D90

[shoturtle]

I have both a 1.8 and a 1.4, there is times for night walking around that the 1.4 will not give me 1/30 or better shutter speed. In low light it help out, not as much as many think, But going form 1/8 to 1/25 in ability do help out.

Cost effective would be to keep the 50 1.7, match that with the 12800 iso of a A550 body, and she gets a very very good low light set up.

[Hards80]

you could also look at the a500 which boasts the same feature-set as the a550 but with a 12mp vs 14mp sensor.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camer...00-review.html

[shoturtle]

That is another good option that will be cost effective.

[Debbie26]

Question about ISO. In my a300 I start noticing noise at iso 400 and I try my best not to shoot past iso 200 because the noise reallly bothers me. Will the a500 and a550 be able to handle noise alot better than the a300? Will I be able to shoot at iso400 and not have noticable noise?

I'm going to go compare features, just figured i'd ask you guys also.

Thank you all for all the info, I really appreciate it.

[TCav]

You could probably go as high as ISO 800 without noticeable noise, but a lot depends on your subject. I've gotten more noise than I'd have expected in, for instance, out of focus woodgrain.

[Debbie26]

Originally Posted by TCav

You could probably go as high as ISO 800 without noticeable noise, but a lot depends on your subject. I've gotten more noise than I'd have expected in, for instance, out of focus woodgrain.

Do you think its worth the upgrade?

[shoturtle]

You can go to 1600 with the newer camera a not really notice the noise, you will start seeing it at 3200, more at 6400 and allot at 12800.

Here are just some iso testing I did between a canon t1i and pentax k-x at high iso. I would expect the A500 and A550 will perform along the lines of the pentax k-x as pentax used the sony sensor in the k-x.


http://forums.steves-digicams.com/ge...canon-t1i.html

[TCav]

Originally Posted by shoturtle

... I would expect the A500 and A550 will perform along the lines of the pentax k-x as pentax used the sony sensor in the k-x.

But Pentax has a long history of noise reduction at the expense of fine detail. Just because a Pentax doesn't get much noise at ISO 3200 doesn't mean a Sony, even with the exact same sensor, wouldn't either, and the Sony would probably capture more detail.

I'd say that an A500 would do better than your A300, but how much better is something only you can determine. From your earlier posts, it seems that available light is important to you, and you have an approporiate lens for it. Switching from the A300 to the A500 will probably get you about two stops, but there's no way to know for certain without trying it. But I think it's your best option, unless you can wait for the new model(s) due out before the end of the year.

[shoturtle]

there are photos with NR turned of on and off with the pentax to give an example of the sensor. Also there are photos with the canon, which had NR turn off and on to compare it with. And canon is known for higher noise and more details. So if sony is slotted in the middle between the canon and pentax, you do have an idea what to expect at 3200iso. Canon being the noisiest.

[Debbie26]

Originally Posted by TCav

But Pentax has a long history of noise reduction at the expense of fine detail. Just because a Pentax doesn't get much noise at ISO 3200 doesn't mean a Sony, even with the exact same sensor, wouldn't either, and the Sony would probably capture more detail.

I'd say that an A500 would do better than your A300, but how much better is something only you can determine. From your earlier posts, it seems that available light is important to you, and you have an approporiate lens for it. Switching from the A300 to the A500 will probably get you about two stops, but there's no way to know for certain without trying it. But I think it's your best option, unless you can wait for the new model(s) due out before the end of the year.

any info like specs and price on the new model thats supposed to be coming out this year?