Thanks Bob.

I can buy the A200 new with kit lens for approx £260. Which is an absolute steal, IMO. I know the kit lens isn't going to be brilliant, but it's a start.

As cash is tight, I have to look at the cost of lenses, too (of course), and the Sony/Minolta lenses appear to be great value. How good they are is another matter, but with Sony having a stake in Tamron, can they really be of poor quality. I'd like to think that Sony would produce good lenses if it wants to make a serious impact on the DLSR market.

One feature that has attracted me to the Sony is the Steady Shot function that is built into the body. Other makers have stabilization built into the lens. So that accounts in part for the lower price of the Sony lenses.

How do you find the Live View feature. I'm used to this on point-and-shoot cameras, but does it work well on a DSLR? I have use of a Canon 350D at the moment, and it was a shock to me that there was no live view... It's been a long time since I've used a viewfinder on a camera.

I can't afford the A350, or the A300.

TLF

I haven't used our A350s that much as they're owned by the rental company I work for and they're in pretty constant demand. The quick check I've given them though the Live View seems to work well. That feature is one reason I stick with my F828 and I like being able to swivel the body so I can see the LCD with the camera over my head or down low.
I should say I'm no DSLR snob though. We have one Nikon lens for our two A350s and it gets rented a bit, you can certainly feel the difference in build quality between it and the stock Sony lens.
My suggestion is to have a really good play with any camera. One thing on the A100 I really did not like was the shutter release was in the wrong place. I kept hitting the menu wheel instead. I think that got fixed on the later models.
One other thing I don't like on the Sony DLSRs. They use yet another variant of the Sony Li-Ion battery so yet another couple of batteries to buy and another charger.

But really, in my view, at your price point ease of use is more important than anything. Obviously you're not buying this camera to make a living as a photog so you will not be using it 8 hours a day. You want something you can pull out quickly and get a half decent snap. If you get lost in menus or keep hitting the wrong buttons taking a photo becomes a chore and you end up not bothering a lot of the time which defeats the purpose.

Oh and if you're going to be taking a lot of indoor snaps get a flash gun, the built in ones are pretty sad.

Bob.

I just received an A350 yesterday, with 18-70 kit lens. Like it a lot so far.

It DOES have a tiltable LCD - both up and down, as does the A300 (but not the A200).

Camera shoots at 14.2 megapixels in "fine" mode. 7.7mp and 3.5mp are also available. Camera can shoot jpeg and raw, as well as jpeg and raw simultaneously.

Another feature I really like is the built in teleconverter 1.4 and 2.0x. This allows the kit lense to reach 200mm 35mm equivalence. Use of teleconverter causes # of available megapixels to be halved.

The in-body steady shot seems to work really well. The manual states that it allows shooting 2.5 - 3.5 stops slower than would otherwise be possible. In my brief testing, this seems to be true.

I've been pretty impressed with low light capability, even with flash turned off!

Paid $799 at Amazon. Did see a link somewhere for a unit at around $640, with minor cosmetic blemishes, in an open box.

Greg

Pretty much the bottom line with consumer/prosumer DSLRs is that performance is pretty darned close between them. Your choice will probably come down to whether the camera has a particular feature you just have to have, and whether the menu/button layout and handling suits you. Color rendition is also a factor, each has its own slant. As someone said previously, the biggest factor will be the quality of the glass you put on it.

If I was starting from scratch and was only going to use the kit lens, I'd go by the quality of the kit lens. Check dpreview.com for reviews and links to other review sites.

I've reviews from many of the camera sites - DPReview, Steves Digicams, Lets Go Digital, etc - and they all says its a good camera. And I think for the price it is a bargain. With what I could save over, say, the EOS 450D, I could buy a nicer lens.

The lack of live view is a consideration as I do tend to take a lot of low down photos (that's the nature of the animals I mainly photograph). Certainly, a swivel screen would be invaluable. But essential? I'd have to spend another £100 for the A300, and another £50 on top of that for the lens kit. That brings the price perilously close to the 450D.

At the moment I have use of a 350D. It's taught me a lot of using a DSLR - very different from a point-and-shoot, and different from using a camcorder.

Re live view, be aware that although it can be very useful, it might not be the best for what you're shooting. Defepending on the manufacturers, live view can suffer from slow focus, longer mirror blackout durings hots, video refresh lag or a combination of the above. If you have fast moving subject, some implementations could be problematic.

BTW, IMO the most valuable feature on a DSLR is an effective dust removal system. That's why I went with Olympus, back when they had the only camera offering it.

I have the Sony A100 and im pretty happy with it.. The in body image stabilization is really helpful and is what made me go with the sony over the competition - the stabilization with the competition is built into the lenses and therefore make the lenses cost alot more...

Another factor in my decession is that you can use all of the old Minolta A mount lenses. Minolta were known for making some really good lenses with what is now called "legendary minolta colour".

The only really bad thing about all the sony's (except the A700) is that there not good in low light - ISO preformance is not good.

I recomend you buy only a camera body first and then shop around for a used lens on ebay. I recomend the Tamron SP 17-50mm Di II.

Here is a link to Minolta/sony fourm - very helpful people there - much like the way these fourms were when it was run by Sonic foundry.

http://www.dyxum.com/index.asp

Such a hard choice... the A200 sounds really nice. And I'm getting used to using a viewfinder.

£200 cheaper than the EOS450D, too.

I think I'd better pop down to the Sony Style shop and hold it to see if we'll get along.