Sony A200: Entry DSLR Roundup

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 Electronics have been updated and AF offers 9 points with a center cross AF point instead of the outdated 3-point AF featured on the Nikon D60 and Olympus E420/E520.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.