Sony Alpha DSLR-A100K Digital Camera w/ 18-70mm Lens (10.2MP, 3872 x 2592)

Reviewed by: touristguy87

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: The super steady shot works down to 2s handheldSupports auto-ISO in the manual shooting modes, very nice, Rebel XTi doesn't do that.

Weaknesses: Too many buttons, dials and switches, all over the camera. Menu system is kind of goofy. ISO difficult to adjust compared to RebelNoisy as hell, ISO800-1600

Overall Evaluation: I tried this in CC and I have to say that I was impressed with the low-speed performance, and the 17-85 is a nice range. I was able to get very usable, if a little soft, shots down to 2s and maybe they were soft because I ended up having to shoot ISO80 F22 to get down to 2s exposures in the CC showroom, but who knows. I almost bought one just to try it out for real (but I was going to go for the 18-200 package). What stopped me was the noise at ISO800-1600. There is some really nasty vertical streak noise in this camera at ISO1600 even at ISO800. I measured it in Neat Image shooting RAW and it is 14.something at ISO1600, 8.something at ISO800...these numbers are 50% more than my S2 at "ISO400" and "ISO200" (another story there, they are more like ISO800 and 400). They are twice the noise values at the same ISO for my Rebel XTi...shooting RAW. This set up a direct dilemma between the Rebel XTi, which I had already, and the A100. Shoot the A100 ISO80-400 leaving ISO800 for emergencies, use the SSS IS system and never have to buy an IS lens, or, buy IS lenses for the Rebel, at about a 50% premium for the lens over a non-IS lens, and be able to shoot it ISO100-1600 without ever worrying about noise (just the in-camera NR, so I'd really want to get a big CF card and shoot RAW at high ISOs). The problem for the A100 is that the Rebel is SO clean that I can shoot it ISO1600 RAW and not even need to use NR on it (of course, doing so reduces the file size because it cuts the noise level in the file). There is no way that I would want to shoot this camera at ISO1600. And I am hardly a "purist". I have other P&Ss that make plenty of noise at ISO400...this camera was by far the worst. It has alternating blue and brown streaks of noise, running vertically over the shadow and mid-tones of the image, at ISO800 and 1600. If you can avoid those speeds, you will get a decent camera in the A100. For me, I preferred to pay a few hundred extra and get lens-based IS (the SSS shots were still a little soft, viewed at 100%, even if I had no business getting *anything* out of the camera at those speeds handheld and the camera did produce a good shot, it wasn't tack sharp below about 1-5 s) and most of all, a very good, very clean sensor in the Rebel.I will bet that the next version of the A100 will not have this problem and will be a much better DSLR. This one will sell well, anyway. But "purists" won't buy it because of the noise. In my opinion, it really isn't that much better than an S2, if indeed it *is* better than an s2. It all depends on what you think when you read "ISO80-1600". No doubt this is bigger, heavier and a lot more expensive than an S2, with a much shorter zoom range even if you go with the 18-200 package.