Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 review

Nikon's D60 and Canon's EOS 450D picked up four-star ratings in recent months, so the search was on for a low-cost digital SLR camera worthy of Computer Shopper's Best Buy award.

Fortunately, that search is over. Sony's latest entry-level DSLR ticks all the boxes for image quality, performance, flexibility and ease of use and costs far less than any other 10-megapixel DSLR camera.

The A200 bears a strong resemblance to Sony's first digital SLR, the A100, both in its appearance and specifications. The 10-megapixel sensor with integrated optical stabilisation, 9-point autofocus and 18-70mm kit lens are the same, as is the 3fps continuous shooting speed. The LCD screen has grown from 2in to 2.7in, but its resolution remains at 230,000 pixels.

The controls have been tweaked, with a revised Function button displaying various key photographic controls onscreen. There's now a dedicated button for ISO speed, plus others for exposure compensation, drive mode and exposure lock. It's a shame that the button to raise the flash doesn't also access the flash mode setting, but it's easy enough to do this via the Function button. Otherwise, the controls are quick to use and on a par with the best entry-level SLRs from other manufacturers. There are plenty of advanced options, too, including customisable Creative Style image presets and automatic bracketing of both exposure and white balance.

The A200's most unusual feature is its D-Range Optimiser. When enabled, this adjusts exposure settings and processes the resulting image in order to capture a greater dynamic range, boosting shadows and reducing highlights to minimise clipping. The effect was unpredictable, sometimes having a significant impact on shadows at the expense of highlights, and at other times having minimal effect on either other than boosting noise levels in shadows. However, it also managed to live up to expectations on occasions, and its effect was rarely negative.

Performance was good, capturing a shot every 0.6 seconds in the single-drive mode and every 1.4 seconds when using the flash. It took 2.6fps in continuous mode, which is short of the 3fps claim, but still competitive. We like the way the camera autofocuses as soon as your raise it to your eye, triggered by a sensor below the viewfinder.

Image quality was hard to fault. Automatic exposures were a bit bright, but while this increased the likelihood of clipped highlights, it also produced shots that flattered their subjects and printed well. Detail levels were excellent. Although there were some chromatic aberrations towards the corners on wide-angle shots, they were rarely noticeable. Noise was a big improvement on the A100 and only a bit higher than Canon's EOS 450D and Nikon's D60. ISO 1600 resulted in shots with plenty of detail and shots were usable even at ISO 3200. Image stabilisation kept shots reasonably sharp at slow shutter speeds, but its sensor-based design means it works with any lens.

The most remarkable thing about the A200 is its price. Costing less than £300 with its kit lens, it undercuts Nikon's D60 by around £100 and Canon's 450D by almost £200. Both rivals offer slightly better image quality, but the differences are so slight that they're essentially irrelevant. The D60's controls are also a little fiddly and it lacks bracketing options, which makes it too restrictive even for first-time SLR owners. The 450D's live view LCD previews and 3.5fps continuous performance go some way to justifying its higher price, but while we would consider paying £100 extra for these, we're less inclined to pay another £100 more for the D60. The 450D's appeal is also tempered by slight autofocus problems. The Alpha has no real weaknesses and in many ways this makes it the best of the three, regardless of price.