That's about half a dozen button presses (sometimes more) required for something as simple as changing the active AF point! Now you need to enter the Function menu via the Fn button, navigate to 'AF area', enter, select 'Local', then repeatedly press the left or right arrow button until the desired AF point is highlighted, and finally exit the Function menu. That alone would not be objectionable at all - we have seen similar solutions that worked quite well - but unfortunately Sony's implementation has caused the four-way pad to cease functioning as a quick AF point selector.
#SONY A350 CAMERA MANUAL ISO#
The A300's separate Drive Mode, ISO and Display buttons are gone, and these functions are now mapped unto the four-way controller. The new, smaller body apparently forced the engineers to re-think the control layout and philosophy of the camera, and this has resulted in a number of questionable design decisions.įor starters, the number of external controls has been reduced, making the camera less intuitive to use. And the grip is but one example where the new design lags behind the old one. It is so uncomfortable it makes you wonder if the camera would do better without it (grip-less SLRs were the order of the day for decades, and nobody complained about that). The right-hand grip has been completely redesigned - for the worse, unfortunately. There is little doubt that at least some of the afore-mentioned weight loss comes from the use of less robust materials (which probably helps Sony's bottom line too).
The same cannot be said of the new Sony A330, which feels much more plasticky. Upon reviewing the A300, we wrote that the body was "unashamedly plastic", but noted that it did "not feel cheap or low quality at all". The first thing you notice when picking up the Sony A330 is that it feels cheaper built than its predecessor. The core specifications of the new model are remarkably similar to those of its immediate forebear, but it has undergone a complete design overhaul, which has resulted in a smaller and considerably lighter camera aimed squarely at compact camera owners wishing to trade up to a DSLR. Ease of UseĪnnounced in May 2009, the Sony A330 is the successor to the Sony A300 digital SLR, which we reviewed at the end of last year. Does the A330 offer enough to beat the Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i, Nikon D5000, Olympus E-450 or even the Olympus E-P1? Zoltan Arva-Toth found out. Sitting in the middle of the Sony Alpha range above the entry-level A230 and and below the 14 megapixel A380, the Sony A330 has a street price of around £600 / $650 with the 18-55mm kit lens (exclusivly sold by Jessops in the UK). Replacing the A300 model, the A330 retains all of its predecessor's key features, with a 2.7 inch tilting LCD screen, impressively quick Live View mode, anti-dust system, ISO range of 100-3200, anti-shake that's built into the body, eye-start auto-focus and Dynamic Range Optimiser. The Sony A330 is a new 10.2 megapixel DSLR camera featuring a restyled external design and enhanced user interface, both intended to make it easier to use for people new to SLR photography.