Sony Alpha 550 Review: highs and lows
Focus accuracy
This is not the whole story with the camera. I will deal with high ISO settings later, as they show similar variability and the in-camera JPEGs offer something which is hard to get by raw conversion.
The focus system of the 550 is apparently similar to the earlier models with a nine-zone array of f/7.1 type sensors. In practice it is not. It’s much better than the A350, A200 and light years away from the A100. There is no hint of back or front focus on my body, and the accuracy of focusing improves the level of detail.
Focus with the 18-11mm Sony SAL zoom – often very difficult to get right with previous 100-300 series bodies – was excellent. Click image for a larger version. This is a shot using Quick Live View and the articulated finder in the position shown below. ISO 200, DNG conversion and ACR 5.5 processing with the graduated exposure filter used to lighten the foreground, and a circular adjustment brush to darken the top right corner and most prominent gravestone.
When there is plenty of sharply focused detail, the noise level (regardless of ISO setting) is less obvious. The AA filter does appear to be fairly strong, and without sharpening for print or web use, the images are detailed but with a soft patina.
Here is an example at ISO 400 using the 28mm f/2 lens stopped down to f/8. This was taken using Manual Focus Check Live view. It’s actually very similar in quality to ISO 200.
This is an ISO 400 in-camera JPEG example – most of my shots here have been processed using Adobe Camera Raw 5.5 after conversion of the raw file to DNG using Lightoom 3 Beta version, which includes support for the Alpha 550. The right hand clip is a 100% detail of the shot.
I was testing the A550 alongside the Canon 7D. The A550 consistently focused more accurately than the 7D on almost all subjects. Even using wide area focus mode, the focused zone actually corresponded with the active sensors shown in the finder. With spot focus, the chosen subject was always perfectly sharp, using a wide range of lenses.
The Alpha 550 comes out matching my Alpha 900 for autofocus accuracy, slightly better than our Alpha 700 (even though that has a superior centre f/2.8 with double cross hair sensor).
The button for MF Check LV is clearly indicated. All the dedicated buttons on the Alpha 550 are well-placed, and the redundant Smart Teleconverter function has been moved over to place more useful controls in better locations.
Manual Focus Check LV was of course dead accurate, but almost useless without a tripod. With stabilised optics like the Sigma 18-250mm OS, it could be used hand-held. Other DSLRs with live view and stabilised lenses can use contrast detect AF off the sensor in a limited way, hand held. Because the Sony Steady Shot is only active during the period of exposure, and the sensor does not move at all during MFC LV, the LV image is not stabilised and a tripod is needed. Otherwise at 14X magnification you just see how bad your camera shake can be, with little chance of adjusting focus.
To use MFC LV you must move the MF/AF switch on the lens throat side to MF. The Alpha 550/500 lack DMF (Direct Manual Focus) and with most lenses it is impossible to over-ride the AF by turning the focusing ring. Sony should have built in a function where pressing the MFC LV button also sets the camera to MF mode, restoring AF after you return to OVF or Quick LV.
One of my favourite early shots from the Alpha 550 with 16-80mm CZ. You can view an unretouched (and also not adjusted for contrast or colour) full size version at http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/118808131
I am amused every time I read threads on dPreview forums where people are puzzling over the erratic AF performance of the Canon EOS 7D and blame almost anything except the camera. Even £100 B+W filters (basically Zeiss) become scapegoats. Here are a couple of links – I won’t post the images – to Canon 7D 15-85mm images taken in similar conditions at the same location. I ended up with none sharp in the expected plane, relying on the displayed AF points illuminated at the time of shooting. Canon DPP revealed these when processing the images, to confirm the focus errors. On other subjects the same body/lens combination focused correctly. Example picture: http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/119498276. Example of focus points active: http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/119498280. The focus error may seem slight (the foreground grass is where the true plane of focus lies, depth of field pulls in the background a bit) but with high resolution cameras – whether 14 megapixels or 18 megapixels – you want absolutely reliable focusing.
