Product Description
SONY ALPHA A100 DIGITAL SLR BODY ONLY UK
Customer Reviews:
A best of both worlds camera.......2007-07-19
Having used several digital cameras over the last few year now, I have always found after the initial excitement of it all a rather nagging doubt that I still preferred my old canon A1. The simple action of pressing a button and capturing an image instantaneously seemed consigned to the history books- then I bought this Sony!
It is every bit as good as its reviews, even Sony's! It is light (well apart from when the 75-300 lens is loaded), the optics and ergonomics are excellent, and the controls are intuative. Even the manual is easy going, and you have the comfort of knowing not much of your money went into buying the paper it is printed on.
Now the acid test how quick does that shutter close! Well having just come back from a trip to the Azores taking pictures of dolphins I can say the only people on the boat with images to take home were the video camera group and the lucky individual with a Sony a100, and my shot of a dolphin in the air was in 10mega pixel quality!
Sony A100 has everything you could need.......2006-07-28
The Sony A100 is the first in the new line of "a" series (pronounced Alpha) cameras from Sony. The A100 comes in various forms including body only, single lens (18-70mm) and twin lens (18-70mm and 70-300mm) set. The body of the camera is available in all black, or a mixture of Black and Silver.
I purchase the twin lens set in all black. In the bright metallic box, you get the Camera body, the twin lenses, a memory stick duo to Compact flash converter to put in the camera, camera strap, Battery, battery charger (charging is off camera), USB to computer lead, USB to tv lead (to show the pictures on the TV), software disk (containing a USB driver, RAW file editor and basic file viewer), a user guide (black and white, fairly cheap paper manual about 90 pages), and several brochures on lenses and other products, and then the product guarantee.
The cameras headline features are the 10.2 megapixel sensor, the new anti-shake (now called super shake) system, vibrating image screen to remove dust, and fast image processor. Beyond this, it has all the features you could possibly want from a digital camera.
The battery is charged off camera, and you get a UK 3 pin plug. The camera can charge the battery though a power port directly into the camera body, but the cable for this is an optional extra. If you are travelling abroad, different plugs are also optional extras. Charging the battery takes about 2 hours, and gives you power for around 750 shots (assuming flash on 1/3 of shots).
Photos are captured onto a memory card, which can either be a CompactFlash or a Memory Stick Due. A dummy CompactFlash comes with the camera that acts as a converter inside the camera for the Memory stick Duo. You cannot use full size Sony Memory sticks in the camera. No memory comes with the camera, so you will need to purchase one to take pictures. I went for a 4Gb card, which will store 982 full size, hi-res photos in JPEG format, or 292 RAW photos.
The camera has a very sharp and bright picture display on the back. This is used for the control of the camera settings and viewing previous pictures. However, when taking a picture, the current view cannot be shown on this screen (for say, taking shots over the heads of a crowd). Instead, you need to use the viewfinder. When you put your eye to the view finder, the main display goes off saving battery life. In both the viewfinder and the main picture display, all the information is show including memory status, speed, aperture, histogram of picture, index of pictures, settings of camera (colour settings, exposure etc). The menu and controls are access via two control wheels, a spin controller and a menu direction control. I found the controls and menu options very easy to use.
At the top of the camera, the two wheels control different functions. On the left, settings are available for settings ISO levels, colour controls, system overrides, advanced controls etc. The wheel on the right controls the picture modes (landscape, portrait, macro, night, sunrise/sunset, sports), speed/aperture priority etc. The control wheel sits in front of the shutter trigger, and is perfectly placed for changing the settings whilst looking through the view finder.
Taking pictures is a joy, and the results are stunning. However, the movement of the mirror inside the camera is fairly loud (there is a clunk when you take the picture). I have a small worry that taking pictures in quite places (churches etc) may cause a few heads to turn in my direction. If anything, the clunk is the only downside of the camera. Lens focusing is very quick, reasonably quiet, and works well on both lens sets. The lenses that come in the pack are both Sony, and to be honest, are not that impressive to look at (no nice guide windows), but they do the job, feel robust and take nice pictures.
The camera sits nicely in the hand, and isn't too heavy. My hands are fairly large, but the buttons seem to be in the right place. The only button I had a problem in finding is the focus preview button which is located at the front of camera below the lens. I scrabbled around to find this, but should not be so much of a problem once I get used to it. The build quality of the camera feels good, at least as good as the Dynax range I have previously. The top of the camera has a strange mottled look which is a bit odd.
One thing that I found most impressive is the bracketing and multi-shot options. Pressing the multi-shot button allows 10 or so picture options including single shot, multi shot, bracket, multi-shot bracket, self time (2 seconds), self time (10 seconds), remote etc. Because of the new image processor chip, the multi-shot is very very fast - I kept my finger on the shutter release and it took 3-4 shots a second, and produced 2 bracket shots per shot, which resulted in around 12 shots being stored per second without delay or pause. I tried to see if the memory in the camera would cause the multi-shot to fill up and stop, but it kept on shooting the pics - very nice.
As I say, all the options are here including; Setting resolution sizes (smell, medium, large and fine), output format (JPEG, RAW or both), colour levels, balance levels, exposure settings, manual control, auto control, flash options (fill, red eye, back flash, forward flash, sync etc).
All in all, very happy with my purchase.
