Sony SLT A37

We'll look at the feature more closely in our full review, but Sony's statement that the quality of this digital zooming is 'nearly equivalent' to optical zooming with the kit zoom is either a rather grand claim or a bit of a dig at the quality of the kit zoom.

In addition to the typical PASM modes and a couple of auto modes, the mode dial has a Tele-Zoom high-speed shooting mode (a digitally zoomed 8.4-megapixel 7fps burst mode), 3D and Sweep panoramas, and a handful of scene and special effects modes.

It's a good focal length range and its aperture range is no slower than the shorter 18-55mm option.

Because the AF sensor needs a fairly wide aperture to make sure it's fully illuminated, the camera will only autofocus in P mode, but if you're happy to do without AF, you can take more control of the exposure settings in A, S or M modes.

This not only means that it can quickly focus all Sony and Minolta A-mount lenses, but can continue to do so both while continuous shooting and shooting movies.

At night especially I found that combination more accurate than relying on the AF; the viewfinder is notably dim even in good light.

The Sony A37 can shoot full-resolution 16.1 megapixel pictures at up to 7fps whilst maintaining continuous auto focus and auto exposure, a fast rate for such an inexpensive camera.

You have the choice of setting ISO manually (between 100 and 3200), or engaging Auto ISO across the same range.

After it crops the photo, though, Sony feels compelled to unnecessarily bloat it back up to 16 megapixels.

The A37 does have a clever eye level sensor that switches off the rear screen's info display as you bring your eye close to the excellent optical viewfinder, plus a facility that automatically flips the same display through 90° should you turn the camera on its side to shoot in portrait fashion.

This crop frame is shown on the rear display, just after you've taken your picture, so that you can see how the camera thinks you should have composed the shot.

The LCD itself is a field-sequential device - it shows red, then green, then blue information rather than being able to show them all at the same time.

The A37 can record full 1080 HD 1920 x 1280 pixel movies at either 50i or 25p (PAL), or 60i and 24p (NTSC) in the AVCHD format, or 1440 x 1080 pixels at 30fps/25fps in the MPEG-4 format, useful as this format can currently be shared more easily.

Beyond this, the changes are subtle - the A37 gains the A57's improved viewfinder optics, and it becomes the only SLT not to shoot 60p video - instead offering 60i and 24p as its highest frame rate options, both at 24Mbps.

Conventional DSLRs have to wait for the mirror to reset before they can take another focus measurement, meaning high speed continuous shooting tends to be reserved for professional level cameras.