I paid over $730 for this camera, used it infrequently and treated it with kid gloves (there is not a mark on it). The memory card interface has failed and now Sony is requiring $288 plus freight to get it repaired. I'm sorry but that is just not right. This is an internal product failure which I had nothing to do with and I should not have to be dealing with this problem never mind paying for it! My last SLR last over 20 years without a single problem!! Sony your product SUCKS!!! I'm going to buy a Canon which is what I should have done in the first place.

This camera was great! I took pictures of my daughter at her birthday party. She looked amazing in her cute pink dress and the lighting was perfect! it bounced off her and made her look very bright and beautiful! And the scenery was beautiful! The camera caught everything just right. Every picture was sharp and very precise down to the last detail. From her beautiful pink dress to the growing trees in the background! It was wonderful! And the pictures turned out great!

At this point I will never buy another Sony product ever again. After only 4 months my camera(Sony A350) stopped focusing properly.

I took the camera to the nearest Sony store to see if their proclaimed "camera-guru" would be able to ascertain if it was human or machine error. When I saw he was taking shots in the store at 1/800 @f8 with no flash, I was horrified. This guy had NO CLUE WHAT HE WAS DOING! I was further irritated when he asked why the image playback was flashing the blackouts and blowouts. Why should I have to explain to a Sony employee how their product works?

When I called customer service, I was informed that I had to ship it to their repair center (at MY cost even though the camera is in warranty and the problem in question was "something common"). When I informed them that I professional photographer who needs the camera by a certain date, I was told they could not guarantee that I would have my camera back by said date (understandable). When I asked if there was a possibility I could get a loaner, he said "I'll talk to my boss and do all that I can to see if that's possible." only to come back with, "I'm sorry, there really is no loaner program for consumer-level product. Not unless you want to buy our pro-sumer equipment. Yeah you know you spend the bazillion dollars and then you get it..." Then I was then kept on the phone for 2 HOURS while the CSO waited for the screen to come up that would get me a work-order number. Instead of offering to call me back, he just left me hanging there saying every few minutes "I just don't know why it's so slow." After he did get me a work-order number, there was no added courtesy for the wait such as, "I understand your urgency and need for the camera so I will do all that I can to see that this issue is expedited." or "Let me check on that loaner again, perhaps there is something I can do."

I shipped my camera out - which would not be arriving overnight thanks to the 2 hour service call.

I ended up calling back the next morning still furious at how the initial call was handled. I spoke about how poor the support was in-store and during the previous service call. The gentleman told me that when the repair center receives my camera, they will look at it and determine what needs to be repaired, in which instance I may be able to have Sony provide a loaner.

I called back the day after that and was informed that the camera had been received at the service facility, but not yet assigned to a technician. The camera would be assigned around 3:30. I called back later wanting to know the status and was then told that it takes 24-48 business hours to assign the camera to a technician. The CSO then said she would expedite my issue to the best of her ability but that there is no guarantee I will have it back in time.

I do not want to worry about having my camera back in time. If they check it and it needs repair fine. But, while it is being repaired I would really appreciate if Sony would get over themselves and provide me with a loaner. I doubt that a customer would call back everyday if they weren't passionate about their equipment or the function it serves. You would think Sony would have common sense to realize this.

To top it off, their service number is not an 800 number. It is a 239 number. Meaning that not only were my minutes eaten up by the first CSO's incapability to perform customer service, but I don't just get to be upset about their poor customer service and incapacity to provide great customer support, but I also get to be angry about the minutes that are eaten up on my phone-plan and the very real possibility that I will have to pay for a phone-call that lasted much longer than it needed to.

I have Never Ever experienced such poor service. It is clear that Sony does not trust its customers and has no interest in fostering lasting relationships with their customers. I look forward to calling Sony back every day until I get my camera, and asking Nikon and Canon what they would do for a customer in a position like this.

1st I must say that I tried to go with one of the two leaders in the DSLR market and was sorely disappointed. I shot a Canon for a while and it broke down after 1 month exchanged it and had a bad problem with blown pixels so about that time Sony came out with the A100 bought it and was very pleased with the results. When the A350 came out I read so many reviews I thought my eyes where going to pop out and the one thing that seemed to be the knock against it was 14 mg. pix on the same size sensor as the A200,300 so of course we had example of the higher ISO not performing as well, But I think the take on it has been some what misaligned. SO I set out to do some of my own testing and what I find is a camera that does not perform badly in higher iso settings such as 800-1600 yes there is a tad more noise but I find that it retains detail better and I can deal with noise with software I can't put detail back into though so for me I found that the A350 performs very well and I believe that because of better detail you have a photo that needs less processing which causes deterioration, plus the dynamic range on the Sony's is industry leading. If you do much cropping the A350 is a superb camera for that (I shoot macro and need to crop). As for any of the Sony's you have some of the Best quality glass ever made in Minolta and of course CZ.
I do shoot with a A700 as well and feel that in certain situations the A350 may produce better results.
The one thing that has me hooked is the IQ but Sony's have great features such as in camera stabilization which that in it self is a huge advantage over the C/N/F .. Her is my take on it.

Pentax would be my next choice due to glass and in camera stabilization and not bad feature set.
Not sure where they will be in next 2-5 years

I believe that Sony could become the Elite DSLR system if they keep on the track they are going.

I guess I am sold out to the Sony DSLR system..

Happy Shooting!!!!

I like to take photo underwater, so when I wanted to buy DSLR for UWP, i was comparing between nikon D300, canon 50D, and Sony A350. I knew they're in different class. But then I realized that for my purpose, sony A350 is the best. Taking picture by DSLR underwater is not that easy, especially if your option to look the object is by viewfinder. Some solved it by add additional viewfinder that cost almost US1K. But using Sony A350, and used the Quick AF LiveView, it's so fast, make your life easier. I wished Nikon D300 or Canon 50D could do that. So, sorry Nikon/Canon, you let me down. I'm sure system like Sony A350 will make many divers love it... ;-)

Very well designed camera...light, sturdy and easy to use. Very easy to understand features and bells and whistles..bought the kit with one Sony lens and one Sigma lens...both good lenses with excellent ranges