'Overall, the Sony A550 and A500 look like good camera designs with some interesting innovations that take advantage of the serious CPU power of Sony's processing chips. '
'The Sony A550 delivers several exciting and unusual capabilities, including in-camera high dynamic range images that come out very well, and a full-resolution burst mode of nearly 7 shots per second. '
'Sony’s Alpha DSLR-A550 is a mid-range DSLR aimed at enthusiasts, featuring 14.2 Megapixels, built-in stabilisation, a vertically-tilting VGA screen, two Live View modes and quick continuous shooting at up to 7fps. '
'On the downside, however, the site found that the A550 sits somewhat uncomfortably between the low and high-end, with its slightly stripped down controls turning off pros, and its rather weak performance in auto mode potentially being a problem for beginners. '
'the DSC-F707 lacks important prosumer features, like adjustable contrast and color saturation, a histogram, and even a black-and-white mode (an odd oversight).'
'Some may find the F707 cumbersome as the construction does not lend itself to point-and-snap photography.'
'Unfortunately, the documentation is often inaccurate and misleading, so learning to use the camera is more difficult than it should be.'