Sony Alpha A100K 10.2MP DSLR Camera Kit w/ 18-70mm Lens $329.99 + Tax

[jtrcy]

Using the price of Sony batteries to discourage new users is not that helpful. Everyone's batteries are $55-70. These batteries last for weeks and for over 500-1000 shots these days, so it is much less of an issue than it might have been in the past.

Comparing this to a compact superzoom is also a bad argument. Correction - The MAIN difference is the QUALITY. The quality coming out of this Sony at ASA 1600 would BLOW away the quality of any super zoom at asa 200-400 - there is no comparison quality-wise between DSLRS and the currrent class of superzoom compact cameras.

I'm no Sony pusher - I have Canon gear, but for $329 there is absolutely NO drawback to this purchase. It's important to realize that you are not buying into an electronic's company model of a digital camera - you are buying into a very fine heritage of Konica-Minolta DSLR technology that Sony recently bought out and have improved with some features.

The new Sony and the older Minolta DSLR range are very highly regarded and are as good as the comparable class of DLSR cameras from any other manufacturer.

Would a pro be buying this? No, cause they do not yet have the pro-level bodies and infrastructure a pro needs from his/her equipment. But Sony and Sigma/Tamron/Tokina have every single lens a semi-pro or amateur photog would ever need and I'd say that any of the Sony's would be a step up from the cheapo plastic fantastic Nikon DSLRs in the $500 price range.

The only better deal for new I've seen these days is the recently discontinued Olympus E-500 ( I think) 2 lens kit that Sam's club was clearing out for under $500.


At $329, jump on it. At $369, jump on it - great deal either way.

The quality of these sub-$500 slrs these days is a 100 times better than digital slrs tha costed $30,000 8 years ago and $5,000 4 years ago. It is truly amazing how much quality there is to be had for so little money. Buy the Sandisk Ultra II cards for fast performance, lifetime warranty, and very low pricing.

1 2GB card will allow you to shoot close to 300 pictures as full jpeg quality on that Sony.

My perspective is from the fact that I was a pro photog for close to 20 years until about 3 years ago.

Regards,

Julian

[Wandere]

Agree with LCHIEN, have Nikon 35mm film cameras to prove it....ouch.

Biggest advantage for me in *any* camera system would be... BIG CCD (or CMOS) sensor with moderate pixel count....thinking that this combo would perform best in low/natural indoor light.

The fixed lens mega-zooms typically perform poorly for natural light shots unless you're outdoors. Taking "moody" or artsy-fartsy pics of the kids indoors is really what I'm looking for.

Anyone have any suggestions for great low-light indoor performance? Using a flash almost always results in..."just okay" pics, turn the flash off and steady your hand and you typically get much better looking shots if they aren't blown by camera shake.

Tempted to pull the trigger on this one, our old canon S410 is acting "funny".

-Rob

[jtrcy]

As an alternative - for those not finding this deal - you cannot go wrong with a used Canon Rebel XT either. They can be had all day long for $350-400 with lens on CL.

JT

[samglo]

JT,

As a pro I'm sure you were using more than a kit 18-50 mm lens. lchien has a very strong point that the camera body is only a minor piece of any serious camera set up, and is really a starting point. I think his point is that if someone has a strict budget of $400 to spend on a camera, although an entry level dslr has potential for much better pictures than a superzoom point and shoot, a kit lens has some pretty serious limitations.

The sony is a great deal for a dslr, but it's really only a start of a useful camera package.

[jziegler]

Anyone have any suggestions for great low-light indoor performance? Using a flash almost always results in..."just okay" pics, turn the flash off and steady your hand and you typically get much better looking shots if they aren't blown by camera shake.

Tempted to pull the trigger on this one, our old canon S410 is acting "funny".

-Rob

A couple suggestions for you. First, get some fast lenses (f/2.8 zoom, or f/1.8 or f/1.4 fixed). Also, some form of stabilization will also help (Some Olympus, Sony, and Pentax bodies feature this, Canon has IS lenses with it in the lens, Nikon has it in lens called VR). This only helps camera shake, not motion blur.

Other general responses:

Loring is mostly correct, if you don't want to get other lenses a superzoom can be great. Some even have very good low light performance (I have the Fuji S6000fd, it rivals a DSLR from a few years ago. ISO400 is clean, 800 is good, 1600 is usable). The new Fuji S100fs due out soon should be similar, but with more pixel (10 vs 6).

