Moving on from the A350 - what to get?

[Kyliev]

I am only new to this forum, but have had my Sony A350 for a few years now and would like to get a new DSLR. I want to stick with Sony as I am familiar with the menus etc and I don't want to have to fork out for new lenses.
My question is which is the best model to move up to? I am tossing between the intermediate level A580 which I am yet to find a review on and the more advanced A850. I would really like to get the A850, but I am a little worried that it will be too advanced for my level and I won't really use it to its best advantage.
I have just bought a Macro lens and am really enjoying learning about the world of Macro. Apart from that I mainly take nature pics - birds, pets, landscapes, animals etc.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mpb]

Tough question for others to answer, cameras and their usage are so varied.

A couple of things to consider:-
- The A850 has a full frame sensor. Are your lenes full frame.
- The A850 does not have an onboard flash, video or live view.
- Have you looked at the A55?

all the best.

[Kyliev]

Thanks for that info Mark. I am not too worried about the flash, video or live view, but I am a little confused about the full frame sensor. I shall have to do a bit more research on this.

[Boo53]

Pricing at B&H indicates the A580 & A55 are very similar, but the A850 is $1200 more again.

Depends on where you see your photography heading but that extra money could go towards a good quality lens, etc:

[mpb]

Kyliev,

basically the full frame cameras have a sensor the same size as 35mm film. The A850 has a 35.9mm x 24 mm sensor. The A580 and A55 has a 23.4mm x 15.6 mm sensor (also known as cropped sensors) which is approximately the size of most DSLR sensors. Lenses that are not designed for the full frame sensor will not use all of the sensor. I am pretty sure the A850 can be set to use the lenses designed for cropped sensors (you will need to check this) but the will not make the most of what the camera has to offer.

The benifits of a full framed camera is the bigger sensor with more pixels without reducing pixel size. This should get better resolution if the picture is heavily cropped or blown up very big.

All the info for the sony cameras can be found summarised at http://www.dyxum.com/gear/camera/index.asp