The Sony α35 (aka SLT-A35) is an odd beast; although it's touted as an upgrade to Sony's α33, some of the features of the older model are missing. The most obvious loss is the articulated screen, but on the other hand Sony has upgraded both the CMOS sensor and some of the other internals of the camera.

The screen still remains at 3-inches and keeps all the various features on the other SLT cameras from Sony, and, although there are times when an articulated screen really comes in handy, it seems like Sony wants to push those users towards the α55. Thankfully though, the screen on the α35 is definitely viewable outdoors in what was fairly bright light.

Most of the changes to the Sony α35 are on the inside and the new 16.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor is meant to be a lot more power efficient than the sensors used in Sony's first generation of SLT cameras. As such, it's now possible to shoot full HD video at 1080i 60fps for a whole 29 minutes, rather than the fairly paltry 9 minutes of the α55. Another upshot of the new sensor is improved battery life, and the α35 is said to be good for some 420-440 shots.

As with the NEX-C3, the α35 has also gained a selection of picture effects and these are usable during video recording too. Sony demoed some of the effects in a short video at the press event and although we wouldn't say all of them are particularly worthy, some looked pretty interesting.

The new model handles just like the previous models and it has a good grip unless you have very large hands. Overall, the α35 is a fairly minor upgrade, if it can be called that, and as with the NEX-C3, if you already own the previous edition, you're unlikely to want to upgrade.