Sony Alpha A200 (Digital SLR)

Advantages: Price, brand, quality
Disadvantages: Manual modes

...camera is compatible with the old Minolta lenses - which are cheaper and often better that the Sony ones (for more advanced photos). The manual settings are easy to use, however are a little rigid, and I find do not give you the same flexibility as some of the more expensive digital SLRs or manual ones (Cannon ones are very good for this), however for the price of the Sony, the settings are reasonable. Down to the most important point - image quality. I cannot really find fault with this at all, and this is comparable to some of the much more expensive Canon and Pentax SLRs! The lens provided with this camera is not the best for very close up and macro photography, however it tends to perform very well for any other shots - and there is always the option to change to a better lens for these purposes. Overall - excellent camera...

yatzue 06.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200K

  Another 5 star Sony!

Advantages: Great functions, east to use, looks and feels good and produces great images.
Disadvantages: The kit lens isnt the best and no live view may bother some.

...mentioned, it can also be bought as a twin kit lens option with the 18-70mm and the 75-300mm lenses for a little over £400. At those prices this camera is brilliant value for money and without doubt it is THE unit I would recommend to people looking for an entry level DSLR. I think most new users could get a couple of years use out of this unit with a few accessories before having to upgrade to suit their advancing skills and the unit is so robust that it will easily still be re-sellable after those two years so you can recoup some of your money to go towards your upgrade. When it comes to upgrading you are in good hands too because all the lenses or flash units you may have bought for the A200 will fit straight on to its big brother the A700 and will also work with any future upgrades to the Sony Alpha range in the future. THE IMPORTANT...

thebigc1690 16.09.2008 (17.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200K

The Sony Underdog

Advantages: Great features for low price, Great value for money
Disadvantages: Smaller range of Lenses than competitors

...over the end exposure of your image. Shutter, aperture and ISO are just some of the aspects of the image you have to control with only a simple light level indicator allowing you to see if your image will be over or under exposed. This will let you get exactly the image you are after, albeit with a lot of practice. Blurring water and light trails will be easily accessible to you allowing you to capture stunning images. Lenses The kit lens supplied is the 18-70mm, f3.5-5.6 Sony lens that comes supplied with most of the Alpha range. This image works surprisingly well for the cost delivering sharp images even with the aperture fully open. It is not on par with a slightly pricier lens from Canon or Nikon but certainly does the job. Although it is slightly more telephoto than standard 18-55mm kit lenses the extra 15mm is not...

aadamm 22.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200K

  Enter the Sony!

Advantages: Packed with extras, looks good and feels good.
Disadvantages: See review for the very minor con`s.

...Sony are one of the newest companies to venture into the world of DSLR`s, having been producing some quite excellent point and shoot cameras for many years this is a move that most people in the photography world had expected to happen a long time ago and a lot had feared the day it did happen too. The reason many photographers feared Sony entering the DSLR market is simply that it would be hard not to get drawn into what they had to offer but they feared that Sony might find the market too challenging and bale out leaving many photographers with cameras that they could not upgrade and would struggle to find lenses and accessories for. When buying a point and shoot camera you are spending in the region of between 100 and 200 pounds for a top of the range model, whilst when purchasing a DSLR camera you could be looking at spending...

thebigc1690 29.07.2008 (17.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A350K

  A Sony fit for a pro!

Advantages: Too many to list, please see review!
Disadvantages: None worthy of a mention in my opinion.

...which can be connected directly to suitably-equipped TV`s. The HDMI port can be configured to output 1080i, 720p or standard definition signals. The other main connection on the unit is of course the USB connection which in this camera can also be used to remote control the A700. The Sony A700 adopts the Alpha lens mount and is therefore compatible with the complete range of Sony lenses and third party models designed for the Sony or Minolta AF systems, allowing you as I mentioned earlier to browse through EBay and other places for older Minolta lenses but be aware that many of these will only work in manual focussing mode when used on this unit. All lenses attached to the A700 can exploit the camera?s built-in Super SteadyShot stabilisation which means unlike with Canon and Nikon DSLR`s you do not have to fork out for very expensive...