Because I had had this problem with the 7D using wide area focus, I visited the same subject a week later with the 550 and also used wide area focus and studied the way the various zones confirmed focus. In this respect the camera seemed similar – but the actual results were always better focused. I also tested my preferred setting of centre single point focus on both cameras.
This is another of the 550 shots, this time at 80mm – and at ISO 800 again. The full size original can be seen at http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/118808241.
Every Alpha DSLR I’ve acquired later than the 350 – including the 380 – has been reliable, predictable and usable out of the box from the AF point of view. Whatever other faults Sony may have, they’ve addressed the FF/BF issues successfully. They work well in low light, backlight, with smooth subjects, patterned subjects, small subjects, big targets – you name it. And fitting a UV filter has not managed to screw up the accuracy of any Alpha body in my hands!
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The Mirror Lock omission
I had hoped that with MFC LV implemented, and the mirror already conveniently locked up, taking a picture would then operate the shutter alone. This would have compensated for the omission of Mirror Lock Up, or a delay timer mode with mirror pre-lift. The MFC LV is exceptional for macro as the gain applied has little apparent effect on noise. I was able to fit a 25mm f/2.5 Minolta Rokkor micro bellows lens to 140mm of extension, stop it down to f/8 in normal room lighting, and focus on subjects (in Manual exposure mode, required to use the bellows). As Quick LV shows real exposure effects in Manual mode, it only sees a black screen in this situation. MFC LV shows a clear, bright focusable view when even the optical finder would be too dark to use.
But I was unable to get a sharp picture with this rig because of the lack of mirror lock-up unless either flash or a very long exposure was used. Speeds like 1/13th, 1/25th, 1/50th consistently produced shake from the mirror vibration which ruined all such shots regardless of how firmly the tripod was locked up, and whether or not SS was enabled or disabled.
If you want shake-free pictures, there’s no mirror lock but there is a remote socket. However, a little Jianisi infrared remote (seen here on top of the Sony fully featured version, not supplied with the 550) adds wireless triggering for around £6/$10 shipped from Hong Kong. Find them on eBay!
The shutter-mirror assembly seems to be interlocked so that cocking the shutter requires the mirror to fall. When you take a picture in MFC LV mode, the mirror falls and the shutter closes first – then the mirror rises and the shutter fires. Finally the mirror falls again, returning the camera to either Quick LV or OVF mode depending on which you had set before pressing the MF Check LV button.
I made many hand-held tests around the critical speeds for mirror shock shake – times like 1/6th to 1/60th, with the worst effects normally arriving around 1/15th to 1/30th. I was unable to use a 100mm macro on my Gitzo tripod with Giottos ball and socket head at times round 1/20th-1/60th; the mirror slap was transmitted consistently and visible, resulting in a double image blur every time despite using the 2s self-timer option. Hand-held the combination worked far better but of course there was no self-timer, just a careful regular exposure.
The only way I could get sharp images without flash was to work in light low enough for exposures between 2 and 10 seconds. Here is an example, 3.2 seconds at f/10, ISO 200, with the 100 Minolta AF macro working between 1:1 and 1:2:
Click the picture or visit http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/119500830 to view the full size in-camera JPEG. This will also give you another chance to see ISO 200 noise levels, or grain structure, and judge whether you think ISO 100 should have been provided.
Practical results tell me the MLU omission is not a disaster for the average user who won’t use a tripod or try 1:1 macro using natural light – but it makes the camera almost useless for those who want to. This in turn spoils the value of the MF Check LV, which is valuable for macro work. Common sense tells me it would have been easy to include it, along with the AF/MF switching, as part of the MFC LV mode. But the same goes or all the models from the 200 onwards which have omitted the 2 second mirror-pre-lift function. This also limits photomicrography, telephotography, astrophotography and top quality natural light work of any kind.
These macro tests also showed up a lot of dirt provided ex-factory on the sensor. The Alpha 550 has had the dirtiest sensor of any new Alpha I have been lent, or bought, to date. I have not attempted to wet clean it and some dust seems to remain after air blowing, but to move around, indicating that there is more dust generally in the darkchamber. Perhaps MF Check LV, with the sensor exposed, is attracting aerial dust.
