Quick Opinion - Sony

goldilocksandmy3bears

What is ya'll opinion on the Sony Alpha DSLR-A200. I am just starting out and was looking for something easy to use. I will be taking my first photography class next semester and needed a SLR camera. After seeking some advice, I bought the Sony and after reading "DSLR ON A SHOESTRING" I am now wondering if it was a good choice.
Courtney

i_worship_the_King

WELCOME TO DGRIN! So glad you stopped in!

A great camera is always a great choice!

The differences across all major brands these days seems to come down to some pretty trivial things, particularly in the prosumer market. My experience has been that it comes down to lenses, flashes, and the PHOTOGRAPHER.

90% of my flash use is wireless anyway, so that's out.

100% of my lenses are not "L", "Gold Ring", or any other pro designation, so that's out.

So that leaves me. And only me. Thus, a great camera from any major manufacturer is always: a great choice!

Enjoy you're camera, you'll most likely love it! I still use a D70 on the regular despite all it's shortcomings and still get great shots out of it that I put as backgrounds on my monitor and print up 1/2 posters of.

Travis

I had the first generation Sony a100 that I purchased after my 24 year love affair with Minolta got bought out. I really liked the camera. For the dollars, it was a great piece of equipment. Earlier this year, I wanted to upgrade and decided to switch over to Nikon for 3 reasons: 1. Sony hadn't released their comparative models, 2. availability of accessories, and 3. Sony kept some of Minolta's proprietary traits like the hotshoe (which, btw, is a better design than the other manufacturers but isn't compatible with the industry standard meaning that flashes had to be Sony mounts. A $10 adapter can be purchased from Hong Kong that also has a pc connection if the a200 doesn't have one).

I don't think you made a mistake and you should get plenty of use out of it as you learn. Oh... yea, welcome to DGrin!

goldilocksandmy3bears

Travis wrote:

I had the first generation Sony a100 that I purchased after my 24 year love affair with Minolta got bought out. I really liked the camera. For the dollars, it was a great piece of equipment. Earlier this year, I wanted to upgrade and decided to switch over to Nikon for 3 reasons: 1. Sony hadn't released their comparative models, 2. availability of accessories, and 3. Sony kept some of Minolta's proprietary traits like the hotshoe (which, btw, is a better design than the other manufacturers but isn't compatible with the industry standard meaning that flashes had to be Sony mounts. A $10 adapter can be purchased from Hong Kong that also has a pc connection if the a200 doesn't have one).

I don't think you made a mistake and you should get plenty of use out of it as you learn. Oh... yea, welcome to DGrin!

Thanks a bunch your advise really helped!
Courtney

Cato

i_worship_the_King wrote:

The differences across all major brands these days seems to come down to some pretty trivial things, particularly in the prosumer market. My experience has been that it comes down to lenses, flashes, and the PHOTOGRAPHER.

Yup. As true as true can be.

goldilocksandmy3bears wrote:

After seeking some advice, I bought the Sony and after reading "DSLR ON A SHOESTRING" I am now wondering if it was a good choice.

It's a good post, but it's only one statement about one brand of camera. If you agree with his point of view, you can apply his logic to any setup - Sony, Pentax, Nikon, Oly etc.

swintonphoto

You really won't go wrong with any DSLR now. Really, all of them can produce great pictures. If you like the Sony, go for it!