Bargain buy

[SnowFella]

Though I wasn't in the camera buying throughts, least not right now, I just stumbled over a too good deal to pass up on at my local cash converters.
Just poked my head in to check if they had any lenses for my old Sony A350 and there on the shelf sat a near new Sony A55 plus lens with a $495 price tag attached. Store at the moment had a 30% off sale on everything too so that didn't help much in being able to walk away from it.
Now the camera is along the lines of $600-$700 for body only when new here downunder so it's already a decent saving. Kicker comes when you factor in the lens that was attached, a Sony 50mm F1.4 prime that when new will set you back just over $500, sells around the $300 mark used on Ebay.
So new value of atleast $1100 and after some haggling, camera was missing a $20 rubber viewfinder surround that I've already sourced through Ebay, I walked away a happy man with a next to new camera for $346!

Planning on taking it out for a spin today just to try it out, along with a newly purchased 1.7x teleconverter and tele lens but likely I'm not about to keep the camera body itself, even though it's a decent upgrade over my old one the body itself is just to small for my hands and feel borderline uncomfortable to handle.
It's destined for a local trading post along with the bag it came in and some older lenses that I no longer use, could likely either recover the full price I payed or even give me some proffit.

[DaveW]

That's why they say read all the reviews of the camera you are interested in then go along to a shop and try it, because what suits the reviewer's hands may not suit you when you handle it. The ladies usually prefer smaller lighter cameras, having smaller hands and fingers. But I like you having larger hands and long fingers, prefer a larger camera so my fingers don't wrap around too far and miss the buttons, which usually means a heavier camera too. However provided you are prepared to hold the extra weight it does provide more inertia and helps to damp camera shake.

Unfortunately the larger cameras are usually the Prosumer and Pro cameras in the manufacturers range which makes them dearer in first cost, even though they may not take any better pictures, since it is usually the lens that is the most important part for image quality. Also longer heavier telephoto lenses are usually better balanced on a larger heavier camera body than a smaller lighter one.

In the end it's what size suits you and you feel comfortable with, therefore always try before you buy if you can. You can always try them in the shops, then buy on the Internet cheaper:-

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/fo ... ter-to-you" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SnowFella]

Indeed, I was fully prepared for the fact that this body just is to small for my hands and had it been on the shelf with a kit lens attached I would of walked away with no hesitation. Game changer was the 50 F1.4 lens that came with it, the kit was purchased with the full intention of selling the body off, keeping the lens and calling it a day. $500 dollar lens gained at likely a profit in my pocket at the end of the day.
I'm used to lugging my old clunky A350 + vertical grip and 2 batteries along so this thing feels like a toy (with 50mm lens attached it's no larger than my old Canon 5Mpixel bridge camera), albeit a feisty little toy indeed with tricks up it's sleeve the old A350 just couldn't dream of pulling off! Built in GPS, inbody panorama and HDR function, 10 FPS shooting plus face and smile detection is something my old hunk of plastic never could dream of doing!
Though with all those tricks up it's sleeve comes a huge downfall, a 3 hour walk this afternoon with the camera in tow ran one fully charged battery flat! And that was even with most bells and whistles turned off and the camera set to sleep mode after 1 minute of no use.

Got my eye on the step up from this A55 body, an A57 or A58. Comes with all the tricks of the A55 plus some new ones the A55 just can't do plus it shares the same battery type that my old A350 uses, I've got 3 of those kicking around. If I can sell the A55 body + misc stuff at $350-$400 all I have to chip in is a mere $150-$200 for a brand new A57 body.....and still have the 50 1.4 lens to boot!

[SnowFella]

Last new bit of kit turned up today in the way of a brand spanking new Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT tripod with ballhead and a wire release for the camera. Been looking for a while now for a tripod that lets me get all the way down to ground level and the Alta series delivers that and more! Without even extending the centre column I've got the camera up at eye level.