Review: Sony Alpha SLT-A57
The 16.1 megapixel Sony SLT A57 digital SLT camera is aimed at a very discerning camera buyer: Goldilocks. Papa Bear might prefer the bigger, more complicated and more expensive A77; Mama Bear might pick the lighter entry-level A37, but if Goldilocks is the photographer I think she is, she’s going to think the A57 is just right. And so may you.
Sometimes you can get a cat to pose, and here she is at ISO 1600.
Features galore
In the new Sony product lineup, the A57 replaces the original A55 SLT released two years ago to much fanfare. But the A57 improves on its predecessor in almost every area. Like the A55, the A57 has a fixed translucent mirror rather than the reflex mirror found in most DSLRs; the fixed translucent mirror design allows the A57 to provide constant, swift phase-detect autofocus, as well as frames-per-second rates never seen in this class of camera (10 frames per second or 12 fps in a special reduced image-size mode). The A57's body is still plastic but it feels sturdier than the A55. The A57 is also bigger, in fact, the A57’s body is just about the same size as the more expensive, 24MP A65.
But you can't make a cat pose for long! The A57's face detect feature and the phase detect autofocus can capture subjects on the move.
The A57’s electronic viewfinder (EVF) is also improved. It doesn’t use the OLED technology that makes the EVF in the A65 and A77 so remarkable, but its 1.44 million dots, 1.04x magnification, 100 percent frame coverage and excellent eye-point (23.1mm standard) improve considerably on the A55 and on the other predecessor that the A57 replaces, the formidable A580, the last of Sony’s conventional DSLRs. If you wear glasses you will appreciate that the A57 lets you adjust the eyepoint for more comfortable viewing of the EVF.
Sony Alpha A57 back view.
A final major area of improvement is in video. The A57 is one of the very few cameras in its price range that offer 1080p full HD video recording in AVCHD format and stereo sound input; it can also record in the lower-resolution, but more user-friendly MP4 format. As with Sony’s other SLT models, the A57 lets you use phase detect tracking focus while shooting video.
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