Sony Alpha A900

The 24.6-megapixel Sony A900 is a high-res, high-performance and high-priced camera, selling for $2999 for the body alone. There are several impressive specs, including maximum 5 frame per second burst shooting at full resolution and an excellent optical viewfinder that covers essentially 100% of the scene at hand. It’s tough to find a breakthrough feature or performance advantage that justifies selecting the A900 over the Canon 5D Mark II, though. The Canon offers 1080p video recording that rivals the quality of dedicated high-definition camcorders, while the Sony doesn’t even have a Live View mode. In our lab testing, the A900 received a higher overall resolution score, and shoots at a higher burst rate, but color accuracy was seriously lacking, and dynamic range can’t compete with the league-leading Canon. As for the other full-frame camera in this price/performance class, the Nikon D700, the camera’s 12.1-megapixel resolution doesn’t match the competition, and while it broke new ground in image noise when it was released last year, the Sony and Canon are now only slightly less adept in this area.

Performance

The Sony A900 delivers excellent image resolution at 24.6-megapixel resolution, paving the way for substantial cropping and large-format prints. Burst mode shooting at a tested 4.4 shots per second is also very impressive,especially considering the fact that JPEG images run roughly 20 megabytes each, which is a lot of data to move quickly. Accurate color reproduction, though, is a problem for the A900, which scored poorly in our color testing and only so-so on white balance.

Hardware

Sony created an exceptional optical viewfinder for the A900, bright and clear, with easy-to-read data display and, thanks to 100% coverage, delivering fewer image framing surprises than any of the other cameras we’ve tested. The LCD screen is a good-looking 3-inch high-res display, which makes reviewing photos a pleasure, but suffers from an underwhelming menu design and lack of Live View. We like the long battery life and HDMI output for high-def TV display, though these aren’t unique to the A900. As for the build quality, the magnesium-alloy body feels solidly built, and the switches, dials and port covers are well sealed against the elements.

Controls

The camera controls are straightforward and easy to learn for the most part, with an effective dual-control-dial system for changing settings and navigating the menu system. The “multi-selector” (aka joystick) is less welcome, since it’s difficult to manipulate smoothly, particularly when you’re in a hurry. Sony innovates with an Intelligent Preview function that lets you capture a temporary image file and interactively see what effect different setting adjustments would make on the LCD screen, but we don’t see this as tremendously practical. The Creative Styles system is more beneficial, offering 13 different combinations of color, contrast, saturation and brightness settings, all of them highly customizable. The option to store three user-defined settings combinations for instant access via the mode dial is another strong feature, though again not unique. And Sony includes a full-featured wireless remote control with the A900, a generous and useful addition.

Sample Photos

In the following sample images, clicking on the larger image will download the full resolution original. Each photo is accompanied by four actual-size crops.

Landscape Sample
				Focal length: 24mm Aperture: f/10 Shutter: 1/320 ISO: 400 This lake shot was taken on an overcast day on Long Island, using Program mode with -0.7 EV exposure compensation. Metering was set to center-weighted average. In these full-res crops, we see the sharpness that made the A900 our resolution leader, with clean sharp edges. There is significant color fringing in the corners, though.

Close-Up Sample
				Focal Length: 105mm Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter: 1/20 sec. ISO: 400 The clock photo was taken on a shaded porch, using a custom white balance setting and a fairly large aperture to keep the face sharp while the busy background fades out of focus. The coloration in the metal surfaces is smooth and realistic, the details on the clock face were captured nicely, and image noise is not an issue.

Texture Sample
				Focal Length: 50mm Aperture: f/10 Shutter: 1/250 sec. ISO: 200 These world masks were shot on a bright, overcast afternoon, using the Vivid Creative Style to make the colors even more vibrant. A custom white balance reading was taken, with metering set on center-weighted average. The range of textures shown here include papier mache, yarn, wood, fabric and mottled plastic, in the far right sample, which was captured with admirable subtlety.

Creative Style Sample
				Focal Length: 55mm Aperture: f/22 Shutter: 1/1000 ISO: 1600 We used this tool-time tableau to explore the effect of different Creative Style choices. The main image was shot in the Neutral setting, the others in (left to right) Vivid, Standard, Autumn and Sepia. Colors in Neutral Mode certainly look flat in comparison. Vivid and Autumn make the orange shovel unnaturally hot. The pale blue door barely shifts in any of the color images, though the pale yellow rake intensifies in Vivid mode. And for sepia fans, the effect here mimics an old daguerreotype nicely.

