Sony A580 or Nikon D7000?

fozzybear · 3 Mar 2011 at 21:57

OK, I'm looking to buy in the next week or so. I've got a decision to make between the Sony A580 and the Nikon D7000.

Differences in the two are limited really.

They both have the same sensor (I think) and have similar high ISO performance and they both have burst rates that are sufficient for my uses (sports photography).

The D7000 has the better build and has a pentaprism to the A580's pentamirror.

What worries me about the A580 is it's focus performance with moving objects. I'd be doing a lot of horse racing photography so presume the D7000's focus/3D tracking will be more efficient than the A580's.

I'm just wondering if you would consider the £250 price difference worth it. I'm genuinely tempted to get the Nikon D7000 body for £850 rather than the Sony A580 and a 18-55 kit lense for £600. I believe the D7000 is tested up to 150,000 actuations whilst I think the Sony would be more like 100,000. This alone, in my mind, would make the Nikon worth the extra cash.

As much as I'm tempted to get the D7000, I'm also tempted just to get the Sony A580 just to show everyone what it's actually capable of. Sony get unfair stick on here imo!

I guess I know what everyone's opinion will be - 'Get the Nikon' or 'What about a Canon?'.

There isn't a Canon in my price range that ticks all my boxes.

Ksanti · 3 Mar 2011 at 22:51

Bear in mind that Sony lenses are much harder to come by, even 3rd party lenses are often only stocked in Canon and Nikon mounts even if the manufacturer produces other mounts, so you'll usually find the same lens being more expensive.

The Zeiss lenses, from what I've heard, are fantastic, but if you're contemplating a kit lens I doubt you'll be looking at Zeiss lenses.

I'd be considering the Pentax K-5 against the D7000 though - better build quality (iirc) and in-body stabilisation for any lenses that don't have it

D.P. · 4 Mar 2011 at 08:25

For me, the D7000 with out a doubt. A stunning camera.

Rojin · 4 Mar 2011 at 09:28

If I was considering shopping outside of the 2 main manufactures I'd be having a good look at the Pentax as well. I did look at the Sony DSLR lineup when I first started but I was weak and went with Canon

I didn't know a lot about it all back then, but had friends with Canon and there seemed to be a lot of help online as well. I'd be much more comfortable changing to any system now though.

dbov22 · 4 Mar 2011 at 10:06

Nikon every time

Eddie182 · 4 Mar 2011 at 10:24

Picked up the D7000 myself a month ago, and all I can say is it's a fantastic camera both technically and to use. So much nicer to hold than the lower end Nikon and Canon models, not quite a Pro model but not far off IMHO.

Of course this is coming from a photography newbie who's only experence of other bodies is a few brief minutes trying out various models in store, so I'm sure others will say if I'm talking rubbish. Don't have any experience of the Sony cameras though.

robertgilbert86 · 4 Mar 2011 at 12:41

It's good sticking with the big brands for picking up cheap(er) lenses. Just loot at the TP Forum market.

Either way have you played with both options? Your two options may quickly turn into one!

bigredshark · 4 Mar 2011 at 12:47

The Nikon out of those two, but look at the Pentax K5, it's a very very good camera. The AF isn't up to Nikon standards but in virtually every other respect it's on a par and high ISO might even be better. Pentax deserve to make a bit of a comeback in many ways...

The D7000 really is excellent though, lovely bit of kit. The Canon 7D is better for not much more money and the 60D is a better option for video on the Canon side but the D7000 fills a nice place in the market.

fozzybear · 4 Mar 2011 at 17:00

bigredshark said:
....The Canon 7D is better for not much more money...

Is it though? What is better about the 7D compared to the Nikon D7000.

Anyway, my mind has been made up. Grabbed a Sony 70-300G SSM lens today for £350 so I'm going to pick up a Sony A580 next week.

I'm going to make it my mission to shock you all on how good the A580 really is.

Ksanti · 4 Mar 2011 at 17:14

fozzybear said:
Is it though? What is better about the 7D compared to the Nikon D7000.

