Is Sony SLT-A57 a good camera?

It's a fine camera, but I have to ask, why did you buy the camera and then ask us if it's any good?

What if you got a long list of replies telling you that you purchased a dud?

It's well reviewed and it can do things that Nikon, Pentax and Canon cannot do at any price. But so called photographers around here just feel the need to bag on Sony cameras because they don't say Nikon, Canon or even Pentax on it.

Zooms are overrated. Yes they have their place, but you pay the price in lower light transmission, loss of sharpness, and other issues land color fringe. Of the two lenses you own, neither is worth writing home about.

If you consider yourself a casual shooter, a more simple all in one solution might be better. Something like a 18-135mm will net your better image quality than the big 70-300, so unless you really, truly need 300mm on the long end, take a look at something else.

The only real good thing about the kit lens is the 18mm on the wide end, it will save your butt in tight spots with that wide angle. Otherwise it's just an OK lens.

look at the 35mm and 50mm f/1.8 primes as your next purchase since you have no low light glass, and neither zoom has a large enough aperture to defocus your backgrounds if you wanted to.

Your dSLT can do some really cool things, so take the time to learn some photography basics to get the most out of it. If you simply slap it in auto mode and shoot jpegs, it's kind of like having a really nice sports car and never leaving the parking lot.

Unlike Canon and Nikon you have focus peaking to help you when manual focusing makes more sense than auto focus, you have fast phase auto focus when you shoot HD video, more frames per second when shooting stills, all lenses are anti shake, not just certain ones, and you can shoot full 1080P at up to 60fps if you choose to.

Start shooting in RAW format. If you don't know what that is, shoot in RAW+Jpeg mode, you can separate the files later in your computer, keep the RAW files always, they are your digital negative and unlike jpegs they contain all the information that the image sensor captured.

Join Dyxum.com to hang out with other Sony/Minolta shooters.

Your camera can use all auto focus Minolta lenses, there are millions of them out there on craigs and ebay. Any a mount lens by Tokina, Sigma and Tamron will work along with of course Sony and any auto focus Zeiss lens.

Welcome to Sony Alpha, good luck.

On paper, I think the Sony A57 is an all around better camera, but in the end, someone might not like the button placement, or a certain feature and go for the D3100. So here's why I'd go with the A57. First I shoot Sony Alpha, so it's just going that way for me. But for someone else, the A57 might fit better in the hand, the D3100 is very tiny, just a bit too small for my taste. Someone wanting the smallest dSLR, that wants smaller, lighter might feel the D3100 is better. The A57 has a LCD viewfinder, not an optical one. For some, that's a con, for me it's a pro. I can see white balance changes, exposure changers and more info on the screen, along with a 100 percent view. An optical viewfinder on an entry level dSLR uses a cheaper penta mirror, not a pentaprism. The view isn't 100 percent, and things look a bit small through it. Also, because the Sony is really a dSLT not a dSLR it can do 2 things the Nikon cannot. It can shoot 10 frames per second at full resolution if you want. And it has FAST phase auto focus when shooting video if you want it. Take a look at Nikon and Canon dSLRs, some cannot even auto focus when shooting video, the ones that can do it slowly with contrast detect focus. The A57 can also shoot full 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second as well. The Nikon has more accessories, and more lens choices, but that probably only affects the pro shooter, not the person buying an entry level camera that might only ever own between 1 and three lenses. Bottom line, the Nikon is a fine camera, but after using my friend's A57 for a short while, there's no going back to a standard dSLR for me. I'm waiting for the Sony A900 follow up which will most likely be called the A99. I would use the a57 in store and really take a look at the LCD viewfinder. Some people like it, others swear by optical viewfinders, and not only hate LCD viewfinders, but spread hate when they are mentioned. Good luck.

Best DSLR cameras are Pentax, Canon, & Nikon. Sony does not enjoy a reputation yet!