Does this new Sony SLT model offer anything sufficiently compelling to warrant the novice user's attention? Matt Golowczynski finds out
Sony Alpha 68 review
Sony Alpha 68 review – Features
As with all Sony’s previous SLT and DSLR models, the Alpha 68 is based around the same A-mount system that the company inherited from Minolta. This means the camera will accept both Sony’s own A-mount lenses and older Minolta designs, as well as a raft of third-party options.
The camera is based around a 24.2-million-pixel Exmor APS-C sensor, with a native sensitivity range of ISO 100-25,600. This is possibly the same sensor as that found inside the Alpha 77 II. More interestingly, though, is that the 4D focus system from the Alpha 77 II has made it to the Alpha 68, so it is unusually well specified for a model aimed at a junior audience.
Alongside the usual claims about prompt focus, Sony says the system can accurately predict subjects as they move around the scene, on the basis of their position and movement in three dimensions. This is made possible thanks to the 79 phase-detect AF points that are closely spaced and include 15 cross points for enhanced sensitivity.
Burst shooting is available at a very respectable 5fps with raw shooting enabled. Select the continuous advance priority AE option on the mode dial and this increases to 8fps, although this mode crops into the centre of the frame and outputs images as six-million-pixel JPEGs. However, AF tracking is maintained throughout.
The camera’s 1.44-million-dot Tru-Finder electronic viewfinder is, sadly, one feature that has been downgraded from the Alpha 65, which has a 2.36-million-dot OLED panel. However, arguably more disappointing is the 460,000-dot resolution of the Alpha 68’s 2.7in tiltable LCD screen. In addition, the absence of Wi-Fi, while not exactly critical, is also surprising.