Hi,
Newbie here. Any owner of Sony Alpha 100 here? Planning to buy but dunno if it's good or not...help help..!

try here: smashpOp's Sony Alpha Gallery

Decent above average camera.
Though nothing spectacular to shout about.
External flash has a proprietary mount.
Used lenses & accessories are not easily available.
But doesn't matter if you just want a dSLR to P&S. Or you prefer to buy everything (lens & etc) new.

RM3050 comes with 18-70 kit lens. What does everyone think? I heard the pic quality are bad under high ISO settings? It is true? Any other bad points to share??

Sony ISO go up till 400 still good ,800 I cant accept ady ,other then ISO ,I would say should be no problem ,just tht the kit lens 18-70mm quality is not that perfect enough ,maybe u should wait for CZ *T 16-80mm F3.5-F4.5 .

juz go for the D80.

yeap....i waited for Nikon D80 over this Sony. D80 Noise level at 1600 still near perfect ... can compete with canon edi.

there is a shop quote me rm 3000 for kit at bb plaza
near the entrance out

... or the Canon EOS 400D. RM3300 (or less) with a EF-S 18-55mm Kit Lens, you got nothing to loose

alpha got the 18-70mm
plus Super Steady Shot on the body

That would be the 'technical' advantage they have ... mine would be : When you're actually OUT there you only see Canon-Nikon-Canon-Nikon-Canon-Nikon-Canon-Nikon-Canon-Nikon users ... maybe occasionally Olympus users, no Sony yet and definitely no professional users as far as I am concerned :

1. Cannot borrow lens
2. Cannot borrow flash
3. Cannot borrow battery in case flat
4. No one can help if setting went kelam kabut

My question to Edwintst is : How long can you afford to be a white elephant among your peers before more Sony owners come in (assuming you only wanna be a photo enthusiastes or shooting as a hobby)? Considering the limited amount of accessories (prices aside) i.e lenses and flash Sony have for their SLRs, how far can you bring this interest of yours?

Should you decide to chuck your entire system within this or next year, keep in mind that cutting your purchase price in half and selling also no use. A new Nikon or Canon or Olympus entry level is only less than RM2,000 away from the price you're selling.

Know the truth.

This post has been edited by ac98: Oct 3 2006, 09:08 AM

problem is that
r ur so called friends will borrow their few Ks precious lens for you
maybe test shots from their camera thats it.

Enough-lor Shinchan ... later Alpha owners coming with their flame throwers at us.

alpha 18mm-200mm Rm1.8k+
alpha 90-300mm Rm800+

keke

But Alpha can still share KM lens, right?

yes Minolta A Mount

alpha 18mm-200mm Rm1.8k+ ,why pay RM1.8k for a tamron OEM lens -.-"

mayb look for tamron mount KM 18-200mm cna ady ,less then RM1.5k ,and CZ is a much much better lens

Sony/KM standard

CZ* T lens
KM G lens
KM lens
Tamron OEM KM digital lens

18-70 and 18-200 is the 4rd de

Come to think about it..I was supposed to be a Sony alpha user. Then 400D came along with about the same price point.. Most of my friends advised me against a Sony (mainly because its a new comer??).. so I ended up with a 400D. Dang, wish someone had told me how crappy Canon the kit lens is. Now i have to shell out more dough for a better lens. Heard the alpha kit lens kicks a$$.

I tell you what ... the Golden Years for Minolta was the Dynax, I never deny that. Those were the best years for them.

I still remember when I was in Secondary school and in the Kelab Fotografi. The president is very well off and he was using a Dynax. He tried to poison everyone one to buy the camera but it was obvious beyond the reach of everybody. I was having my dad's Canon AT-1 (Manu. 1973) and I remembered it was in the canteen he laughed out so loud that my camera was an old Manual one.

Cut the long story short, Minolta soon loose out to competition becoz Canon and Nikon was all out against each other in a technology 'cold war' starting from the lower end consumer compact digicams all the way to highend professional DSLRs.

Canon Malaysia actually threw in RM20 Million for advertising ALONE in 2006/2007, can you believe that?! (Source @ thestar.com.my) I think Minolta Malaysia could't even reach that amount of money via camera sales alone!

