Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera

Introducing: Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera is a very good entry-level Digital Camera, the Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera delivers excellent photo quality in a body that is streamlined for experienced photographers, but relatively for the less advanced.

At least Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera is a great choice for Digital Camera, and it's a solid choice for creative still shooters. But though the image quality and general shooting performance are top-notch, if you are upgrading to capture sports, kids, or pets, the Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera may capable for it.

Avid photographers who want full creative control over their images should consider a Digital (single-lens reflex) Camera. The Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera is a one of models offer the advanced features that experienced shooters need.

Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera is well built with plenty of buttons to control its functions. It is easy to use and produces stunning picture quality when used with high end Zeiss, Sony or Minolta lenses. When used in continuous shooting mode, the camera captures 5 RAW images per second for 3 seconds, for a total of 15 images, before its image buffer fills and the image capture rate becomes limited by the speed of the Compact Flash card.

However, the A900's high resolution sensor is somewhat susceptible to noise. Packing 24 megapixels into this full frame sensor means that each pixel collects less light per unit time than does each pixel of a 12 megapixel full frame sensor. In consequence, the 24 megapixel full frame sensor is less immune to noise than the 12 megapixel full frame sensors of the Canon 5D or Nikon D700 cameras. When no in-camera noise reduction is applied by the A900, noise becomes apparent at ISO 800 and objectionable at ISO 1600. However, it is possible to extend the usable ISO range to 1600 or 3200 through the use of at least these three RAW converters: (1) Image Data Converter SR version 3 that Sony has released for free download, (2) DxO Optics Pro Elite version 5.3.6, 5.3.7 or 6, or (3) Adobe Lightroom 3. To my eye, the Sony Image Data Converter SR version 3 achieves slightly better noise suppression than the other two options.

The A900 places large demands on the computer where images are stored and post processed. The best image quality is obtained from RAW mode which consumes 36 megabytes per image file and stores 12 bits per pixel. And opening one of these 36 megabyte RAW image files using Adobe Photoshop can be time consuming. I have upgraded my 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 Mac mini to a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini in order to decrease the time required to open a RAW image file to a reasonable delay.

The high resolution of the 24 megapixel sensor is achievable only with high end lenses such as the Zeiss 24mm f/2, 85mm f1.4, 135mm f1.8, 24-70mm f2.8 and 16-35mm f2.8 lenses, as well as the Sony G and Minolta G lenses. My own measurements with the Imatest lens test software reveal that many of the lower quality, non-G Minolta lenses (and presumably also the equivalent Sony lenses) are not sharp enough to exploit the high resolution sensor. Exceptions to this statement include the Minolta 28mm f2, 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4, 100mm f2.8 macro, 100mm f2.8 soft focus and 70-210mm f4 lenses, which are not G lenses but approach G in quality. Nevertheless, be prepared to purchase an expensive set of lenses if you want to get the most out of the A900. And be certain to perform autofocus microadjustment on all of your lenses using the LensAlign focus calibration system if you want to get the most out of each lens.