Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 (Body Only) Reviews: Digital SLR Camera

+ Easy to hold in use,easy for a 1st timer to digital to work.

- Poor choice of extras,ie lens cases

+ It's a very good camera, especially if you are one of the Minolta Users. All the Minolta 35 mm SLR lenses do work this Camera and the results are very good.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ I have Minolta Macro, Telephoto and AF 28-80 lenses. the choice of the Sony A 100 was cost efficient. I need a wider angle lens to replace my Minolta AF50 but I am told that the Sony lens normally offered WITH the A 100 body is not up to the Minolta standard (but of this I have no experience)!

- None found to date.

+ I am exceedingly pleased with this purchase and have taken some very good photos

- I have difficulty understanding the instruction book and have taken some overexposed photos becayse I can't undestand the book. However i will persevere!

+ Takes excellent photos and is easy to setup and use. I haven't had an out of focus or camera shake picture yet including 'low light level' shots. The hand grip is comfortable and the balance of the camera is first-class.

- It's a little heavier than some other cameras.

+ 300mm kit lens for less than the price of others' 200mm kits.

- still trying to find any...

+ All round great DSLR - the built in anti-shake feature is brilliant allowing you to take pictures without flash in low light conditions. Supplied lens is great too - nice 18mm wide angle.

- On camera flash is poor, but same goes for most.

+ This camera was bought as an upgrade from my old SLR Minolta so the design is familiar and there is the added bonus of compatable lenses. It's beautifully balanced, easy to use and has great battery life. Go buy one !

- The only 'bad' point I can come up with is that the sony lens isn't power zoom.

+ Excellent image quality. Very easy and intuitive to use. Although quite large, not too heavy.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Easy to use and produces very good quality pictures

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Controls easy to locate and operate; good, clear viewfinder. Flash placed high above lens.

- Cannot think of any.

+ Anti shake mode allows you to shoot pictures with very good results that you previuosly would not have been able to shoot at all and the same feature removes dust at start up.
Dynamic Range Low 80 and High 200 modes works very well where there are shadows or strong highlights.
Picture quality when you get the settings rights for the type of picture are excellent.
Performance, speed of use from start up, speed of focus are very fast when compared to compact digital cameras previuosly used.
Viewfinder very bright and clear.
LCD can be seen easily in bright outdoor situations.
Body and lens lighter than most DSLR's.
Can still shoot picture in low light levels and get great results.
Picture quality is better than my last Nikon SLR camera which shows how far DSLR's have come.
Love it.

- No live preview.
No focus assist lamp - you have to use the flash manually.
Lens body feels a little too plasticky.
lens has no marking for depth of field range.
No movie mode with DSLR's.
LCD smears easily from the oil from your skin.
Shutter noise is like old fashioned SLR's and could be quieter when shooting wildlife.
LCD can not be pulled out at an angle like some compact digital cameras.
Pop up flash is not automatic and has too low a guide number.

+ Compatible with all Minolta SLR camera accessories and lenses.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Chose this camera because I have several Minolta SLR lenses that will fit it.
The camera was easy to use as soon as I picked it up, but it has lots of advanced features I'm still getting to grips with.
Already taken some stunningly good photos, and I'm really pleased with my choice.

- Didn't come with a memory card, so had to rush around and get one before I could use it.

+ Simpler and better function dial than Dimage 7D, generally simpler to operate. Good battery life so far.

- Smaller and lighter than the Dimage 7D it replaced, larger lenses feel a bit "top heavy"

+ quick photo taking, downloading easy onto computer, good quality picture

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Excellent focus especially in dark conditions.
Compatible with old AF Konica Minolta.

- No video possible

+ Really nice camera, the body fits palm nicely, and is really solid.

- Shutter is quite loud, when taking pictures in places where silence is desirable that could be an issue, otherwise very nice camera.

+ Uses same lenses as Konica Minolta 35mm SLR, permitting me to re-use my zoom lense. Like the image processing ability, difficult to take a bad picture!

- Would have been nice if it also used infra-red auto-focus for night time shots. Previous removable Minolta camera flashgun has an infra-red bulb on it for this purpose, but is useless on this camera, which uses a series of pre-flashes for autofucus. Still a relatively cheap item to replace.

