according to wikipedia:

Nikon - 1917
Konika Minolta - 1873 then, Sony - 2006
Canon - 1937

blackmaster: if ur budget allows it then might as well go for the twin kit lens la.

gjtan: really looks like 2 birds. haha.

ahtsong: noise control is superb.

mastering89: what lens did u use?

according to Wikipedia la. it could be wrong... but probably roughly around that time. since the a100 was released in 2006.

Sony's entry into the DSLR market dates back to July 2005 where a joint venture with Konica Minolta would have resulted in both companies marketing an updated line of DSLRs to the masses. [4]  Between years 2006 and 2008 Sony was fastest growing company on the DSLR market, reaching 13% market share in 2008 to become third largest DSLR company in the world.[5]

Sony Alpha, also rendered Sony α (Greek letter alpha), is a digital SLR camera system introduced on June 5, 2006.

not really, KM Minolta had good market in AF film era... 'huge' in fact, they have great range of lens, 1600mm was famous that time before canon or nikon even have anything pass 1000mm. its when entering digital age... it enter digital era slower then others(canon cmos was really really hot, and nikon had a hardtime too)... and few error they made, Merge with Konica, and marketing drop that time... until a point, camera dont make money for them, ma sell to sony lor,(konica minolta still around, making photocopy machine, still make more money then DSLR) since sony had sometime wanna buy over some mount to start instead of starting a new mount... sony ever offer to buy over nikon (nikon was pretty small then, and facing difficulties too) but wasnt sucessful. imagine today Sonikony... @.@ sure very over geng...

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Added on September 29, 2010, 9:19 pm
well, for us, we know sony barebone was minolta...(i dont use KM because it was wayy later in digital era they merged, and konica did not affect much changes in their dynax(alpha) system)

but for the rest of the world, the younger generation, they see SONY as a New Kid in DSLR.... so, we are still the youngest... and the BIG trend sony brings in, 24mp FF (once the biggest, still the biggest FF?)QLV, DRO, HDR, panorama sweep, etc... not forgetting translucent mirror... sony still young

Yes, 1600mm. But thats not a big thing now. And we all know sony faces prejudice from new and old users because they are somewhat 'new' players... But its all cool. It lowers the expectation. Mosy entry lvls are disappointing... Like a290 and the likes. But with the a550 and SLT series... Sony's dslr future looks snappy.

Dont thank me. Thank the people here for making sony the prefered choice ( to some of us). Haha.

Personally I like no 2 more than no 3. =D