my frens a200 + kitlens still running strong~

the same reason why honda discontinued the old civic/city and came out with the new ones. 

First generation of Alpha? You mean the A100 and the A700? I never faced any problems with my A100 and I'm still shooting with it ocassionally.

Kit lens? Which one? The 18-70mm or the 18-55mm? The most common problem is the gear stripping with the 18-70mm kit lens but that happens because the later generations alpha screw drive is a bit too fast for the plastic gearings... 

if you really plan on upgrade, how much is budget?

in that case, you'd probably find the A550 would be quite sufficient. good ISO. easy to handle, not too big so that you can easily bring it around. basically, i see it as a fun and serious camera in one package... hence, a seriously fun camera! try your hands on one if u got the chance. try look for the camera in low yat/sg wang instead of going to sony centre.. at sony centre, the prices are pretty much fixed

3.5 k can buy a550 plus kit lens and a f58 flash gun. 

mid valley,curve,klcc also got.

dun need la..

go out shoot more..

upload your pics here..

let the sifus shoot you..then u will learn much better & faster. 

shoot more.. more hands on... practice... these are sufficient in skill upgrading. unless you're willing to pay a HUGE sum of money to go learn something u can easily know from practice, then sure, i can teach u... rather than give the money to 1 mentor 50 students class... i can do a 1 to 1 class for u at a fraction of the cost, and i'll buy you dinner after each class

after the sifus shoot him sure will explain what went wrong ma..that time those rules will come in lor 
what do you wanna put in the bag?

so many choices of those 2 brands out there. maybe u can go their website and see which model you are interested in and ask again. 

What shutterspeed can shoto this kind of motion effect

sony often conduct free basic alpha lessons..

I think about 1/80 ish?
I shoot at 1/100 and above Super GT & F1 also around there. Dont dare to go 1/40

http://corp.sony.com.my/workshop/

but always full 

i also got.... i also got....

wow... so amazing and really nice picture...
hard to get it...
       

i also got.... i also got....

shutter speed kept around 1/40 - 1/80 seconds... use shutter priority so that you dont have to care about aperture size..

OK I start the V44 with pic spam from my NEX-3.

I remember last time RM2500(RM2700 for 4 years warranty) for my A350

now it is around RM1200~RM1500 range ...

A550 will face the same fate as well when the new A5xx and Pellix camera on market next month
(luckily last time I brought it at China with ridiculous price xD)

u go to garage sales there find got a lot.