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I have Konica Minolta 5D with Minolta 24/105, Tokina 70/300,and Minolta Flash 5600 HSD. Now I’m planning to buy the new DSLR. I’m not sure whether I should buy Alpha 550 or another brand. Overall I loved my Minolta 5D. Only one weakness of Minolta 5D I found is the focus problem. I have to zoom in to get the sharp focus and then zoom out before taking one shot. I’m not sure Alpha 550 did solve this problem. I prefer DSLR with sharp focus.
The 550 is pretty good with focus – faster focus motor than the KM 5D, very accurate AF, and if in doubt, just use Manual Focus check and you can focus with absolute precision with any lens. Zooming in, by the way, is not a good idea as the 24-105mm is not perfectly parfocal. It actually does need small adjustments to the focus setting depending on the focal length set. However, at 24mm it will rarely focus accurately on the 7D/5D/A100. From the A700 onwards Sony improved this aspect but many A700 bodies needed manual adjustment. I am not aware of any A550 bodies needing adjustment. With the set up you have, especially with those lenses and the flash, I would definitely say the A550 was a perfect upgrade choice especially if you buy it with the 18-55mm SAM. It would cost you far more to change systems, and there’s nothing which is actually any better than the A550 for the money, unless you want HD video.
As usual your articles are a joy to read!
But yet I was wondering (and did not see you metioning this in your article)…I have a Minolta 5D and a Sony A700, I normally use “wide AF” and make quick changes in focus by pressing the “centre AF button”. This overrides the wide AF intantaneously, irrespective of the AF mode I’m using.
Yesterday I tried this with a friend’s A550 and I was puzzled not to override wide AF by just pressing the centre AF button?
Am I missing something?
I like my A 500, it has the features I need, more megapixles than I’ll ever need, reasonable weight and size. Not that hard to use the various features. My one thing that makes me a little uncomfortable is that when I turn it off it vibrates a little and I don’t think it’s related to the sensor cleaning mechanism. I’m just not used to it. It takes great pictures and it’s easy to stop down and bracket.
I should have mentioned that the process of taking high resolution images involves lots and lots of pictures. On a tripod this can be over 100 frames (multiplied by three brackets) and handheld can be over 400 frames.
I have tried everthing from auto through to manual, including manual focus. Whilst not a scientific approach I have a large enough “data” set to give some certainty to the results.
Putting a camera on a tripod and stopping it down to get the “sweet” spot on the lens with good depth-of-field is mainstream photography. A camera which cannot do this consistantly and reliably can only be considered faulty, expecially in this price range.
My personal opinion is that the Sony Alpha 550 has a bug in the operating software, probably relating to “Steady Shot” and is moving the sensor creating blur rather than removing it.
It’s not a bug. You must disable Steady Shot in the menu before using a tripod. Otherwise, you’ll never get anything worthwhile. For stitch-pan work you should disable all auto functions – no auto focus, no auto exposure. A polariser should not be used as the image covers an overall angle which will create dark zones and light zones – for the same reason, exactly, that a polariser must not be used on wide-angles over 24mm except in special circumstances. The zoom must be taped to focal lenth if you can’t find any other way to lock it, and the focus should also be taped to ensure it doesn’t shift. You should shoot RAW, and shoot as quickly as possible while moving between the positions on the Nodal Ninja head to build the pan. The raw images should be processed using one single consistent setting, saved after optimising the most typical frame. Do not bother to bracket and shoot JPEGs.
Handheld you should have no problems. My A550 has produced pretty much perfect shots, as expected, from every shoot including hand-held sequences up to 14 frames for super-resolution stitching using PhotoAcute.
David
David, a great review of the camera – I just wish I had read it before buying one! I specifically bought the Alpha 550 with the Sony 18-250mm lens to use as a travel camera. This was to take multi-shot panoramic images of building facades using a tripod and nodal-ninja pano head.
