Sony alpha 300
- Thread starter Revill74
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The A300 was the middle of the entry level Sony's a couple of years back.
It is the same as the A200 (which I have, now as a backup to my A700) but with the addition of live-view and a slightly reduced viewfinder (a consequence of the way Sony implemented live-view).
At the time they A200 / A300 / A350 were very good value as entry level DSLR - though now they are a couple of years behind current models, which is apparent if you need to go above ISO 800 when the images can be quite 'noisy'.
There main downside is that you are (potentially) committing yourself to the Sony (Minolta) Alpha mount for lenses. While there is a reasonable range available, including the older Minolta AF lenses, there are a few gaps compared to Canon / Nikon - but these tend to be at the higher priced end of the market (so not that much of an issue for the average amateur). It may also be harder to get the lenses you want locally.
On the other hand, if you have been offered a good price, and are just wanting to try DSLR photography then the A300 should cover most bases in terms of what you can do, with the added benefit of in-body stabilisation helping take shots at lower shutter speeds without camera shake impacting the image quality.
It is the same as the A200 (which I have, now as a backup to my A700) but with the addition of live-view and a slightly reduced viewfinder (a consequence of the way Sony implemented live-view).
At the time they A200 / A300 / A350 were very good value as entry level DSLR - though now they are a couple of years behind current models, which is apparent if you need to go above ISO 800 when the images can be quite 'noisy'.
There main downside is that you are (potentially) committing yourself to the Sony (Minolta) Alpha mount for lenses. While there is a reasonable range available, including the older Minolta AF lenses, there are a few gaps compared to Canon / Nikon - but these tend to be at the higher priced end of the market (so not that much of an issue for the average amateur). It may also be harder to get the lenses you want locally.
On the other hand, if you have been offered a good price, and are just wanting to try DSLR photography then the A300 should cover most bases in terms of what you can do, with the added benefit of in-body stabilisation helping take shots at lower shutter speeds without camera shake impacting the image quality.
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Tha A300 was my first DSLR and restarted my interest in photography. I chose it as I had Minolta fit lenses from my 7000i film camera and didn't want to start again from scratch.
It's a perfectly good entry level camera, quite capable of producing high quality images at low ISO values. Noise from the CCD sensor becomes an issue at higher ISO settings and I found the AF struggles in low light, but at the time I was also only using lenses of "kit" quality which won't have helped. To counter this, the in-body stabilisation means that any compatible lens is stabilised, rather than having to buy IS/VR lenses.
Sony have a smaller range of lenses compared to Canon or Nikon, but Sigma and Tamron make almost all of their lenses in alpha mount and combined with second hand Minolta AF lenses (Minolta introduced the first auto focus SLR in 1985) all of which are compatible and a few other options, almost everything is covered. The notable gaps are over 600mm primes, no 400/2.8 and no 200/2 - all £5k+ lenses though.
Have a look at http://www.dyxum.com for all the information about alpha mount cameras and lenses you could ever want.
It's a perfectly good entry level camera, quite capable of producing high quality images at low ISO values. Noise from the CCD sensor becomes an issue at higher ISO settings and I found the AF struggles in low light, but at the time I was also only using lenses of "kit" quality which won't have helped. To counter this, the in-body stabilisation means that any compatible lens is stabilised, rather than having to buy IS/VR lenses.
Sony have a smaller range of lenses compared to Canon or Nikon, but Sigma and Tamron make almost all of their lenses in alpha mount and combined with second hand Minolta AF lenses (Minolta introduced the first auto focus SLR in 1985) all of which are compatible and a few other options, almost everything is covered. The notable gaps are over 600mm primes, no 400/2.8 and no 200/2 - all £5k+ lenses though.
Have a look at http://www.dyxum.com for all the information about alpha mount cameras and lenses you could ever want.
