Sony Alpha A550

Lens & Sensor

Zoom Ratio Examples
18.0 mm	35.0 mm	55.0 mm

The APS-C format sensor has a gross resolution of 14.6 megapixels and an effective resolution of 14.2 megapixels. To fight the battle against dust intrusion, there’s a charge protection coating on the low-pass filter, and a sensor vibrating mechanism that kicks in whenever the camera is turned off.

Viewfinder (7.50)

The eye-level pentamirror viewfinder offers a 95% field of view and 0.80 magnification. The diopter control, which is nicely shielded from errant fingers, offers -2.5 to +1.0 m-1 range of adjustment.

The eyecup can be removed and replaced with optional magnifying and angle finder accessories.

There is a sensor below the optical viewfinder that turns the LCD information display off when you hold the camera to your eye. However, switching between Live View and viewfinder while shooting requires sliding a mechanical switch on top of the camera, which seems like an odd solution. On the other hand, if you want to shoot on a tripod and avoid having light flood into the eyepiece and alter the exposure reading, shooting in Live View means you can avoid using the cumbersome included eyepiece cover, which requires removing the eyecup to insert.

Display(s) (10.10)

The A550 boasts a handsome 3-inch LCD with 921,600-dot resolution. The LCD brightness can be automatically adjusted using a built-in light sensor, or it can be set manually to one of five levels.

The LCD is articulated, in an odd way. There’s a hinge along the bottom edge that allows the screen to pulled outward from the body, then tilted up or down to allow viewing from overhead or when holding the camera down low. This is useful, of course, but doesn’t help at all if you want to shoot with the camera off to one side, or turn the screen around completely to shoot a self-portrait. The Nikon D5000, for example, uses an LCD that flips down with a bottom hinge, but it also pivots around, so you can turn it to shoot from the side, or turn it around completely and close it up, leaving the screen protected against the back of the camera.

When shooting with the viewfinder there are two information display options for the LCD. The Graphic Display (the default setting) and the Standard Display. The Standard Display version shown below appears when you’re shooting in program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority or manual modes. A simpler version is used when shooting in auto.

A feature we like is the way the data display rotates 90 degrees when you hold the camera in portrait rather than landscape orientation. Unfortunately, this works only in viewfinder shooting mode, not Live View, and playback screens don’t rotate.

Shown below is a diagram of the LCD info display in graphic mode, with all potentially visible settings shown and identified.

Graphic Display	Standard Display

Secondary Display

A monochrome LCD panel positioned on the top panel of an SLR, providing shooting setting info when viewed from above, is a higher-end SLR feature, and not included here.

Connectivity (5.50)

The A550 has two connector doors on the left side of the camera. One covers a jack for the optional RM-S1AM or RM-L1AM wired remotes. The other provides a standard mini USB jack for connecting to a PC and a mini HDMI jack for hooking up to a high-def TV. Another connector, located on the right side, is used with the optional external DC adapter.

What’s missing from this picture? An analog TV connector. We know Sony makes lots of high-def TVs, but we still find it weird that there’s no way to connect the A550 to a set that’s not high-def. The only video output is HDMI, and needless to say the required cable is not included. On the bright side, if you do connect via HDMI to a compatible Sony set, you can use the TV remote to control camera playback.