Sony Alpha a58 review

DSLT merges two beginner lines

Sony Alpha a58 review
The Sony Alpha a58 has a new sensor

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We used the Pop Colour Picture Effect to boost the colours and contrast in this shot for extra effect.

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There's lots of fine detail recorded by the Sony a58. The standard kit lens does a good job of maintaining sharpness across the whole scene, though you'll see in the high resolution version of the image that there is some softness in the very corners of the frame.

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A number of Creative Styles are available, such as this monochrome setting. The advantage of using these is that they can be used while shooting in raw format, leaving you with a clean version of the image to work with later if you choose.

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The standard 18-55mm kit lens has an equivalent starting focal length of 27mm, which is a decent wide angle for every day shooting.

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The kit lens rises to around 82.5mm at the telephoto end of the optic, giving flexibility.

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Colours straight from the camera are bright and vibrant, without being too over the top.

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The Sony a58 struggled to focus on this scene at first, since the light was quite minimal. This is a problem with DSLT cameras as the translucent mirror lets less light in than their DSLR counterparts.

Amy Davies

Amy has been writing about cameras, photography and associated tech since 2009. Amy was once part of the photography testing team for Future Publishing working across TechRadar, Digital Camera, PhotoPlus, N Photo and Photography Week. For her photography, she has won awards and has been exhibited. She often partakes in unusual projects - including one intense year where she used a different camera every single day. Amy is currently the Features Editor at Amateur Photographer magazine, and in her increasingly little spare time works across a number of high-profile publications including Wired, Stuff, Digital Camera World, Expert Reviews, and just a little off-tangent, PetsRadar.