Sony Alpha A380 Camera Review
Sony is a relative newcomer to the DSLR market, having taken control of Konica Minolta's photographic division after it pulled out of the photographic business in 2005.
The Sony Alpha 380 is the most highly specified of three simultaneous new releases from Sony, alongside the A280 and A300, and is designed to appeal to both first-time DSLR buyers and enthusiasts.
It directly replaces the Sony Alpha 350, which was released last June and shares many of the same major features as its predecessor.
These features include a 14 million-pixel CMOS sensor and a unique 'Quick AF Live View' mode, but all in a newly designed, lighter body. On paper, it's Sony's best entry-level DSLR so far, but does the A380 have what it takes to compete with new HD video-equipped competition from Canon, Nikon and Pentax?
The Alpha 350 was notable at its release for its unique 'Quick AF Live View' system, and the A380 incorporates the same technology.
LIVE VIEW: the A380 uses a second image sensor to generate the Live View image
Rather than using the main imaging sensor to generate the live view image, which entails slow contrast-detection autofocus, the A380 features a secondary CCD sensor above the viewfinder, specifically for live View.
When the system is activated, one of the mirrors inside the viewfinder assembly changes position, and redirects the image coming through the lens onto this secondary sensor.
TILTSCREEN: The Sony Alpha A380 has a screen that tilts to your wim
The resulting picture is displayed on the camera's screen.
The benefit of this system is that the A380's 'normal' AF mode, which is centred around a specially designed sensor beneath the main mirror, is still operational, so the Alpha 380 can offer full-speed, uninterrupted phase-detection autofocus in live view – something that no other camera on the market can match.
The only potential downside to the system for some photographers is that due to the low resolution of the live view sensor, it is not possible to magnify the live view image for accurate manual focussing.
The Alpha 380 has a lot of tricks up its sleeve in addition to its unique Live View system.
Amongst other key settings there's a high-resolution 14 million-pixel sensor with a wide ISO range of 100-3200, built-in Steady Shot INSIDE image stabilisation, and eye-start AF. The latter two functions are ported over from older Konica Minolta technology, but both have been adapted and improved by Sony.
Exposure is handled by the standard 'PASM' exposure modes (programme, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual, for those of you that don't speak geek) plus the usual range of automatic scene presets to cover pretty much any shooting situation.
Images from the A380's sensor are recorded either in the standard JPEG mode or in Sony's own ARW. Raw format, with a raw+JPEG simultaneous recording option is also available.
PORTS: a panel slides across to reveal card slots as well as USB and HDMI connectors
This is great in terms of ultimate flexibility, but it will burn through memory cards very quickly.
On the subject of memory cards, Sony has done away with CompactFlash media support in the A380, opting instead for dual slots for its own Memory Stick Duo cards and – finally - long-overdue support for the ubiquitous SecureDigital format.
We don't normally get excited about memory card covers, but the A380 features a cool sliding door to protect the memory card bays and HDMI connections, which cries out to be played with until it breaks…
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