Anyway, my mind has been made up. Grabbed a Sony 70-300G SSM lens today for £350 so I'm going to pick up a Sony A580 next week.

I'm going to make it my mission to shock you all on how good the A580 really is.

You can get stunning shots with a 1000D if you know what you're doing/have the right glass. The A580 is capable of great shots as well, especially paired with the awesome Zeiss glass.

fozzybear · 5 Mar 2011 at 12:59

Had a go with a Sony A55 this morning and it's thrown a spanner in the works!

It's a really small body but I could see myself getting used to it. The 10fps burst rate is amazing and, even at ISO 1600, the images are stunning.

Battery life on the A55 is poor though whilst the A580 battery life is really good. I'm still favouring the A580 for it's bigger body (felt great with my 70-300G SSM lens on it) and the even better high ISO performance.

Ksanti · 5 Mar 2011 at 14:00

fozzybear said:
Had a go with a Sony A55 this morning and it's thrown a spanner in the works!

It's a really small body but I could see myself getting used to it. The 10fps burst rate is amazing and, even at ISO 1600, the images are stunning.

Battery life on the A55 is poor though whilst the A580 battery life is really good. I'm still favouring the A580 for it's bigger body (felt great with my 70-300G SSM lens on it) and the even better high ISO performance.

How's the EVF? I still haven't had a chance to look through it yet as when I was going around looking at gear they weren't out yet.

Carrying a couple of extra batteries I never find to be a huge problem, though charging them might be, I guess. Bear in mind Sony stated they aren't going to release a grip for the a33/a55, so if you don't get used to the size and can't deal with the low battery life, you're pretty well blown.

If you want the 10fps, I'd wait for the a77 to come out, as that's succeeding the a700 and will almost certainly have grips etc. as the high-end crop-sensor body (though the a580 and a55 are Sony's most expensive crop sensor cameras atm, neither are really prosumer bodies)

bigredshark · 5 Mar 2011 at 14:43

fozzybear said:
Is it though? What is better about the 7D compared to the Nikon D7000.

Well it's faster certainly (it has dual digic processors vs a single expeed in the Nikon so it should be), burst rate is a good bit above the D7000. The AF, while having less points, has more than twice as many cross types which is some situations (actually, I'd venture to say most) is probably more useful. It certainly feels quicker to focus (probably the fancy processors again).

It also handles much better, one of my issues with the D7000 which has stopped me buying one as a backup body is that it doesn't handle well with big lenses on (not really it's fault, it's a D90 descendant, which had the same issue, they're not meant as pro bodies after all) - basically.

It's not night and day better but it is better, much like you'd expect for 20% more money really. That's not saying anything against the D7000 though, it's a lovely camera which does it's job well, my only real complaints with it boil down to it not being a D400, which is unsurprising considering it isn't a D400.

fozzybear · 5 Mar 2011 at 16:02

bigredshark said:
Well it's faster certainly (it has dual digic processors vs a single expeed in the Nikon so it should be), burst rate is a good bit above the D7000. The AF, while having less points, has more than twice as many cross types which is some situations (actually, I'd venture to say most) is probably more useful. It certainly feels quicker to focus (probably the fancy processors again).

It also handles much better, one of my issues with the D7000 which has stopped me buying one as a backup body is that it doesn't handle well with big lenses on (not really it's fault, it's a D90 descendant, which had the same issue, they're not meant as pro bodies after all) - basically.

It's not night and day better but it is better, much like you'd expect for 20% more money really. That's not saying anything against the D7000 though, it's a lovely camera which does it's job well, my only real complaints with it boil down to it not being a D400, which is unsurprising considering it isn't a D400.

I always struggle to definitively say one DSLR is better than another. What is 'better'? Is it build, number of focus points, high ISO performance etc? Would the 7D have better high ISO performance than the D7000 (or even the Sony A580!). I wouldn't think so.

It all depends on what the buyer needs the DSLR for.

