Photo Review 9.5

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Sony DSLR-A900

In summary

A high-resolution professional DSLR that is designed for photographers and totally gimmick-free.In its new flagship DSLR, the A900, Sony has eschewed gimmicks like live view and video recording and instead focused upon producing a camera with real appeal to professional photographers. Minolta film camera users who've been eagerly awaiting a 'full frame' DSLR body will have nothing to complain about and plenty to like; tradition is alive and thriving in this camera. And, since many controls and settings replicate those in the A700 model, photographers swapping between them should feel right at home. . . [more]

Full review

In its new flagship DSLR, the A900, Sony has eschewed gimmicks like live view and video recording and instead focused upon producing a camera with real appeal to professional photographers. Minolta film camera users who've been eagerly awaiting a 'full frame' DSLR body will have nothing to complain about and plenty to like; tradition is alive and thriving in this camera. And, since many controls and settings replicate those in the A700 model, photographers swapping between them should feel right at home.
A key feature of the new model is the 35.9 x 24.0mm CMOS sensor which, with an effective resolution of 24.61 megapixels, is a class leader. Coupled to it is a new "SteadyShot Inside" body-integrated anti-shake system that was designed specifically for the full-frame size DSLR. Because of the larger sensor, the in-body stabilisation system uses a more powerful shift mechanism than Sony's other DSLR cameras and Sony rates it as capable of providing between 2.5 and four f-stops of shutter speed advantage (which we found credible).

Front view of the DSLR-A900 with the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA SSM lens, which will be offered with the camera body.

Rear view, showing the Quick Navi display.

Top view with the mode dial, pentaprism housing, hot-shoe, data LCD and button controls.

When you first switch the camera on you feel a distinct buzz as the dust-removal vibration kicks in. The vibrator also shakes the sensor each time the camera is switched off. Sony has also added an anti-static coating to the low-pass filter in front of the sensor to minimise the risk of dust collecting on it, further reducing the chance of dust settling on the sensor. The shutter mechanism is rated for 100,000 cycles and supports a top shutter speed of 1/8000 second.
Appropriately for a professional DSLR, the A900 boasts a magnesium alloy chassis with five main components plus environmental sealing between the body panels and O-rings around buttons, dials and hatches to prevent the entry of dust and moisture. However, while it might survive the occasional light shower or be usable in the snowfields, the camera body certainly isn't waterproof.
The grip is generous with a comfortable recess for the middle finger. The sensor for the supplied remote commander is located in this groove. Textured rubber cladding covers the grip and much of the front body panels. It also provides a comfortable thumb rest on the rear of the camera body. The Photo Review team was unanimous in declaring the A900 to be comfortable to hold and operate with the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA SSM lens, which will be offered with the camera body. When you're looking at a shooting weight of just under two kilograms, it's reassuring that the camera's design provides an excellent balance and easy operation with this lens.
The A900's ground-glass optical pentaprism viewfinder is bright and clear, with minimal aberration thanks to a condenser lens and highly refractive optical elements. It covers the full field of view of the sensor with approximately 0.74x magnification and no apparent distortion. Sensors located below the viewfinder eyepiece switch off the LCD when the camera is raised to your eye. (Interestingly, eye start AF is not supported.)
Eye relief is generous, at 20mm from the eyepiece and dioptre adjustment of -3 to +1 dpt is provided. User-replaceable focusing screens are available in both L-type (grid pattern) and M-type (super spherical acute matte); both sold as optional accessories. A built-in eyepiece shutter is provided to prevent stray light entering during long exposures.
Instead of offering live view shooting, Sony has opted for an Intelligent Preview function, which allows users to capture a shot into the internal camera memory and simulate the effect of various camera settings on it. Users can adjust parameters like exposure, white balance and D-Range Optimiser settings and preview the changes directly on the 3-inch, 921,600-dot "Extra Fine" LCD monitor. To finally capture the shot using the adjusted setting, users can simply press the shutter release button.

The D900's Intelligent Preview display.
The D-Range (Dynamic Range) Optimiser function provides automatic fine-tuning of image brightness and contrast to minimise the loss of highlight and shadow detail in shots of wide dynamic range subjects. This function has been extended on the A900 with an Advanced Auto mode that analyses and selectively adjusts each tonal area.
There's also an Advanced Level setting that provides five optimisation levels, letting users set the level of adjustment between 1 (weak) and 5 (strong) for even greater control. The actual adjustments are pretty subtle in some cases. Examples of some settings are shown below.