As for deals, other great deals out there right now are the Olympus E-510 (recent model) two lens kit for around $650, or E-410 for $100 less (no shake reduction but smaller). Pentax K10d (higher end camera than others mentioned here) from Beach Camera/ buydig.com for $609 (no lens), with a $100 rebate available for another day or two. The Olympus are a great deal at those prices, and the reviews are that their kit lenses are some of the best kit lenses right now. The Pentax looks to be a great camera, and that's an smoking deal (advanced amateur body for the price of an entry level one) but the lens selection isn't great, but is improving.

I'm not discouraging anyone from getting the Sony if you find it. That is a great deal. But there are other really good options right now, and you need to look at the system as a whole before you buy. I had an AF Minolta as my first SLR (film) and traded it for manual focus gear because good lenses for it were too expensive, and I wanted better control than a consumer body offered. Now as I look to get a DSLR in the next year or two, I'm looking at the whole systems before I buy again. Can you tell photography is another big hobby for me?

Jim

[HarmsWay]

Wow that truly is a smoking deal! Especially if you are the type that won't feel compelled to buy more lenses. I think that may be one of the ones I was considering (along with the Canon XTi, Nikon D80 (no D40 then) and one of the Pentax cameras. I ended up buying the Canon because of the lens availability. Anything I want for it is available and generally at a full spectrum (no pun inteneded) of price and performance points ($50 to $50,000). Plus several friends at work are willing to share lenses. On the other hand if you just want a good DSLR camera with an all-purpose lens you cannot beat the price of that Sony.

How is the quality of the Sony software? Presumably you can tweak raw images, etc?

[Tom Slick]

IIRC Sony's SLR cameras are compatable with Minolta's lenses. In true BT3Central fashion you'd snap up this sony and back fill your gear with bargain minolta lenses.

[mikebanks]

Camera

I had a $200 giftr card. I figured for $120 can I go wrong?

I know nothing about cameras.

We had a rebel ex or ox a few years back until it was left at a wedding.......

Now we have a sony cybershot 3.2 megapixals.

I got the sony that was left at the Nashua NH store.

[radhak]

Can somebody tell me what the kit contains? Does it have a memory card at all? And I gather it takes a compact flash card (very unlike sony)? I guess that's the Konica legacy?

Also, I am confused by the description of the lens as '18-70mm'. Does that make it a wide-angle or a telephoto lens? I ask because I had thought "Wide Angle" meant a range of up to 35-40mm and "Telephoto" to be more than 85mm. Feel free to correct me - I might be talking thru my hat as I have never used any type of SLR before .

[iceman61]

Thanks to Shadow for the heads up on this deal, even though the coupon did not work. The coupon not working was not due to denial or the fine print. Both the manager & assistant manager were trying everything they could to get this coupon to work. (outside of an override) They even looked around to see if there were any other either coupons I might be able to use instead. Printed coupon would not scan & it didn't work to manually type in either.

I was in the market for a new camera. After almost buying the Canon Rebel XTi, I had decided on the Canon PowerShot S5 IS since it had everything I really needed anyway. I figure if I get a 300mm lense, I’ll have everything I need. With lense companies Dynax/Maxxum/Minolta/Sigma/Sony/Tamron/Tokina to pick from, I’m sure I can find one.

[jziegler]

Can somebody tell me what the kit contains? Does it have a memory card at all? And I gather it takes a compact flash card (very unlike sony)? I guess that's the Konica legacy?

Also, I am confused by the description of the lens as '18-70mm'. Does that make it a wide-angle or a telephoto lens? I ask because I had thought "Wide Angle" meant a range of up to 35-40mm and "Telephoto" to be more than 85mm. Feel free to correct me - I might be talking thru my hat as I have never used any type of SLR before .

Probably no memory card, or a tiny one. Kit just means that it contains a lens, rather than just the body. It takes CF, but the review on DPReview says that it supports MS through an adapter, not sure if that's include or not. Not much Konica legacy, more a Minolta legacy (comes from the Minolta Maxum/Dynax system, not a system from Konica). Plus, most DSLRs take CF, pretty much standard for Pros.

