Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 (with 18-70mm lens)

Manufacturer: Sony Part number: DSLR-A200K

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CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 16 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Product series; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 is a solid entry-level dSLR that doesn't really stand out in its very competitive field.

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CNET editors' review

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 (with 18-70mm lens)

price range: $479.95 - $499.99

Reviewed by: Lori Grunin
Reviewed on: 03/11/2008

The good: In-body image stabilization; supports wireless flash.

The bad: Loud; Sony doesn't have a stable of inexpensive lenses for consumers; oddly located, proprietary USB connector.

The bottom line: The Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 is a solid entry-level dSLR that doesn't really stand out in its very competitive field.

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Sony's entry-level dSLR, the Alpha DSLR-A200, delivers a just-the-facts-ma'am shooting experience. For the most part, it provides the average design, basic feature set, modest performance, and better-than-snapshot photo quality that typifies this market segment: not bad, but not notable in any way, either.

The 10.2-megapixel A200 comes in two kits: one with the SAL-1870 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 lens, which we tested, and a dual-lens kit that adds the SAL-75300 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 model. Those two lenses, plus the new SAL-55200, currently comprise Sony's complete entry-level lens lineup. For other inexpensive alternatives you'll have to turn to compatible A-mount Konica Minolta, Sigma, or Tamron offerings.

At 22.4 ounces with battery and CF card, the A200 weighs more than most of its competitors, despite its plastic-clad body. It feels solid, though, and the rubberized grip has a deep indent for your finger that makes the camera comfortable to hold. If you plan to connect the camera directly to your computer rather than use a card reader (which we don't recommend), then avoid the A200. For one, the USB connector is located inside the CF card compartment, which means you have to leave the door open while downloading, potentially allowing all sorts of schmutz to get onto the card-slot contacts (and, if you're as accident prone as me, providing a protrusion to hit and hurl the camera to the floor). More important, Sony uses a proprietary combo USB/AV connector on all its dSLRs, for no reason that I can see other than to force you to buy a cable from them if you lose the bundled one. That just peeves me.

The A200 uses a simple, uncluttered layout for its controls and menu system. Like the A700, the A200 has Eye-Start AF sensors beneath the viewfinder.

Operating the A200 is straightforward. There are direct-access controls for ISO sensitivity, exposure compensation, and drive/bracketing/self-timer modes, while flash, AF, white balance, AF area, and D-RangeOptimizer settings are grouped under a screen pulled up by the Fn button.

Unlike the A700, you can't change settings directly via the information display (Quick Navi). Instead, you have to pull up this screen via the Fn button and dive in to change the settings. I slightly prefer the Quick Navi approach.

The A200 supports wireless flash, uncommon but not unique in this price class, and I actually like the bare-bones implementation. Rather than grafting pro multichannel support on the camera, which can be quite confusing to configure, it's basically binary: on or off. The rest of its features--and their implementations--is pretty typical for its class, including sensor-shift image stabilization and a 2.7-inch LCD. (For a complete list of features, download the PDF manual.) Like most, but not all, of the cameras in this class, the A200 lacks Live View shooting, but you can get that by forking over another $100 for the otherwise identical DSLR-A300.

CNET Labs' tests indicate it wakes up and shoots very quickly--in roughly half a second. Under good, high-contrast lighting, it focuses and shoots in just under a third of a second, rising to a moderate 1.2 seconds in dimmer conditions. Typically, it captures consecutive frames in 0.6 second, jumping up to 1.3 seconds with the built-in flash enabled. Its 2.8 frames-per-second continuous shooting speed falls around the class average. Also as is typical for this segment, it has limited non-JPEG burst shooting capabilities: only 3 frames raw+JPEG or 6 frames raw in burst mode. In casual testing, the image-stabilization system delivered about 3 stops of latitude over what the reciprocal rule dictates--1/10 second versus 1/70 second for a 70mm focal length--which is pretty standard.

Shooting speed
(Seconds--smaller is better)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim light)

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200

0.5

0.6

1.2

0.3

Nikon D40x (Nikon AF-S DX 18-55mm Lens)

0.2

0.8

0.9

0.4

Olympus Evolt E-510 (dual lens kit)

1.3

0.8

1.3

0.4

Pentax K100D

1.2

0.5

1.3

0.4

Typical continuous-shooting speed
(Frames per second--larger is better)

Pentax K100D

3.1

Nikon D40x (Nikon AF-S DX 18-55mm Lens)

Olympus Evolt E-510 (dual lens kit)

2.9

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200

2.8

I do have a few performance gripes, though. For one, the 2.7-inch LCD is very difficult to view in direct sunlight. Second, the focus indicators for the 9 off-center focus points are lines (rather than squares), and very dim--some people may have trouble seeing them. And the shutter, or at least the mirror flip it drives, sounds unusually loud.

