Camera and Camcorder AVCHD Video Converter

Despite its remarkable resemblance to a DSLR in terms of appearance, handling and function it turns out that Sony’s 16.2-megapixel a55 is in fact a DSLT: a Digital Single Lens Translucent.

In layman’s terms this means the internal mirror is fixed in position and needn’t move to allow light to pass through to the sensor, as it would in a DSLR.

In the a55, the semi-translucent mirror remains stationery and reflects most of the light coming in to the imaging sensor and the rest of it onto a phase-detection 15-point AF array, which helps achieve the impressive 10 frames a second of continuous shooting (when in fast action mode, otherwise it’s 6fps.)

So, the optical pathway between the image and auto focus sensors is split. As a bi-product of using this technology as opposed to traditional DSLR pentaprism mechanics, the a55 (tested with the 18-55m F3.5-5.6 lens) is smaller in dimension and lighter (441g) than expected given its capabilities.

As a result of its fixed mirror the viewfinder display on the a55 shows a digital display rather than an optical one and consequently reveals exactly what the sensor is ‘seeing.’

Being able to view your images via the electronic viewfinder (EVF) is a huge advantage when shooting outdoors in bright sunlight as there is no need to contend with difficult-to-view images on the LCD. Simply look through the EVF and there is your image in all of its unaffected-by-glare-and-bright-light glory.

While true, the quality of the preview in the EVF is not as good as it would be in an optical viewfinder there certainly are a few pros to this system.

Of course if you don’t like using the EVF there is a dedicated button for switching between it and the LCD preview.

That said, there isn’t always need to rely on this button given the a55 has a sensor near the eyepiece that detects when you place your eye up against it and consequently automatically flicks between the two options, which proves both intuitive and quite convenient.

Speaking of convenience and intuitiveness, the a55’s 3-inch 912k dot LCD not only offers an attractive preview but tilts out from and underneath the unit a full 180 degrees vertically and then swivels around some 270 degrees on top of that.