OLED view finder I read is not much better then the digital EVF on the 57. Overall I love this camera, I upgraded the software easily, following isntructions. Here are some of the features I really like about this camera: 1- Size, it feels just right and comfortable in my hands. 2- Bright 3 inches pivoting screen, that you can actually fold back when not using, thus protecting the screen. 3- The EVF is excellent, bright and captures all the details. you see what you are filming 4- Recording is easy and you can actually zoom while autofocusing during filming, multiple format, love it. 5- Accepts the SDHC AND SDXC memory cards, much cheaper then duo/duo pro, sony cards 6- Built: high quality, yet not too heavy. 7- The external flash works flawlessly. 8- Buttons layout: much better then previous older versions. 9- Highly adjustable settings, from continuous to single to manualy adjusting your settings to your liking. I am using a sigma 28-300 mm lens, and the pictures are amazing. The autofocus function is quick and accurate All in all excellent camera for the casual photographer who expects a lot of his investment. The value/price ratio is way up. Hope this will help.

I love this camera! Feels great in my large hands, works well in low light, very user friendly. I would have given it 5 stars if the auto bracketing feature was better, only 3 shots at 0.7 e.v. intervals, wish it had 5 shots with at least 1 stop increments.

Item was returned.

The A57 camera had some intriguing functions at a fairly low price. Unfortunately its build quality and longevity left a great deal to be desired. As an owner of several DSLR type cameras before, I was amazed to have had three major camera failures within the first six months of owning the camera. Sony did repair the camera each time under warrant but it was incredibly difficult to rely on the camera. Worse, every time the camera was repaired, it was fixed with used parts. Eventually they replaced the camera's shutter, its focus motor, and the kit lens. Even then it still had focusing problems. Finally enough became enough and the camera was replaced. Apparently the kit lens, which may have been upgraded by this time, was well known for having focusing and blurring issues. There is a manual focusing trick that helped focus the lens as a fix. Some owners were able to get brand new replacements after having similar issues but I had no such luck. Unfortunately other camera manufacturers are not much better with quality control and my experience might have really have been a bad model. (I had an NEX 3 camera years ago which worked fine). The camera itself had some great features such as a high speed shooting and fast auto focusing (when it worked). One issue was its low light photos. It had less than ideal quality when capturing low light images. Another issue was the jpeg engine which often blurred or over softened details to deal with noisy images. The camera also did not take standard TTL flashes, requiring more expensive Sony branded models. For these reasons, I finally gave up on the camera.

After 5.5 years with my loyal megazoom (a Fuji S700), I'd become increasingly frustrated with the limitations and felt that an upgrade was no longer negotiable. As I explored other entry-level DSLRs, I was shocked at how limited they seemed. No exposure bracketing? Fewer white balance settings? No histogram? If I was going to UPGRADE my camera, I demanded that it offer AT LEAST as many features as my old point-and-shoot! Verdict: I love the A57. LOVE. IT. This is my first DSLR, so I can't tell you how it compares to other DSLRs, or how fabulous the kit lens is. You can read others' reviews for that. But I can tell you what stands out to me, as an amateur/ enthusiast/ hobbyist/ first-time-DSLR-user. (I'm the "photo walk" type, no studio setups for me.) FIRST: Notes on the 3.5-5.6/ 18-55mm SAM kit lens: (1) You can use 55mm filters with this lens. (2) Because the manual focus ring is the same place you screw in your filters, a screw-on tulip lens hood will not work with this lens. I got a Fotodiox rubber lens hood instead. (Vignettes at 18mm, okay at 19mm. But that's another product review.) (3) The included lens cap does not come with a leash/keeper/lanyard. I, being a spaz, drop my cap a lot, and intend to correct the situation as soon as possible. (4) I can't comment on the optics, but they seem better than those of my point-and-shoot. No complaints. As for the rest of the A57: * A physical comparison of the A57 and the A37: I was 90% sure I was going to buy the A37, until I visited the brick-and-mortar B&H store in NYC and held an A37 in my hands. The A37 and A57 may have virtually identical software, but the A57 really does feel like it is worth an extra $200: the LCD screen is WAY better; the "fully-articulated screen" has already saved my arse far more than I thought it would; the digital level is super, super useful (especially in conjunction with the articulated screen); the larger size and deeper grip are much more comfortable for me (I'm a woman with medium-sized hands: my right handspan is 7.5", my middle finger is 3" long). Although final image quality output may be identical, I enjoy photography because I get a kick out of the PROCESS. If I can make the process 10x more fun for myself (and less frustrating because I have 80 bazillion features to get around any photographic dilemma I may encounter)... why not? * I grew up with film cameras; I've taken darkroom photography classes. Guess what? I HATE VIEWFINDERS. Part of the reason I've held off on buying a DSLR is because, for most DSLRs, the LCD-screen Live View doesn't accurately reflect the image your camera will capture, so you HAVE to use the viewfinder. Bleah! Sony's SLT technology allows me to accurately preview my photo on the LCD screen. Awesome. (A lot of photographers find viewfinders good for shooting in bright sun. I don't. Maybe glasses get in the way. I dunno.) * It's good in low light, but not miraculous. This may speak more to the lens than the camera. * I was a little annoyed about having the mode dial on the left shoulder of the camera instead of the right, but I'm getting used to it. * There are multiple ways to set burst mode. If you just set burst on the mode dial (even on the slightly-lower speed/ better crop factor), the image quality seems astoundingly lousy. It works much better if you go into the function menu and set hi-speed shooting as your drive mode. I don't know how the fps speed of this setting compares to the mode dial setting; perhaps another reviewer can comment on this. Overall: the Sony A57 makes me one happy camper.

Ever since I gave up my 35mm Minolta Maxxum 7000i, I have been searching for a digital camera that would create a beautiful photo and foster my love for photography. I went through a few point and shoots until I bought a DSC-HX1. While the lens and other features of that camera were amazing, I was still dissatisfied with the lack of depth of field, the resolution, and image noise (and noise processing). It was the right combinations, but the not the image quality I wanted. I knew that I would need to jump up in image sensor size (the HX1 had a terribly small sensor, about 1/4 of the size of the APS-C) and with my other Minolta gear and familiarity with the Sony features, I decided to check out the Alphas. I started learning more about the A37, but felt I wouldn't be completely happy with it. For about $100 more for the body, the A57 offers a larger battery, sharper screen, larger body size, 1080P 60fps video, etc. To me, that's a better value considering that this is a camera that I want to keep a long time. So far, I've taken about 1000 pictures, and the image quality is fantastic, everything I wanted it to be. The included software is a nice upgrade from the older Sony PMB. The kit lens is 200x better than the 20 year old Tamron that I owned, so I will be using that from now on, or at least until I can afford a nicer lens. (In a nutshell, the $100 kit lens is well worth the money if you don't have existing lenses). Because I was familiar with the operation of the HX1 already, I was enjoying all of the features of the A57 almost immediately. If you're on the fence about buying a new DSLR or SLT camera, take a very careful look at the Sony Alphas. It had the right combination of features that I wasn't able to find in the Canons, Nikons, etc. Even the Nikon and Sony cameras often share the same image sensor, anyway, so you will get a fantastic picture no matter what you choose.