Sony α37

The Sony α37, 2012's mighty entry level model of the Sony α system, the little sister of α57 and α77 images by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)

The Sony α37 (Sony Alpha SLT-37) of the year 2012 is a fine camera sample of the short Age of Sony's SLT cameras, an alternate DSLR camera conception which marked the company's move toward digital system cameras with electronical viewfinder in 2010, the year when the renowned popular Japanese electronics maker also introduced its last classic DSLRs with optical reflex viewfinders which were made from 2006 to 2010 in the tradition of Konica Minolta's digital single lens reflex cameras. With the SLTs, Sony seemed to found its own digital SLR tradition with a fixed translucent mirror instead of a common SLR's flip-up glass mirror, preceeded only singularly by a similar pellicle in the analogue SLR Canon Pellix. The lens bayonet that Sony used for all its DSLRs and SLTs was already known from Minolta's first autofocus SLR system, the first of such popular AF camera systems in the market. Thus the optically remarkable old Minolta AF and Maxxum lenses can be used even on Sony's SLT bodies. The SLT concept was ideal for the cameras' video mode since part of the in-coming light was directed to a fast phase detection autofocus sensor. Only 70% of the in-coming light straightly reached the imaging sensor. Thus the SLTs had a slight disadvantage concerning light sensitivity. Thus, parallely to the development of the SLT cameras, Sony's internal concurrent project, a completely mirror-less system with new bayonet type, was built up under the name Sony NEX - both systems marketed as Sony α system. Finally the Minolta-bayonet-based system was ceased in 2016 while the NEXes' E-mount lives on in today's Sony α camera bodies.

α37 and α57, SLT-type descendants of the DSLR α580

The Sony α37 of 2012 seems to have inherited the mighty 16 megapixel sensor of Sony's advanced but simple-styled amateur DSLR Sony α580 and maybe even its phase-detection AF-sensor. The capabilities of the Sony α37 and the older DSLR are almost the same, except the SLTs limited light sensitivity, its slightly slower image-series-shooting speed and its smaller low-resolution monitor. The α37 has the advantage of some new creative style modes and its smaller lighter construction. Whilst the α580 was 2010s amateur model, the α37 of 2012 was entry level since its more expensive brother Sony α57 took over the amateur camera role, like the α580 having a more powerful battery and a high-resolution monitor, and reaching a much faster speed for images-series-shooting than both, its sister α37 and the DSLR α580. Both, the α37 and the α57, where the last of these easier affordable DSLRs and SLTs of Sony with the A-bayonet's metal version.

The SLT Sony α37 amidst other mighty 16 MP system cameras of the Sony α system, the DSLR α580 and the CSC α NEX-C3 image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)