On the whole, the A200's photos looked okay, if unexceptional. It renders reasonable, if somewhat warm or cool automatic white balance, depending upon the lighting. In standard mode, exposures seem skewed too much toward the midtones--probably to avoid blown-out highlights--so images look a bit low contrast. Its noise profile looks good until ISO 800, at which point color artifacts become obvious, but that's par for the course on low-end SLRs. And the kit lens we tested produced soft photos.

This is the first entry-level camera we've seen in 2008, so it's quite possible that we'll be back to reevaluate the Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 more favorably in the context of its competition. But for now, there are better, more interesting models from earlier years whose prices are dropping into its territory; the Nikon D40x or Canon EOS Rebel XTi if you're willing to forgo the image stabilization, or the slightly more expensive Pentax K10D if you're not. You can even opt for the similar and still-available two-year-old Alpha DSLR-A100, if you don't shoot a lot at high ISO settings, and put the money you save toward a better lens.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.5 stars out of 16 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 16

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9 stars

Sony offers the little extra to make the decision easier!

by clane493 on March 16, 2008

Pros: Stock lens kit; AF, Menu options

Cons: Location of shutter button...too close to control dial. They should be in the reverse position.

Summary: Having owned 3 sony P&S cameras prior, making the adjustment to a Sony SLR was pretty easy. Quick AF and shutter response makes capturing multiple images easy, even ...

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Summary: Having owned 3 sony P&S cameras prior, making the adjustment to a Sony SLR was pretty easy. Quick AF and shutter response makes capturing multiple images easy, even with the flash. Large LCD and customizable options follow suit with the P&Ss. Now that the price has dropped $130, the a200k with the 18-70mm lens and image stab., this camera should get a lot of consideration for those looking for their frist SLR.

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9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great Camera!!! Glad I read more reviews than CNET!!!

by Destroyer250 on May 22, 2008

Pros: Features for the money, Ease of use, Stands out in it's class!!!

Cons: No top view LCD, No Live View...

Summary: I started to look into dSLR's a while back and wanted a solid entry level camera at a reasonable price. A lot of factors such as "fit in my ...

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Summary: I started to look into dSLR's a while back and wanted a solid entry level camera at a reasonable price. A lot of factors such as "fit in my hand" (I have medium to large grip), Steady Shot, Versatile Lens' (not being sure how and what I will enjoy shooting), Ease of Use and Quality were very important.

The Nikon and Canon have great reputations but as hobby, it became clear to me that to get image stabilization and a good telephoto lens, I would be paying well over $1,500 to get started.

I then started to research the quality side of the dSLRs and I found many reviewers rated the SONY very high on "noise" in terms of quality (which seemed to be opposite to CNET). Other reviews spoke to the aggressive feature set that Sony built into the camera.

After reading the CNET review of the A200 I just didn't understand their rating and little supporting proof was provided. (I have not been a big fan of SONY over the years by the way).

However, the camera "fit in my hand" well and the menu system is ease to navigate and I have an 18-70 lens and 75-300 both with image stabilization (cause it's in the body, not the lens)

Three weeks in, I am loving every minute. If and when I become more than just a hobbyist, the $1,000 I spent on the A200 will have been well worth it. As for those who think I should have bought a Canon or Nikon (upgrade path I suspect); if and when I actually learn how to become an amazing photography and can afford $5,000 for an EOS body, I will not be lamenting the $1,000 bucks I spent on my first dSLR.

ps. I have been a Canon fanboy for many years (love everything about the SD line).

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7 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Best at it's price

by AugustoFretes on March 20, 2008

Pros: Price, IS, 18-70mm, 3200 ISO

Cons: Less lenses than Nikon and Canon

Summary: I'm sorry for you here in CNET, because the Nikon D40x is not where near to the A200. The Rebel XTi is more competitive but it lacks IS, 3200 ...

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Summary: I'm sorry for you here in CNET, because the Nikon D40x is not where near to the A200. The Rebel XTi is more competitive but it lacks IS, 3200 ISO and the kit lens are a crap.

As their advantages they have more lenses available, however, Sony has around 40 Konica Minolta lenses, 24 made by Sony, and 4 made by Carl Zeiss, and some others by Sigma and 3rd parties.
Updated
It won the TIPA award of best budget DSLR, it's predecessor the A100 was named camera of the year in 2006 and best budget DSLR in 2007 by Popphoto, of course they now far more than you about those topics, but you're pitiful review may confuse new buyers.

