Sony Alpha Recommendations

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Jimikuk

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Jimi King
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I bought one of the first Sony A100's and have been pretty happy with it.

I'm now thinking about upgrading to a newer model and am interested in hearing from existing owners (particularly 300 series owners) on their recommendations.

My existing one doesn't output raw images (at least if it does I don't know how) so that aspect interests me. I'm also interested in minimising the amount of noise and I'm assuming that progress would have been made since the first model.

I'm also wondering if the live view can be fed out to a laptop. That would be really handy.
 
Jimikuk said:
I'm now thinking about upgrading to a newer model and am interested in hearing from existing owners (particularly 300 series owners) on their recommendations.
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as an A700 user I can happily recommend that as it's an excellent body.
& as it's due for replacement it's at bargain prices atm (~£550 body only, 1/2 it's original retail)

My existing one doesn't output raw images (at least if it does I don't know how) so that aspect interests me.
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The A100 does RAW - there should be a setting in the menu for file format (RAW, RAW+jpeg, different levels of jpeg)

I'm also interested in minimising the amount of noise and I'm assuming that progress would have been made since the first model.
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It has but if you aren't shooting RAW you aren't seeing the a100 at it's best anyway. Choice of RAW converters also has an effect.
When you say minimise the noise what exactly do you mean? The A100 has very little noise at normal ISOs only once you start hitting 800 or so does it become more obvious but again a lot of that is due to the (poor) Sony jpeg engine.
Also, are you running the latest firmware (1.04)?
Currently the best Alpha in terms of higher ISO performance is the A700.

I'm also wondering if the live view can be fed out to a laptop. That would be really handy.
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don't know - I know that it can on some other manufacturer's models but Sony's LV is rather different than theirs.
If noone here can answer try asking at www. dyxum.com
 
I`ll put here my own experience.

I have my a350 for 7 months now and even that it is my first DSLR, i`m not very happy with it. Ok, i haven`t had any other brand and from Sony i`ve only tryied a100 and a700, which both seems to be much better than a350. I can`t find myself satisfied with outputs of my alpha. Perhaps, if i invested to some better lenses, results would be more acceptable (as i only have kit 18-70, 70-300 and Minolta 50mm F1.7), but i`m not willing to do so.
And it`s not only image quality. 18-70 lens causing some troubles as its extending part became loose, which affects picture quality even more. And Minolta 50mm f1.7 suggested as good portrait lens is making so much noise that you can`t use it without post processing.

This is just my own opinion and there will be people with anothers, but i think that for same money you can get far better camera (in picture quality meaning).

If you`d like to stick with Sony, you shouldn`t go probably for anything under a700 as the rest of them are slow, noisy, too plastic (except a100) with picture quality very close to some ultrazooms.
 
hi jimikuk,

i am an a300 owner and i am very pleased with it. i think it is definitely worth the upgrade and the 300 and 350 are actually having more sales than the new 230, 330 and 380, because the 300 generation seems more proffessional.

the a100 does raw but i hear that its not very good.

i would strongly recommend going for the a200 instead of the 300 if live view isnt neccessary because thats the one regret i have, i thought would need live view but ive only used it once or twice however its qute useul for macro especially with the built in teleconverter.

as for the live view feeding i dont know if its possible on the 300 series, i hear the canon 450D can do it so i'll have a look around the tinternet for sony live view feeding as would be interested in that myself.
 
mastertrinity said:
the a100 does raw but i hear that its not very good. .
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nothing wrong with it except at higher ISOs - all Sony Alphas are biased toward providing more detail at the ISOs that most people will use most of the time at the cost of more noise at higher ISOs that will be used relatively rarely. It's a balancing act & with the A100 being their first DSLR it probably shows this aspect more than the later ones where they shifted the balance a bit.
 
heidfirst said:
When you say minimise the noise what exactly do you mean? The A100 has very little noise at normal ISOs only once you start hitting 800 or so does it become more obvious but again a lot of that is due to the (poor) Sony jpeg engine.
Also, are you running the latest firmware (1.04)?
Currently the best Alpha in terms of higher ISO performance is the A700.
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I'm mainly shooting for microstock, and many of the agencies have re-defined the meaning of the term "noise" (i.e they are overly fussy). No I have never updated the firmware, so I guess that would be a good start.

Live feed...don't know - I know that it can on some other manufacturer's models but Sony's LV is rather different than theirs.
If noone here can answer try asking at www. dyxum.com
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I've signed up there and will ask. Live view output would be very helpful and quite important really, mainly for studio model shoots. The old eyesight is not what it used to be.
 
Sony's LV doesn't work off the sensor that takes the image though but a secondary one so you won't really see exactly the same. Also the optical vf in Sony LV cameras is compromised by this so if you have poor eyesight this will compound it (there is a new Sony vf magnifier accessory though).

if it's for studio shots have you considered an A900? best viewfinder going in a DSLR, 24Mp FF & excellent IQ upto ~ISO 800 (some would say perfectly usable higher than that too) - it's really optimised as a studio & landscape body.
There are a no. of A900 users on here that you could ask.
 
I am a proud owner of a 300 as well. I have been using it for last 4 months and very (very very) happy!! My kit lens, Sony 18-55 is a bit problem as it doesn't give better output on Macro shots. But others are still getting better and don't have any complaints.

Also you can think about 230, 330 and 380; the new range, Its bit lighter and one of my friend is using one of them for last 2 weeks and says very happy with new purchase!!
 
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