
Above the screen is the slightly dim optical viewfinder its dark and pokey nature may be to do with the incorporation of the Live View sensor. The anti-glare coating of the screen does seem prone to smearing and clouding whenever a smidgen of nose grease gets deposited on it. It's not as good as a proper tilt-and-swivel screen but it's handy for candid or low-level shots.

Overall, though, the usability of the camera is a bit confusing and it takes a while to get used to the layout.įinally, at the back of the A350 is a 2.7-inch LCD screen that tilts upwards and 20-degrees downwards for when you're using Live View. In total, there are nearly 20 switches, knobs, dials and sliders, which can make you wish you were an octopus in order to keep on top of this feature-laden beast.
#SONY A350 SOFTWARE ISO#
On the A350's top plate is a large exposure mode dial, a sliding Live View switch, a drive button and an ISO selector. Beneath the navipad is another sliding switch to turn the image stabilisation on and off. Above the navipad sits an EV compensation button, AEL lock and a frame expansion button. It's not quite as fast as using dedicated buttons, but it works well enough. To the right of the screen is a rather cheap-feeling navipad and a function button that offers quick access to flash mode, metering, focus, AF area, white balance and the D-Range Optimiser settings. There are four buttons beneath the On switch for playback controls. The Power switch is an unpleasant slider on the left that feels like it should be on the right, near the shutter button for those 'decisive moment' shots. It's perfect for high-contrast conditions, such as keeping the detail in skies while bringing out more detail in the shadow areas of an image.Īt the rear there are switches all over. Once you've used this setting you'll wonder how you managed without it. Nikon pioneered a similar system, called D-Lighting, which is much the same. This handy setting boosts shadow details without burning out an image's highlights. The image processing is carried out by Sony's oddly named Bionz processor and includes a very effective D-Range Optimiser function.
#SONY A350 SOFTWARE FREE#
The sensor also has a special anti-static, indium-tin coating and a sensor shift dust-busting mechanism to keep the sensor free of dust. The technology works well and enables up to 2.5 to 3.5 extra steps of exposure without blur. This means that any Sony Alpha-mount or Konica Minolta A-bayonet lens will benefit from image stabilisation. Moving on to the image sensor, the A350 has a 14.2MP CCD chip that also incorporates Sony's Super SteadyShot image stabilisation technology. Still, the ultra-fast Live View autofocus is so quick you'll soon forgive the slightly dodgy live image and framing. It's for this reason that the colours look slightly 'off' in Live View and why the live image only shows 90% of what the camera is recording. The secret to this innovation is a secondary sensor in the pentamirror that's used to feed the Live View image to the A350's screen. The A350's Live View boasts an autofocus speed that's every bit as fast and snappy as when it's not in Live View mode. They make a lot of cash from other sources, but Photoshop is their premier product.For starters there's a new breed of Live View and a tilting 2.7-inch LCD screen.

On the other hand, Photoshop is Adobe’s crown jewel. They help with the bottom line, of course, but they are far from Apple’s main bread and butter. Aperture and iPhoto are more or less niche products in Apple’s product line. I am currently using it to upload model portfolio shoot proofs of 7D/A100/A700 RAW files I’ve been re-processing with better results in AP2. If so, Apple could finally make good on their 2006 “Mac Guy” ad of instant Mac-Camera hand-in-hand coziness and language fluidity.Īlso note that the Flash Gallery Exporter Plug-in has been recently updated with new gallery codes and is compatible with AP2 and iPhoto ’08. This is very significant, as it answers the question of how quickly Apple can support new cameras: “Whenever they want” – potentially even before a new model hits the street. The interesting thing is, this is the first time Apple has released RAW processing updates apart from a system update. (If you’re using a $25k Hasselblad, you’ve also been given the keys to the Apple workflow!)
#SONY A350 SOFTWARE UPDATE#
The update includes new support for several manufactures.

Apple released a RAW Compatibility update, adding new RAW conversion support into Aperture 2.0 & iPhoto ’08 for the new Sony DSLRs.
