- Pros
OLED EVF. Full-resolution 5fps burst shooting. Cropped JPG shooting at 7.3fps. Good performance at high ISO settings. Hinged rear display. Good control layout.
-
Cons
EVF not as sharp as other Sony models. Rear LCD could be larger and sharper. Only one control dial. Disappointing kit lens.
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Bottom Line
The Sony Alpha 58 (SLT-A58K) offers an upgraded OLED EVF and kit lens, but it isn't the top D-SLR in Sony's lineup.
The Sony Alpha 58 ($599.99 direct with 18-55mm lens) is the current entry-level D-SLR in the company's catalog. The 20-megapixel camera offers a few modest upgrades over the previous-generation Alpha 57,
including an OLED viewfinder, but takes a step backwards in terms of
burst shooting speed. If you're in the market for a D-SLR with an EVF,
we think the Alpha 65
is a better buy, though it is a bit more money. Traditionalists who
prefer an optical finder are better off with our Editors' Choice, the Nikon D5200$369.00 at BeachCamera.
Design and Features
The Alpha 58$598.00 at Amazon is pretty typical in size for an entry-level D-SLR. It measures just 3.9 by 5.1 by 3.1 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.3 pounds without a lens. The Canon EOS Rebel T5i$439.35 at Walmart.com is about the same size (3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches), but a bit lighter at 1.1 pounds. Like other Sony D-SLRs, the viewfinder is an EVF rather than an optical design. The camera still has a mirror, but it's semi-transparent and doesn't move. Most of the light hits the image sensor, but some is directed down to a dedicated phase detect autofocus sensor. This provides a seamless transition between the EVF and the rear LCD, and fast, accurate focus for both stills and video.
The Alpha 58$598.00 at Amazon is pretty typical in size for an entry-level D-SLR. It measures just 3.9 by 5.1 by 3.1 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.3 pounds without a lens. The Canon EOS Rebel T5i$439.35 at Walmart.com is about the same size (3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches), but a bit lighter at 1.1 pounds. Like other Sony D-SLRs, the viewfinder is an EVF rather than an optical design. The camera still has a mirror, but it's semi-transparent and doesn't move. Most of the light hits the image sensor, but some is directed down to a dedicated phase detect autofocus sensor. This provides a seamless transition between the EVF and the rear LCD, and fast, accurate focus for both stills and video.
View All
The EVF is an OLED design with a
1,440k-dot resolution. It's a step up in quality from the LCD found in
the Alpha 57, but it's not the equal of the 2,336k-dot OLED viewfinder
that Sony packs into its Alpha 65 and Alpha 77
cameras. That EVF is noticeably sharper, giving you a better idea of
what you're shooting. The rear LCD on the Alpha 58 is a little lacking
as well; it's a 2.7-inch panel with a hinged design so that it can tilt
up or down. The resolution is 460k-dots, which is only half that of
others in this class like the Pentax K-50$349.81 at Amazon.
The small LCD does leave a bit of extra
room on the body for controls. On the rear you'll find buttons to record
movies, activate exposure lock, and adjust exposure compensation. Below
those, directly to the right of the LCD, you'll find the Fn button,
which lets you control shooting settings via an on-screen menu, and a
four-way control pad with directional buttons to adjust the information
displayed over the live view feed, change the drive mode and activate
the self-timer, adjust white balance, and control color output. The
center AF button enables tracking focus, and there are also the standard
image playback and delete buttons. The latter doubles as an on-screen
guide that contains tips for the best settings for different types of
photos. The menu button is located above the LCD, to the left of the
EVF's eyecup.
Up top there's a mode dial, which has a
few additional options beyond the standard settings. There's one for
scene modes, which set the camera to correct settings to capture
different types of photos, as well as a special telephoto crop extends
the reach of your lens and increases the maximum burst shooting speed,
but reduces photo resolution to 5 megapixels. To the right of the EVF
are the power switch, shutter release, ISO control, a toggle to change
between the rear LCD and EVF (there is an eye-sensor if you'd like that
to be automatic), and a button marked Zoom. This enables Sony's Clear
Image Zoom (for JPG shots only), which lets you enable as much as 2x
digital zoom to extend the reach of your lens; images are saved at the
full 20-megapixel resolution when using this function.
There's a single control dial on the
front of the handgrip. Most cameras in this class only offer a single
control dial (which changes function based on the mode you're in). Of
the sub-$1,000 D-SLRs, only the Pentax K-50 (and it's non-weather-sealed
sibling, the K-500) offer front and rear control dials. That's a
feature that comes in handy when shooting in manual mode, but is also
useful in other situations, including shooting manual with automatic ISO
so that you can control shutter speed and depth of field without having
to worry about calculating exposure. The Alpha 58 does support that
function; to adjust the shutter speed in manual mode you simply use the
front dial, and if you hold down the exposure compensation button the
front dial function changes to control aperture.