I can truly say that after numerous attempts to use this camera its results are consistently inconsistent to the point where it is unusable/unreliable.
If only I could identify what the source of the problem is then my comments might be more useful to your readers.
The camera just appears to be unable to produce consistently sharp pictures in anything but bright sunlight. If I take 40 pictures of a facade at least several of them will be out of focus and others will have inconsistent exposure. With the zoom at about 180mm anything above f9 will produce unusable out-of-focus pictures. The main culprit appears to be camera shake but over-exposed images are often the worst and seem to imply that the sensor cannot handle too much light….. If you close up the aperture to increase lens sharpness/depth of field the results are unusable. On a bracket set one or all three images can be blurred. It really feels as if you are fighting the camera to get a out a good picture.
I have shot the same project three times over the last few days to try and produce a consistent picture set. Only on the last set, with the weather overcast, was I able to get control of the camera and this was only after removing the polarising filter. Although not perfect they are in focus and sharp.
I have tried SS on/off, in-built HDR, bracket sets but all of this makes no difference….
Time for e-bay I think.
In Octobre 2005 I bought a Konica Minolta 5D with the following :
Sigma 18/50 F2.8 DC EX Minolta D
Konica Minolta Flash 5600 HSD
( I had still from my Minolta 7000i a Sigma 100/300 Apo Macro )
My 5D is now broken ( Stabiliser is dead )
Now I’ve got 2 solutions :
buy a Sony Alpha
buy another brand and sell all my equipment
What would you do ?
I had a look at the Sony Alpha 550 … can you recommend it ?
thanks for your help …….
Yes, I can recommend the A550. You’ll see a big jump in high ISO quality, which will be very useful with the 100-300mm.
David
Hi David, thanks for all additional details, I assumed your usual scientific approach applied, I just mentioned it as I found that auto-iso and DRO had some strange noise for me (when I first got my A900) but as you note it could also be auto-ISO related. I find auto-ISO to behave strangely at times myself, just reading your new article on sky noise now…
Thanks for this great review! I sold my 300 and bought the 550 a couple of days ago and I’m still trying to find out what the best camerasetting are. What settings do you advise for daily use (landscape, family etc.). The factory settings or perhaps a bit more sharpness or Vivid saturation?
Paul
You wrote: “Manual Focus Check LV was of course dead accurate, but almost useless without a tripod.”
But after checking the focus with Manual Focus Check LV, couldn’t you switch back to Quick AF before pressing the shutter button? That way you would get the stabilization back. Using Manual Focus Check LV that way won’t need the tripod! Just switch back to Quick AF before pressing the shutter!
I hope you get the A500 soon. There is a minor debate whether IQ on A500 is better than A550. Even if the IQ is better on A500, is the difference significant enough that it’s worth getting A500 instead despite inferior LCD and smaller buffer (on the positive side, cheaper price and better battery life).
Hopefully you will answer that question in unbiased rational way 🙂
By the way, I am having trouble joining your forum.
WOW!!!!
I have ZERO interest in purchasing this camera, but what an absolutely GREAT read.
As usual, your reviews (here and in the BJP) are not only an education in the technical aspects of photography but also something of a broader historical look (whether recent or distant past)at photography/products too.
You seem to suggest that this review was something of a rush job. Well, if this is a rush job, I would dearly love to see your output when you have as much time as you would like with a product.
Great stuff, keep up the good work.
Regards,
plevyadophy
I don’t think that what I have observed with ISO 200 quality perhaps deserved to be made the first point in the review, but in a way it was deserved because it would have put me off taking the 550 as a sole camera. Also, I have not really identified a cause. Just to throw in another variable, I realise that some of my ISO 200 samples have been manually set ISO 200 while others have been ISO 200 generated by the Auto ISO function. This could make a difference.
David
David – another great real life review. I am rather perturbed over the veriability in the noise outputs… it would be better to be able to have a predictable result, but the high ISO results are very promising.
You have highlighted the good and the bad points for everyone to consider – thanks for putting this review together!