thebigc1690 18.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A700K

Sony alpha A100

Advantages: Stlish digital slr
Disadvantages: sony customer service

...At first glance the sony alpha a100 feals slightyly plastickly, but this is partly due to the fact that the body itself is made out of plastic, never the less the sony a100 is a fantastic digital sslr for the first time photograhper. Although it is slightly dissapointing that sony has not made a vertical grip for this product, overall the smooth shiny feal to the sony alpha a100, feals nice, and the shutter button fits snugguly into your right hand, however the camera is exceptional, but the custumer service is dreadful, when i accidently smashed my sony alpha 3 days after purchasing it, i was devistated, but not to worry, i was soon on to sony, and was relieved that there was a set price of £114 but i had to forck out a lumply sum of £360 to get it fixed. There isnt realy a fixed price and the level of custumer service...

DarkNights 03.03.2008 (04.03.2008) · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A100W

Sony a200 - one of the best budget dslr cameras available.

Advantages: Great battery life, comfortable in the hands, picture quality.
Disadvantages: Flimsy memory card and remote release slot.

...I was looking for a new camera and had a budget of around £300. Compact cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix TZ and the Nikon Coolpix P80 kept coming up, as did the Nikon D40 and the Sony a200. I decided to go for the Sony in the end as it was a name I trusted and I had used a compact Sony in the past. The quality difference between my old compact camera and this camera was incredible. Shots always seem to come out crisp and clear, whatever lighting conditions the picture was taken in. Battery life is great and the percentage meter of battery power remaining is invaluable. The camera fits well in large hands, and all of the buttons and dials on the camera are comfortably positioned. Having only used a compact camera in the past, the sheer number of options took a while to get used to, but once I was familiar with the camera everything...

je12g08 09.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200K

Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR

Advantages: ease of use,good design
Disadvantages: lack of cover for preview screen

...I recently purchased the sony a 100 for two reasons the first being that I could use my existing lenses, and secondly the price at about £400 I thought was quite reasonable. although I have only used it for about two weeks I was really impressed when I took a picture in a cave with only ambient light, something that would have been virtually impossible with a film camera. The camera is fairly light it weighs about the same as a slr film camera. It is compatible with most minolta lenses. But check first with sony at their website. The design is good it sits well in the hand your finger naturally falls on to the shutter button. The lcd screen is large and clear although i am worried that this could be damaged easily, but i am sure you can get a cover for this, this will be my next purchase. The battery lasts for about 750...

wifrid 04.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A100W

A Very Good Choice DSLR And For The Price Cannot Be Bettered

Advantages: Great pictures, great price with lots of old quality kit to be had for it a not a lot of money
Disadvantages: Not the build quality I was expecting and a few setting need tweaking.

.... The results from it are amazing. If this is a first step into owning a DSLR then you really will not be disappointed. Many will moan that the lense that comes with the camera isn't great but it will do and besides, that is what ebay is for. There is a world of great quality used Minolta lenses out there for not a lot of money that will really make this camera shine. One thing worth mentioning is that thanks to improved image processing, my 4 gig CF card will hold nearly 1000 10.2 MP images on it but only 650 lower resolution pictures on my older Minolta camera. The screen is a great size displaying sharp, clear previews. No live view but this isn't something I will miss just yet. If you feel that you cannot live without it though, the Alpha 300 isn't a great deal more expensive and is basically the same camera. I just didn't feel it was worth...

joeyjojoe1971 10.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200K

Ditch the point & click for only a few quid more

Advantages: Budget Cost but Brilliant Photographs
Disadvantages: No "Live View" on Screen

.... Other manufacturers including, Canon & Nikon have also produced very similiar beginner SLR models to the A200, but when I checked the A200 was far keener on price and seemed to fare best in photographic magazine reviews also. In short this camera is simply unbelievable value for money, given it's high quality results and advanced capability. Many lenses, such as compatible zoom & telephoto are available with it too for a lifetime of varied photographs. Keep your memories crisp and clear with Sony. Buy and enjoy. More detailed information and online brochure can be found at http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dss-digital-slr/dslr-a200k (copy & paste the link into your browser)....

CiaoTester 11.11.2008 (19.11.2008) · Read review
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Review of Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200K