D-Range Optimiser off

D-Range Optimiser Standard

D-Range Optimiser Advanced Level 1

D-Range Optimiser Advanced Level 3

D-Range Optimiser Advanced Level 5
The LCD is used for most menu-based adjustments, although it also doubles as a 'Quick Navi' screen in association with the Fn. Button. Pressing the Fn. Button switches to this mode and you can move from one setting to the next with the joystick. Pressing the joystick in opens sub-menus or engages selections.

The Quick Navi screen.
The A900 also has a small data display on the top panel, right of the viewfinder housing. It's monochrome only and provides status checks for the aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, white balance, ISO and drive mode settings as well as a count-down of the number of recordable images and a battery status check. Backlight illumination is available via an adjacent button.
Pressing the Drive button opens a menu with nine settings. You can select single or continuous exposures and in the latter choose between Hi and Lo settings. The self-timer can be set to two or ten second delay. Bracketing can be set for single or continuous exposures with increments of 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 EV for up to five frames and 2.0 EV for up to three frames. Bracketing is also available for white balance and D-Range Optimiser settings with Hi and Lo options for each adjustment.

The two pages of the Drive menu.
The Mirror Lockup setting in the Drive sub-menu prevents vibrations from mirror bounce when the shutter is released. This function is valuable for photographers who shoot extreme close-ups with macro lenses as well as those using ultra-long telephoto lenses. Two presses of the shutter button are required; the first to focus and raise the mirror and the second to capture the shot. Unfortunately, this function appears to be incompatible with the remote commander, which is also controlled through this menu.
However, photographers who shoot long exposures - or like to use remote triggering for the shutter - are now adequately catered for. Whereas the A700's remote commander could only trigger the shutter from the front, the A900's remote commander can trigger the shutter from the rear.
The mode dial left of the viewfinder housing carries eight settings: a green 'auto' button (goodness knows why this was included because this camera is wasted on point-and-shoot photographers), P, A, S and M mode settings plus three numbered memory banks where photographers can store groups of frequently-used settings.

The three pages of Custom functions that can be set via the main menu.
Three pages of Custom function can be found just after the shooting pages in the main menu. In addition, users can adjust camera settings via four set-up menus, the first covering display and connectivity, the second file management, the third and fourth an array of other camera settings that are typically provided in Custom sub-menus. Together with the memory banks they provide a similar range of adjustments to other pro. DSLRs.

Page 1 of the set-up menu.