Remember Sony's 'semi-pro' point-and-shoots? The DSC-R1 and T929? I consider those models 'gone case' liao. Two of my friends are users and one changed to Nikon D70 and the other guy changed to a Canon 300D later. You cannot believe how much they spent on the camera, accesories, flash and not to mention memory sticks!

You call the Kit Lens CRAPPY-ah? It can focus in a foggy cubicle with a model showering in hot water inside you know?! Dun believe me? Lets yumcha I show you the pic, in A4 size!

Yeah, lets go yum cha and u can bring along all u'r L lens. lol..
Some sites that i read even said that the kit lens should only be used as a paper weight. Now that hurts...

L-lens also can become a paper weight ...

i was able to get my 350d to focus with the lens fogged up as well. If edwintst,you had asked this question during the megasale fair, I would ask you to get the 350d which comes free with a second 90-300 lens, it's not IS but is pretty decent, and USM too (more quiet than normal lens when AF'ing). Of course with more money, you can get better lens. Since the fair is now over, I would ask you to get the D80 from nikon. the new features on the 400d is not really worth the price in my opinion, higher megapixel isn't always good. The D80 is a big improvement over its D70s so it would be worth your money.

Woi ... traitor ...

This post has been edited by ac98: Oct 3 2006, 12:54 PM

i'm being practical.

Canon 400D around RM3100 ,350D around RM2450-RM2500

Nikon D80 kit RM4290 , D80 body RM3590.

I would say its depend on budget

yes but I'd say its only a temporary advantage (if long term use is an issue here). Sony's lenses are more expensive than C & N's counterparts, even when the C & N lenses have IS/VR in some cases (which is anyway better than body IS;))

This post has been edited by BurgaFlippinMan: Oct 3 2006, 02:03 PM

Ahhh ... the BurgaMan have spoken.

me too but not after i 've tried all 3 on the same day

see see
preferable u do it again infront of us how to take it lol

budget says it all

Why you all like to quote 400D as RM3100? Impossible to get that price leh ...

i thought boeing offer Rm3150 in the first day

now perhaps chaeper ;P

very easily obtainable here in Penang.

ac98

Why difficult I go BB plaza ask also RM3100 wht . Desmond also the same ,Boeing u need to bargain bit ,their offer is RM3150.

Is it? Celaka ... I think some of them purposely quote higher to me, basket!

Thanks ac98 for your advise. Very valuable but sumhore i find the Alpha very tempting. Dunno why!! I'm newbie.Preparing to buy my 1st DSLR. Dun want to make mistakes though (this mistake might be very costly..!!)

wahah good good
waiting for ur pics

ac98,Saw a 400D with 18-55 kit @ RM 3050!!!! no joke

So end of the day...buy what sifussssss????!! hehehe.Cannot wait liao.hands "GATAI!! I still keep my prosumer Sony F707 which still brings me nice pics.

gold3knight...u from Penang?Penang kia rulez..!

canon or nikon . sony no need bah .

hmmm....

i think the reason why you are tempted in sony is because 'it's a sony'. *sings to the tune*

honestly, for RM 3300 for the sony alpha plus kit lens, why not the canon 400d? true, sony produce the CCDs for nikon and sony is a huge market and they are using the minolta's technology and they have carl zeiss' lenses and stuff but who cares?

1. their high ISO noise level is a joke. i think the obsolete D100 is better than this camera.

2. nothing againts minolta. they produced brilliant lenses but if would to compare to today's technology, it's slow in term of focusing. you can argue the fact that you don't need fast autofocus but still... once you have tried the USM and AF-S (ferrari), you wouldn't want to drive a kancil no more.

3. carl zeiss' lenses. they are one of the best in the world. but the thing is, can you afford it?

canon's 400D's noise level at higher ISO is good. heck, all canon's are good in my opinion and my favourite is actually the 5D. you should look at the noise level of this camera when it's set to 3200ISO.

this baby accepts all EF and EF-S lenses and there are loads of people trying to sell off their older lenses... i constantly seeing a good 17-40 F4L lens for sale... so there you go... a brilliant lens up for grab. (if you can't even afford this lens second hand, forget about purchasing the carl zeiss lenses for your sony's)

totally agreee... i think ur tempted by sony bcos of their many many many many advertisments and gigantic billboards ( like in mid valley there).

