Ken P. Gables
I am a semiprofessional photographer who, as a former Minolta user, has been trying to patiently wait on Sony to come out with a suitable pro model so as to continue to use lenses and accessories dedicated to my system. A year ago I bought this camera along with Sonys 18-250mm zoom lens, used it for some work, including a wedding. My first impression of the camera, upon immediately opening the box was a bit negative; it is small and has a very plastic feel. But after using the camera only a few minutes I was impressed with the responsiveness of the auto focus and very impressed with the 14MP detail. (I had been using a 6MP Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D) The a350 made some great pictures. With that said I decided to have this camera body converted to use as an infrared camera (paying a lab to remove the infrared sensor) and have been using it for infrared photography for a year now, with good results. Since then I have been waiting for Sony to come out with a true pro model, which it has: the Sony a700 and a900. But in the time I have had using the a350, I have come to really enjoy two features which the higher end Sony models still do not offer: live view, and a tilting sensor. These are really great features and I will wait until Sony has a pro model with these. With that said I have recently made a purchase of a second a350 body, taking advantage of some great closeout deals as the a380 is destined to replace this camera. Most of my work is landscapes and environmental portraiture. I hike with my cameras, I go on float trips with my cameras, I wade in streams with my cameras, I expose my cameras to a lot of risk. The idea of dunking a $3000 camera is nauseating. I can now have two small camera bodies to hike with and have a relatively small chance of such a disaster. This camera can produce great results with good exposures and technic. Professional reviews of the a350 camera tend to be negative regarding its performance in low light and high ISOs. How I would respond is that you just cant put 14MP on an APS size sensor and have great performance in low light, regardless of the camera brand. With that said, 99 percent of the people interested in this camera would likely never notice this low light performance issue. A camera is a tool, the camera body is only a component. The skill of the photographer is still much more important than miscellaneous technical details that tech people like to argue about. I would strongly recommend this as and entry level or backup professional camera.