Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 Review

Now let's delve into more details of our Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 review by assessing its features and specs, as well as checking what pros and cons it has compared to other average products in this category.

Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 comes with Bionz processor. This model also boasts of a resolution of 16.0 MP and is equipped with a APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sized CMOS sensor.

The base of Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 has the following ISO range 100 - 12800 and it also comes with a possibility of extending this indicator to 25600.

Also, this model comes with the support of the RAW file. This gives you more opportunities in terms of further processing of your files as you can pick to save them in a RAW format.

Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 features a 16.0 MP APS-C sensor, which is not a good pick for high-quality and detailed pictures. However, we have an alternative option for you if you were looking for higher resolution.

DxOMark Sensor Scores

DxOMark gives us a possibility to make a clear and scientific assessment of the quality of camera sensors’ image. Sony Alpha DSLR-A580, in its turn, features a sensor that was already studied and assessed by DxO Mark. After a complete evaluation, this type of sensor has received a score of 80 for the image quality. If you are looking to see how DxO Mark has tested and evaluated the Sony Alpha DSLR-A580’s sensor.

Anti-Aliasing Filter

Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 is known for the lack of anti-alias (Low-pass) filter. It is one of its essential features of the sensor built in this model. The absence of this filter contributes to a higher level of details and sharpness in the pictures you take. Yet, the lack of an anti-alias filter also enhances the possibility of more occurring in certain conditions.

Now let’s check how we can compare the size of APS-C sensor featured in Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 with other standard sensor sizes.

LCD and ViewFinder

Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 is equipped with a Tilting 3" LCD screen. The resolution of this model’s screen reaches 922k dots.

In addition, this model comes with a built-in Optical (pentamirror) ViewFinder.

The ViewFinder in Alpha DSLR-A580 has quite nice characteristic. Its magnification ratio is 0.53x and it also provides a coverage of 95%.

Some of the main reasons why the OVF presented in this model is a handy tool are that it allows you to see a scene without any time lag or resolution limits. Besides, it also ensures the highest level of clarity that can be elaborated by the lens and the human eye. Who can benefit from this feature? The OVF is especially handy when shooting sports events. This smart system will allow photographers to see action instantly and figure out what is the right timing for capturing a specific moment.

Max Shutter speed

Some of the other highlights of Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 are its 7.0 fps max speed and 1/4000 sec max shutter speed, which allow you to shoot continuously.

Flash

Alpha DSLR-A580 features both an embedded flash and a flash shoe, which means that you can use both built-in and external flashes depending on your needs.

Focusing

One more highlight that makes Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 stand out is the fact that it features two smart AutoFocusing systems. One of these systems is called Phase Detection and the other one is Contrast Detection. Both features stand for higher accuracy and focus speed in different situations. With the smart AutoFocus system presented in this model, photographers can choose from 15 points.

In addition, Alpha DSLR-A580 has a Face detection AF feature that quickly finds the faces that appear within the frame range and locks the focus on them automatically.

Video Features

As for the video quality characteristics of Sony Alpha DSLR-A580, it gives you a possibility to shoot videos at the highest resolution of 1920 x 1080 You also have enough flexibility in terms of how you can save your files. Namely, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 allows you to save files in MPEG-4, AVCHD and H.264 formats.

Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 provides full HD resolution, which means that this model shows decent performance in most situations.

In addition, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 is equipped with a special port that you can use to connect an external microphone for recording high-quality sound with its help.

Connectivity and Storage

You can connect Alpha DSLR-A580 to compatible devices via its USB 2.0 or HDMI ports.

Battery Life

In concordance with generally accepted CIPA standards, the battery featured in Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 provides a shooting life of 1050, while the average battery life of cameras in this class is 588 shots.

Compared to all models in the Entry-Level DSLR category, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 offers the highest battery life that reaches 1050 shots.

In this part of our review, we are going to focus on Sony Alpha DSLR-A580’s performance in various fields of photography. Each sub-section stands for a specific photography area. In every part, we will review Sony Alpha DSLR-A580’s name performance and give it an overall score. This first spider web graph indicates how we can compare the Alpha DSLR-A580 to the average DSLR camera.

Hover your mouse over the points to see the score details for each photography type.

Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 for Portrait Photography

After carefully reviewing how well Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 performs Portrait Photography, we gave it a score of 85. Compared to scores of other cameras from the same class, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 can be called a Great model for this type of photography.

If the score of this model doesn’t impress you and you are still looking for a model that is better suited for Portrait Photography, we recommend you to check out our Top 10 Cameras for Portrait Photography.

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Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 for Street Photography

After carefully reviewing how well Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 performs Street Photography, we gave it a score of 99. Compared to scores of other cameras from the same class, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 can be called a Great model for this type of photography.

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Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 for Sports Photography

After carefully reviewing how well Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 performs Sports Photography, we gave it a score of 49. Compared to scores of other cameras from the same class, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 can be called a 49 model for this type of photography.

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Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 for Daily Photography

After carefully reviewing how well Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 performs Daily Photography, we gave it a score of 40. Compared to scores of other cameras from the same class, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 can be called a Intermediate model for this type of photography.

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Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 for Landscape Photography

After carefully reviewing how well Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 performs Landscape Photography, we gave it a score of 91. Compared to scores of other cameras from the same class, Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 can be called a 91 model for this type of photography.

If the score of this model doesn’t impress you and you are still looking for a model that is better suited for Landscape Photography, we recommend you to check out our Top 10 Cameras for Landscape Photography.