The

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

α 350 (DSLR-A350) is a

digital single-lens reflex camera A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor. The reflex des ...

(DSLR) being replaced from 2009 by the similarly specified Sony α 380. It features

live view Live preview is a feature that allows a digital camera's display screen to be used as a viewfinder. This provides a means of previewing framing and other exposure before taking the photograph. In most such cameras, the preview is generated by ...

and body-integrated

image stabilization Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce motion blur, blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure (photography), exposure. Generally, it compensates for panning (camera), pan an ...

Details

The Sony α 350 was introduced in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in March 2008. It has a 14.2

megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

CCD sensor, the second highest pixel count for an

APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 30.15 mm field d ...

format DSLR at the time of its launch, marginally exceeded by the

Pentax was a Japanese camera and optical equipment manufacturer. Currently, it exists as the Pentax Life Care Business Division of Hoya's medical endoscope business, as well as the digital camera brand of Ricoh Imaging, a subsidiary of Ricoh. Penta ...

K20D

CMOS sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor, which was invented by Peter J.W. Noble in 1968, where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector (typically a pinned photodiode) and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semic ...

. The Live View is provided by a secondary low-resolution video sensor placed in the mirror-prism housing to provide a view of the focusing screen, which allows retention of phase-contrast

autofocus An autofocus (AF) optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus on an automatically or manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system h ...

. Live View is mechanically switched via a moving mirror surface. When Live View is active, the normal exposure metering is replaced by metering from the LV image itself offering many more zones or points, along with more accurate

white balance In photography and image processing, color balance is the global adjustment of the intensities of the colors (typically red, green, and blue primary colors). An important goal of this adjustment is to render specific colors – particularly neu ...

. This system is shared with the Sony Alpha 300, a 10.2 megapixel variant.

References

External links

Specifications at sony.com

Announcement on DPReview

Reviews

Sony Alpha 350 Review
David Kilpatrick, Photoclubalpha

April 2008, Michael J. McNamara, Popular Photography
Sony Alpha DSLR-A350 Review
Richard Butler, DPreview.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sony Alpha 350

350 __NOTOC__ Year 350 ( CCCL) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Nigrinianus (or, less frequently, year 1103 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 3 ...

Live-preview digital cameras Digital cameras with CCD image sensor