Sony A550 First Impressions

With the introduction of the A500, A550 and A850 in late August, '09 Sony now has more DSLRs in its line up than Baskin & Robbins has flavours – we'll, almost; there are in fact now seven models, the A230, A330, A380, A500, A550, A850 and A900.
As regular readers know I have been a big fan of the A900 and Sony's G and Zeiss Lenses. The just announced A850 puts the icing on the Sony product line cake by dropping the price of 25MP Full Frame 35mm to around $2,000, without compromising the robust build quality and excellent image quality of its predecessor, (high ISO limitations notwithstanding).
It's been quite a while since I have reviewed or even commented on a consumer grade DSLR (at least one without special capabilities). But, along with the introduction of the A850 Sony has announced the A500 and A550. At a press briefing a few weeks prior to introduction the A550 caught my eye and so I decided to have a ...