I didn't actually like the D7000 in my hand. It had no 'indents' on the grip for me to wrap my fingers round. The grip just seemed too square and hard to hold.

fozzybear · 5 Mar 2011 at 16:07

Ksanti said:
How's the EVF? I still haven't had a chance to look through it yet as when I was going around looking at gear they weren't out yet.

It would definitely take some getting used to but you can certainly see a lot more through it. Very bright as well.

I've still not ruled it out but am leaning towards the A580. The size, battery life, possible overheating problems worry me about the A55.

bigredshark · 5 Mar 2011 at 16:26

fozzybear said:
I always struggle to definitively say one DSLR is better than another. What is 'better'? Is it build, number of focus points, high ISO performance etc? Would the 7D have better high ISO performance than the D7000 (or even the Sony A580!). I wouldn't think so.

It all depends on what the buyer needs the DSLR for.

I didn't actually like the D7000 in my hand. It had no 'indents' on the grip for me to wrap my fingers round. The grip just seemed too square and hard to hold.

For me better is primarily producing usable images more of the time, a 'better' camera will have a higher hit rate of usable images, which is what it comes down to at the end of the day and is an amalgamation of AF, metering, sensor performance and everything else. Build also comes into it (your hit rate decreases somewhat if your camera falls apart or can't survive the rain). It is always biased towards what the use case is but I'd say this case is more clear cut than most, in almost every use the 7D would be better than the D7000 (except possibly travel, where the D7000 is smaller and lighter by a bit).

When you compare the 7D and 5DII it becomes all about use case but that's not so true here. They play to the same market segment.

We all go on about high ISO but to be honest, while Nikon seem to have the crown on average here it's pretty irrelevant, only the D3s is notably better than it's competitors. The D7000 is better than the 7D if you peer at the images at 100%, but the useful fact is both will produce usable results to ISO3200 (I'm arbitrarily defining usable as printable at A3, maybe even A2, for commercial purposes).

But what I'm basically saying is, it doesn't matter. I can use Nikon and Canon quite happily (though my preference is marginally Nikon as the controls work for me) and both produce great results. Thing is 5-6 years ago the very best pro's used the D2xs and the like, almost every DSLR on the market today is better than that now, is everybody taking pro level shots as a result?

Although I'm wary of the smaller vendors (on the grounds of range, availability, compatibility etc) they usually produce good kit. The Pentax k-5 is superb and holds it's own compared to any other kit in the price range. I'm not convinced an EVF cuts it in this market, so I'm not keen on the Sony SLT's but I'm sure you can take a good shot with them if you try.

Short version - the market has evolved to a point where you basically can't buy a bad DSLR today, some are better than others for some uses, but for most enthusiasts in many ways it's comparing an S class to a 7 series. Either will do the job.

fozzybear · 9 Mar 2011 at 18:25

Well, I grabbed a Sony A580 today.

First impressions are on the build. It isn't close to being as good as the A700 was. Still, I knew that anyway. I didn't get the A580 for it's build but for it's high burst rate and excellent high ISO performance.

The A580 and my 70-300G SSM fit like a glove. They just feel so right together!

My battery is charging as I speak. Unfortunately the memory cards I ordered have yet to arrive so I'll leave things until the weekend to fully test it. I think t will blow me away!

#Chri5# · 9 Mar 2011 at 22:13

I've got an A550 - I've been tempted to move up but not had chance to handle a A580 yet. Fine choice in my book :cool:

Pug · 10 Mar 2011 at 08:59

i'm contemplating moving from my A200 to the A580 or the A55.

I didnt think there was much difference in High-ISO, as thats one of the main reasons i am moving?

Also, the A55 appealed as you can focus whilst shooting 1080p, which i didnt think you could on the A580 - is that accurate?

What are the other main difference? (Battery life is an issue, too).

Rojin · 10 Mar 2011 at 11:02

Slightly related... I was in Edinburgh airport for a few hours yesterday waiting to get back, so I thought I'd have a look at the "deals" available. No bargains to be had, but they had the Sony A33 there, my god it's TINY! Had a play with the NEX5 as well, if I had some spare cash...