Sony DSLR-A350 Performance

The A350's timing performance ranges from below average to slightly above average speed for consumer SLR.

Startup and shut-down times are slow. Buffer clearing time depends on the image size and quality, burst length and the speed of memory card used.

Mode switching is reasonably fast, except for Record to Play, which is notably slower than average.

In terms of the A350's ability to determine that it's properly focused when shooting the same target multiple times, its speed is above average for a consumer model. The A350 required about 0.188 second for full AF. Continuous autofocus mode lag time was about the same, and manual focus was only slightly faster at about 0.167 second. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to 0.088 second.

The big news is that the A350's shutter lag in Live View mode is just as fast as when using the optical viewfinder. This is because the second image sensor located in the A350's viewfinder housing alleviates the need for the additional mirror flips required by most other phase-detect Live View implementations. Other phase-detect systems need to drop the mirror, focus, and raise it again to before taking a shot in Live View mode, or employ a slower contrast-detect autofocus method using the main image sensor. Since the image sensor feeding the A350's live preview is located above the mirror, the mirror stays down until the final exposure, exactly as it does in optical viewfinder mode.

Single-shot cycle time performance is about average for a consumer SLR, at about 0.8 second between shots in large/fine JPEG quality or RAW mode. Buffer depth is quite limited though, at only 5 frames for large/fine JPEGs or RAW files. Continuous mode is a bit slow at only about 2.4 frames per second, and buffer depth was also quite limited at only 3 or 4 frames for large/fine JPEGs or RAW files. (Remember, though, that these are very large, 14-megapixel files, and our test target when doing timing is designed to be difficult to compress to deliver results from a worst-case scenario.) Flash recycling after a full power shot is 2.56 seconds, which is very fast, especially considering how powerful it is.

Download speeds were also quite fast, fast enough that you probably won't feel the need for a separate card reader.

Bottom line, the Sony A350 is generally a very responsive camera, able to handle average family shots as well as some faster action. Continuous mode is a bit on the slow side, but not surprising considering the 14-megapixel files.

Battery

Very good battery life when using the optical viewfinder.

The Sony A350 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The rated 730 shots per charge using the optical viewfinder is above average for an SLR. Not surprisingly, Live View mode is more power thirsty at 410 shots per charge, so we recommend getting a second battery if you plan on using Live View mode often.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of on fully-charged battery, based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage

The Sony A350 stores its photos on CompactFlash memory cards, and no card is included with the camera. The chart below shows approximately how many images can be stored on a 2GB card at each size/quality setting.

We strongly recommend buying a fast, large-capacity CompactFlash. You should probably consider at least a 2GB card, if not a 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings, especially if you plan on doing a lot of RAW shooting. (Check the shopping link above, cards are cheap these days, so there's no reason to skimp -- But do consider faster cards for this camera, to reduce buffer clearing times.)