Sony A200: Entry DSLR Roundup
by Wesley Fink on October 20, 2008 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Our Take
If Live View is not an important feature to you then you won't find a DSLR camera that offers more value than the Sony A200. The A200 offers the widest ISO range available in its class and it is definitely not a stripped entry model as you find in much of the competition. The best way to position the A200 is to consider it as an updated, improved, and generally enhanced version of the A100.
For the $499 street price you get a DSLR with a 10.2MP sensor that has been refined over the past two years. Electronics have been updated and AF offers 9 points with a center cross AF point instead of the outdated 3-point AF featured on the Nikon D60 and Olympus E420/E520. You also get a decent, large, bright viewfinder that has the highest magnification in its class. It is definitely not the tunnel viewfinder concession you will find on the Sony A300/A350, which sacrificed the optical viewfinder for a capable Live View system. It is also much better than the Olympus viewfinders in this class and equal or superior to the Nikon/Canon entry models.
Other unexpected features are a pop-up flash that actually can be used as a wireless control flash, unlike the Nikon D60 or any Canon camera, and adjustable Dynamic Range Optimization, which is a decidedly prosumer level feature. There are even options for a battery grip, not available with the D60 or Olympus models, and an optional rigid LCD cover from Sony such as you find on the Nikon D90 and D300 prosumer models.
The A200 is also exceptionally easy to use, with a few simple external controls that belie the sophistication of the actual options available. Notable are an Auto ISO setting that self-adjusts depending on the mode selected and a "program-shift" option with the Command Dial in Program Mode. The A200 also features the extremely useful "Fn" button, which brings up a single menu that can be used for controlling most camera adjustments. It is simple and works well - so well that recent Canon models like the 50D are now offering a similar feature.
This does not mean that the A200 does not make some concessions to price, because it does. The depth-of-field preview is gone from the left side of the lens mount on the A200, and there is just one front Command Dial, although the A100 also had just one dial - in fact you need to move up to the A700 to get two command dials in the Sony line. However, unlike competitors the dropped features are not important items like exposure bracketing (Nikon) or Spot metering (Canon).
In looking at the whole of the entry market, we have to conclude the A200 is a clear best value. There are now 26 Sony lenses available as well as many other reasonably priced Minolta AF lenses that will work very well on the Sony A200. The images you can capture are at least as good as any competitor and the range of image control is considerably better than competitors in the entry-class without compromising ease-of-use. Even the body-integrated IS and auto-sensor cleaning will make it easy to add reasonably priced lenses to your outfit in the future since you won't have to look for the more expensive IS or VR optical stabilized lenses.
Put it all together and you won't find a better value for your $499 than the Sony A200 kit with the 18-70mm kit lens. The kit lens itself even covers a wider 27-105mm equivalent range than competing entry models, which are 18-55mm lenses. This is all predicated on one significant caveat, and that is that the A200 does not have any form of Live View. Personally, we don't fault Sony for this since the Live View on other entry models is more a checklist item than a truly useful feature. The Nikon D60 and Pentax K200D also do not feature Live View, and the other Live View implementations are very slow and only truly useful for situations where you have lots of time to compose and focus - which is definitely not a soccer game or shooting the kids playing.
If Live View is an important feature for you then you definitely need to choose another entry camera like the capable Canon XS. If you want fast Live View our advice would be to move to the Sony A300 at $599 or the A350 at $799. Both feature Sony's unique, fast Live View on a tilt LCD screen and they are both truly useful for shooting sports or kids. Their compromise is a mediocre optical viewfinder, so make sure that is a compromise you are willing to make.
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Wesley Fink - Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - link
Those coming from P&S who insist on Live View would probably be happiest with the Sony A300 ($599 kit) or A350 ($799). If they want a fast-focusing capable traditional DSLR the A200 has a fast 9-point module that works well with off-center targets, tracks moving subjects well in sports and kid shooting, and is one of the fastest AF and largest brightest viewfinders in its class.When the new Panasonic G1 micro 4/3 hits the shelves it features a sensor with truly fast contrast-detect AF that many users will find very satisfying in Live View mode. It is the first contrast Live View we have seen that is likely to satisfy DSLR fans. It is likely the first of a new generation of fast Live View sensors that will be used in future competing DSLR cameras.
Heidfirst - Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - link
the wireless flash controller will also work with Sigma, Vivitar etc. flash guns too so you can certainly get down to at least 1/2 the price of a 42AM. I agree that it's probably a function not used y the majority of A200 users but some people who may might use the A200 as a 2nd/backup body to e.g. an A700.The A200 doesn't have live view & other than the A300/A350 with their particular & unusual implementation autofocus in live view is pretty poor (slow) on DSLRs. At any rate A200 autofocus is as good as (or better than) any other DSLR in it's price bracket.
remember that most p+s use contrast detect AF whereas DSLRs use phase detect (other than in live view except A300/A350).
computerfarmer - Monday, October 20, 2008 - link
I have noticed the Sony a200 review on dpreview dated July 2008 with an announcement date of January 2008. you can view it here.http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/">http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Sony/
Perhaps there are changes I am unaware of.
