LAS VEGAS — Sony has joined the growing band of camera-makers that are announcing products at CES this year, instead of waiting for the upcoming PMA show as usual. The Alpha 450 is yet another model in Sony’s DSLR range, confusing the busy line-up even further.
It’s probably easier to tell you how the A450 differs from the nearest models in the range. The new DSLR has the same 14.2 megapixels as the A550, and the same auto-HDR (which combines the exposures of two frames). It loses the flip-out LCD screens of higher-specced Alpha-cams, and drops the “fast-AF live view system” which speeds up the typically sluggish AF in live-view modes. It also shoots at 7fps and has a long battery life due to the tech savings.
I’m pretty impressed with what Sony took out. The flip screen and fancy live-view features are nice, but they’re also frills. Sony seems to have cut back on all the non-essentials but left the good parts intact — the camera will shoot up to ISO 12800, for example, and has the body-style of the semi-pro 400 and 500 series cameras instead of the smaller shape of the 200 and 300 series. This makes it a good camera for the serious, stills-shooting enthusiast. The price has yet to be announced, but we’d take a guess that it will be at least $100 less than the launch price of the A500, which was $850.
Available February.
Sony boosts Alpha range with DSLR-A450 [DP Review]
See Also:
- New, Cheaper Sony DSLR Almost Identical to Older Brother
- Review: Upstart Sony DSLR Pops Nikon and Canon on the Chin …
- Sony Reveals First Full-Frame DSLR and New Zeiss Lenses
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