Right of the data display are buttons for setting exposure compensation, drive mode, white balance and ISO sensitivity. Front and rear control dials provide selective adjustments for parameters like aperture and shutter speed settings. Occupying much of the right side panel is the memory card compartment, which has slots for CompactFlash and Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.
The default setting records to the CF card and you must use the Quick Navi screen if want to switch to the other card. The card door fits snugly but does not lock. On the left side panel are three hatches covering terminals for the remote commander, HDMI, USB/video-out and DC in ports. These hatches also fit snugly but have finger grips to make them easy to open.
The front panel carries the lens release button with a rotating focus mode lever below it. Embedded in the base of the lens mount is the depth-of-field preview button, which is easiest to press with your left index finger when you're holding the camera. The battery slots into a compartment in the base of the camera, where it is held in with a latch. The metal-lined tripod socket sits centrally on the optical axis of the camera.
Like other professional DSLRs, the A900 has no built-in flash and, in this respect it differs from all other Sony DSLRs. However, the expected hot-shoe for external flash units is built into the top of the pentaprism housing and there's a synch terminal on the front panel, just below the mode dial. A slide-on cover protects the contacts while no flash is fitted. (We were unable to test flash performance.)
In-camera support is provided for the Minolta-designed ADI flash system, which uses pre-flash TTL metering to calculate the correct exposure. Selectable flash modes include Autoflash, Fill-flash, Rear-curtain sync, Slow sync and High-speed Sync. Wireless flash support is also provided for Sony's HVL-F58AM, HVL-F56AM, HVL-F42AM and HVL-F36A flash units but full multi-flash functionality requires at least one HVL-F58AM unit in the set-up.
The head on the HVL-F58AM can pivot 90 degrees left and right on a horizontal axis in addition to the conventional up and down vertical adjustment. With this system, the camera and flash unit can keep the same orientation regardless of whether you shoot in portrait or landscape format, thereby providing more flexibility for the direction of the light.
Flash bracketing options are extensive and include the ability to set exposure steps of 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 EV for up to five frames and 2.0 EV for up to three frames. Flash exposure levels can be adjusted across plus or minus 3EV in 1/3 or 1/5 EV steps.
The A900 boasts a new AF sensor with a centre-cross, nine-point array plus 10 additional sensors that come into play when Wide AF is selected. In addition to the Wide AF pattern, users can also choose Spot focusing (which relies on the central spot) or Local (which enables AF point selection. The central spot provides high accuracy and fast focusing speeds when shooting at apertures of f/2.8 or larger.
AF Micro Adjustment is provided in Setup Menu 3. This function enables photographers to fine-tune focusing settings. The camera can 'register' the adjustment value for recent Sony-, Carl Zeiss- and Minolta-branded lenses and store the information. Data for up to 30 lenses can be held in the camera's database and applied each time the lens is used. Micro-adjustments can be made across a range of -20 to +30 increments, allowing very precise fine-tuning. This type of adjustment will enable photographers to ensure focusing is precise and accurate from shot to shot.
Exposure metering is the same as in the A700, with a TTL system that uses a 40-segment honeycomb-pattern sensor that covers a range from 0 to 20EV (2 to 20 EV in Spot mode) at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens. Multi-segment, centre-weighted average and Spot metering patterns are offered. No details of the size of the metering spot are provided but the Multi-segment pattern uses 39 honeycomb-shaped metering elements plus one element that covers the surrounding area. These work with the AF system to measure subject brightness levels and determine exposure.
White balance controls are essentially the same as in the A700 and provide wide scope for in-camera adjustments. The A900 also offers the standard range of Kelvin temperature settings for photographers using studio lighting. The illustration below shows the display when the White Balance button is pressed.

The HDMI port provides direct playback to Sony's Bravia TV sets that support Photo TV. But you'll need to buy a HDMI cable to enable this as it's not included in the package (although USB and video cables are provided). An optional vertical grip (VG-C90AM) is available to extend shooting capabilities. It holds two battery packs and provides a shutter release, two control dials and a full suite of button controls.

Sensor & Image Processing
The A900's 'Exmor' sensor has been manufactured with proprietary Sony planarisation technologies to ensure an ultra-flat surface across the entire imaging area. It has more than 6000 on-chip column parallel analogue/digital converters to convert analogue signals to noise-resistant digital signals at the earliest possible stage. The ISO sensitivity ranges from 200-3200 in 1/3 EV steps (ISO 100-6400 can be set as an expanded range).
Dual BIONZ image processors work in parallel to process high pixel count image data with top level speed as well as delivering natural colour reproduction, rich tones, as well as high image resolution with minimum noise. The dual processors also handle noise suppression both before and after raw data conversion. Two modes of noise reduction processing can also be selected in the camera's menu, separately covering long exposures and high ISO levels. The former can only be switched on or off but the latter offers off plus three levels: high, normal and low.
The Creative Styles menu contains six default settings: Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Portrait, Landscape and B/W. However you can expand this by moving the joystick to the right and then up or down to select from seven additional settings: Clear, Deep, Light, Sunset, Night View, Autumn and Sepia. Each setting can be further customised by adjusting contrast, saturation, sharpness, brightness and exposure zone. (The latter is designed to prevent over- or under-exposure.)
As well as offering both full-sized and compact raw capture plus three JPEG compression ratios, the A900 allows photographers to shoot in 3:2 aspect ratio at full frame and 'APS-C' size and also offers a 16:9 aspect ratio for widescreen capture. Raw files may be compressed (cRAW) or uncompressed.

The first page of the shooting menu showing the image size and quality settings.
ARW.RAW and cRAW files are always recorded at the full 6048 x 4032 pixel size but each can be combined with a JPEG file of the same image size in any of the three aspect ratios. The JPEG compression level is fixed at Fine. Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.

