On the A350's top plate is a large exposure mode dial, a sliding Live View switch, a drive button and an ISO selector. In total, there are nearly 20 switches, knobs, dials and sliders, which can make you wish you were an octopus in order to keep on top of this feature-laden beast.

Overall, though, the usability of the camera is a bit confusing and it takes a while to get used to the layout.

Tilt without swivel

Finally, at the back of the A350 is a 2.7-inch LCD screen that tilts upwards and 20-degrees downwards for when you're using Live View. It's not as good as a proper tilt-and-swivel screen but it's handy for candid or low-level shots.

The anti-glare coating of the screen does seem prone to smearing and clouding whenever a smidgen of nose grease gets deposited on it. Above the screen is the slightly dim optical viewfinder; its dark and pokey nature may be to do with the incorporation of the Live View sensor.

Two small detectors located under the viewfinder can sense when you're looking through the viewfinder and will then wake things up and turn the autofocus system on. It's nice but you can turn it off if you don't want to use it.

In use, the A350's shutter sounds a bit tinny and suffers from a slight recoil. The mirror needs more damping to make it sound more expensive and little less like a cheap car door shutting. Thankfully, the shutter noise can't detract from the quality of the A350's images, which are extremely good.

Poor lens performance

Okay, so maybe there's a tendency for the A350 to underexpose by up to half a stop, and the auto white balance can, occasionally, veer slightly towards yellow, but in terms of image resolution it's an extremely good performer.

The ISO noise levels are very low and the amount of sharpening applied to JPEGs is on the conservative side, which is fine as you can always add your own sharpening during post processing.

However, we do have one major complaint with the A350, and that's the performance of the 18-70mmm Sony kit lens. It simply isn't good enough for the sensor it's working with.

The cheap-feeling lens is no match for Sony's excellent 14.2MP chip and you'd be well advised to shell out some extra cash for one of Sony's superb Carl Zeiss zooms.

However, If you do choose to do that, then the good value offered by the A350 begins to melt away as the cost starts to creep up or even exceed the far-better-built Pentax K20D - so it might be an idea to think very carefully before you go down that route.

A clumsy Digital SLR

With the A350, Sony has managed to produce a camera that's relatively inexpensive and yet capable of producing some truly excellent quality images.

However, the downsides are the rather clumsy controls and a cheap level of build quality with low-grade plastic, which means it feels, well... a little bit cheap.

But if you can find it within yourself to live with the plasticky body, the flapping shutter noise and the slightly cack-handed controls, then you're likely to be rewarded with a camera that, in the right hands, can shoot some great images.