Sony A200: Entry DSLR Roundup

Sony A200 vs. Nikon D60 vs. Canon 40D

It is widely known that the Nikon D60 utilizes the same Sony 10.2MP CCD sensor used in the Sony A200/A300 and the Pentax K200D. Any differences you might find between image quality of the A200 and D60 will therefore reflect the differences in processing electronics employed by each camera maker and perhaps the differences in the lenses used on each camera when the image was captured.

The 10.1MP Canon D40 uses the Canon CMOS sensor. The sensor size is the same as the Canon XS/XTi but the D40 does extend to ISO 3200, unlike the XS/XTi. Therefore all three cameras in this comparison reach from ISO 100 to ISO 3200.

ISO Comparison - Sony A200 vs. Canon 40D vs. Nikon D60
ISO	Sony A200	Canon 40D	Nikon D60
100
200
400
800
1600
3200
Click on any of the above image crops for the full image. Note: Full size images are between 3.1MB and 5.4MB!

It should not come as a surprise that the performance of the Sony A200 and Nikon D60 are all but the same in these noise tests. They are, after all, essentially the same sensor with different post capture electronics. What may come as a surprise is how very close the CMOS sensor Canon D40 results are to these two entry models. All three cameras capture very usable images with little difference among the results to ISO 1600. It is interesting that sharpening is also similar to ISO 800, but at ISO 1600 the Canon image is softer, which is one of the techniques used to reduce the appearance of noise.

By ISO 3200 the extra softening in the 40D is very apparent, with the consumer Nikon showing the greatest sharpness and the Sony A200 somewhere in between. If we adjust sharpness to comparable levels among the three cameras at ISO 3200 results are very close, but we would not choose any of these cameras at ISO 3200 for large prints, though all should be fine for 4x6 snapshots and small prints.

These results are a testament to how much the DSLR market has evolved in the last couple of years. For a long time Canon CMOS sensors were the clear resolution and low-noise leader in the market. Sony sensors have evolved quite a lot in the meantime and that Canon advantage is no longer so obvious.

The Canon warm Tungsten balance is still obvious. The Nikon colors are very slightly warm but acceptable and the Sony colors appear to be the most neutral is this side-by-side. The Sony A200 results are hard to fault in these JPG crops to ISO 1600, but we still think there is too much "edge-noise" in the Sony at ISO 3200 compared to the Canon or Nikon.