Comments on: Sony A500 and A550 ISO Comparisons

By: Marinus

Marinus — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:30:29 +0000

Chilly is right – the playing card is sharper with the A500 – it’s a focusing issue. Next time do the same test with f/8 so focusing and lens quality don’t influence the result that much.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:46:34 +0000

I’m enjoying my A550, but really waiting for the A700 update. I don’t care for movie mode. I want a photographers camera, like most of us are expecting in the A7XX.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:51:07 +0000

Looks like the a500 was back focusing… I have an a500 and love it… I don’t see would the a550 could have better noise control.. Same sensor less pixels… I thought that ment better noise? Anyway, the a500 is a great camera.

By: Chilly

Chilly — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:31:01 +0000

Look at the background of each comparison, notice how the back of the playing card is much more detailed for the a500 across the whole ISO range. The colour of the card is also closer to that shown in the complete image. Maybe the a500 is the better choice after all? Thoughts?

By: Suffi

Suffi — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:52:40 +0000

Try D300s, A550, and Canon 7D. This time with in-camera HDR for A550. For still subjects, HDR can boost high ISO performance. Could that be a ligitimate use of HDR, i.e improving high ISO performance for still subjetcs? Perhaps A550 might beat 7D with HDR.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:37:33 +0000

@Suffi – Thanks. I am looking forward to toying a little more with the HDR features.

By: Suffi

Suffi — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:29:47 +0000

Check the HDR function in A5xx. It can be used to improve high ISO performance and it’s possible handheld.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:34:01 +0000

@Suffi – I wondered about the same thing. I wondered if mirror slap might be a problem (there’s no MLU on these cameras); however, the A550 didn’t have the same problem. I’m going to take a closer look at it soon.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:53:24 +0000

@mike2008 – The exposures are the same. I just used the A550′s settings as a baseline. I shot the A550 in AV mode and chimped on the histogram to get it balanced. Because of all the white in the scene, the A550′s metering was underexposing. To get the exposure more balanced, I gave it a 2/3-stop EV bump. I then took the exposure settings and shot the same with the A500 in Manual mode. So, the exposure settings are exactly the same. Oddly enough, the A500 metered the same scene a little different, so that’s the reason for shooting in Manual on it.

By: Suffi

Suffi — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:58:29 +0000

Hi,

I think your A500 has focus issue. Same thing happened when you previously posted A500 vs 7D shots. Maybe you can ask for a different body if true?