Sony Alpha A580 review

Wow, how blatantly obvious is it towards the bias against sony, if this had a canon logo on it, the score would be so much higher. For example, how does the 600d have better features? (18/20 vs 17/20) the a580 feature wise leaves the 600d in the shade. Value wise it kills the 600d, yet they have the same rating for that. Also performance, 7FPS vs 3.7, yet they get the same. I dont want to sound like a sony fanboy (I'm saving up for a 7d, so I cant really be biased towards either brand) but seriously, I can only imagine the reason the EOS gets a higher rating is because of image quality (which happens to be amazing) yet it only beats the sony by one point! Also whilst Im in a ranty sort of mood, how on gods earth does the a55 not get a better review! The value should easily be top marks, as should features, and as if you marked performance down because of the EVF, that surely has to be a design fault? seriously it does 10fps all with AF adjustments inbetween! only the high end canikons can scrape that sort of stuff! Rant over...

Rob, I agree that a certain level of bias does seem to be creeping in here, whether intentional or sub-conscious. Other reviews I've read have stated that the image quality is excellent, but WDC have decided to describe it as "unspectacular" and put it in the Cons section. Does the reviewer realise the Nikon D7000 uses the same sensor? This is a camera they described as having "excellent picture quality". I understand that different manufacturers use different noise reduction algorithms etc., which can account for variations in image quality when using the same sensor, but there is a marked difference between "unspectacular" and "excellent". The comments on ISO are perplexing, as most reviews and user experience has shown that the A580 produces very usable results up to ISO 3200, but this review gives the impression that you wouldn't want to go above ISO 800. Unfortunately, WDC haven't posted an ISO comparision chart for this review so that we can judge for ourselves. Moreover, the image quality shots they posted are tiny and therefore completely useless, although I assume they are intended to be thumbnails that link to full-size images.

@wdc I see you have upped the feature rating, heh I feel special now :) Thanks :D @alex http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-sensor-beats-the-canon-sensor-dxomark/ Technically proving the sony sensor beats the canon sensor by some way, still Im happy the score has been amended to something more appropriate, Many thanks Rob ;)

Sadly You're wasting your breath Alex, WDC has been pro-nikon/Canon for a while now, unfortunately though the A580 is up against A33 & A55, the A55 is very similar in price to the A580 and has that 10fps burst rate etc, even the legendary A700's replacement (a77) is rumoured to have the same TMT as the A33/55. The only 2 downers to the A55 are the battery life and lack of ovf, the fact that the A55 totally creams the wonderful Canon 600d, would indicate to me that Sony will steam on with SLT's, if the A33/55 are this good now how redundant will that not only make the 600d's but 7d's & d7000's as well, when the 2 or 3rd generation Slt is released, sadly WDC has a habit of not reviewing a camera on it's own merits, the A550 got 86%, the A580 get's 87%, if it had a nikon or canon badge and if the A33/55 did'nt exist, would the score have been higher ?, probably ;-) Ref iso comparison charts, again; wdc seems to be very selective on this issue. Snapsort's A580 vs Canon 600d comparison may interest you, it's not even close.

Yes the D7000 and A580 use the same sensor... as does the A55, Pentax K-5, etc, etc. All the results from each are completely different.

And for all those moaning: just take a look at the A55's score (91%). It's a more successful marriage of performance and image quality combined than the A580 (87%) achieves. We're talking a fairly subtle 4% difference.

It seems the reviewer has missed a few points. The camera locks focus at 7FPS but will focus at 5 FPS still faster than the Canon quoted. he seems to dismiss the focus check live view which will be a very useful tool for still life and macro allowing you to compose and check focus before taking the shot. The reviewer does not mention steady shot included in the body at all.

ML, are you going to post some ISO comparisons, as you do with other DSLR reviews? Did you actually do ISO tests with the A580 and Canon 600d? The 600d was given 18/20 for image quality. Are you aware that DxOmark gave the A580 a significantly higher sensor score than the 600d? This included significantly superior ISO performance, yet you give the impression it is unwise to go above ISO 800 on the A580, but go so far as to claim that ISO 12800 on the 600d is very useable! You can accuse us of moaning if you like, but if your reviews are to be taken seriously, you really need to backup your claims and justify your scores by posting ISO comparisons and full size image samples.

If the 600d is genuinely a better camera then quite rightly it deserves a higher score; forgetting the name badge's here; is the 600d better than the A580 and if so is it £100 better? A580 with lens=£548 600d body only=£649 60d body only=£759 Who would rather buy a 600d for £649 when for just over £100 more you can get the 60d ??. Alex & JC; moaning's gonna get you nowhere, WDc ain't interested, they are the professionals after all ;-) If you want unbiased indepth reviews (iso comparisons etc) you'll have to look elsewhere I'm afraid.