Sony uses their money to promote their products , and i see that they nearly succeeded in influencing mine when i thought of getting the sony. But after comparing D80 and Sony . Heck , the waiting counts ! Bought D80 straight.

it's RM 3050 actually for Kit 18-70mm.RM3799 for 2 lens (18-7mm & 70-200mm) hehe...maybe u are right sifus..

buying a dslr is not an easy task. every brand has its strengths.i suggest u do a little research on the next. think about what type of system u want to invest in and most importantly, what type of photography.

i'm just getting into this hobby tht's all.Some nice potraits & landscapes...

i can attest to the fact that the noise/grain level of the 350d is very low, making it possible to use high iso and still get presentable photos. The lantern photos I took with ISO800/ISO1600. The photos that i took on my daughter's full moon gathering, conducted outdoors was also taken with iso1600 and the photos turned out just nice. I was able to freeze the movements to capture the moments. I don't usually take a lot of low light photos but to be able to do once in a while is still pretty nice. Also, all the photos were taken with the kit lens.

This post has been edited by gold3knight: Oct 3 2006, 09:55 PM

Pics? Where?

Alpha's kit lens produce quite high Chromatic Aberrations when I observe some of the sample picture.

buy a Canon 350D
there's practically no bad DSLR liau these days
it all depends on your upgradibility on lenses aka wallet
and of course, experience n skills

so y not get a 350D and buy urself some good lenses?

it's true also...
get a 350D new set... and the extra RM 1000 you can either get another lens or belanja all of us tai thong restaurant.

if serious about photography, the lens count... i saw a dude today on monorail using nikon D200 with vertical grip and SB800 flash... all high end stuffs there but using only 18-70 lens.

i would rather have the D70s and get myself a 17-55 f2.8 lens instead.

just visit my photo stories thread. Link at my sig.

Well....budget below 4K.Any suggestions?

i heard that the metering is not good on the alpha. how true is that?

canon's 350d(old model),400d(new model)
pentax k100d(new model)
sony alpha 100(new model)
nikon's d50(beginner) and d70s(slightly more advanced) but both are old models.
olympus E-500?(old model too)

as u see, choice is abundant.

dun influence TS la
should support he get alpha ma

allow me to list the mp

Canon 350D 8mp
Canon 400D 10mp
Pentax K100D 6mp
Sony Alpha-100 10mp
Nikon D50, D70s both 6mp but price different almost 800 to 1k
Olympus E-500 8mp

not to miss out
Nikon D80 10mp (Though not within budget)

I'm just curious. Sony Alpha isn't that bad, right? Why a lot of ppl dislike it?
Sony Alpha is actually a good system if you are a fan of KM. It can't be compare to 400D as 400D already past a few generation of evolution. The system obviously would be more mature compare to Sony Alpha. Just give Sony Alpha a break as it is still new in the market (Sony's 1st DSLR). I'm certainly would like to see the 2nd generation of Sony Alpha would be. It has a lot of potential...

To thread starter, I would say, choose Sony Alpha. By the time, the 2nd or 3rd generation comes out, you are ready to upgrade the body with a decent collection of lenses that ready to make you fly. What would you say?

since alpha SSS is built in the body and its already a 10mp

;p all lens are decent

still need further upgrade on body?

;p spend la on the carl zeis lens

The current problem that Sony Alpha facing is the noise management. Ofcoz the future generation with nicer noise management would be tempting to upgrade.

Sony has quite nice CMOS technology too. I wonder Sony would integrate it to the next Alpha. If that happens, it would be a nice competition show to see.

Their own CMOS sensor would be their 1st and last bullet against their ONLY CMOS competitor ... Canon. Should Sony loose out by integrating a CMOS sensor into the Alpha, Sony might bolt out of competition during its first stage of 'making' their 1st SLR, loosing all potential customers.

