Sony A55

Sony A55 is Sony's Entry-Level DSLR camera initially revealed on August of 2010. It features a 16 MegaPixel, CMOS APS-C sized sensor and has a peak resolution of 4912 x 3264.

Sony launched the more recent Sony A57 (Read Full Comparison) in order to upgrade this camera.

The A55 places at #29 out of 80 in Entry-Level DSLR cameras & all-around #234 out of 1465 for cameras in our list. You can look at our Smart camera search to get camera listings based on your custom requirements.

The following is a chart of different criteria used in the scoring system.

The Sony A55 has a history of related cameras. Here, you can see all previous and brand new models alongside main specs.

You can check the A55 from various angles in the gallery below.

Below is a checklist of good and bad points of the Sony A55 based on criterias that are typically seen as essential in a camera.

The Sony A55 features the Bionz processor chip. The sensor specification in the Sony A55 is 23.5mm x 15.6mm (APS-C). The 367 mm² sensor is able to resolve 4912 x 3264 pixels and aspect ratios of 3:2 and 16:9. The camera has Image Stabilization (Sensor based). Optical stabilization is more effective than digital stabilization as the latter can produce cropping.

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The CMOS sensor has 16MP and includes a native ISO range of 100 - 12800. This ISO can be extended digitally to a high of 25600. RAW format is saved therefore you have wider margin for error.

The image below displays the A55's sensor dimensions in comparison to other common sizes. The A55 sensor has a crop factor of 1.5 and is pointed out in green.

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To get a sense of various aspect ratios, you can refer to the visual below.

Sony A55 is 1.10 pounds (500 gr / 17.64 oz) & the volume of the camera is 124mm x 92mm x 85mm (4.9" x 3.6" x 3.3"). The weight of general Entry-Level DSLR camera is 540 gr so the Sony A55 is very similar compared with other competitors.

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The following is a photo of the Sony A55 with a softdrink so you can get a feel for its scale.

The top view below will highlight the button design on the A55.

The A55 works with the Sony/Minolta Alpha mount and has 145 lenses to pick from. Below is some of the lenses we have in our database which will fit the A55.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Samyang 50mm F1.4 AS UMC50mmf/1.4535g

Sony DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 SAM55-200mmf/4.0-5.6 305g

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Rokinon 35mm f1.435mmf/1.4 660g

Sony DT 18-70mm F3.5-5.618-70mmf/3.5-5.6 235g

Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G70-200mmf/2.8 1500g

Samyang 35mm F1.4 AS UMC35mmf/1.4 660g

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Sony 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T16-35mmf/2.8 900g

The A55 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• Wireless Yes
• HDMI Yes
• GPS Yes

Cameras which include NFC and Bluetooth connectivity can easily be used wirelessly by smartphones. You are able to transfer pictures and oftentimes alter settings with no need to connect physically to the camera.

Several applications even give a Liveview and press the shutter whenever you aren't close to the camera. If the camera boasts a HDMI port, it could be attached to an external screen. Most cameras will allow you to charge the battery through the USB socket.

The highest video resolution in the Sony A55 is 1920 x 1080 and you can shoot in MPEG-4, AVCHD and H.264 format. 1080p resolution delivers a great balance for quality and file sizes but FULL HD won't give you any room to downsample. While the camera has a microphone port, it is lacking a headphone port which means you will not have the ability to check your sound levels.

There is no weather proofing in the Sony A55 so you need to be cautious in rainy or dusty situations.

The Sony A55 features a 3 inch fully articulated screen supporting a resolution of 921 thousand dots.

It possesses a selfie friendly display to take self portraits and group photos when necessary. Unfortunately the screen is not a touch screen.

Photography Glossary

The View Finder specs for Sony A55 are below:

• ViewFinder Electronic
• Resolution 1,150 thousand dots
• Coverage 100%
• Magnification 0.73x

Viewfinders are pretty handy for bright outdoor situations which may make the camera display washed out and hard to see.

Sony A55 continuous shooting speed is 10.0 frames/s. The maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 sec.

Sony A55 has both integrated flash as well as external flash ability. The max flash sync speed is 1/160 sec.

Sony A55 has both Phase Detect AF as well as Contrast Based AF. Phase Detection autofocusing is a lot more faster & accurate in comparison with Contrast Based autofocusing. The camera features Face detect which can be handy for portraits.

It features 15 focus points to choose from. Sony A55 boasts manual focusing when required for low light or you want to have more exact control on focusing.

The battery power (NP-FW50) in the Sony A55 is fashioned to last for 380 shutters according to the CIPA specifications which is lower compared with it's competitors. The typical Entry-Level DSLR camera battery life is 589. Pentax K-x features the highest (1900) battery life for this class of cameras.

Underneath is a listing of Entry-Level DSLR cameras with the highest battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Pentax K-x
A55 vs K-x1900 yesnono

Nikon D3500
A55 vs D35001550 yesnoyes

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Nikon D3400
A55 vs D34001200 yesnoyes

Canon SL3
A55 vs SL31070 yesnoyes

Sony A450
A55 vs A4501050 yesnono

The following chart provides a analysis of the Sony A55 for different forms of photography. To look at more, check out the specific section below.

The Sony A55 receives a points tally of 73 which is nice, meaning that it is a respectable pick to use for portrait photography. Photographing portrait images favors heavily to sensor dimensions, support for RAW files in addition to the ability to use external flash.

Having a outstanding score of 77, the Sony A55 is a fantastic option to use in street photography. A good street photography camera features a good balance of image quality and portability.

A nice sports photography points total of 68 indicates the Sony A55 is a good pick for taking pictures of sports. A camera really should have great focusing and fast continuous shooting for sports photography.

Size is super critical when getting a camera for travel. On the whole, the Sony A55 gets a above average 62 as a travelling camera which is a very decent choice to take with you on your travels.

For those who are planning to pick a digital camera for landscape pictures, the biggest factor will no doubt be image quality. The Sony A55 and it's nice rating of 67 for a landscape camera is a good pick in the current marketplace.

A camera for vlogging really should have a moving display, microphone port and ideally IBIS. Taking everything into account, the Sony A55 is a tremendous choice as a vlog camera as it receives a tremendous rating of 78.

If you are interested in replacements to the A55, here is a range of the highest rated cameras which fall into the class of Entry-Level DSLR.

The chart below shows you a summary of the A55 compared to it's top ranking rivals listed previously.

There are a bunch of cameras you might look at as alternatives. To browse through a extensive comparison, simply click the "compare" link.