First thoughts on my "new" Sony a350
I got this last week from mpb for £74. Only lens at the time - a broken (oily - so f4 only) minolta af 35-70mm f4. Here are my first couple of shots - there are more but I've not yet processed the raw files.
In short - I love it! Very interesting camera from sony/minolta. They clearly wanted to advance tech - and in the direction of mirrorless cameras. It has a 14mp CCD (!), but also has live view - accomplished by using a separated cmos sensor in the viewfinder. This is insane. Or is it? It means the autofocus was the same in live view as in the viewfinder - very fast and decisive, even with an old lens like this. It's not exactly good in low light but focuses well enough.
Anyway, one is a landscape - beautiful West Bay. The other is a delicious pudding taken in the very weird macro mode of the lens.
I now have the beer can 70-210mm f4, and first impressions of that are very good - sharp enough, nice bokeh, super solid build.
Would I recommend the camera? Well... The shutter has that "entry level DSLR" sound - same as the a100, a200 etc. Not well damped. It also isn't really weather sealed. There is a seal on the lens mount so better than nowt, but it does feel a bit more like an entry level camera than a more pro-level one. I'd like to know if there is a more pro-level Sony alpha DSLR, especially if it's got the same sensor for ease of work flow!
Colours are, hopefully you agree, really nice. Raw files come out flat, but just contrast, curves and picking an appropriate profile in lightroom gets me to those pics. Very little work needed!
Anyone else used these "last gasp" 14mp CCD cameras? Are there any sleepers with weather sealing I should know about for more extreme weather? Am I sucker for loving old gear?
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Lower light here. Note they were saved to phone from lightroom mobile and the detail has suffered a bit! I'll see if I can get on pc tomorrow for more detail.
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Really beautiful pics! I didn't know that 14mp CCD sensors existed. (except for in compact cameras, they kept making CCD for a little longer). I tried searching what other cameras that sensor ended up in, but so far no luck. I'll keep digging.
Anyway, the body of the a350 looks a little more comfy than the A100, which had good ergo to me (it was small and decent grip) but was a little plasticky. That A350 looks more rubberized on the grip. The live view is a cool feature to get. I'm not sure how many other CCD sensor DSLRs had that feature, or if they were all CMOS by that time. Great find and great price. Keep enjoying those Minolta lenses. There's a lot of nice cheap ones out there.
Wow nice shots. Just keep doing "that".... it's clearly working for you!
Gosh I had a Sony A350 years ago. I have some shots saved somewhere from a zoo visit. I bought it along with a Sony A5000 as I recall.
Quote from James Warner on June 14, 2022, 1:38 amReally beautiful pics! I didn't know that 14mp CCD sensors existed. (except for in compact cameras, they kept making CCD for a little longer). I tried searching what other cameras that sensor ended up in, but so far no luck. I'll keep digging.
Anyway, the body of the a350 looks a little more comfy than the A100, which had good ergo to me (it was small and decent grip) but was a little plasticky. That A350 looks more rubberized on the grip. The live view is a cool feature to get. I'm not sure how many other CCD sensor DSLRs had that feature, or if they were all CMOS by that time. Great find and great price. Keep enjoying those Minolta lenses. There's a lot of nice cheap ones out there.
It's pretty comfy - nice grip and all that, without being huge - but the shutter button is in a slightly odd place. Not really important, I'm already used to it, but it's a tiny note.
Build is definitely better than entry level I think - if entry level is, say, nikon d3000/d3100. They are pretty flimsy feeling, although perfectly functional, lightweight and take brilliant photos nonetheless. This is not quite as well built as, say, a nikon d7200 - that had an alloy body, weather sealing, great ergonomics and still was a small DSLR. If this camera had that body, I think it would be absolutely insane value - alas, it seems that to get weather sealing on a Sony I'm moving up to more modern cmos cameras that have held value somewhat better!
Quote from James Warner on June 14, 2022, 1:38 amReally beautiful pics! I didn't know that 14mp CCD sensors existed. (except for in compact cameras, they kept making CCD for a little longer). I tried searching what other cameras that sensor ended up in, but so far no luck. I'll keep digging.
Anyway, the body of the a350 looks a little more comfy than the A100, which had good ergo to me (it was small and decent grip) but was a little plasticky. That A350 looks more rubberized on the grip. The live view is a cool feature to get. I'm not sure how many other CCD sensor DSLRs had that feature, or if they were all CMOS by that time. Great find and great price. Keep enjoying those Minolta lenses. There's a lot of nice cheap ones out there.
The last Sony DSLR with a CCD sensor was the A390... which I believe has the same 14mp sensor. The A390s are dirt cheap. Tempted to pick one up but ... sigh you know how the internal struggle goes.
A few more from the a350, from the 70-210mm f4 which is a really nice lens for £30-£40. Solid, well built, focuses quick ish, sharp enough wide open and by 5.6 is really quite sharp. Only issue really is the usual from old lenses - purple/green fringing on high contrast edges, which is so rarely a problem I don't care (you see it all the time on your favourite TV shows and movies too!). With apologies for dog photos in hard sunlight!
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I really love the colours and tones from a ccd sensor. It’s beautiful. I want one now.
Nice shots. The red leaves... the bokeh... the colors. I love the beer can. Sharpness is good but it's not everything. That lens is just all-around special to me.
You are causing me an internal dilemma!
I have a beer can but no great camera body to use it on at the moment.
I gave my Sony LaEA4 adapter (A mount to E mount) to my brother. Might regret that lol. I was using my beer can on a Sony a6000 with the LaEA4 adapter for a while. The results were great but the autofocus was bad.
Now there is a company called "Monster" that makes a modification kit for the LaEA4 adapter. You essentially take apart the adapter, install their circuit board, and remove the translucent mirror from the adapter. From there, you have the ability to mount a wide selection of A-mount lenses on E-mount Sony cameras with native auto-focus. Magic. Not a small investment but it opens up some seriously wicket AF Minolta glass that most people have forgotten about ( my brother has all the legacy Minolta APO glass... you know, the professional white lenses that are built to withstand the apocalypse... gorgeous lenses ).
My biggest disappointment coming from Sony/Minolta to Pentax was the loss of my beer can. There really isn't an equivalent that I'm aware of ( price, build, IQ ). I inquired about it here when I switched to Pentax. I considered the recommendations that were offered but ultimately felt there really wasn't an equivalent. I wound up spending more money on a Tamron 70-200 f2.8 for my K3-ii. The Tamron is excellent in a clinical way. The beer can has my heart though.
I won't let go of my beer can
