Sony Alpha A100 Pro Review

[Photo-John]

My Sony Alpha A100 digital SLR detailed pro review is done and live in the pro review section.

Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 Pro Review >>

Comments on the review or the review format are welcome.

[Clemmie]

John, that's a good review write-up. I got my Alpha 100 on August 3rd, and can pretty solidly agree with your findings across the board. It is a GREAT camera! Makes me glad I held onto my Minolta lenses when many others were bailing out.

One thing you didn't point out (or I missed it in all the detail given), is that budget-minded buyers are not limited to just new lenses. The Alpha 100 is backward-compatible with most every lens ever made for the Minolta Maxxum mount, in production since 1985. All of mine, except the 18-70 kit lens I bought with the camera, fall in that category - and they work just fine.

The Tamron-built, Sony-labeled 18-70 is a decent 'base lens' with this camera. Also available is a two-lens kit, pairing the 18-70 with a Minolta-designed (now Sony labeled) 75-300 kit lens, which is also quite good. (I own the latter-stage Minolta version).

I do expect the new Zeiss lenses to be introduced by Sony will be interesting - though indications thus far are they will also be more expensive than they should be. Market pressures will probably take care of the overpricing problem over time, though - especially if Sony remains serious about grabbing 25% of the total DSLR market.

[Canuck935]

Yes I must agree about Sony's excessive pricing. Their prices are really quite rediculous. For example, Sony wants $2400 for the 70-200 f/2.8 G SSM. You can get a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS (Image Stabalized) USM for $1700.

Sony needs to be more reasonable. Right now I'm only considering Minolta and third party glass (Sigma and Tamron). If they can't be more reasonable I'm afraid when it comes time for me to get a new camera I may have to jump ship.