Back in the early 2010s Sony pioneered a different approach on interchangeable lens camera; the Single Lens Translucent or SLT cameras. These cameras were a short-lived strange hybrid of a Mirrorless camera and DSLR. They combined a DSLR Phase Detect Auto Focus system and the capabilities of a Mirrorless body such as focus peaking, exposure preview and a EVF instead of the OVF found on DSLR cameras.
The camera has a semi-transparent mirror which acts as a prism and splits off a small amount of light to bounce to the PDAF sensor. The rest goes through to the sensor. The mirror never flips up and operates a lot like a drop-in filter; adding a layer of protection to the senor itself that mirrorless bodies lack.
It was a novel concept, and Sony built some really great cameras using this technology. I own two: the Sony a99 Full Frame (first version) which I will review in a later review and the Sony a37.
The SLT lines were however prone to Hardware malfunctions, including the IBIS unit failing (as it has in my a99) and other issues like a lens communication issue that my a37 is starting to develop. I used the camera for years before it developed this issue and it only started acting up when I brought it back out of storage for this week of shooting.
The biggest reason I picked up Sony A mount (which includes the one pre-SLT era DSLR I have the a290) was that I can run Minolta Film lenses natively with Autofocus. Minolta made some amazing lenses for their film system in the 80s and 90s- many of which are so well built that they are still producing great shots to this day. Taking a modern camera and using vintage lenses you picked up for a song is a lot of fun; especially when you don't need to run it through a mount adapter and sacrifice AF and aperture control on the camera.
The Sony a37 sported a 16mp APS-C sized CMOS sensor; the same sensor that was used in many different Sony and Nikon cameras. It had an extended ISO range of 16000 but started to get fairly noisy after around ISO 1600 so I typically would keep my ISO below that when shooting it. Sony was a pioneer of In-Body stabilization so the a37 along with all Sony A mount bodies (DSLR and SLT alike have IBIS)
I picked this camera up in 2017 and it was one of my first ICL cameras on a new lens system "For Fun" that wasn't a part of my primary system. I was able get a good selection of lenses for it while not investing much money.
This camera turned into one of my primary Street Photography cameras from 2018-2019 and it's one of the things the camera really excels at. It's smaller and more discreet then a larger DSLR and the tilt screen on the back makes hip-shooting easy. It's also very easy to shoot. It has a very quick startup/ready from standby or turned off which is huge for street photography as well.
It's not a great camera for Wildlife or Action Photography as I found out during this review. When I shot this camera back in 2017-2018 I was using this for Street Photography and anything that required a fast burst rate and response I was using my higher end equipment for. The shutter on this camera is slow; and while it captures the moment as soon as you hit the shutter with no noticeable shooting lag but on the back swing of the shutter mechanism there is a bit of a delay while it resets so you can't fire quick shots in succession unless you are in continuous drive mode.
Continuous drive mode is rated at 5.5 FPS on paper. Which is respectable for an entry level camera. However when I shot it in the field it felt a lot slower, no faster then a Canon Rebel at 3.5 FPS and the Rebels were better for Single Shot quickfire actuation which is what I typically do instead of locking it into Continuous drive.
Control wise it handles a lot like a Canon Rebel; with a single control wheel operated with a button press for alternate function (such as setting shutter speed in manual or Exposure Comp in priority modes). It gets a respectable battery life of around 500-600 shots "in the field" which is more then it is rated for and is respectable for essentially a mirrorless camera with some throwbacks to a DSLR.
Overall I ran into frustrations when shooting it, but one was from a lens communication issue this camera did not have before, and the slower response when I tried taking it out for Wildlife. That said, I still enjoy shooting it and might at some point replace it with a higher end APS C SLT like an a68 or a77 if I ever find one of those for cheap. So enjoy some of the shots I took when I revisited this camera during an unseasonably warm stretch of early Spring weather.
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