Keep in mind that the Alpha is Sony's FIRST SLR but Canon already made almost a dozen EOSs for themself. Experience, technology and R&D of SLR ... Canon is light years ahead of Sony!

Good, go get it! Make that move ... you will never regret getting a Canon, looking forward to greeting you into the family

This post has been edited by ac98: Oct 4 2006, 09:38 AM

Just got back from Penang last weekend ... Penang food rules!
Penang chicks also ruless ... sorry I mean ... ROCKS!!

This post has been edited by ac98: Oct 4 2006, 09:41 AM

Erm... we can't really tell what will happen later. Maybe Sony will buy over Canon's engineer as Sony already bought over KM. So let's wait and see what would happen later...

Come to think of, Intel and AMD share almost the same scenario. Long time ago, lots of ppl claimed that AMD will never surplus Intel as Intel is light years ahead of AMD. What happens now then?

Please give Sony Alpha a break.

Agreed till the end. Rather strong way of putting it, but it's true

Have to seriously correct you there ... Sony did not buy over KM, only their camera business. Konica Minolta Photo Imaging, Inc. ceased their camera business on March 31, 2006. As of April 1st, 2006, Sony Corporation took over customer service for Konica's, Minolta's and Konica Minolta's cameras and camera-related products.

In my own words, K shrink into M and KM shrink into Sony. Canon shrink into anyone? Nah, more like Sony might dump the camera business alongside everything else and concentrate on their home appliances and gaming products in the future if you ask me!

Know the truth.

Okay, so much from me

Sony got KM exp mah

finally RM3050 ady ? guess still will drop some more lah ,for new user 400D + 18-55 is a good budget start .


Sony take over Canon very difficult lah ,except Canon research and marketing dept suddenly become like KM so slow and less advertisment lah , Canon consumer market already is the biggest in all the brand ,and DSLR & lens got supporter like world cup/racing photographer.

upgrading the system in the later stage of life is another matter.
we are talking about now.

if sony is going to produce a better camera, i am sure canon and nikon will produce a better camera as well.

what i would like to see is sony to put in more effort into it. yeah, this is their first dslr and stuffs but come on, it's a joke. people are talking about good noise reduction at higher ISO rating... it's no longer high MP count war out there...

and for the metering... i am not so sure... there was a comparision of alpha and nikon d80 that i saw (i think it's lyn or dpreview) and yeah, sony's had a tendency of under exposing the images by one stop, if would to compare to nikon's.

the only reason i will go for the sony is because of their carl zeiss lenses... if not, i am sure my nikon's lenses are as good as if not better than minolta's.

sony sendiri target 10% of the dslr user out there buy their camera. i don't know where they are going to find this 10% from... probably from diehard fans.

for the same price, i would definately go for the canon (400D)... though i am not a canon's fan, except for their 5D...

Come to think of it, no one else have professional models except for Canon, Nikon and Fuji right? Eventhough Fuji uses Nikon mount but their sales of the S-series also so-so only.

In other words, their camera business. If Sony was able to take over KM's camera business, wouldn't it prove that Sony is capable to employ Canon's engineer?

Err.. if you don't consider future, then the collection of lenses are not important, not? What if you already have a collection of Canon lenses and only realize Sony would be able to produce as nice as Canon and surplus Canon with Carl Zeiss. Don't tell me you are going to toss away your collection and start with Sony?

Yes, you already mentioned if you were to go for Sony all because of Carl Zeiss's lens. If you don't start collection now, instead with Canon, then it will be a huge leap to move Sony in term of money.

And how bad Sony Alpha is if you can exclude the noise?

noise management cant be fixed by the firmware?

i noticing there are severals firmwares already out for the alpha


ya A100 is using CCD right

That one has nothing to do with company takeover-lah brother ... it's employment already. If Canon/Sony pay me well and employ me of course I also cabut-lar!

I would say it's the Build and Ergonomics. I believe what Sony needs is EXPERIENCE. They already have all the budget they need to churning out more Alpha models and the R&D that goes along with them. They need more feedback from their target market ... newbies and amateurs.