This does appear to be a nice camera for the money. It has a good size sensor along with a decent kit lens.
Is it true the future is in cmos sensors?
What is the expected life span of CCD/CMOS sensors?
Wesley Fink - Monday, October 20, 2008 - link
CMOS sensors are cheaper to manufacture and it is much easier to integrate associated electronics into a CMOS sensor.It is worth mentioning, however, that the newest highest-res mid-size Kodak sensor, used in the new Leica Medium Format camera, is a CCD sensor, and some still claim the CCD to be superior in image quality.
For a more in-depth discussion of CCD vs. CMOS you may want to look back at our Digital Sensor Articles with Part 1 at http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.as...">http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.as... and part 2 at http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.as...">http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.as....
computerfarmer - Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - link
Thank you for your prompt reply.I took the time to read both the articles. They help in understanding the differences between CMOS/CCD sensors. Yet everything electronic has an expected lifespan. Does anyone have an expected lifespan for these sensors?
Hulk - Monday, October 20, 2008 - link
Looks to me like the lenses you are using are scratching the limits of the sensors, thus the results are all pretty much the same. Using a prime at f/8 will pretty much take the glass out of the comparison as most any prime is quite sharp at f/8 unless there is something wrong with it.Also please test using a subject with more colors so we can see how each camera handles demosiacing under increasing ISO.
Thanks for you hard work.
- Mark
Wesley Fink - Monday, October 20, 2008 - link
As stated on the test pages all the test shots used a 50mm f1.4 prime stopped down to f/4.0. We are down 3 stops from the rated speed and in all cases the glass is in its highest resolution range.The only exception to this is the Olympus tests, where we use a 35mm prime macro lens stopped down to f4, which has been tested to be in the highest resolution area of that lens.
This is because of the 2x factor on Olympus which gives us a 70mm equivalent. That is much closer to the 75- 80mm equivalent of the 50mm on the 1.5X-1.6X sensors. The 50mm macro on the Olympus would be equivalent to 100mm.
Test results are closer because other manufacturers have made dramatic improvements in their sensors in the last couple of years. Canon no longer enjoys the massive lead in sensor resolution and low noise they enjoyed with their CMOS sensors in the early years of DSLR technology. As pointed out in the test comments, many of today's competing cameras in the entry category use the Sony 10.2 megapixel sensor so results would be similar.
The biggest differences are detailed on page 9 in the comparisons of the 3 Sony sensors used in the A200, A350, and A700. The new 24.6 megapixel A900 could have been included as we have one in house, but it seemed a stretch to include a $3000 camera with resolution more than twice the entry-level DSLRs.
As Jarred has pointed out we always use the kit lens for sample images that are normally included in our reviews, so photos will be representative of what a normal buyer might expect. We similarly always use primes stopped down to the same f/4 for our noise and resolution tests to remove glass variations from the equation.
Hulk - Thursday, October 23, 2008 - link
The reasoning to use primes is NOT to test lenses but to try to eliminate lenses as a variable during testing and atually see how the bodies perform. By using less than very good lenses it's hard to tell what is limiting performance, the lens or the body.Since you are not testing scenes with any depth of field just use the sharpest setting, which is f/8 for just about any lens. f/4 would be applicable to test bokeh for a depth of field shot.
Again I know it's easy to complain. But really I'll I'm saying is use primes and stop down to f/8 so we can isolate the camera body performance.
Thanks,
- Mark
strikeback03 - Thursday, October 23, 2008 - link
According to photozone.de, the center resolution of the 50 1.4 is essentially constant from f/2.8-f/5.6, and down a bit at f/8 (corners top out at f/5.6).http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/159-canon-ef-50m...">http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/159-c...mm-f14-u...
slrgear calls f/4 and f/5.6 essentially tied, with f/8 a little worse.
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/pro...">http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/pro...
Both of these tests are on an 8MP sensor, and the center resolution numbers are pushing the boundary of that sensor, so larger differences might be revealed in tests with a higher resolution sensor. For the 10MP sensors though f/4 would seem to be a very valid choice.
melgross - Thursday, October 23, 2008 - link
You know that 50 1.4's are not very good, even stopped down a couple of stops.I would choose the Olympus 35mm macro for quality over the 50's. Try a 50 or 60mm macro instead. It's about as close as you're going to get to the 35mm macro in quality to even out the lens issue.