Hey everyone

I was wondering what everyones thoughts are on Sony SLR's.
In specific the A55. It seems to have good specs but I don't have much
knowledge on the SLR's.

Would there be another camera worth looking at besides the Sony?

Tim

Your probably going to get the Canon fanboi club screaming CANON but I use Sony equipment and find it takes great photos.

However - I do have a collection of Ziess lenses which are some of the best made lens on the market. The lenses that come with most bodies as standard can be quite average.

__________________
[COLOR=Black]Liberty GT Spec B tuned 240 HP & 372 Nm at the hubs.[/COLOR] "Instead of banning high performance cars - ban low performance drivers"

OMG BUY CANON!

With SLR's it all comes down to lenses. If you invest in the quality lenses from Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc you will get better results. Saying that, sticking with canon or nikon helps as they are more the pro series so there is more choice and reviews and the like out there.

Have a look at what you will be doing, there is no point buying a fully siq body and then using cheap lenses. Better to buy a cheaper body and the best lenses.

Then you can also look into whether you want a crop body or full frame... etc etc etc. Cameras are worse than cars!

__________________
[COLOR="Gray"]550Nm off a 2L... Just wish it was in the dak dak...[/COLOR]

I completely agree with Kato that it's the lens that "makes" the picture NOT the body. Hence, my Zeiss lens which have migrated up from 3 bodies ago.

__________________
[COLOR=Black]Liberty GT Spec B tuned 240 HP & 372 Nm at the hubs.[/COLOR] "Instead of banning high performance cars - ban low performance drivers"

Ah k it will be mainly used for taking photos of my son growing up
and when I go to race events to take pics of car racing.

I own a Sony SLR's. I am very happy with it, but if I had my time over again I would buy a Canon.

Completely agree with this, however there is not point having a top of the range lens (e.g. L series lens) and using it with a basic body.

Some of the higher spec bodies come with more or better features than the lower range models.

Keen to know why?

I assume that when you spectate at races, you won't be too close to the cars so a decent sized zoom lens will be required here (70-200mm with a 1.4x teleconverter would be a great start).

__________________
2015 Forester XT Premium
2020 VW Tiguan Allspace
teejay: If I wanted a comeback Id wank in front of a fan

The sony slr range is quite good, in both the image and video quality... the boys are right in saying a lense makes all the difference... i work at a camera house store and i can definately vouch for canon as their quality of lense and general build is top notch... agreed with soksta, if you go a canon and take it to motor sport events, a 55-250mm IS lense with a teleconverter would do very nicely..

have a look at the canon 550D its well worth the money, its quicker then the a55 (3.7 fps from memory), 18MP and also does full HD video... between the canon and sony alpha lenses, the canons feel much more solid and smoooth... carl ziess lenses are a better feel then the alpha series...

all in all the a55 is a great camera but with a canon you have a larger range of lenses and their quality is top notch...

Something else that you might want to consider with the Sony range is that the image stabilization is built into the body itself instead of the lens. Might be useful if you are constantly shooting handheld or have shaky hands.

Have you considered a Nikon D3100 or even a D5000? Both are relatively new models in the same range as the 550D.

+1 for Canon550D its awesome! Done a few weddings with it and newborns photo shoots ! plus cars/festivals etc !