The A580 was launched August 2010, the Pentax K-r September 2010 and yet it has taken until now for them to get reviewed on this site and still have not made the magazine. The Canon 600 has not yet hit the shops but has already received a review here and if you buy the April issue of the magazine you will find 4 mentions of the camera and a promise of a full review in May. WDC has a massive influence on camera purchase in this country. Canon is the biggest selling camera brand in the world. It's called commerce, or you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, or anyone for a nice new camera or an all expenses paid junket for continued high scores for our products?

Anyone looking for a more unbiased review should go to Snapsort.com

AlphaMount world is usually a cracking review site, and it's review of the A580 is let's say; not driven by NICAN biase. The A550 got 86% from WDC, and if the A580's a lot better (snapsort & alphamount seem to think so), the A580 only manages a 1% increase, go figure ?. My other fave review site is: dpreview.com who do a very indepth review (no a580 as yet). Snap sort is unbiased (basically it's spec driven), but has no iso comparisons etc. Wdc reviews are fairly comprehensive,even if the end result's do seem weird to say the least. iso comparisions as featured in some other mags, would help them back up their claims of noise ability.

I could be mistaken but I believe in the burst mode the AF will onlt focus on the first frame and then maintain that focus for the rest of the burst. You need to go to the 5fps for continuous AF

"The burst rate, although impressive at 7fps, can be difficult to utilise in anything but the best lighting conditions and longest depth of field settings due to the inability of the camera's focus to quite match up to the burst rate ability". That's right, in 7fps speed priority continuous shooting mode, auto focus works only with the first shot, but the reviewer knew that, right? If you want continuous auto focus, you are limited to the standard 5fps continuous shooting mode. Any news on those ISO comparisons, ML? The more I read about the APS-C sensor in the A580 and how it is basically one of the best ever made, the more I'm scepticle about the effort that has gone into properly evaluating image quality with this camera.

sony a580 is in the same class with nikon d7000 canon 60D and pentax k5. the photo enthusiast advanced.. nikon d7000, sony a580 and pentax k5 have the same sensor... so if you want to look at a sensor comaration visit dxo labs, or look here at full size images http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/AA580/AA580A7.HTM nikon d7000 is better than a580 in every point.. better autofocus sistem, better body, better movie setup but bouth have the same amount of noise. if u have a sony a580 and than u take the d7000, at image quality u shall not see a big difference .sorry for my bad english

Price of a D7000 plus lens is ?, compare the sluggish D7000 to the first gen Slt A55 and that price difference stands out quite a bit !. The A580 is positioned between the D5000 and the D90, I'm sure many an A77 owner(when it comes out) will be all to happy to compare that camera to the similar priced D7000 ;-) Yes the D7000 is a great camera but at £1000, it should be.

ML, are you going to respond to my question asking if you did proper ISO tests in the A580 and 600d reviews? If these tests were carried out, are you going to post the results? Or shall I assume no such tests were carried out and that less than usual effort was afforded to these particular reviews?

In light of the score for this camera and the 89% that the Nikon D5100 received, it would seem that everyone except wdc themselves are aware of the blatant biase towards anything Nikon or Canon, dxo mark is widely regarding and highly acclaimed within the photographic industry, more importantly they are totally unbiased, i found this interesting web site; http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Our-publications/DxOMark-reviews/DxOMark-review-for-APS-C-camera-2010-who-takes-the-lead Which basically pits the A580 with the likes of the D7000 & Canon 60D etc, both of which are considerably (hundreds), more expensive that the A580, which WDC puts lower than the D5100. The A55 did get a great wdc score (isn't the A580 the more traditional version ?), the A55 is also mentioned and according to dxo stills are better from the A580, like live view & face detection video capability IMHO are "novelty" features, how many pro's use these features for example ?, they are handy to have, but then so is a spare tyre. What matters most is for a CAMERA to deliver the goods; still's IQ. The Canon 60d also got 91% from WDC but that camera gets a right kicking by DXO, ask Canon fans themselves which is better the 60d or the much older 40d, or even the same of the 600d & 550d and the responses would be telling. Other people's comments etc would also seem to be making the same request; conduct all reviews fairly and with no biase, and if not prove to us the reader why the D5100 gets 2% more than the likes of a Sony A580, pentax or oly.

Anyone?

Aloha mate! I quite agree with your opinion.

No Sir, this camera with its brilliant Live View technology and Sensor based IS (great for primes) is superior to APSC from Canikons and Sony own A55 (T mirror is deseased) for still photographers.