Sony Alpha SLT-A33 user reviews

Paul2011 12 November 2011

Good: Easy of use.

Bad: Battery life. Microphone picks up auto-focus noise which is very annoying. Too easy to press the "record video" button by mistake when using the monitor. Lack of support from Sony - see below.

Comment: Let me clarify the above. After reformatting my HDD and re-installing XP Home, my videos in AVCHD would not play. Contacted Tech Support by phone and they told me that they do NOT support XP except as an original installation. This means that I cannot watch my videos made in AVCHD without buying a video converter programme. There is the option to record in MP4 too but be aware of this if you are thinking of buying one. You probably won't be told this when you buy the camera because the shop probably won't know. :-(

Paul2011 12 November 2011

Good: Ease of use after you find where everything is.

Bad: Lack of support from Sony. Battery life. Autofocus noice from microphone

Comment: Camera is good but

Akira Nc Wong 15 May 2011

Good: It is really user-friendly. with lots of cool stuff in the camera. the sweep panorama. the image stabilizer. Good for dslr amateur definitely.

Bad: the battery life is really bad.

Comment: the extremely fast response time is the best thing about this camera.

Batı Yanıkoğlu 26 February 2011

Good: Image quality, Simple to Operate, Fast Auto Focus, Night Shots

Bad: Short Battery Life, Grip

Comment: It is easy to use and image quality is fine. It is a little hard to hold and not good for long videos. I think it is a good DSLR for a beginner.

Jakei Marmiyte 7 February 2011

Good: AMAZING image quality and hd video

Comment: This little thing is amazing. Image quality is fantastic, especially in low light and great noise reduction up to 1600 ISO.

malai5 8 January 2011

Good: It is so simple to operate.

Bad: Battery life could be better

Comment: Having only just purchased the A33, my first picture amazed me with its image quality.
It just does more than I expected Soooo, easily.
This is definately a no fuss "point and shoot" with all the benefits of a mid to high range DSLR. And to think I almost bought a Nikon D3100.

mikeshomes 30 December 2010

Good: Just about everthing

Bad: nothing

Comment: I have a Canon 7D, Olympus Epl1 and I'm blown away by the image quality, speed and absolute fun this camera provides.

Neil Roberts 13 December 2010

Good: Light, fast AF, burst shot

Bad: grip

Comment: This been my second Sony Apha, was looking for a camera with movie fuction.It makes my old 200 like something out of the ark.Blinding fast AF. Get the burst right with a good class 6 card, you get more than the 7 shots. Video is fine, I never shoot for longer than say 3 or 4 minutes so not had the over heating.
A very good camera for the price.

mgs315 19 October 2010

Good: Small, light, insanely fast AF on burst for the money

Bad: LCD mount could be broken off quite easily by accident, EVF isn't as good as an OVF but that's part of the tech.

Comment: Thomas Hagerty should've read the manual or a few reviews before buying it. Nine mins for SSS video is quoted by the manufacturer. When turned off it'll do the also specified max of 29 mins without much fuss. No foreseeable drop in IQ from using the translucent mirror. Still amazed by how quickly this thing can take individually focused shots too. Bought it with the 18-55 and 55-200 lens as a starter Alpha, mighty impressed so far. Very intuitive.

I can understand the grip may be a little small for some (my hands aren't massive but even then my pinky is slipping off the bottom of the body) and the EVF isn't for everyone but it's comfortable to hold and I haven't yet thought of any particular part where I would really crave an OVF over the EVF, especially when you consider WHY it's there in the first place. If you're an average Joe looking for a very decent starter SLR style camera with pretty awesome performance I can only sing praise for it. This is coming from someone who was always put off by SLRs and Alphas in general in the past.

Thomas Hagerty 30 September 2010

Good: Lightweight

Bad: Overheats when shooting video

Comment: Just bought the camera and used it to shoot video. After 9 min of shooting the camera goes into a safe mode due to overheating. Apparently due to a faulty image sensor design it overheats at about 9 mins with the image stabilization on. If you turn it off, it extends for 29 min. If you are buying thid caamera to take videos, it is certainly a bad choice.