From my point of view, the buttons are all in the wrong place, starting from the Power flip (I can't even call it a Button!). The Menu arrangements are in a mess and at some point they're trying to arrange the functions like in their compact digicams! No ... it's so wrong!

The difference between 'getting used to the functions' and actually ACCESSING them during a critical moment is two different thing, things like AE Lock, Focusing Point Selection, DOF Check and Shutter Button are very very crucial functions and must be properly and ergonomically positioned for the photography to access in a split of a second during action. We must be able to access all critical functions without lifting our eye off the camera body and less critical ones directly on the outside of the camera Menu. From the way I dabble with the Alpha in one of the Foto Shang outlet, I will definitely drop the camera or flip a wrong switch if I try to power on the camera using one hand or access buttons on the left when my hand is wet or oily. A rugged and good camera dun have to look old fashion or out of date but the looks of the Alpha turned me off.

I sincerely hope Sony will make a better built camera next round, I think this should be their utmost priority becoz the functions and specs are roughly there. Sony should know where to check and iron out the rough edges of the CCD's noice management so there is nothing much to shout about as far as the next model is concerned.

So ... a 12MP Alpha II anyone ?

no...
i am talking about starting new as what the tread starter mention. if he can't afford the carl zeiss lenses, what's the use of starting a sony's system? as i have mentioned it earlier.

carl zeiss' lenses had already surplus the canon's and nikon's in system like hasselblad and rollei but do you see me jumping ship to using hasselblad and phase one? no!

i am talking about practicality. sony will definately improve their system, no doubt about that. but if you are one of those entry level dslr user (you are of course if not you won't consider sony alpha in the first place) you do not see yourself investing RM 7000 for a 70-200 f2.8 lens.

in the future yes but how good is sony's compare to canon's and nikon's? same? marginally better that it's worthy for you to be a some forummers said 'white elephant'?

2 quiestion,
1. I realised that Canon 400D no spot metering? It it important? Coz Nikon & Sony and other all have...Pls give advise bro. Thanks
2. In the long run Canon cheaper in terms on lenses?


[quote=lgs,Oct 4 2006, 09:57 AM]
Sony got KM exp mah

finally RM3050 ady ? guess still will drop some more lah ,for new user 400D + 18-55 is a good budget start .

This post has been edited by Edwintst: Oct 4 2006, 11:52 AM

[quote=Edwintst,Oct 4 2006, 11:50 AM]
I realised that Canon 400D no spot metering? It it important? Coz Nikon & Sony and other all have...Pls give advise bro. Thanks

[quote=lgs,Oct 4 2006, 09:57 AM]
Sony got KM exp mah

finally RM3050 ady ? guess still will drop some more lah ,for new user 400D + 18-55 is a good budget start .

[/quote]

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/digit...0D_compare.html
good site


go buy ur @100 and start taking pics

^ Could it be the fact that u're way to acclimatized to how Canon and Nikon works? Being different doesn't mean its no good mah.. my only gripe is that the fonts they use in the LCD is too big. Kinda reminds me of Samsung phones.

My subject is Sony is CAPABLE TO GRAB CANON'S ENGINEERs so company business thing is just an abstract.

This, I will leave it to the thread starter as I don't know whether he can affort in the near future. I won't neglect the possibility.

Ofcoz we are discussing about entry DSLR here as if Sony has higher end?
RM 7k for 70-200 f2.8 lens would be a yes and no answer. Wouldn't the beginner jump in straight to grab a 70-200 f2.8 as a start? He/She might in the future depends on his/her budget.

What is wrong to be "White Elephant"? At least you are unique even worthy of bypasser to stop by and admire.

My only comment to you is, either you are too bias or you are Canon fanboyz. You can't just slam everything till it is not worth a cent.

The EOS 400D has 35-zone evaluative metering system with 3 metering modes : 1. Evaluative metering 2. Partial metering and 3. Center-weighted average metering.

Tak cukup-kah?