Product Description
The new a100 digital single lens reflex (d-slr) camera from Sony. With 10 Megapixels Super SteadyShot built into the camera body to combat picture blur and an advanced anti-dust protection system for the CCD you?re surer to get crisp clean pin-sharp results every time. DSLR-A100 Digital SLR plus Standard Zoom Lens (DT 18 - 70 mm F3.5 - 5.6) Resolution: 10 mega Pixel Lens: All types of Sony a lenses Konicaminolta a/MAXXUM/DYNAX lenses Digital / Optical Zoom: N/A dependant on Lens Shutter Type: Electronically-controlled vertical-traverse focal-plane type Flash guide: 12.0 (in meters at ISO 100) LCD 2.5 TFT Drive Modes: Single-frame advance Continuous advance 10 seconds and 2 seconds Self-timer Single-frame advance AE bracketing Continuous-advance AE bracketing White Balance Bracketing Recording Media: CF Type I and Type II (MicroDrive); MS Duo and MS Pro Duo (with MS Duo adapter for CF slot) Pictbridge: Yes Jacks: Video out / USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Battery System: LITHIUM Ion NP-FM55H (supplied)
Customer Reviews:
An astounding camera.......2007-11-12
OK, I was upgrading from a Minolta 7000 purchased in 1986 so perhaps I'm setting the bar a little low. BUT this is an astounding camera.
Very solid feel yet light in weight, excellent controls and usability.
Very sharp and vivid yet natural results. Anti-shake control that lets me use a 300mm lens (equivalent to about 450mm in old money) and get a result so sharp you can zoom in to someone's face hundreds of meters away on a jetski, with me standing on a moving dock. Very quick focusing, and up to 3 shots per second.
Ability to use all my old Minolta AF lenses through sadly not the flashes.
Pretty good built-in flash. Unexpectedly long battery life, even using flash. Big clear high-resolution screen.
The cons - you really do need to read the owners manual on this one. there are LOTS of features and the icons are just not very self-explanatory.
At around £400 (body only) a great piece of kit.
Good camera from Minolta.......2007-08-12
Sony have not suddenly discovered expertise in SLRs - they bought out Minolta. This camera benefits and builds on Minolta heritage and is exceptionally good for the price. I've also purchased a 75-300mm lens which completes the package.
The downside - like all SLRs (except perhaps the Olympus offering) it's big and the case makes it bigger still. The cheap lenses are not great - although the Sony 75-300 was only £105 bought from SonyStyle in Taiwan. Also if you're out of practice with SLR photography after years of digital photography buy a book on the camera.
7000 pics in 4 months..............2007-08-07
Used this camera without problem for 6 months - excellent, apart from:
1. Noise of shutter - can be a pain for candid and wildlife photography, as if you dont get the first shot right, you are unlikely to get a second chance if your subject hears the shutter click.
2. Cleaning - oh that constant cleaning.....used in a dusty environment, with a lot of lens changes, ingress is terrible, and one particular hair took weeks to get rid of.....long exposure, lens off and lots of blow eventually shifted it.
3. Kit lenses - certainly not the best.......but livable with.
4. Flash fitting, and lens connection - limits your options too much, but situation is improving as time goes by. Anyone with old minolta lenses will love the fact they can use them on this.
Now, what do I like.........Battery life, ease of use, built in anti-shake in body rather than in lens, initial price, but to be honest, wait for the next generation from Sony - at Aug 2007, its not far away.
Top machine for the price.......2007-07-25
A lovely camera. I have been using SLR cameras for 10 years, this is my 1st DSLR and I love it.
Some people seem to have problems with noise levels in high ISO images, but with a bit of practice this can be largely avoided. How often do you shoot at ISO 800 anyway? ;)
Edit: Review for body only. I do not have this lens to review.
Think carefully about this one.......2007-05-15
I am an ex owner of this camera. Deciding not to upgrade my SLR lens collection for a camera that I failed to get on with. I am not saying this is a bad camera just that I did not get on with it and I will tell you why. Firstly the controls are not very well set out.It is still trying to cater to the creative compact market and has lots os settings for various scenes etc...this si either a serious camera or not it can't be both. I never worked out which it was and I only ever used 1 scene mode to shoot some sunsets. The camera took an age to set up with several dials and menu's to cope with but the results? well fantastic. That's the frustrating thing about this camera it can produce great results. But turn it off for 30 secs change position and re-shoot and guess what? it's failed to store any settings and you have to set the whole thing up again and again and again. so in short Fiddly and unsure of where it fits in but I have to say it can take a stunning shot. If you get one and don't like the image quality and everything else is set up right, think long and hard those sony lenses are very expensive. You can go Sigma or Tamron but they are not quite on the money in some respects.
Summing up then. I found this camera drove me mad, and then calmed me down by producing a great shot only to drive me mad again. Had some brilliant features that cried out for better glass to exploit, that I was not prepared to pay for as it drove me mad again. If you do buy it don't say I didn't try to warn you.
Product Description
The new a100 digital single lens reflex (d-slr) camera from Sony. With 10 Megapixels Super SteadyShot built into the camera body to combat picture blur and an advanced anti-dust protection system for the CCD you?re surer to get crisp clean pin-sharp results every time.
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Resolution: 10 mega Pixel
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Lens: All types of Sony a lenses Konicaminolta a/MAXXUM/DYNAX lenses
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Digital / Optical Zoom: N/A dependant on Lens
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Shutter Type: Electronically-controlled vertical-traverse focal-plane type
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Flash guide: 12.0 (in meters at ISO 100)
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LCD 2.5 TFT
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Drive Modes: Single-frame advance Continuous advance 10 seconds and 2 seconds Self-timer Single-frame advance AE bracketing Continuous-advance AE bracketing White Balance Bracketing
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Recording Media: CF Type I and Type II (MicroDrive); MS Duo and MS Pro Duo (with MS Duo adapter for CF slot)
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Pictbridge: Yes
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Jacks: Video out / USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
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Battery System: LITHIUM Ion NP-FM55H (supplied)
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