+ Compatibility with Konica lenses.
Sony brand.

- None.

+ The photos are phenominal quality. It is such an easy camera to use. I have not stopped using it since I bought it.

- None so far.

+ Good value for money, all my Minolta lenses fit. Taking some excellent pictures and having fun.

- None found up to now.

+ At the time the Sony was a reasonably priced budget DSLR. Its is comfortable to handle and the camera body feels solid. The autofocusing system and light meter respond very quickly. The controls and on-screen menu system are very easy to navigate and did not take me long to get used to. The supplied sotware is also useful including a RAW converter and photo organiser.

- The only draw back appears to be the quality of the kit lenses (18-70mm and the 75-300mm zoom). Although, generally speaking, the auto-focusing system performs well the images are not quite as sharp as I would have hoped. This, I understand can be improved by using a third party lense such as the Sigma branded lenses. Since my purchase the prices of the Canon 400D and the Nikon D40x kits have come down bringing the two major brands, and if you believe everything you read, superior cameras closer to the Sony kit's price point.

+ v. easy to use, great features and fab image quality and good battery life, a great camera all round

- fairly expensive purchase

+ Quality of image and build; great value for money

- Some image blur and still trying to balance out shutter speed with light quality

+ For a complete beginer I have found the sony alpha 1oo a good camra to learn with at a reasonable price

- I will soon out grow it

+ For a novice, the point and click features are a bonus allowing you to create great pictures very easily. The camera itself is solid, sturdy and feels very comfortable in your hands.

- The point and click features of the camera perform poorly in bad lighting or at night. I will need to experiment with bespoke features in order to compensate for this. However, I assume that this is more of an issue of my inexperience rather than the camera.

+ Good quality pictures. Easy to use (for an SLR). Anti shake technology allowed me to hand hold a sunset shot with a 300mm lens.

- No live view.

+ Excellent in all ways, upgraded from a minolta 5xi and i am not dissapointed.

- No monochrome feature so this has to be done on the computer.

+ Easy to use, small, good features.

- a bit pricey, but thats expected with a DSLR.

+ Good features at an affordable price

- None so far

+ Alpha lenses. I also have got minolta slr and I can use lenses from minolta slr with my new sony dslr.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ anti-shake built into the body
really good build quality

- a little heavy to carry, but again that demonstrates the excellent build quality

+ easy to use

- none

+ A very good S.L.R. camera for the price and very easy to use fora beginner.

- extras are quite expenciff

+ good handling. Takes Minolta lenses. anti-shake. intuitive menus. function selection knob on top plate. good images so far.

- have to raise flash even on auto.

+ It's made by Sony, and they don't mess around

- The cost, ouch!

+ Very well balanced and weighted camera. The lenses from our film camers (Konica Minolta) use the same lens fit so we can use the lenses we already have which is a major plus point as it means we don't have to pay out for new ones. Currently using a 4GB CF card which on the highest settings gives over 1000 photos.
It's very easy to use, anti-shale is a very useful function, there are loads of options and as a first proper DSLR it's a great starting out kit.
All in all we are very happy with it.

- The only minus I can think of is that it doesn't have a battery level meter. But the battery is good for about 700 photos or so.

+ Shutter speeds.
Clarity of pictures
Speed of storing each image, repeat shots
Availability of accessories and lenses

- Remote control

+ Very impressive features and superb picture quality. We already own some SLR lenses and a traditional film body so wanted a compatable camera body to give us the option of film or digital. So far we've not ventured back into the realms of film!
Works straight from switch on and with no shutter delay which is something we had hated of other digital cameras. Great to be able choose the aperture or shutter priority to get interesting effects and also to have the "protrait", "landscape" and other pre-sets which one can fall back on when pushed for time. The built in flash is excellent. We bought a 4GB flash card which has worked fine and still not full after 6 months. Battery life is excellent, we have ony charged it twice in 6 months! Good instruction manual which is definitely needed as there are so many buttons and knobs to navigate initially though once learnt they fall into place intuitively

- Can't think of any - it's a joy to use