Sony α (alpha) A55 16.2 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ DT 18-55mm SAM Lens)

Camera: Full of features. 10fps. Great LCD, which rotates. GPS. Eye-Fi ready. Very nice menu (for a Sony). Compact and light weight (Lighter than EOS Rebels). Solid coated paint on the outside.

Photos: Great. Fast focusing. Good quality. Not too saturated (pro reviewers complain about that, but it isn't bad at all).

Video: Great performance on low light. Good focusing (better than Canon T1 and T3i).

We are professional photographers specializing in weddings and concerts.

We started our switchover from Pentax to Sony last year with an a33 and we were absolutely thrilled with it! After reading about the A55 being the camera of the year in 2010 we thought we should try out its sibling and shot with it for few months and covered several weddings and concerts. The photos were excellent so last week we sold one of our Pentax K20Ds and bought our 1st Sony A55... what a difference! After shooting just 1 wedding with it we immediately decided to sell our other Pentax K20D and bought our 2nd A55. The A33 is now our back-up camera.

We bought this camera because of our experiences with the A33 and I must say it truly deserved to be the camera of the year!

With this camera you can get shots that you just can not get with other cameras. The tilt/swivel screen quickly adjusts to whatever angle you need to shoot from, the auto focus is fast and accurate, and the face detection yield beautiful photos where our Pentax K20s would have given us silhouettes! We shoot a lot of weddings at the beach and the A55 and A33 handle the difficult lighting with 5 star performance.

The only downsides I see with these cameras is that they go through batteries fairly quickly, and they can go through a need to shut down for a moment overheating when you are shooting really fast for a period of time. As professionals we can handle this with no problem as we have 12 batteries and 6 chargers, and always have 3 cameras between the 2 of us.

This camera puts the Pentax K20D to shame. The K20D is an excellent camera and I did a ton of research before I bought them, but Sony's new technology yields much better results for our applications.

If you look for reviews on the A55 you will find some negatives, and some reviewers just don't like it at all. Based on the lenses they tested them with they are probably right... Canon and Nikon take better photos.

Here's a little known secret... WORLD FAMOUS MINOLTA AF LENSES WORK ON SONY DSLRS!

Minolta lenses are known for their sharpness and outstanding color. Combine 1 of these fabulous lenses with Sony's new technology and you will have a camera outfit that blows away Canon and Nikon's best in this range!

With our Sony A55s and Minolta 28-135MM lenses our photos no longer NEED to be edited, we enhance them! The photos that come from this camera/lens combo are breathtaking! It's hard to believe that 1985's lens technology meshes so well with 2010's newest camera technology.

Our recommendation:

Buy the camera with the kit lens, resell the kit lens as new and use the money towards some Minolta lenses. Get the 28-135 for sure, the 70-210 f4 "Beercan", a 50MM prime and you should be good to go! One of our philosophies... you get a better photo cropping from less zoom from a great lens than you do a lousy big zoom lens!

Easy to use. Great Features and super lightweight. Upgraded from the Sony A380 and there is no regrets. Panorama and HDR settings are fun to use. Picture quality at high IS0 in low light are not grainy.

This camera is great. It is easy to use and lots of features. Great buy esp. for someone starting a photography career like me. Great picture quality!

I still need the A900 because of the full frame size for my wide angles. The A55 has HD video, MUCH higher speed, and the CCD sized sensor gives a 150% boost to zooms so my 70-200 SSM is a 105-300 on this camera. The size and weight are awesome as well. Bang for the buck - you can't beat it....until they introduce the A77 that is...