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7 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Excellent Camera - Well worth the investment

by shekarc1 on March 20, 2008

Pros: Compatibility of Minolta Lenses, Ease of Use, Fantastic Quality

Cons: Non-standard USB Cable, Software Bugs

Summary: I chose this camera, predominantly to leverage my investments in Minolta Maxxum Lenses and Flash Units. Must say, they all work awesome now with the new camera, very well.
Flash
...

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Summary: I chose this camera, predominantly to leverage my investments in Minolta Maxxum Lenses and Flash Units. Must say, they all work awesome now with the new camera, very well.
Flash unit (Minolta 3200i) seems too powerful for this, so, have to try that out in distance and low lights.
I have put in a 16GB CompactFlash card, and encountered some software glitches with this camera. While the camera fully recognizes the card, and works perfectly fine in storing the images, when I connect to the PC using the USB cable, Windows environment is not able to recognize the Card (Removable drive) properly, and it says that it need to be reformatted. If I choose to reformat, then it allows only 8GB of reformatting; however, if I pull the card out and insert into the machine card readers, the cards reads fine, all images appear safe. So, the USB Connection software is buggy. If you want to avoid this don't get more than 8GB of card; if you get more than this size, like me, you will end up buying a CF Card reader separately.
Picture quality is amazing, the software for working on the RAW (.ARW) files are expedient and good, overall, a thorougly impressive camera. Well worth the investment, except for some small irritations.
P.S. I even took some pictures with ISO 3200 and with right Exp/Speed, the picture quality is very good.

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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

The best starter camera

by gdm08 on June 13, 2008

Pros: Everything

Cons: usb is not standard

Summary: This camera is great, I had originally purchased the d40 by nikon and used it to take photos riding the jetski, it was blurry and quality took a big hit ...

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Summary: This camera is great, I had originally purchased the d40 by nikon and used it to take photos riding the jetski, it was blurry and quality took a big hit due to the 6mp. I exchanged it for this camera just paying 50 dolar difference, got a better lens kit, and because of the in camera stabilization it fized my action shots from being blurry. The 10 mp this camera offer is wounderful. This is the camera to buy.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Just what I hoped a DSLR would be

by Blargosaurus on May 5, 2008

Pros: Easy to use, amazing photo quality

Cons: No preview on LCD

Summary: I just picked this up yesterday and so far it has been amazing. Almost every picture has turned out beautifully.

The auto focus works really well and I'm looking

...

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Summary: I just picked this up yesterday and so far it has been amazing. Almost every picture has turned out beautifully.

The auto focus works really well and I'm looking forward to playing with the AF targeting for different framing options.

We spend the afternoon at the dog park and both still and motion shots turned out perfectly. Some of the preview photos on the LCD looked out of focus, but when I downloaded them they were all fine.

I don't have any previous experience with DSLRs, but for this price and the quality I wish I would have purchased one earlier.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Excellent first SLR

by bamommy on March 15, 2008

Pros: user friendly, great indoors, action shots, low lighting situations, kit lens

Cons: camera is loud when shooting

Summary: I'm loving this camera! This is my first SLR and I have yet to take a bad photo. My #1 reason for buying this camera was because the Sony ...

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Summary: I'm loving this camera! This is my first SLR and I have yet to take a bad photo. My #1 reason for buying this camera was because the Sony a100 received so many great reveiws so I thought that the Sony a200 could only be better. My #2 reason was because the a200 fit my hand perfectly. Nikon and Canon were both too small. #3 was the image stablizatin in the camera and Nikon nor Canon had this. My #4 reason was because it was so perfectly priced. I've had my camera for about 1 month and there is nothing bad I can say it. Thanks Sony for offering such a great product. It was just what I was looking for.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Great First DSLR, Top Notch Product for the Rank Amateur

by skarke on April 12, 2008

Pros: Great, easy to use menu. Lots of settings for the P and S croud, yet fully customizable. IS works great, and I really like the performance of the dynamic range optimizer.

Cons: Some settings go back to default automatically (auto focus assist, for instance). I'd like the shutter release to be a little more forward, Pop up flash could be a little taller and more powerful.

Summary: To the reader, my last SLR was a fabulous Canon A2. DSLRs have been out of my price range until now, and I actually won this camera in a sales ...

