Sony Alpha A200

[Ian_T]

Was thinking of replacing my Fuji S7000 with one of these, for my first "real" DSLR... anybody have any comments on this model?

Thanks

[4hero]

And what's wrong with Canon/Nikon Bigger range of lenses, longer history in the camera market?

[Ian_T]

Lots more money that I don't currently have .. this I can get for £280 all in.

[Taffer]

Sony bought over Konica Minolta, so there is plenty of 'history' there. The Alpha mount on the Sony also accepts Konica Minolta lenses, as well as there being a decent (and growing) collection of Sony, Zeiss and 3rd party lenses being made.

In terms of sales, Sony has become the 3rd biggest retailer of DSLRs in just under 3 years, so they're unlikely to be a flash in the pan if that's the route you decide to go down.

I've got an A200 myself - I've found it very easy to use, and I'm more than happy with it as a 1st DSLR.

The best advice? Try the different brands in Jessops, then pick the one which feels best for you.

[miniman]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/624769.htm

[4hero]

miniman said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/624769.htm

nice price, how many actuations?

[miniman]

4hero said:

miniman said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/624769.htm

nice price, how many actuations?

350D doesn't have any definitive way of checking, but going by the image filenames (which were never reset) <10,000 (rated for 35,000 - 50,000)

[W4X LG]

I have just got the a200 and pleased with it, just trying to learn evrything it can do as its my first DSLR.

Got mine from amazon for £248 delivered.

[Ebo100]

I have just got a Sony A200 from jessops, brilliant first DSLR. Got a deal where I got a 70-200 tamron zoom lens at half price.

Well pleased with quality of photos.

[Martin Keene]

I bought an A200 back in March and I'm very happy with it. It is very intuative to use.

A couple of minor niggles:
1) The USB is under the card door. I'd read about this before I bought it and throught they were just nit picking, but it's does turn out to be quite annoying, especially as the door doesn't feel the strongest one in the world.
2) I bought the proper Sony LCD protector for the screen, unfortunately it has just a small ammoutn of movement from side to side, probably 1-2mm at most. When I was in Brussels last month some dust must have got underneath the protector and the movement in it has produced a small scratch of the 1-2mm on the LCD and the protector. Stick's on items might be better, or a stick on under the Sony item.

[Ian_T]

Well, took the plunge and went for the A200.. very happy with it so far, just need to learn a bit more about the various functions. Will have to get a zoom lens at some point though, as I already outgrew the lens it came with (standard one) - any suggestions here? Again, budget not huge!

[crackthatoff]

I got an a200 and as a beginner myself find it great, I got a sigma 70-300 zoomy thing which works quite well, if I remember correctly it wasn't that much over a hundred quid