I’ll also make a point about some irrelevant comments appearing on dPreview about macro shots and mirror lockup, mainly as a vehicle for someone to post some nice macro insect pix. I just happen to have tested macro; long tele, photomicrography or astrophotography have exactly the same problem. Anything where a shutter speed of around 1/30th (give or take a bit) is likely at the optimum working aperture in typical ambient light conditions. This has nothing whatsoever to do with macro field shots of insects taken hand-held, where MLU is irrelevant and optimum shutter speeds are in the region of 1/125 minimum to an ideal 1/500th-1/1000th, or with flash.
What I have found is that within the ‘danger zone’ of shutter speeds (well enough known to anyone who has had to photograph resolution test charts, which I did for a couple of decades) MLU makes a critical difference. In fact it’s almost impossible to conduct a lens test without it no matter how good you think your tripod is. For that reason many lens tests are shot using flash; it eliminates the camera vibration variable.
As commented in the report, for hand-held work SS does such a good job that I would have been better off shooting some macro tests at 1/30th hand-held with SS, rather than on a tripod without SS (and tripod+SS=disaster – that was clear).
David
OK, I’ve found something. It’s not DRO of any kind because that has not been used, and it’s not WB (reporting 5300 +3 or +2 on nearly all sunny day shots). You can get a similar shade of blue sky, or grey, from a wide range of exposure values at ISO 200 depending on the sky brightness. Where the sky should have been a deep blue but the exposure for the scene is generous (like 1/80th at f/11) noise is less than when the sky was a pale blue which has been deepened by a minimal exposure (like 1/400th at f/11). I’m quoting these settings because they are two cases I have found.
The answer may be that it’s nearly winter, the sun is low, and the skies here in Scotland have a great range in blueness and brightness through 360 degrees of possible views. Combined with different foregrounds, a wide range of exposures ends up being used to take very similar looking pictures.
Here I’m referring to images which don’t get any raw processing adjustment. If I look at other examples of known under or over exposure, which do get raw adjustment, the difference is even greater – as it is with all DSLRs. By picking a seriously overexposed A550 image and setting -1EV in the raw conversion, I can get an ‘ISO 100’ result with the expected finer noise and smoother tones.
The underlying issue, that ISO 200 is fairly noisy, does not go away – but ISO 200 is also noisy with the Canon 50D, 500D and 7D. As dPreview comment, sky blue noise can be an issue even with the D300S. I’m maybe being too harsh on the camera, but you can be fairly sure others like dPreview will be even harsher.
David
I should comment that sky noise can be affected by Auto White Balance, or by WB adjustments generally. Again this is not the issue. I’ll see if I can add an image showing optimum performance.
David
DRO was not used in any of the samples shown except where DRO is mentioned. Please be assured, I have revisited this several times and been extremely careful to check settings, check in-camera JPEGs and use four different raw conversion methods (LR3 direct, LR3 to DNG then ACR, RawDeveloper and Sony IDC). I see some comments on dPreview which doubt the mirror lock/macro issue; let me say that I was going to write that it was not an issue, that the mirror action had solved the problem. That was based on hand-held SS enabled macro pix like the toadstools (I did some at speeds which were marginal). Then I decided to test with a tripod, initially leaving SS on to see what happened. Those shots were all ‘jerked’- clear visible movement with two outlines. So I followed up without SS – less blur, actually, but still exactly the same type and direction of blur. Finally, I made tests at longer exposures where mirror jar could not account for a significant component of the image, in order to ensure no other problem was caused the blur.
When making these tests I may not use test charts and stuff like that, but I work to as high a degree of consistency and elimination of variables as I can with genuine shooting situations. For the record, I also checked the noise issue with different colour profiles/picture styles. sRGB Standard showed least and therefore was used for all tests subsequently.
David
Interesting review, regarding the random noise covered on page 2, did you have DR set to Auto by any chance?
I find I have to leave DR off to avoid some noise issues on occasion on my A900, my experience was as yours that it was random until I moved to DR off at all times unless explicitly needed.