The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) has published their 2008-2009 Award Winners. We're happy to say that both the Sony A350 DSLR, and the 70-300G SSM Lens(thank you Andrew!) have been presented awards in the Photo category. For the A350, there was particular note given to Sony's Live View implementation.

From the A350 Award:

While the Sony α350 offers handy functions like image stabilisation and an anti dust system, its most impressive feature is the superbly designed Live View system. Thanks to a unique design, the camera can perform fast autofocusing in Live View mode using the camera’s primary AF system. This avoids the problems of secondary AF systems, and delays while the mirror flips out of the way.

For the 70-300G, among other things, they note:

Optically, you can expect beautifully detailed pictures with an impressively even resolution across the image frame. Any limitations of the relatively small maximum aperture are more than balanced out by the reduced high ISO noise that is characteristic of Sony’s α cameras.

Full Awards Here
http://www.eisa.eu/eisa/awards/2008-2009

If you are not familar with EISA or their awards you might want to visit http://www.eisa.eu/eisa

The most affordable G lens to date, and introduced at a very popular focal length

SAL-70300G

June 2008, Carl Garrard

(Thanks to Matt Davids at AlphaLensRental.com for providing this lens)

Lens tested on the Sony A700 and A200 DSLRS

The Sony 70-300G SSM 4.5-5.6 lens was introduced first at PMA this year, and after a bit of a wait is now finally available from Sony and other major retailers. The past "G" series lenses from Minolta and now subsequently Sony, carry a tradition of the highest image quality available from the lens lineup and typically carry a large price tag to go along with that quality. "G" lenses in the past have been hand built one by one at Sony's facilities, which partially accounts for the higher prices. With no official word from Sony, we can only guess if this lens will follow this tradition or not. Given the price, I doubt it can still be hand built. However, will it follow the tradition of image quality? Let's find out.

Sony 70-300G SSM 4.5-5.6 Telephoto Zoom Lens
You can also go direct to the SAL70300G Sony 70-300G Full Review

At PMA 2008, I was fortunate enough to be able to strap this lens onto my A700 and fire off a couple of pictures. But before I go into my impressions I want to say that before PMA, my general thoughts on the 70-300 zoom range lenses were that there are a couple really good lenses in that range, and many that are mediocre.