The Sony DSLR-A100 - A 10-megapixel DSLR

With Sony and Minolta teaming up last year, it was only a matter of time before the fruits of their partnership were made apparent.  That time is now, and the result is Sony’s first SLR with interchangeable lenses - the DSLR-A100.

The camera uses a lens mount system that is compatible with Minolta’s A-type bayonet mount, and that’s good news for a couple of reasons.  One, it gives existing Minolta camera users an upgrade path for their compatible equipment.  That’s important because it was only a short while ago that Minolta announced they were withdrawing from the camera business, leaving more than a few customers in the lurch.  Secondly, it gives new owners of the DSLR-A100 an immediate upgrade path with the abundance of pre-existing 3rd-party and Minolta lenses.

Sony has taken Minolta’s anti-shake technology, made a few improvements, and dubbed it Super SteadyShot.  They claim that having it enabled allows use of shutter speeds up to 3.5 stops lower than without it.  Having image stabilization built into the camera body is nice as it allows you to use the feature with any lens, as opposed to buying special lenses just to get the feature.  Other items of note include the ability to take continuous shots at three frames per second (at any resolution except RAW) until the memory card is full, a 40-segment metering sensor, and an anti-dust feature that basically vibrates the CCD clean.

An expected street price of $899.95 puts the new DSLR firmly in the entry-level SLR camp, competing with Canon’s Digital Rebel XT and Nikon’s D70s.  It’s arguable that Canon and Nikon don’t have too much to worry about, but even so, competition is always a good thing.

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