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Summary: To the reader, my last SLR was a fabulous Canon A2. DSLRs have been out of my price range until now, and I actually won this camera in a sales contest. That said, I couldn't be happier. It takes GREAT, well balanced pictures compared to my point and shoot, and the multi function settings help the rest of us take pretty solid photos. Definitely, get a better, faster lens. The Sigma 24-70 2.8, and the new Tamron 70-200 2.8 should do nicely, though that Sony 70-200 2.8 is awesome. Rent one and you'll see what I mean. I've played with a Canon 20D, and this camera stacks up nicely at a lower cost. The IS is very good, though the in-lens IS in the Canon and Nikon are faster and better (they aught to be for $2G).

Bottom line, for the price, it's a winner.

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2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Very good camera for the money

by cdhanks on August 22, 2008

Pros: Great price - feels good in the hand

Cons: Shutter a little noisy

Summary: Strange CNET seems very anti-Sony in this review. Notice they don't mention that most all the other entry level DSLRs only have 18-55 lenses while the Sony is much ...

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Summary: Strange CNET seems very anti-Sony in this review. Notice they don't mention that most all the other entry level DSLRs only have 18-55 lenses while the Sony is much wider at 18-70. Price was great, $499 at Circuit City.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Incredible!

by stevehayward on August 18, 2008

Pros: Durability is SOLID!

Cons: I do not have any.

Summary: FutureShop.ca recently reduced the price of this camera by $70, which made it much more appealing to purchase vs a refurbished Canon Rebel XT that was 8.0 megapixel ...

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Summary: FutureShop.ca recently reduced the price of this camera by $70, which made it much more appealing to purchase vs a refurbished Canon Rebel XT that was 8.0 megapixel vs 10.1 that this Sony offers. This is my first SLR camera. I am shocked by the quality of this camera. This is by far the best purchase I have ever made when it comes to electronics. I can see myself having this camera for several years. Despite what the reviewer on CNET has to say about the sharpness, I don't see this being an issue. I always dump my images into PhotoShop to crop, etc. If I feel the need to have a bit more sharpness, I do it in there.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Sony
Part number: DSLR-A200K
Description: The Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A200 camera is perfectly positioned to carry a new generation of photographers into the creative world of DSLR performance. A DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 standard zoom lens is included here, as well as superb 10.2-megapixel imaging, high-sensitivity shooting, and Super SteadyShot in-camera image stabilization that reduces blur with a brilliant array of Sony, Carl Zeiss and Minolta a-mount lenses. It's also fast, lightweight and incredibly easy to operate, with a large 2.7" LCD screen, simple Function Guide menu display and Creative Style settings to fine-tune camera performance. The powerful Bionz processing engine is also included to increase response time. Superb image quality gives you great DSLR shots right from the start, with a large APS-size CCD imager developed by Sony to expand dynamic range, minimize noise more effectively and provide greater detail for making big prints or cropping in tight on your subject. Broad sensitivity range from ISO 100 to ISO 3200 enables the a (alpha) DSLR-A200 to capture beautiful color images even in very dim light - with High ISO Noise Reduction technology that reduces picture noise artifacts at high-sensitivity ISO 1600 and ISO 3200 settings by eliminating noise from RAW data after analog-to-digital conversion. A high-performance sensor detects vibrations and the image stabilization system automatically compensates. Because image stabilization is built into the a (alpha) DSLR-A200, every lens benefits - and with an advantage of from 2.5 to 3.5 stops, you can shoot effectively at higher shutter speeds even in very low light with minimum blur from shaky hands or fast-moving subjects. The "brain" of the a (Alpha) DSLR-A200 is the advanced Sony Bionz Image Processor, using hardware-based Large Scale Integrated (LSI) circuitry to enhance images with rich tonal reproduction, improved white balance and exposure control, and expanded D-Range Optimizer capabilities. With 2-channel data transfer from CCD to processor, your camera can also respond faster. To improve results with backlit subjects and recover details hidden in shadows or lost in glare, the a (alpha) DSLR-A200 provides Dynamic Range Optimizer at two levels: Normal DRO, to improve detail using standard gamma curves for fast shot-to-shot response time, or Advanced DRO, to adjust dynamic range area-by-area for the greatest precision. Changing lenses in a DSLR can allow dust to enter the camera - so to keep the CCD imager cleaner for better pictures, the a (alpha) DSLR-A200 utilizes both static-free anti-dust coating on the CCD filter and anti-dust vibration that automatically shakes the CCD to dislodge dust each time the camera is shut off. In Auto or some scene selection modes, the camera flash automatically pops up and fires when needed to help you shoot more effectively. Flash is cancelled in Landscape, Sport or Sunset modes and in "Flash Off" position on the Exposure Mode dial. Eye-Start Autofo

Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 (with 18-70mm lens)

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