Sony Alpha SLT-A55 Samples

Here, the Sony Alpha SLT-A55 is compared to the Pentax K-5
Pentax K-5 which most likely shares the same image sensor. All images below are 100% unmodified crops from their respective cameras. Both cameras were set to F/8 in aperture-priority mode with fixed ISO and custom white-balance. As usual, the cameras were calibrated to give the highest quality and most realisitc results possible. The Sony used a Minolta 50mm F/1.4 lens while the Pentax used a DA* 55mm F/1.4.

These crops help determine which ISO settings can be acceptably used on these cameras. As image noise increases, most cameras compensate with noise reduction which introduces softness. The point at which a print become unacceptably noisy is a matter of personal taste. The crops below do show much more crispness on the Pentax side which serves it very well. At ISO 800 the Sony's softness, which is most likely due to different noise-reduction, hides noise a little better. That being said, images remain equally usable to ISO 1600 or 3200 depending on print sizes. After that, the Pentax K-5 pulls ahead, managing slightly more than a 1-stop lead. This is quite impresive of the Alpha SLT-A55 which costs half as much as the Pentax K-5, the present image quality champion among cropped-sensor DSLRs.

Sony Alpha SLT-A55	Pentax K-5
ISO 100	ISO 100
ISO 200	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 6400
ISO 12800	ISO 12800
	ISO 25600
	ISO 51200