my 550 arrived !

so money is tight around here as im a stay at home, i bought my new 550 off ebay- i researched thoroughly, googled the company and read through a lot of their feedback .. they have 31000 trades, 99.6% positive and are a top rated seller. the 550 arrived and it looks brand new and genuine to me, what tests should i run it through ?

i know its not the best to buy from ebay but i love how youre covered by paypal if anything goes wrong
(theyve refunded me before on a dodgy second hand lens i bought) and the camera came to 800 dollars NZ and the same thing cost 1400 dollars NZ here.. basically it was ebay version or stick with my a200.. those were my choices.. and yes i have been a bit nervous about it !!

congratulations. If you want to test it I would guess that super steady shot would be one of those? (take the same picture at .. 1/10th of a second with SS on then off).
Another one would be check for hot pixels / dead pixels (turn Noise reduction off on long exposure, and take a picture at night leaving the lens open for 10 seconds. If you have 5, 10 dead pixels -white spots- it should be fine... if you have 50, then that's a little too much..).

I don't think of anything else besides taking regular pictures and using common sense

thanks so much pisco, appreciate the response :)

Congrats on a great camera. Test= take photos - lots of photos. And don't forget to post a few here. - TF

thanks ! it seems legit to me, i love it so much.. the only thing is that the colours are quite saturated, what is the best way to handle that cos i prefer to get a more neutral SOOC image and then pp it to pop the colours? im using it with the sony 50 1.8 as well which i know isnt helping but reds and yellows are way too saturated. so is it better to take down the saturation in camera or maybe use the vibrance in lightroom ?

I would shoot in RAW and set LR to give me what I want. - TF

Congrats on the new camera! Now you can use your a200 as a back up body.

Hi Jodi

just read your post and i thought i`d let you know I also got my Sony A550 of ebay and i`ve had no problems al all with it, I find its a great camera and after a few days it was so easy to use.
i hope you get as much enjoyment out of yours as I still do with mine. great choice of camera. plus I also upgraded from the A200. i`ve had some great deals of ebay, its the place i go when i`m looking for a lens of other bits i want to add to my kit. I have about 4 old minolta lens that I use, that has saved me a lot of money and gave me the chance to build my kit up on a tight budget.. ..
happy Snapping .... :)

I have actually bought an A550 body with less than 3000 actuations. From guess where Get it in the next 2 days . Would you believe the owner is buying a A77 . I would have liked one myself but I don't think I could have justified the expense at my age . I have got to start from the bottom again . Put the L plates up again. I hope I have done the right thing only time will tell . Any tips gratefully received

Regards Peter.

My A550 arrived today
I am very pleased with it so far . 2,878 activations .Took it to my cousin he uses a N***N what did you buy this for was the retort but after using it for a while thought it was pretty good just lacked the wheel .He cant understand me wanting to be able to use the existing lenses. I think I can live with that though .Got a lot to learn I figure .I would have liked slightly higher specs but you have to cut your coat according to your cloth . Sony lenses work well .Any tips gratefully received
Regards Peter

Just noticed I stated Sony lenses worked well. It just shows how wound up I am . I meant Minolta sorry I have not got any Sony lenses yet.My apologies

Peter