Sony Alpha SLT A33 and A55: two special DSLRs

When I wrote the article about the Sony NEX-3 and 5 cameras I was not expecting to write another article about two Sony cameras so soon.  This time the Sony Alpha SLT A33 and A55 cameras with a DSLR aspect hide a few significant changes when it comes to their build characteristics and specs.

SLT means Single Lens Translucent. This means that the mirror in front of the photo sensor is fixed and trans lucid. This allows light to pass 70% to the photo sensor and the rest to the focalizing sensor.

Among the advantages offered by this system you can count automatic fast focalization during the whole time you use live view system, fast pictures and moving pictures, more compact cameras, a more long lasting mirror. The main disadvantages are the following: lack of an optical viewfinder and the small quantity of light that reaches the sensor.

The main characteristics of the Sony Alpha SLT A33 and A55 are the following:

• Sony Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor,
• BIONZ image processor,
• 15 focalizing points with 3 cross points,
• ISO 100 – 1600 in Auto mode or 100 – 12.800 in Manual mode,
• 3.0” TFT Xtrafine LCD TruBlack display with 921.600 pixels,
• electronic 0.46” Xtra Five EVF viewfinder with 1.440.000 pixels and 100% cover,
• FullHD video recording at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels,
• USB 2.0 and HDMI ports.

The Sony A33 and A55 use the same type of sensor: the Sony Exmor APS HD CMOS, but the first has 14 MP, while the last has 16 MP. Both models benefit from a clean system of the sensor. The 3.0” display can be oriented in any direction, while the electronic viewfinder has a resolution of over 1 million pixels and covers 100% of the visual field.

This is how Sony's SLT system looks like

Recording video materials is easily done by pressing a button and since the cameras record video at a FullHD quality and AVCHD compression I suspect many people will be interested in this mode. You have probably figured out that there are no big differences between the two models. Along with the different sensor it is worth mentioning that the A33 shoots fast photos at a rate of 7 per second while its bigger brother, the A55 is capable of 10 photos per second. Similar to any other DSLR camera, you can modify the white balance, exposure time, flash power, modes, scene modes, etc. on this new Sony models.

In opposition to cameras from the NEX series, the Alpha SLT A33 and A55 models have a classical Sony A build which means they are compatible with all Sony and Konica-Minolta lenses.

Sony Alpha SLT A33 has a 14 MP CMOS sensor

When it comes to storage you can use Memory Stick PRO Duo cards or the well-known SD, SDHC and SDXC. Personally I appreciate the decision of the Japanese company to put SD slot cards on their latest models.  A weird aspect is that although the 2 models use the same Li-Ion NP-FW50 battery they have different autonomies. If the SLT A55 has autonomy of up to 380 photos, the SLT A33 only lasts for 340 photos. The size and weight are the same: 124.4 x 92 x 84.7 mm and 433 de grams without a lens, battery and memory card.

Sony Alpha SLT A55 with 18-55mm lens kit

Conclusions

You will need to pay 700 dollars for an A33 (with kit 18-55mm lens kit) and 850 dollars for the A55 with the 18-55mm lens kit. The prices are reasonable and the camera is somewhere around Nikon D5000 or Canon 500D in terms of performance. I will not start trying to figure out which is the best. This remains to be figured out by each one of us, depending on what we want in a DSLR.

Sony Alpha SLT A33 video review:

Sony Alpha SLT A55 video review: