I have some more camera questions? SLR?

Question

is this a good deal on a camera?

Sony alpha DSLR-A200W 10.2-Megapixel Digital SLR Camera & 75-300mm Super Telephoto & 18-70mm Lenses - Black for 699.99

also what can you tell me about sony?

is the 75-300mm zoom good?

im an amatuer what should i be looking at?

what is the best brand thats relativly cheap, but still good quality?

Answer 1

Hi TS 17,   You know... I do have and use on a daily basis one of the little Sony digital cameras.  It is an older model but it has always turned on and done what I expected.  But if you have $499.99 to work with,  I would go with one of the REAL camera manufacturers, and that would be Canon or Nikon.   You can get a Canon Xt or perhaps a Nikon D40 for what you are going to spend on this Sony and if you scroll through all 25-30 pages of these questions and answers, I think you are going to find literally dozens of people who have and use the Canons/Nikons and are highly recommending them.  Now don't go into a question such as which is better... because you will almost start a cat fight.  LOL.   Canon has fans.  Nikon has fans.   So it is difficult to determine from personal opinion which is the best and definately which is best for you.    I suggest that you go to a site DPREVIEW (.com) and type in each of those cameras (I only mentioned those models because they are in the price range you ask about above).  They have been thoroughly field tested by professional photographers who absolutely take them through the paces.  They give accurate and very honest reviews to help consumers make the most intelligent choices for themselves.  I then suggest you go to Best Buy or Circuit City and see the cameras in person.  Hold them in your hands and see which one you are drawn to.  Don't be in too big of a hurry and don't buy it there,  just look.  Then go online and look for the best deal Camera Kit you can find on either one... you will save alot of money on just the sales tax ... Make  SURE they are "USA" Warranty Versions... and I cannot stress that enough!!!!!   You will be all set and well informed about what you are choosing and how much you want to pay.  Best wishes to you and Happy Shooting.

Answer 2

The first thing I would say in response to this is be VERY CAREFUL if you are buying any camera online. There are apparently some very good online sellers. Two in particular that have received pretty good customer feedback are B&H Photo and Adorama, however there are some very bad sellers out there as well.

Specifically, do not do business with Broadway Photo. I have just been another unfortunate victim of this seller. I received a Nikon D80 camera body that appears to have been refurbished and has no factory warranty at all and a "gray market" lens that was made for the Japanese market rather than the U.S. market....all at a "value package" price that turned out to be over $1000 more than just buying this equipment at my local camera shop in town due to their fraud.

Be advised that they have numerous BBB complaints, a customer satisfaction rating of 0.18 out of 10 according to reseller.com, pending legal action from various sources, etc. This place is BAD news and they apparently operate under more that 20 different names online....most, if not all, are based in New York.

Do not place an online order without first checking out the merchant you will be dealing with or you too will join the growing list of victims of this rip-off company. If you need additional information about them let me know and I'll be happy to share all I have learned.

Now for your actual question....

I have not priced Sony equipment in the past so I can't give you an informed answer to the specific price you are mentioning, however here are some things to consider.

First, you should be able to go to the Sony website and check for the MSRP of the camera you are interested in. Compare that price to the deal you are being offered and remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Next, you mention two lenses in this package. By the way, any lense with a variable focal length...eg. 75-300mm...is a zoom lens as opposed to a telephoto lens. A true telephoto lens has a fixed focal length such as 200mm, 300mm, etc.

The basic advantage to a zoom lens is convenience. In one lens, you have a variety of focal lengths. The tradeoff is that they typically are a slower lens, which means that the minimum aperature isn't going to be as large and you will sacrifice perhaps somewhere between 1 - 2 f/stops. This probably is a bit techincal to you for now, but basically this will show up in either a slight loss in depth of field control and/or low light shooting ability.

Personally, while these may be more critical to the professional photographer, as an amateur hobbyist I prefer to not have to go to the expense of purchasing a bunch of different lenses and then having to carry them around when I am shooting and keep stopping to change lenses for different shots.

Ultimately the choice is yours, but for convenience and cost I would recommend a zoom lens. The two you mentioned are a pretty good complimentary set of focal lengths. They will essentially cover the entire range from 18mm to 300mm, however remember that not all lenses are created equal.

Zoom lenses can been have a problem known as "zoom creep". The manufacturer makes the lens to have a very smooth zoom capability when you turn the zoom ring, however in some cases the zoom is too loose to keep the lens at the same focal length if you either point the camera up or down. This can be particularly frustrating if say for example you wanted to shoot a closeup shot of a flower and had your camera mounted on a tripod (a very necessary accessory in my opinion) pointing from above your shot toward the ground. You zoom to where you have your shot composed that you would like to take and then step back to either use a self timer or a remote shutter release. Meanwhile gravity can slowly cause the weight of the glass in the lens elements to "creep" toward the ground ending up in an ulitimately different composition than what you intended.

Also remember that if you are getting a zoom lens that includes anything much over a 135mm focal length, you want to find a lens that either has built in image stabilization or make sure that the camera body you are buying will have image stabilization that will actually work with the lens you are buying.

Just as a comparison, I bought a Nikon 18 - 200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens and it alone cost $750 at my local camera store. So I'm a bit suspicious that two quality lenses and a 10MP body for $699 sounds like a reasonable price.

Get the brand, speed (minimum f/ stop), whether the lens has IS built in, check the tension on the zoom and finally the individual cost of each lens and then you will be in a better position to truly evaluate them. I've seen a lot of camera "packages" that come with inexpensive lenses of questionable quality.

You do not want to scrimp and try to save money on your lens. The lens quality will determine your photo quality. For example, in my case I purchased a Nikon D80 body for $800 and the lens I mentioned for $750 (from Action Camera in Roseville, CA....NOT Broadway Photo.) To save money, the place to cut would be in the camera body to a D60 or a D40...both still 10MP, but fewer "bells and whistles". Even if you had to step down to a camera body with 8MP resolution, an excellent image at 8MP will blow away a mediocre image at 10MP every time. You will lose a small amount of enlargement capability and have a bit less data to work with in computer photo editing programs for cropping and so on, but unless you are planning to enlarge to poster size and beyond, even an 8MP body shouldn't have any problem with typical 8x10 or 11X14 prints and your quality will be much better with a superior lens.

Remember, the fanciest camera body in the world is just an expensive paper weight unless you combine it with quality lenses and filters.

There is so much information to know about lenses and I'm just scratching the surface. If you're interested in truly learning about this, I'd suggest a very good and simple book for the beginning photographer called "David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses". This is a simple, easy to understand, yet very thorough overview that will increase your understanding much better than I can here.

Answer 3

See this review of the bigger brother Sony A350:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslr...

The A200 has even less detail and doesn't do well in upper ISO shooting.

Bottom-line:  there are better cameras for your money, such as the Canon Rebel XTi, the Nikon D60, or even the Nikon D40.  

Since you are an amateur, what I would recommend would be the Nikon D60 with an 18-55mm VR (vibration reduction) lens and a 55-200mm VR lens.  However, as always, I would also recommend that you personally handle the cameras in your hand and pick the one that feels "right" to you--in terms of ergonomics, feel, menu systems, weight, build quality, etc.