The dual BIONZ processors also support some impressive continuous shooting capabilities (when you consider the sizes of the files involved). Top burst speed is five frames per second for the Hi speed setting and approximately three per second for the Lo setting. The camera can capture up to 12 ARW.RAW or cRAW frames per burst or up to 10 frames when RAW & JPEG or cRAW & JPEG is selected in the shooting menu. For JPEG images, the maximum number of frames per burst is 11 with Ultra Fine compression, 105 with Fine compression and 285 with Standard compression.

Playback
Playback modes are pretty much as you would expect for a professional DSLR. The A900 supports single-frame playback with or without shooting information; four, nine or 25-frame index views and playback zoom with a maximum magnification of 19x for Large images, 14x for Medium images or 9.4x for Small images. Auto and manual rotation of images shot vertically are supported.

Playback with auto rotation and shooting data displayed.
Pressing the Display button lets you view an image with four previous or following images above it. You can also view a thumbnail plus a RGB histogram and/or luminance limit warning). You can also play slideshows of recorded shots and set intervals between one and 30 seconds.

Playback with thumbnails of adjacent shots.

Playback with full image data and RGB plus brightness histograms.
Images can be marked for protection, deletion or DPOF automated printing. You can also superimpose the date on images when they are printed. (The position of the date imprint and its size and other characteristics are determined by the printer.) You can also create index files from JPEG images (but not ARW.RAW files) for automatic printing.

Software
The A900's software bundle consists of Sony's Image Data Convertor SR version 3 and Image Data Light Box. The former is used for raw file conversion while the latter is a fairly basic image management application that also supports file sorting. Image Data Converter SR is a rather chaotic application. Although the adjustments provided are quite comprehensive and mimic the camera's colour and tonal settings, some of them come up as floating panels that don't dock to the side of the screen.

The browser window for Image Data Light Box.

Single image view in Image Data Light Box with browser display below and image metadata displayed.

Dual image view in Image Data Convertor SR.

The Image Data Convertor SR desktop with 'floating' panels.
This isn't a problem if you have a dual screen set-up as you can 'park' them on the second screen. However, for single-screen workstations, the desktop gets cluttered and you waste a lot of time shifting panels to view the effects of adjustments. Fortunately, AWR.RAW files from the D900 are now supported by Adobe Camera Raw, which means they can be opened in applications like Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Lightroom.
A new addition to Image Data Convertor SR is vignetting control, which allows users to brighten edges and corners of images that were darkened by lens-based vignetting. When evaluating our Imatest test shots we found the combination of Camera Raw and Photoshop provided files with slightly higher resolution than those converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Image Data Convertor SR when no additional adjustments were added.

Performance
All tests were conducted with the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA SSM lens. This lens is an excellent performer and good partner to the 'Exmor' sensor. The most notable feature of images from the review camera was the amount of detail the sensor recorded, regardless of whether we took ARW.RAW or JPEG files. The flexibility for enlarging by cropping is enormous, as shown in the sample images below.

Full frame image with cropped area circled in red.

Crop from above image.
Of course, we would never recommend this strategy for normal photography but it's nice to know you have a bit up your sleeve, particularly when your images will end up as A3+ (or larger) prints. With the default Standard Creative Style setting, colours were natural-looking and colour accuracy from our Imatest tests was good - although not quite as good as the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III.
The dynamic range of JPEG images was also somewhat more restricted than we expected, even when the D-Range Optimiser was used at its highest level. There were several instances when light-coloured clouds were recorded without detail, even though the rest of the image was slightly underexposed. An example is shown below, with red circles around the blown highlights.

Imatest showed resolution to be slightly below expectations for the camera's sensor resolution, although nevertheless very high. Interestingly, Photo Review's Imatest evaluations showed resolution to be similar for JPEG and ARW.RAW files when the latter were converted into 16-bit TIFF format with the bundled Image Data Convertor SR software.
We gained a slight edge by making the same conversions with Adobe Camera Raw, particularly at higher ISO settings. (Note: no additional adjustments were made to the raw files during the conversion process so further improvements may be possible by tweaking settings in either raw converter.) The graph below shows the results of our tests.

