Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A230L

This was and is my first DSLR camera.

Photography fascinates me. I love looking at pictures and paintings. I've always wanted an SLR camera, and yet I had no courage and have been shy (and of course, no money) to purchase one, as most of them used to (and most still do) cost a home. I had this unfortunate wielding notion that DSLR was way too costly for me, forever. But with growing urges to obtain one, and also, my unfortunate (?) death of my SONY L1 Cybershot camera, I have decided to do some research.

So I found out how important research is.

I don't quite understand how this happened, and as of June 2010, I've become a proud owner of Sony alpha230 - and only because by some misfortune (of Argos's part), I was able to get this for £260 - £100 off from the catalogue price. I was happy enough, and it was by far the cheapest SLR in the catalogue, and to be honest, £200-300 is what people would normally spend for a very good or even flagship compact cameras.

In the beginning, I did not too much about the SLR world, and hence did not know the fame of Canon & Nikon - though I at times, regret I had not paid a little bit more for a Canon or a Nikon. But, that as may be, I shall continue with this lovely little gem.

Alpha230 - produces maximum of 10.2 mega-pixel images, and 8 mega-pixels if you change the setting to widescreen. Some may be skeptical about 10.2MP - is this high enough for a good print? I mean, a good LARGE print? From experience of printing normal/large/extra-large prints (though not poster size yet), they are good enough. Though I do have a slight fear that it may not be for poster-sizes. We shall have to see.

The package included the usual goods - charger battery manual etc, and the essential 18-55mm lens, which is great for ordinary, normal use, for out and about.

The camera has the 2.7inch screen which is used primarily to show the settings of the current modes: IMPORTANT to note that this camera does not have the LIVE VIEW function which is a fancy way of describing - what you want to take, what you'll see on the screen, which is not a luxury anymore for any standard digital camera. That doesn't matter too much, looking into the viewfinder make you appear more professional and it's not at all inconvenient.

You can set the modes depending on where you are; Macro mode for close objects, Portraits, Landscapes, and there are 4 manual modes where you can change the settings of one or the another, for example, changing the shutter speed but not aperture, or vice versa. There are also functions for more vivid colours function, night-time, and black & white - black & white pictures can be beautiful at right scenes.

Night mode can be also very useful in low-light conditions, adjusts aperture, shutter speed and ISO accordingly, because the problem you will face with other scene modes in low light is that, the shutter speed will increase to let more light into the lens, and hence slight twitch/movement made by your body/hands or the objects will result in blur - which can be fixed by the night-mode, the built-in flash, or a tripod.

The lens and the body also allows manual & auto focus, which is great as sometimes little/tiny objects in the foreground can be very hard to be focused amongst the noisy background - where manual mode focus will come in and you can manually focus the small object in front and blur out the background.

I have also purchased a 70-300mm lens recently, and it is great for distant landscapes and macro shots. Any lens with 55mm diameter will fit this camera, and there are other companies such as Tamron & Sigma which make compatible SONY lens (with slightly cheaper prices).

I have rambled on quite a bit here, and in terms of the camera, it is a very reliable, efficient and affordable DSLR camera, which produces remarkable, attractive results. However, this being said, unless you can find a real bargain with these entry-cameras, do think about saving and spending a little bit more money for a better camera - like the EOS60D, or Nikon D90.