Photo answers review

Photo answers rating

Features and handling
The Alpha 350 has a massive resolution of 14.2Mp – it’s only just beaten to the crown of largest APS-C sized sensor by the 14.6Mp chip found in the Pentax K20D and Samsung GX-20, as well as a higher resolution than Sony’s current flagship D-SLR, the a700.

On the back of the Alpha 350 is a 2.7in screen with Live View that can be pulled outwards to face directly up and angled downwards at 45º. In Live View mode, you can have full AF control across the 9 AF points – just as you would during standard operation via the optical viewfinder. If you’re happy to shoot in JPEG, Live View also offers a Smart Teleconverter – giving an instant magnification of 1.4x and 2x – working in a similar way to a digital zoom on a compact, and as such, the image resolution is sacrificed. Flick to the optical viewfinder and, as well as having standard 9 AF points (the central one is cross-type), there’s a function called EyeStart – the a350 will start to focus as soon as the camera is raised to your eye.

The Alpha 350 anti-shake system is in-camera and known as Super SteadyShot – the actual sensor moves to counteract shake while the camera is hand-held, and Sony claims a 2.5 to 3.5 Stop advantage compared to normal. The bonus of having the system in-camera is that it works on every lens you use on the Alpha 350, rather than having to use specific lenses, as with some other systems.

The Alpha 350 uses Sony’s BIONZ image processor and an improved D-Range Optimizer, which adjusts exposure in tricky, high-contrast scenes that can normally suffer from blown highlights, along with an ISO range of 100-3200. There’s an anti-dust system, too, with any foreign bodies being shaken from the sensor.

Bucking the trend for moving towards SD/SDHC cards, the Alpha 350 has stuck with the CompactFlash card storage medium and, being a Sony, will also accept a host of the brand’s MemoryStick cards via an adapter. The 18-70mm kit lens supplied with the Alpha 350 produces a 35mm equivalent of 27-105mm with its 1.5x focal length conversion.

Pick up the Alpha 350 and the first thing you notice is the larger handgrip with a sculptured feel and feels well made, too.

Live View works very well - half-depressing the shutter button allows you to focus as you would do normally, then all the way to fire, while AF points can be toggled through in the same way you would via the optical viewfinder.

The Alpha 350’s trump card is its tilting screen. It can be angled outwards allowing you to shoot at waist level, or if you want to shoot from a raised position, the screen can be pulled down. It's easy and intuitive to get to grips with. The menu system is nicely laid out and easy to follow, and it’s much the same story when making shooting adjustments. The Fn button allows you to quickly change AF, white balance, metering, flash and also set the D-Range Optimizer and that’s not forgetting the ISO button on the top-plate.

Performance
With the Alpha 350 set-up to shoot continuously at 2.5fps (frames per second), it can manage 8 RAW files before the buffer clogs up. The news is much better with JPEGs, allowing you to shoot until the card is full. Flick over into Live View and the frame rate drops to 2fps, but the actual amount of RAW files that can be captured consecutively increases to 12 – shooting JPEGs, it will still fill the card.

Though good, the AF system on the Alpha 350 isn’t the best in its class - AF point selection is slightly fiddly via the D-pad and the active AF point is hard to spot – though you can check back on the screen at the rear if in doubt. The kit lens is missing motors for quiet AF, so expect some whirrs and buzzes during AF.

Image quality was very good with bags of detail from the 14.2Mp sensor. The metering coped very well indeed – even in tricky conditions that would fool other cameras. It handled Noise well, with relatively smooth results, though sharpness was sacrificed slightly.

Value & verdict
At around £545 for the Alpha 350 and kit lens, this represents great value for money, coming in on average about £40 cheaper than the newly launched Canon EOS 450D – its closest competitor.

The Alpha 350 is a great mid-price D-SLR. There are bags of features at your fingertips with a solid performance with great images. If you’ve got £550 to spend on a D-SLR, and haven’t already invested heavily into a lens mount, then you should make sure you take a long, close look at the Sony Alpha 350.

Video Verdict