Night Scene Sample

Wildlife Sample
				Focal length: f/4.5 Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter: 1/60 ISO: 800 This ferocious animal was captured in a fairly dark room, with sunlight coming in through the window, using automatic white balance and evaluative metering. The far left crop shows the reflection of a window in the cat’s eye. Overall the level of detail is impressive, and the coloring very accurate even with automatic white balance.

Sony Alpha A900 Specs
Type	Professional SLR
Focal Length Minimum	24.0 mm
Focal Length Maximum	105.0 mm
Still Pixel Count (gross)	25.7 megapixels
Still Pixel Count (effective)	24.6 megapixels
Sensor Size	35mm full-frame
Sensor Type - New	CMOS
Aspect Ratios	3:2, 16:9
Original Price	2699.99 $
Height	116.9 mm
Width	156.3 mm
Depth	81.9 mm
Weight	928.0 g
Model Colors	black
Display Type	LCD
Display Size	3.0 in.
Display Resolution	921600 pixels
Viewfinder Type	optical
Viewfinder Magnification	0.74 x
Viewfinder Coverage	100.0 % coverage
Diopter Adjustment - New	-3.0 to +1.0m^-1
Connectivity Options	USB, miniHDMI, hot accessory shoe
Battery Type	removable lithium-ion
Battery Model Number	NP-FM50
Mirror Technology (Interchangeable Lens)	DSLR
Waterproof	No
Manual Controls	manual focus, aperture priority mode, shutter priority mode, full manual exposure, custom white balance, ISO control
ISO Options	100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400
Minimum ISO	100
Maximum ISO	6400

Sony Alpha A900 Scores
Rating	Score	Weighting
Color Score	11.0	9.0
Color Modes Score	5.0	1.0
Long Exposure Score	10.68	4.0
Noise Score	6.68	9.0
ISO Options Score	6.0	1.5
Sharpness Score	11.84	6.0
Chromatic Aberration Score	7.85	3.0
Picture Options Score	14.45	0.5
Dynamic Range Score	8.29	6.0
Stabilization Score	4.71	5.0
Auto White Balance Score	10.3	4.0
Custom White Balance Score	10.75	2.0
White Balance Features Score	7.5	0.5
Playback Mode Score	8.0	1.5
In-Camera Editing Score	0.0	0.5
Software Score	5.25	0.5
Direct Print Features Score	3.0	0.5
Sensor Score	3.0	1.0
Viewfinder Score	10.25	1.5
LCD Score	8.86	2.5
Flash Score	3.0	1.0
Lens Mount Score	8.5	1.5
Battery Score	9.0	1.0
Memory Score	5.5	1.0
Connectivity Score	4.5	1.0
Other Hardware Score	0.0	0.5
Shooting Modes Scores	11.0	1.0
Live View Score	1.5	2.0
Scene Modes Score	0.0	0.5
Picture Effects Score	6.0	0.5
Focus Score	14.25	1.5
Exposure Score	6.0	1.0
DOF Preview Score	1.5	0.5
Metering Score	7.5	1.0
Shutter Speed Score	11.0	1.0
Self-Timer Score	2.0	1.0
Other Controls Score	0.0	0.5
Handling Score	5.0	2.5
Controls Score	9.5	2.5
Menu Score	7.0	2.0
Manual Score	5.25	1.0
Shot to Shot Score	4.44	3.0
Drive and Burst Modes Score	7.0	1.0
Video Color Score	0.0	1.25
Video Sharpness Score	0.0	1.25
Video Motion Score	0.0	0.63
Video Noise Score	0.0	0.63
Video Controls Score	0.0	1.2
Video Low Light Sensitivity Score	0.0	0.95
Video Low Light Color Score	0.0	0.78
Video Low Light Noise Score	0.0	0.78
Video Compression Score	0.0	0.95
Video Audio Score	0.0	0.3
Video Handling Score	0.0	0.73
Color Other Features Rating	0.0	0.5
Noise Other Features Rating	0.0	0.5
Playback Other Features Rating	0.0	0.5
Resolution Other Features Rating	0.0	0.5
Design & Handling Other Rating	0.0	0.5
Total:	690