Anyone own a Sony A55 DSLR camera?

[markem]

I've been considering a Sony A55 since last fall. I've tracked the reviews but not the user sites (failing on my part, but it is hard to know which ones are good vs. just noisy). Anyway, in the past month, I've been drooling and am really close to just making a purchase. But ...

First I want to see if anyone has one and is willing to give a bit of a review. If you have considered the A55 and moved on to something else, I'd also appreciate some input. If you've only read the Amazon page and want to tell me what I should do and such, well, feel free to skip this thread.

My anticipated photography includes motion (bicycles races, rafting, baseball and soccer games, birding), so some features of the A55 are quite interesting to me. I'm not really deep in DSLR knowledge (yes, I know that the A series isn't technically DSLR, but that's the category it is lumped in to) but have good SLR print experience and have taken classes from and done mountaineering/photo trips with people like Art Wolfe (long, long time ago).

Pertinent input?

Oh yeah, I may just bite the bullet and head to the Sony store on Monday, since it is supposed to be raining. I am unlikely to emerge unscathed in the credit card department.

[Beagleone]

Sorry Mark, I just saw this thread.

Honestly, I am not all that familiar with the Sony line of semi-pro level DSLR. Some of the reviews I've read have been positive, but not overly impressive. What I would recommend is talking to a local shop in the area and seeing about renting one for a day or two to try it out. You really can't judge how it is going to be in the store. In the end, it will depend on how user-friendly it is and if it will actually meet your personal needs. This maybe a stepping stone for you wanting something more serious down the road (and that may be sooner than you think).

It isn't too much of a leap from SLR to DSLR, so you should be fine with your knowledge base for now.

[markem]

Thanks, Tony!