Sony Alpha A100 Digital SLR Camera Review
By Alex Burack
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
December 11, 2006
When Sony announced its intentions to throw its brand-weight into the already competitive DSLR market, professional shooters and general consumers alike were curious how the electronics giant would fare. In summer 2006, Sony revealed its first DSLR: a 10.2-megapixel model with built-in Super SteadyShot image stabilization, a dust reduction system, and a distinctive feature set that includes a unique Dynamic Range Optimizer. The Sony α (alpha) DSLR-A100 is well-built, distinct, and competitively priced at $850 with an 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Sony-branded kit lens.
We compared the Sony to Canon’s Digital Rebel XTi and Nikon’s D80 – two formidable alternatives within the $800 to $1,100 DSLR price bracket – and the A100 held its own. While the A100 lacked the color accuracy of the Canon XTi, its slightly oversaturated palette yielded a punchier look. The A100’s prints were every bit as sharp and detailed as Nikon and Canon’s alternatives, although the Sony imposes an in-camera sharpening algorithm that makes images more difficult to edit in software.
In terms of noise and dynamic range, the Sony A100 seemed to be as good as the competition at its lowest ISOs, but fell off as the sensitivity increased. The Sony didn’t perform as quickly, though. It took more than a second to start up and snap the first picture, its Burst mode hung around 2.5 frames per second, and there was about a quarter-second shutter lag – all much slower than most DSLRs.
The Sony A100 is durable and robust for a sub-$1,000 DSLR. It fits between Canon’s Rebel XTi and Nikon’s D80 in terms of size, but it is substantially larger than any Cyber-shot digital camera on the market.
Among the A100's features is the Super SteadyShot image stabilization system that compensates for shaky hands. An infrared sensor just below the optical viewfinder detects when you’re using the viewfinder and shuts down the 2.5-inch, 230,000 pixel LCD screen to preserve battery life. There is also a dust reduction system that shakes the image sensor to keep dust from settling on it. The Canon XTi, Pentax K10D, and Olympus E-500 all have effective dust reduction systems as well.
The flash offers a competitive illumination range and provides even coverage. However, the A100 does not offer the Commander Flash mode found on Nikon’s D80 (and D200) for triggering multistrobe setups with its in-camera unit.
Sony’s new alpha line accepts Konica Minolta, Sony, and Carl Zeiss-branded lenses. Even though the A100 has built-in stabilization, consumers should be prepared to pay a premium for top glass. The kit lens offers a slightly longer 18-70mm focal range than most manufacturers’ 18-55mm kit lenses, but mechanically, it remains on par with other inexpensive kit designs.
The alpha DSLR-A100 has a few design idiosyncrasies that affect operation, such as the single jog dial for adjusting exposure settings. In full Manual mode, users will have to hold down the exposure compensation control and simultaneously rotate the jog dial to switch its control from shutter speed to aperture. This is cumbersome and adds time to adjustments.
The A100 offers well organized menus that are easy to navigate with the multi-controller, which on the A100 offers eight directions, rather than the typical four. Sony also added a large function dial to the top of the camera for critical settings. There is a button in the center of the dial that needs to be pressed while the dial is rotated. While this is clearly a security measure, it makes for clumsy and inconvenient operation.
The Sony A100 offers a range of Automatic and Manual shooting modes. There are seven preset modes – Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, Sunset, Night Scene, and Night Portrait – that should help transition point-and-shooters to a DSLR. The camera accepts CompactFlash cards as well as Sony's Memory Stick Duo with an adapter.
Sony’s α (alpha) DSLR-A100 has a unique feature set that includes in-camera stabilization and dust reduction technology, and it gives entry-level DSLR users a lot for the price. At $850 with a kit lens, the A100 is a respectable entry into the DSLR space.
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