Performance and ConclusionsThe Alpha 58 is a little slow to start and shoot. It requires about 2.8 seconds to do so. The shutter lag is very, very short, we clocked it at about 0.05 second, although the time to focus does increase to about 0.2-second if the camera needs to drive the included DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM II$218.00 at Amazon zoom lens. In low light, focus slows to about 1.5 seconds. The Canon T5i takes a little bit longer to confirm focus and fire in good light, about 0.2-second, but offers similar focus performance in dim light, about 1.4 seconds. That camera slows down a lot when you switch to live view, requiring about 0.8-second to focus in good light and 2.4 seconds in dim light; the Alpha 58 delivers the same performance regardless of your choice of EVF or rear LCD for composition.
In terms of burst shooting, the Alpha 58
takes a step back from its predecessor. It can shoot full-resolution
photos at 5 frames per second; Raw or Raw+JPG shooting is limited to 5
and 6 shots respectively, but it can keep that pace for up to 10 JPG
shots. It takes about 8.5 seconds to write all of the Raw+JPG photos to a
SanDisk 95MBps memory card; that shortens to 7.1 seconds for Raw, and
4.1 seconds for JPG. There's a special mode on the dial that increases
the burst rate to 7.3fps, but it narrows the field of view of your lens
by a 2x factor, and reduces resolution to 5 megapixels. The camera can
capture 25 images before slowing, with only 3.1 seconds required to
clear its buffer to a memory card.
The older Alpha 57 is able to fire off 28
JPG or 22 Raw photos at 7.8 frames per second, and has a 12fps mode
that captures 8-megapixel JPG photos with a 1.4x crop factor. The reason
for the step back in performance is simplification of Sony's D-SLR
line. There used to be an Alpha 37 model that was positioned as the
entry-level body; that camera is gone, and the Alpha 58 replaces both it
and the Alpha 57. It's clear that Sony has cut down the buffer size in
order to create more separation between this camera and the next model
up in the series, the Alpha 65.
I used Imatest
to check the sharpness of the included kit lens. This version of the
lens, the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM II, is an upgraded version of the older DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM
lens, which we didn't like when we tested it with the Alpha 57. The new
version of the lens is noticeably sharper, recording better than the
1,800 lines per picture height that we use to define a sharp image at
its widest angle. But its performance dips as you zoom in; it notches a
mere 1,615 lines at 35mm f/4.5, but improves to 1,939 lines when stopped
down at f/5.6. Zooming to 55mm f/5.6 gets you 1,605 lines, but you can
get a sharper photo by stopping down to f/8, where it manages 1,898
lines. Edge performance is weak throughout the zoom range, and there's
noticeable amount of barrel distortion, about 3.7 percent, at the 18mm
setting. The lens is a better performer than its predecessor, but it's
still underperforming, even for a kit lens. The 18-55mm lenses that
Canon and Nikon D-SLRs use are sharper, but produce similar distortion
at the wide angle. You can change the lens on a D-SLR, of course; and
Sony has a number of lenses in its lineup that are strong performers,
older autofocus Minolta Maxxum lenses are compatible, and you can opt
for a top-end zoom like the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM$799.00 at Amazon if you're willing to spend some money.
Imatest also checks photos for noise,
which can introduce grain and rob photos of sharpness as you increase
its sensitivity to light. The Alpha 58 keeps JPG noise below 1.5 percent
through ISO 3200, which will let you shoot in lower light, especially
if you're working with a lens that captures more light than the included
zoom. Detail is good through that setting, and also acceptable at ISO
6400, where noise is about 1.8 percent. If you shoot in Raw you get
excellent detail through ISO 6400, though images are quite grainy.
Things get dicey in either format when you push the ISO to 12800; images
there are noticeably noisy and detail is muddy. The 16-megapixel Pentax
K-50 is one of the better SLRs we've seen in terms of high ISO
performance, and delivers similar performance.
Video is recorded in AVCHD format at
1080i60 or 1080p24 quality, or in MP4 format at 1080p. The quality is
excellent, and the camera focuses very quickly thanks to its full-time
phase detect autofocus. There is a mic input if you'd like to use the
camera for projects where sound quality is imperative, as well as micro
HDMI and micro USB ports. There's a DC power input, a rarity in cameras
of this class, in case you'd like to use it in a studio setting and not
worry about battery life. The memory card slot supports standard SD,
SDHC, and SDXC memory cards, as well as Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo cards.
The Sony Alpha 58 is a good D-SLR, but
it's not the best that Sony has to offer. If you're a fan of an
electronic viewfinder and the benefits that full-time phase detection
offers for video capture and live view, you'll be happy to know that the
Alpha 58's EVF is better than that of its predecessor. But it's not as
good as the one in the next step up in the line, the Alpha 65. Nor does
the Alpha 58 match its burst capture capabilities. If you can afford it,
we recommend getting that; it's available as a body only ($650), so you
can choose your lens, or with the new SAM II kit zoom for around $800.
That might stretch the budget, but we think that the better EVF,
shot-to-shot performance, and integrated GPS that come with the Alpha 65
are worth it. If you're not an EVF fan, none of the current crop of
Sony SLRs will make you happy. Optical viewfinder fans should take a
close look at the Pentax K-50 and our Editors' Choice Nikon D5200; the
K-50 has a best-in-class pentaprism finder, but struggles with video
performance, and the D5200 is an excellent all-around performer.