... or stop and wonder (in my case of a 350D) "What SLR is that ha? So small one?!"

ermm... i am a nikon user from the moment i started learning photography professionally.

i am not bias in any brands. i am just saying that sony's DSLR seems to be too noob for the time being. and if one would to get the sony DSLR, wait for their next camera...

things i would like to see...

1. noise reduction in higher ISO (piority)
2. more higher quality lenses (F2.8 lenses) (but not the carl zeiss range)
3. and faster focusing lenses
4. i am not sure about the layout of the buttons and functions of this alpha camera. true, it's basically whether one is use to it or not. i tried using my friend's canon 1d mkII and i was cursing like siao when i was using the camera. so can't comment.

well, if one like this camera for no obvious reason besides it's a sony (sings to the tune again) then by all means get it. if not, my advice, go for the canon 400d. nikon? abit expensive... unless you wanna wait for the rumoured D60 (christmas)

nothing is wrong with the alpha camera, i am sure about it. my only problem with this camera is the high noise... besides that, i am sure it's a good camera...

1. Lots of ppl complaining that 400D lack of spot metering. I wonder why Canon remove it as 30D has it. *scratch head* It won't affect much without a spot metering though.

2. If you got poison from L lens, I would say, it won't be cheap. The sharpness of the picture from L lens can really poison. *beware*

spot metering is nice to have, and i've used it once in a while. however, i dont actually tihnk i would really miss it.

Besides noise,

Sony Alpha has quite a number of good features.
- In-hardware Dynamic Range Optimization
- Eye Start AF
- 2 dial buttons which allow easy access to the menu (ofcoz compare to 400D only)
- Better grip (ofcoz compare to 400D only)
- Good battery life (again, ofcoz compare to 400D only)
- Cheaper (price) anti-camera shake implementation (*sigh*, compare to 400D only)

As for Ergonomic design, I can't totally agree with ac98 because 400D is equally suck. This is more depend on personal preference as both models have it mono-status-LCD removed.

Which one to choose? Depends on the buyer choice

haha i think more than enough adv.

what so good about the in hardware DRO? reviews of it havent been impressed, and have mostly concluded that its simply better to do it in pp. we also have no idea of Sony's future plans, and whether they will offer a good upgrade path or just keep releasing budget model after budget model. then of course, there is the issue with lens prices which wipe out any cost advantage of the body if u wish to get more glass anyway. have u seen the price of the 70-200 2.8 SSM? its about USD 2.4k! The Nikon equivalent, is around USD 1.8k WITH VR at that. i'm not dissing Sony, and they may well get their act together in the future but I wouldnt want to investing in their system at the moment, unless i have cash to spare.

This post has been edited by BurgaFlippinMan: Oct 4 2006, 02:23 PM

Good thing you said 'equally' suck and not 'worst than' the Alpha
Yes, to those Mat Sallehs and those well-built palms, the EOSs have been small ever since 350D

If I have spare cash, to assist my Canon system, I would get a Nikon D200!

huh?
why lar?
chi sin... ahahaa!
to assist your canon... the 5D is the camera to purchase.

Arguably, the lens price is headache. Blame it on Sony marketing.

As for in-hardware DRO, I would say depends on personal preference. I tested the effect after PP, I prefer the in-hardware DRO as fast, and neat without PP. Though lots of ppl say it looks unnatural. But I still like the feels of the picture. I can't find the link to the thai's forum. The forumers are doing very precise testing on the DRO, I would say the result is really superb unlike those review in dpreview. They're actually placing a side by side comparison of the picture. The lighting looks very natural, unlike the picture that I have for PP.

Though I said "equally" but Sony Alpha still has advantage over 400D with better grip and easy menu access through the 2 dial buttons.

okok...gonna go try both this weekend

the canon 400d loose out in battery power

D80 : EN-EL3e (7.4 V, 1500 mAh) Canon : NB-2LH (7.4 V, 720 mAh) A100 : NP-FM55H (7.2 V, 1600 mAh)

with the larger lcd and self cleaning and stuff, going to eat up more energy. just recently the shop assistant where i went to look at the cameras, and where i bought my filters told me the 350d was a good choice. 400d will consume up energy fast, and will therefore generate more third party battery sales for him.