18-70mm means that it's a zoom lens that covers that whole range. So, it's a wide angle to slight telephoto zoom. Wide angle in 35mm days was pretty much anything under 35mm. But, to confuse things, the sensor on most DSLRs are smaller than a frame of film, so that has the effect of magnifying the image. In this case, 1.5x. So, to get the same field of view as a 35mm lens on film, you need a 23mm lens on this camera.

I hope that helps out a bit, if you need more help, let me know. Or the many other people on here that know cameras.

Also, you might read some of the learning section at Dpreview. And, if you want to get into photography more, the Digital Grin forum is a nice, friendly place, not unlike the photography version of here much of the time, although with many more members. www.dgrin.com. Plenty of people over there will help out, plus it's a good place to share photos for critique when you want to, and they have a nice contest going.

Tom Slick:

Yeah, you can use Minolta lenses (auto focus only, the old manual focus lenses use a different mount), but the focal lengths from the old Minolta lenses don't cover the wide angle well (see above). Actually, the surrent Sony line doesn't cover it too well either with any fast lenses. Plus, with Sony taking over from Minolta, the lenses aren't really that cheap right now.

Jim

[jon_ramp]

You would not be limited to just Sony or Minolta lenses. Tamron and Sigma make lenses for that camera. I think Sigma even makes flash guns for it as well. I believe that body also has anti-shake technology which is a huge savings having it built into the body vs the lens like Nikon and Canon systems.

[radhak]

Thanks Jim - you did answer a lot of doubts. I gather that this lens would be somewhat equivalent to a 5x optical zoom...?

But lemme thank you for pointing me to dgrin. spent most of the morning there...boy, is that a big crowd out there! i hope i don't get as addicted there as here....

As a result of my dgrin 'research' - a nice (and cheap) lens for the A100 would be the Minolta 70-210mm. Amazon is selling it at around $85, and it's on ebay for $25 (as of now).

Now if I can get my hands on one of the A100 at Circuit City...I snooped and found that one store in this area might get a couple today, so fingers crossed...

And iceman, thanks for the update - just to know what to expect with the $40 rebate.

Chris (Shadowfox), any chance of getting a better pic/scan of the coupon? (I know, I'm looking a gift-horse in the mouth, but I'm a cheapskate...).

[iceman61]

Can somebody tell me what the kit contains? Does it have a memory card at all?

Accessories Supplied
DT 18-70mm f3.5 zoom lens (27 - 105 35mm eq)
NP-FM55 Lithium-Ion Battery
BC-VM10 Battery Charger
Video Cable
USB Cable
Shoulder strap with eyepiece cap and Remote Commander clip
MSAC-MCF1N MS-Duo to CF Adaptor
Body cap
Accessory shoe cap
Image Data Converter SR Ver.1.1/Picture Motion Browser Ver.1.1 CD-ROM
NOTE: No Memory Stick media is included.

If you want to take advantage of the high shutter speed, you need to get the newer high speed CF memory cards, although regular ones will still work.

[jziegler]

Thanks Jim - you did answer a lot of doubts. I gather that this lens would be somewhat equivalent to a 5x optical zoom...?

But lemme thank you for pointing me to dgrin. spent most of the morning there...boy, is that a big crowd out there! i hope i don't get as addicted there as here....

As a result of my dgrin 'research' - a nice (and cheap) lens for the A100 would be the Minolta 70-210mm. Amazon is selling it at around $85, and it's on ebay for $25 (as of now).

Now if I can get my hands on one of the A100 at Circuit City...I snooped and found that one store in this area might get a couple today, so fingers crossed...

And iceman, thanks for the update - just to know what to expect with the $40 rebate.

Chris (Shadowfox), any chance of getting a better pic/scan of the coupon? (I know, I'm looking a gift-horse in the mouth, but I'm a cheapskate...).

Closer to a 4x optical zoom. But really, the x number doesn't matter, it's the field of view that matters.

That 70-210 will work just fine, but it is a slow lens. You won't be able to do much with it inside or in poor light outside without a tripod. Of course, the price is right and if you want the range, go for it. I'd probably suggest using just the one lens for a few months before going out and buying another one. Then in a few months, you'll have a better idea what you really want.

Good luck finding the camera today

Jim