Sony Alpha 65 – Review April 2014

Both the Sony Alpha 77 and Alpha 65 were announced at the same time, and while the A77 generated the most headlines the A65 has been somewhat overlooked. In many ways it's the A65 that deserves to be the more popular, due to its impressive specifications and more reasonable asking price.

Sony Alpha 65 Review

Just like the A77, the A65 is based around Sony's SLT technology, which sees a semi-translucent mirror passing roughly two-thirds of the light exiting the lens through to the imaging sensor, with the rest bounced up onto an AF sensor. This means AF is never interrupted, and also that the camera can achieve a burst rate of 10fps.

This all comes at the expense of the optical viewfinder, though. In its place there's an OLED electronic alternative with a stunningly high 2.4-million-dot resolution. This is joined on the rear by a clear, crisp 3in LCD with a 921k-dot resolution, which can be angled for a variety of shooting positions.

Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM zoom lens

The AF system has been cut back from the 19-point system on the A77 to a 15-point array here, with three of these AF points being cross-type variants, meaning they're sensitive to both vertical and horizontal details.

While the A77 benefited from a magnesium body, the A65 has an all-plastic body shell, which is in line with its rivals. With the rubberised covering that coats the sculptured handgrip, it feels secure in the hand, and shooting is straightforward.

The 2.4-million-dot resolution of the EVF means it's capable of displaying the scene with excellent clarity, and as it displays 100% of the scene (in contrast to many optical viewfinders which trim the edges) it's easy to ensure accurate framing.

Tru-Finder viewfinder on the Sony A65

The 15-point AF system may not be quite as advanced as the A77's 19-point system, but compared to its rivals it more than sticks up for itself. AF acquirement is fast and precise, with hunting only an issue in tricky lighting conditions. One of the really clever things with the SLT technology is that the phase-detect AF system can be used in live view and video recording, mirroring the experience from the EVF.

The A65 is capable of shooting at up to 10fps (in Continuous Priority mode) that's good for either 14 Raw files or 18 JPEGs before the buffer needs to be cleared. Very impressive stuff.

Multi-segment metering performs very well, producing well-exposed shots in most conditions, although at times you'll need a touch of exposure compensation to lift slightly underexposed images. Images display a smooth tonal range, while there's the D-Range Optimiser to rescue detail in high-contrast, backlit scenes. Note that this is a JPEG only option though. Auto white balance gives pleasing results.

The 24.3MP sensor delivers excellent detail and sharpness, with this high resolution allowing you to print images to A2 at 240dpi without the need to upscale them. From the base sensitivity to ISO 3200 results display minimal levels of image noise, with usable results past this point too.

Verdict

The A65 is a great-performing mid-price DSLR. Image quality is superb and the EVF is one of the best around. Furthermore the SLT construction makes it a particularly good option for those looking to record high-quality videos, although with so much reliance on the rear display and EVF it's not surprising that battery life is a little poor.