a33 vs a55. overheating. mac

[jenili07]

I'm about to buy my first DSLR, and I've used a few times canon eos and sony. Was thinking of DSL a33 vs a55. Does it make such a big difference? I've also read some reviews about overheating, is that true? I don't think I'll make too many videos, but you never know until you need it. And the most important thing: I use Mac, what incompatibilities exist? i-movie? Thanks

[Mick2011 · Accepted solution]

Hi Jenilli07, welcome to the Sony Forums

The two cameras are very similar. The a55 has a slightly higher megapixel count and it will give you more frames-per-second when shooting stills. There may be other small differences – the price, for example – but those are the main two.

This is Sony's overview of both cameras:

http://blog.sony.com/new-sony-%CE%B1-dslr-cameras-technology-and-lenses

Overheating is a common problem with DSLRs when shooting video and the Alphas are no exception. Sony are quite up-front about it and have published figures that suggest the a33 is slightly less susceptible than the a55, with both cameras able to shoot for about 10 minutes before powering down:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=424&mdl=SLTA33

You should have no problems with either camera on the Mac. Using iPhoto for stills and iMovie for video is simply a question of plugging in a Firewire cable and powering up. Personally I use the Mac's built-in card reader but there are no compatibility issues at all.

Hope that helps

Mick

[jenili07]

Hi Mick,

Thanks for your quick answer.

I already knew about the frames per second and the megapixels, but didn't know if I was missing some other important things. I'll check the websites that you gave me.

About the overheating problem it seems that maybe the a33 is better then...

And about transfering the photos and videos to the Mac I just read someone's review saying that you cannot use RAW and you have to shoot videos in MP4 or convert them before transfering to i-movie. I really don't know very well how that works, but would it be very complicated?

Oh, and keeping on with my questions: what about the memory card? should I get a proHG duo?

Well, thanks a lot for the information!!

Jen

[Mick2011]

While it's not essential, I'd definitely get a Pro HG Duo if you're thinking of shooting video.

The only real issue with the Mac these days is that it has no native support for the AVCHD files that cameras like the a33 produce. Apple instead use an 'intermediate' proprietory format which converts AVCHD to AIC 'on the fly' as the file is imported into iMovie. The apparent need to deal with MP4 files went out with iMovie 8, so if you have iMovie 9 or later your Mac will be plug-and-play as I suggested earlier.

A couple of caveats: you should use iMovie's Archive facility to back up your camera footage, otherwise the iMovie conversion will produce huge (decompressed) files; also you may need (cheap) 3rd party software if you want to produce 1080p movies, as the AIC format defaults to 720p for faster iMovie editing. They're the only complications I know of

RAW support really isn't an issue for stills, as long as your OS is reasonably up-to-date. I think Snow Leopard from v10.6.5 supports the a33/a55 via Adobe Camera Raw v6.2. You can use iPhoto but if you're 'serious' enough to want to shoot RAW I'd (seriously) recommend investing in something like Aperture or Lightroom.

If you have any further questions or doubts, just shout

Mick