Shots from the Sony Roadshow in Midvalley Megamall:
Pre-sale Sony A200 for RM1999 with kit lens and 2 GB memory stick.
EXIF included.
100% crop of the ISO1600 image. To be fair, I picked a darker area of the picture to show you how much noise will appear in the midtones. It gets much cleaner in brighter areas.
EXIF included.
100% crop of the ISO3200 image.
It seems that the A200 lies somewhere in between the A100’s decent ISO400 and the A700’s decent ISO1600. I didn’t shoot at what would theoretically be the A200’s decent ISO800.
The camera feels nothing like how the studio shots portray it; the right thumb rests on a very, very nice candybar/soap shape. Some people have complained of the A100/A700’s “chins” stabbing the flesh of their thumb but I think this will not happen with the A200.
The buttons were a wee bit small (being used to A100 Nintendo-gamepad-size buttons.) The D-pad was excellent, even better than I remember on the A100. The body feels more unified, unlike the A100 which had different textures front and back.
I LOVED that the switches were much less rigid. On the A100 the AF/MF switch was a pain to flip. On the A200 it feels like a spring is helping you.
Quick Navi is not implemented as is on the A700, sadly – instead you press the Fn button and you see a menu of 6 functions. I prefer this to turning a rigid dial on the A100 as it’s truly all in your right thumb now!
When I tried the A200 with Sony 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 DT, I saw the focus slide smoothly in, and recognized that giddy feeling from when I first tried the A700. Yes, they got the fast motor!
It can track with 3 FPS with the 16-105mm. Comparing it with the A700 in 3 FPS Drive Lo mode it felt the same!
Of course, going back to a 2.7″ 320×240 screen is a bummer. You do feel it. They retain the speedy scrolling through images. Go Sony! (Show this feature off to Canon users, whose 40Ds will wear out fingers just rolling dials.)
More EXIF!
To be honest, I am not fully convinced on SSM, USM or SWM. They all feel the same – smooth, but not always working as easily as you’d expect on super tele lenses. It felt like when I touched a Canon EF 600mm F4L IS USM and wasn’t impressed.
The one shot that got away due to a safe ISO800 instead of ISO1600 on their demo A700 unit. If only I’d set it to ISO1600, you wouldn’t see motion blur as she flutters her eyes.
Bokeh is of course superb and liquid. I dare say it has liquid bokeh priority, sharpness second, ala Minolta.
Sorry guys, there is no Depth Of Field Preview button.
Funny thing is, the 3 main things that the Sony A100 had over all other brands, which I was proud to point out and used extensively, are missing in the A200.
– Direct Manual Focus
– AEL button becomes Spot Metering Toggle
– DOF button (which doubles as AE and AF lock, did you guess?)
now that’s quite cheap..more worth it than D40x for a beginner..
ALL SWITCH TO SONY!
holy sh*t.. that’s dirt cheap!!!
What’s the crop factor in A200?
Thats a very damn catchy price. Makes me wanna change my mind to Sony Alpha.
The only doubt, is the gadget(lens, flash
seems like Sony claimed of Improved Noise Control and faster AF speed on press released were true. however, it’s weird to exclude DMF which is a unique feature on minolta alpha line
Yes, as a camera the D40 is an embarrassment. I think the only reason it does so well is because it’s small, fits in a girls handbag 😛
zaque: The following items have equivalent pricing to other commercial brands:
50mm F1.4, 20mm F2.8, 28mm F2.8, flash (Sony’s one slightly cheaper), ultra wide angle, cheap tele lens
Yes, in Sg. Wang they all have similiar pricing. Tamron and Sigma lenses for any brand are all the same price.
The Carl Zeiss 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 has no equivalent in Canon or Nikon brands. Nothing has that high quality and has a 5x zoom range.
The only thing that is often more expensive is the Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM but most people do not buy that even if they talk about it. A good Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan will serve many well, in fact I wouldn’t think of upgrading it myself.
Eugene: Yeah man! (Understandable why they had to do competitive pricing, though.)
Nicholas.C: Wait till you meet the guys who buy big bags for their D40s! &%*@#
flysheep: Oddly, I use DMF much, much less on my A700 because it’s able to focus faster and focus better.
Also, when looking at noise from the A200 again, I can’t tell exactly but I think it’s closer to the A700. Very promising.
so, it does have a swivel screen @ RM2000?!
aaaaah! screw the G9, screw the Ricoh2, get an alpha200!
Yes indeed, and it’s one class up from the D40x (meant to be D80 level.)
thanks for coming to the show that day dude! it was great to see you though i wish we could have talked more! take care and see you next time.
cheers
KJ: Wow, you’re poisonous. 😀
tech: It’s 1.5x crop factor.
Canon Freak: Nonono the leaked shots of the Sony AFTER this has a tilt screen and Live View. Though, the A200 screen is very visible from extreme angles.
XJ: Funny, the price point alone gets a lot of people who’d previously go "but Canon a lot of people use must be good what". A customer can easily be swayed when they walk into a shop and come out with a Nikon D40 instead. After all, to them, any salesman looks knowledgeable.
Man, that price is so super attractive.
And I agree with the liquid bokeh. Sweet indeed.
Interesting price point for the camera. But not really as the target market is currently the most lucrative and fastest expanding in terms of camera sales as well as most realistic for Sony. Probably time to convert largely prosumers and p&s enthusiasts deciding between systems. What is probably great is their marketing, which is probably way better than Nikon’s marketing, which in my opinion is one of the worst. But really, for that price and specs it a pretty good deal considering the street price might be less(?).
Yeah man. Apologies to everybody who was referring to my A200 pictures as it is a pre-production model and is not representative of the final quality of the image. That could only mean that it would look even better! 😀
Haha..yea the bulk of the new users do not do prior research on the internet and such and mostly rely on peers when deciding on systems, that’s why some uninformed people (hint KJ) would jump on the bandwagon. Features mostly give salesmen bragging rights (for some brands) but mostly what I’ve noticed about many of their pitches is that the big brands piggy back on the features and "fame" of their flagships to sell their low end amateur models. Somehow I’d guess people will get swayed if you associate a pony with a stallion. More of like saying "hey! we built the 911 GT! Nothing from us can go too wrong right?" But most people think with their wallet anyway (hint KJ) so I’d guess it’ll be a lot more difficult to find 2nd hand Minolta glass soon.. Dammit, should have kept the beercan as an investment!
Correction: The first hint is supposed to be KJ’s uncle.
I brought KJ (and Raymond and Hui Wen) around Sg. Wang and Low Yat many months ago to try the different bodies (E-410, E-510, K100D, K10D, 400D) to be fair. I don’t mind someone getting whatever system as long as he/she knows why the choice was made, and that it satisfies the buyer’s criteria.
I don’t get the second hint. Yes Minolta glass is getting rarer and rising in price… though we did see an affordable beercan fly by a month ago. KJ’s wallet echoes.