Yesterday my Sony obtain A55 + 18-55 lens and am thrilled properly. Previously, I had a Nikon D40 and then the 5000 with Tamron 18-200 lens that has almost taken away the fun of taking pictures ;-( By comparison, the A55 is lightning fast, nice and light and handy, so has little details like the water level in the viewfinder or 3 times to trigger it to assemble the best picture and also a great software (PMB)! I am certainly not a pro, but this camera I was immediately enthusiastic and I regret my departure from Nikon is not absolute. I have for a woman rather large hands, but the Nikon 5000 seemed (especially for longer "Photo sessions") very heavy and unwieldy. How awesome is that the A55 in your hand! Even in terms of usability and "Program Structure" I give the Sony a clear preference. Liefering View with Nikon: atrocious slowly - A55 awesome fast! And who prefers to work with the viewfinder: once the eye is close to the viewfinder, LifeView is automatically switched off or goes back to the head, the image section appears immediately on the display! Many have already rumgemängelt on the "green automation": I have so hinbekommen already some really good shots and even the Autofukus on cloudy sky has no problem working (as I had "to make sharp" with the Nikon significantly more problems) , Since I wanted to play it safe, I've only just the kit with the small lens acquired, but I also take pictures of dancing, I'm going to something like my old Tamron buy definitely - think it's worth it in any case ;-) But even "Macro shooting" - actually it is the minimum distance over 40 cm are, right? - I have done with a distance of about 20/25 cm on the following property Sony and am excited about the detail or depth of the images! Merely plugging the USB cable (for the photos to load on the PC) is really something frummelig, but that's no reason for me to give this camera not 5 star ;-) I certainly hope that this will not change even after prolonged use - but only time will tell.