Despite maintaining resolution at higher ISO settings, some image noise was visible at ISO 200 and it became progressively more obvious as sensitivity levels were increased. This camera does not match the high ISO performance we obtained from the Nikon D3, probably because its photosites are so much smaller. However, it wasn't even as good as the EOS-1Ds Mark III whose pixel count is only a little lower.
Long exposures at night contained noticeable colour noise at the highest ISO settings. This was not eliminated by the in-camera high ISO noise reduction processing, which only appeared to slightly soften the image. However, we would consider 15-second exposures taken at ISO 1600 to be quite printable up to A4 size, thanks to the camera's resolution.
Lateral chromatic aberration was consistently negligible throughout our tests and we found no evidence of coloured fringing when test shots were enlarged to 100%. Auto white balance performance was not quite up to expectations since the camera failed to completely eliminate the colour casts of either incandescent or fluorescent lighting. However both the pre-sets and manual measurement system produced neutral colours and there is plenty of scope for in-camera tweaking of colour balance so this issue is relatively minor.
The built-in image stabiliser enabled us to take hand-held shots at shutter speeds as slow as 1/10 second with the 70mm focal length setting. The large sensor also provided much greater scope for differential focusing than the APS-C-sized sensors on most DSLRs we've reviewed. Bokeh was particularly nice with the Carl Zeiss 24-70mm lens. The Creative Styles are essentially the same as in Sony's other DSLR cameras. We found skin tones (and tonal subtleties) were nicely rendered in the Standard Creative Style and the A900 produced particularly fine results in the Monochrome mode, with an abundance of detail and excellent gradation - provided exposures were spot-on.
Camera response times were a little sluggish and our ability to accurately measure delays was hampered by a very sensitive shutter button on the test camera, which made it difficult to pre-focus without triggering the shutter. In our timing tests, the review camera performed to specifications, capturing shots at the claimed burst rate of five frames/second in the high-speed continuous shooting mode with all file formats and sizes. The low-speed continuous mode was similarly consistent, recording at three frames/second for all file formats and sizes.
For the remainder of our timing tests we compared processing times of two memory cards: a 2GB Sony 66x 10MB/sec. CompactFlash card and a new 8GB SanDisk Extreme III Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo card, which is rated at 30MB/second. The table below shows the results of our tests, which indicate the value of having a high-speed card for times when you require the fastest camera performance times.

In Lo-speed burst mode the processing speeds were almost identical to the figures shown above.
The test camera powered-up almost instantaneously and the AF system was quick to lock on to subjects, even in dim lighting after dark. Focusing was accurate for more than 90% of the shots we took, regardless of the drive mode selected. However, we found a longer than expected delay when moving between shooting and playback modes, which provide irritating at times.

Conclusion
Sony's DSLR-A900 comes at a very competitive price for its capabilities. Being considerably cheaper than the top-of-the-range modes from Canon and Nikon, it will have genuine appeal to anyone who wants an interchangeable-lens DSLR camera that meets professional build and functionality standards. And, while it may not reach the heights of its rivals across all performance parameters, if you work within its limitations you can expect excellent results - and the ability to make prints up to A2 size - particularly when shooting raw files.
However, it's important for potential buyers to note that this is a photographer's camera and, as such, it is wasted on anyone who isn't prepared to explore (and utilise) the many controls and functions it offers. Large, heavy and solidly built, it sits comfortably in the hands and serious photographers will find it a pleasure to use. Point-and-shooters and gadget-freaks who want gimmicks that do little to enhance the ability to capture still images should look elsewhere.
The A900 is compatible with a growing range of high-quality lenses from both Sony and Carl Zeiss. Most other accessories professional photographers require are also available.

IMATEST GRAPHS
JPEG images:

ARW.RAW files converted to 16-bit TIFFs with Adobe Camera Raw:

SAMPLE IMAGES

Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.

Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.

30-second exposure at f/4; ISO 100.

5-second exposure at f/13; ISO 6400 no noise reduction.

5-second exposure at f/13; ISO 6400 plus High ISO noise reduction processing set on High.

3:2 aspect ratio (70mm focal length, ISO 100,1/250 second at f/11).

16:9 aspect ratio (exposure as above).

Portrait: 70mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/13 second at f/3.2.

Close-up: 70mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/20 second at f/7.1.

Monochrome Creative Style: JPEG image, ISO 100, 1/200 second at f/9.

