Sony Alpha DSLR-A350K review

Sony's A350 has some enormously attractive specifications, including a 14 megapixel sensor, 2.7 inch tilting screen with live view, image stabilisation built in (so it works with any lens), and an 18-70mmlens, equivalent to 4x zoom, as standard.

Most of the features described in our review of the Sony A200K, opposite, also apply here, including the controls and features such as Dynamic Range Optimiser and Creative Style. A dedicated switch enables live view on the 2.7 inch LCD. Along with the ability to tilt the screen up and down, this makes the A350K ideal for shooting at awkward angles without having to point and guess.

Exposure and white balance adjustments are instantly reflected in the preview image. This provides a useful education in balancing exposure settings, and is much easier than trying to predict white balance blind. A 1.4x or 2x digital zoom is also available via a dedicated button to check detail, but this level of magnification is frustratingly insufficient to use the manual focus with confidence; the Canon's 10x is more appropriate.

The A350K's high resolution means more pixels to process and save, and this takes its toll on performance. Continuous shooting was the slowest here at 2.36fps in our tests. RAW continuous mode was respectable at 1.19fps, though, and the A350 was just as responsive as rivals in other modes. Our quality tests revealed excellent colours and well-judged automatic exposures. However, details weren't noticeably sharper than from the 10 and 12 megapixel cameras. Another drawback of the high resolution was that noise levels were higher. Shadows looked a little speckled at ISO 400, and noise was hard to ignore at ISO 800 and beyond. As usual, shooting RAW and applying noise reduction using the accompanying software gave better results, but it's a time-consuming process.

The A350K has a unique set of strengths, but its live view isn't as useful as the 450D's. Image quality and performance are beaten by both the Canon and Sony's own more affordable A200K.