Sony Alpha A200 - Adding to Greatness
Reviewed on 10 January 2008

Sony’s been the top dog in just about every category of electronics but when it comes to digital cameras, Sony’s dominance in digital compacts does not stretch to the more professional DSLRs. Unlike Canon and Nikon, or even Olympus and Pentax, Sony is still a budding name in the DSLR market. However, with the release of Sony’s A100 and A700, DigitalRev has been paying attention to what Sony will do with Minolta’s legacy. With the latest breaking news of the Sony Alpha A200 coming out in February, we were anxious to see just what Sony has in store for expanding their Alpha line of DSLRs.

At first glance, the Sony A200 appears to be a revamped version of Sony’s initial A100 and functionally, there are many aspects where both may seem similar. That's why the design of the body is an area where it seems Sony has put in most work. Adopting the same round and curvaceous body, a lot of remodelling has been done to make the A200 the better camera. Now in a more compact body, the A200 weighs 13g lighter (532g excluding batteries and accessories) and carries a slightly larger and more pronounced handgrip. With the Function Dial gone, there are now lesser controls and also a wider 2.7-inch LCD to soothe your vision.

Peering at its insides, the A200 carries the splendour of a 10.2 megapixels APS-size CCD. While sharing the same sensor as the A100, Sony has infused plenty of enhancements to convince you that you are looking at an entirely different camera here. According to Sony, the A200 escalates by improving noise reduction capability and delivers a 1.7x faster auto focusing speed. With better noise control, Sony makes the differences even clearer by raising the ISO sensitivity to 3200, doubling the ISO sensitivity of the previous A100.

With plenty of upgrades in store, the A200 also includes some of Sony’s finest in DSLR technology. Running on an enhanced version of Sony’s BIONZ processing engine, reliable features like Sony’s Super SteadyShot image stabilisation, Dynamic Range Optimiser, Eye-Start Autofocus System and Anti-Dust technology are all present on the A200. Like the A100, the A200 inherits the continuous burst mode of 3 frames per second and a 9-point autofocus system.

The Sony A200 has everything to become a pleasing entry-level DSLR and isn't expected to go head to head with the more professional models in the market. Strictly looking at the spec sheet, many have been quick to point out the similarities to the A100. However, given the differences made to the body design and enhancements made to its interior, it seems that the actual performance of the camera could well end all talks of comparison. Looking to surpass the success of the A100, the Sony Alpha A200 is definitely expected to do very well. DigitalRev is now accepting pre-orders for the Sony Alpha A200, book yours now.