So, I have a confession: I’m a big fan of the nuances of camera design. It’s a designer thing, I guess. It goes above and beyond my brand loyalties. So, as I sit here looking at Sony’s new Alpha 900, and I gotta say, it looks well laid out. I mean, I haven’t got to put one in my hand, but, I do so approve of Sony’s industrial design on these Alphas. What do I mean, exactly? OK, let’s see the new A900 side-by-side with my trusty firearm, the Olympus E-3.

OK, so there’s the useful views. Sony left, Olympus right. No guarantees of scale, this is illustrative only. Go ahead and click it for a larger view. Now, the Olympus digital camera there is what I use, but I have to admit it looks far more intimidating than the 900, despite both of them being ‘pro’ level cameras. The Alphas so far have kept with a very nice joystick and large buttons approach that I approve of. The four buttons on the top deck of the Alpha (putting them under thumb) seem very reasonably chosen (Drive/ISO/WB/EV? Well, those are the settings I want to change on the fly most of the time, anyway, good call Sony).

The sony certainly wins for friendly looks, I’ll give it that. I do have a few concerns about it though. That grip looks mighty thin compared to the nice, chunky E-3 one. And, while reading my top LCD requires a semester of cryptography, I’m not sure the A900′s uber-minimalist Aperture/Shutter/Battery/Shots Remaining is a better solution. Maybe it’ll change when I hold down different buttons, that’d be nice. I’m also not a fan of the rotary metering switches, but those seem to be the de facto norm so that might just be me. It seems friendlier looking than it is useful on the fly.

But, maybe that’s the difference in philosophy here. Olympus has obviously designed a very utilitarian camera, it’s no-nonsense and not a lot of wasted space, with function buttons for close to everything, whether you like it or not. The Alpha is a bit more friendly, more curves and wider spaces.

Next time on industrial design, Nikon digital cameras and that famous little red triangle.