Sony DSLR-A580 Performance

Average to very good speed for a consumer digital SLR.

Startup time was a little slower than average for an SLR, but shutdown time was pretty good. Buffer clearing times were on the slow side, but reasonable given the deep buffers and large files.

Mode switching was about average for a consumer SLR.

Looking at the Sony A580's ability to determine that it's properly focused when shooting the same target multiple times, its speed is a little slower than average for a consumer model when using the optical viewfinder. The A580 required 0.295 second for full AF using the center focus point. This increased slightly to 0.306 second in wide-area AF mode. Enabling the flash raised the lag to 0.414 second, as the flash metering preflashes add some delay. Continuous autofocus mode lag time was 0.298 second and manual focus was only slightly faster at about 0.192 second. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to 0.084 second, which is quite fast.

The nice thing about Sony's "Quick AF" Live View implementation is that shutter lag in Live View mode is just as fast as when using the optical viewfinder (we measured 0.193 second for single-area full AF lag, which is actually quite a bit faster). This is because the second image sensor located in the A580's viewfinder housing alleviates the need for the additional mirror flips required by most other phase-detect Live View implementations. As noted in previous Sony SLR reviews, though, the downside of this type of Live View implementation is lower accuracy for the Quick AF Live View viewfinder display.  Enabling the flash in "Quick AF" Live View more than doubled the lag to 0.508 seconds.

The Sony A580's Focus Check Live View AF mode produced lags similar to other SLR manufacturers' Live View modes, at about 0.62 second for phase-detect mode, 0.85 second for phase-detect with flash, and 1.7 seconds for contrast-detect AF. Prefocused shutter lag in Live View was still pretty quick, at 0.090 second.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance. We also use the same Sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro with every camera (on all platforms except Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds and Nikon consumer models lacking an in-body focus motor), to further reduce variation, and because our tests showed that focus-determination time with this lens was close to the fastest, across multiple camera bodies from different manufacturers. Being an older design with a non-ultrasonic motor, it wouldn't be the fastest at slewing from one focus setting to another, but that's exactly the reason we measure focus determination speed, which is primarily a function of the camera body, vs focus adjustment speed, which is primarily a function of the lens.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were a little sluggish for a an SLR, at 0.60 second per frame for large/fine JPEGs or RAW files, and 0.64 second for RAW+L/F JPEG frames. Continuous mode speeds were quite good for a consumer SLR (especially given the large files), at 5 frames-per-second for any quality. Speed Priority mode was exceptionally fast for a consumer model, at about 7.1 frames per second, though autofocus and exposure is locked at the first frame of a burst in that mode.

Buffer depths in Continuous Hi mode are very good for a consumer model, at well over 20 frames for L/F JPEGs, 21 frames for RAW and 20 RAW + L/F JPEGs frames with a fast card. Buffer depths are also very good in Speed Priority mode, at 32 L/F JPEG, 20 RAW and 19 RAW + L/F JPEG frames. The flash took 3.6 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is not bad.

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are very fast; definitely fast enough that you will likely not feel the need for a card reader.

Bottom line, the Sony Alpha 580 is faster than the average consumer SLR when it comes to Live View autofocus (in "Quick AF" mode) and burst speeds, but is average in most other respects. Buffer depths are very good, though buffer clearing can take a long time because of deep buffers and large files.

Battery
Excellent battery life for a lithium-ion powered SLR.

The Sony Alpha 580 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is a well above average when using the optical viewfinder, and quite good in Live View mode. Still, we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), 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 Alpha A580 accepts SD cards including SDHC and SDXC types, or Memory Stick Pro Duo memory cards. No card is included with the camera. Sony recommends SD cards with at least Class 4 speed grade or Mark2 type MSPro Duo cards for shooting HD movies.

We strongly recommend buying either a large capacity SDHC, or a large capacity Memory Stick Pro Duo card, at least a 4GB card, preferably a 8-16GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)