Find more Sony DSLR-A900 reviews at TestFreaks

Specifications

Image sensor: 35.9 x 24.0mm "Exmor" CMOS sensor with 24.61 megapixel effective resolution
Lens mount: Sony α mount, compatible with Minolta A-type bayonet mount
Focal length crop factor: 1x
Image formats: JPEG,RAW(ARW2.1 Format),RAW+JPEG
Image Sizes: : 6048 x 4032 (24M 3:2); 4400 x 2936 (13M 3:2), 3024 x 2016 (6.1M 3:2), 6048 x 3408 (21M 16:9), 4400 x 2472 (11M 16:9), 3024 x 1704 (5.2M 16:9), 3924 x 2656 (11M APSC), 2896 x 1928 (5.6M APSC), 1984 x 1320 (2.6M APSC)
Image Stabilisation: On-system image Sensor-Shift mechanism
Dust removal: Charge protection coating on Low-Pass Filter and Image Sensor-Shift mechanism
Shutter: Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane type; 1/8000 second to 30 seconds speed range plus bulb
Exposure Compensation: +/- 3EV in 1/3 or 1/5 EV steps
Self-timer: 2 or 10 second delay
Focus system: TTL phase-detection system, CCD line sensors, 9 points + 10 assist focus points
Focus modes: Single shot AF (AF-S), Automatic AF (AF-A), Continuous AF (AF-C), Direct Manual Focus (DMF), Manual Focus (MF); AF Micro Adjustment (+/- 20-step increments for up to 30 different lenses), Predictive control, Focus lock, AF illuminator (LED, Range: approx. 1-7m, Auto/Off selectable)
Exposure metering: 40-segment honeycomb-pattern SPC TTL metering with Multi segment, Centre-weighted, Spot modes
Shooting modes: Auto, Program Auto (P, with program shift), Aperture priority (A), Shutter priority (S), Manual (M)
D-RangeOptimiser: Off, Standard/ Advanced: Auto/Advanced: Level
Noise reduction: On/Off, available at shutter speeds longer than 1 second, High/Normal/Low/Off, available at the ISO set to 1600 or above
Picture Style/Control settings: 13 image styles: Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night View, Autumn Leaves, B&W, Sepia
Colour space options: sRGB, Adobe RGB
Custom functions: 17
ISO range: ISO 200 - 3200 equivalent, ISO numbers up from ISO100 to ISO6400 can be set as expanded ISO range.
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash, Colour Temperature (2500-9900K) with colour filter (19-step magenta/green compensation), Custom (3 settings can be registered); White Balance Bracketing: 3 frames; Hi/Lo level selectable
Flash: External, Wireless control with HVL-F58AM, ADI flash / Pre-flash TTL metering
Flash exposure adjustment: +/- 3EV in 1/3 or 1/5 EV steps
Sequence shooting: Hi:Approx.5 frames per second at maximum, Lo:Approx.3 frames per second
Storage Media: Dual slot: Compact Flash/Memory Stick Duo
Viewfinder: Fixed eye-level pentaprism with approx. 100% FOV coverage; dioptre adjustment -3.0 to +1.0 dpt; eyepoint 20mm; user-replaceable G type spherical acute matte focusing screen (3 options available)
LCD monitor: 3.0-inch, TFT Xtra Fine colour LCD with 921 600 dots (VGA resolution)
Data LCD: Yes
Playback functions: Single (with or without shooting information, with 4 previous/following images, RGB histogram, & highlight/shadow warning), 4/9/25-frame index view, enlarged display mode (max. zoom ratio: L size: 19x, M size: 14x, S size: 9.4x)
Interface terminals: USB2.0 Hi-speed (Mass storage type with Multi LUN / PTP / PC Remote Control), Video (PAL/NTSC), HDMI mini connector, 1080i/720p/SD selectable (optional HDMI cable necessary), Remote Commander RM-S1AM/RM-L1AM (optional)
Power supply: InfoLithium NP-FM500H,7.2V; CIPA rated for approx. 880 shots/charge
Dimensions (wxhxd): Approx.156 x 117 x 82 mm (body only)
Weight: Approx. 850 grams (body only)

Find more Sony DSLR-A900 reviews at TestFreaks

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Rating

RRP: $4,499 (body only)

Rating (out of 10):

• Build: 9.5
• Ease of use: 8.5
• Image quality: 8.5
• OVERALL: 9.5