Home › Product Finder › Cameras

Sony Alpha DSLR-A550

Based on 24 reviews

Excellent:

7
Good:

13
Average:

3
Bad:

1

Pros

Excellent image quality in all conditions, Tiltable 3" LCD display, Wellsuited for all levels of photographers, Superb autofocus
Speedy 7 fps burst mode. Terrific image quality, even in low light. Tilting 3-inch LCD. Well-designed, newbie-friendly user interface.
Very good photo quality, especially when shooting RAW, Sensorshift image stabilization reduces blur on every lens you attach, Tilting, ultra high resolution 3inch LCD display, Excellent live view system with superfast autofocus, face and smile detection..
Good shutter and AF performance, Excellent live view system, Versatile dynamic range management options, Large articulating monitor.
Fast continuous shooting at 5 or 7fps, Built-in IS which works with any lens, Fuss-free Live View with continuous AF, Large and detailed articulated monitor.
TiltLCD, improved image quality, excellent live view

Cons

No video capture abilities
No video capture—not even standard definition.
JPEGs are a little heavy on the noise reduction, even at ISO 200 (shooting RAW helps get around this); no way to turn down NR, Exposure, focus a little flaky sometimes, A bit pricey, and the body doesn't feel as solid as it should given that, Live vie
Plastic body material a bit cheap looking, Dual memory card slots not linked.
No movie mode, Minimal customisation, No Program Shift or DOF preview, Relatively small viewfinder with visible lines.
Build quality a bit ‘plasticy’, noisy AF with kit lens, no video mode

By PhotographyBLOG on August 20, 2010

Virtually identical to the A500 model, the Sony A550 marks a return to form for Sony in the mid-range DSLR market after the backwards step of the A330 / A380 models, offering more megapixels, faster 7fps burst shooting and a better LCD screen than...

90
By TechReviewSource on May 11, 2010

The Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 offers you the freedom of auto focus and manual focus to suite your skill level and has a 14.2-megapixel CMOS sensor to make your pictures pop with brilliance. The 3.0" tiltable LCD display makes shooting comfortable and...

80
By Shutterbug on May 01, 2010

The Sony Alpha A550 (with kit 18-55mm lens, $1049 list; body only, $949 list) takes us another step forward with in camera processing of HDR and DRO functions. While these items, to me, are the headliners for this camera, other camera amenities...

-
By PC Mag on April 30, 2010

If you can look past its missing video-capture capability, Sony's Alpha DSLR-A550 is a very impressive (and very fast)...

80
By Digital Camera Buyer on April 27, 2010

For the enthusiastic novice photographer looking to improve their skills, this is the ideal partner. The lack of video mode is off putting when compared to its major rivals....

80
By Photozone on March 27, 2010

The Alpha 550 did quite convince during our lab and field tests but it's not a camera without flaws. On the positive side the camera delivers the fastest Live View autofocus so far. The AF speed is exemplary in this class and 7 fps is a new...

-
By Expert Reviews on March 15, 2010

Seriously fast and packed with interesting features, but the lack of video is disappointing and automatic exposures could be better too....

60
By eTech Reviews on March 04, 2010

Thumbs Up:Above-average performance; perfect higher ISO levels output; fast Live View auto-focus; large and tilting LCD display.Thumbs Down:Awkward design for shooting through optical viewfinder; no video recording; poor color accuracy; Live View only...

-
By Steves Digicams on February 11, 2010

The Sony A550 is a very interesting dSLR model offering a new 14.2MP CMOS Sensor with an array of nice features, including a Live View system with class leading Autofocus speed (which now includes the option to use Face Recognition with Live View),...

-
By Popular Photography Magazine on February 10, 2010

A great LCD for live view makes stepping up easy.The heavy action in DSLRs lately has been in the step-up category. These cameras take entry-level models a notch further with improved imaging performance and extra capabilities, notably video capture....

-