Nickname: dukesgirl

Review: Just bought the new Sony A100 and love it! I have many cameras and this is my new favorite. It just seems to handle and focus much better, and you don't have to push the button to autofocus constantly it does it automatically which is really cool. The picture quality is amazing. It is a real plus that all of my old Minolta lenses fit it and I don't have to buy new ones. The stabilization is built into the camera so you don't have to buy the lenses with it built in. This actually made it a much better deal in the long run!

Date reviewed: Sep 2, 2006 3:14 AM

Nickname: tom

Review: I have had the Sigma SD 9 for three years and there is nothing out there that offers any more value today. Yet, it is not considered in test comparisons. Why?

Date reviewed: Aug 28, 2006 6:32 PM

Nickname: wnadoc

Review: OK kids--it's all moot. Stick with film!

Date reviewed: Jun 12, 2006 5:13 PM

Nickname: Kam

Review: When it comes to Sony products, there's always one thing on the top of my mind: which Sony RootKit will come with this product? And how open will my personal information on my PC become. Sorry, no way am I nor any of my tech savy friends are going to be stupid enough to buy and install Sony hacks.

Date reviewed: Jun 8, 2006 9:11 PM

Nickname: ray L

Review: This is a bold, industry shaking move. I say bold because a safer thing to do would have been to rebadge an existing 6mp Minolta body and enter the market with that. But the market is already overdone with several cameras from Minolta, Nikon, and Pentax already using the 6mp Sony sensor. So Sony not only puts the 10mp sensor in (same as Nikon D200) it also brings out the body at $900. That combo of the 10mp sensor and the $900 price is the "wow" factor. Sony has set a new quality/price level and that is significant since it is usually Canon that does that (like it did with the D30, D60, Digital Rebel, Rebel XT, and 5D). This is really the first time someone else has come into the market with that type of wow. Add in Sony's brand name, consumer recognition, and understanding of consumer electronics (that's what cameras are these days), and you have a company that will shake up the industry. Probably similar to what it did to Nintendo and SEGA with the Playstation.

Date reviewed: Jun 8, 2006 12:28 PM

Nickname: minolta fan

Review: I'm cautiously optimistic about the merger with Sony in that I hope--with financial muscle behind it--Minolta can finally showcase what they were capable of doing. I firmly believe Minolta is more than able to compete with Canon and Nikon in producing and engineering fine cameras but, unfortunately, the Honeywell debacle was more than any company could bear. I only wish Sony had chosen to maintain the Minolta or Maxxum name. It sounds better than alpha. I must disagree with "Notsure," the DSLR business should not be left only to Canon and Nikon. Competition is good and raises the level of technology for every one!

Date reviewed: Jun 8, 2006 2:18 AM

Nickname: lluca

Review: In my opinion, this is not a very smart move by Sony. It has not solved its problems in other areas (losing innovation edge in TVs, problematic mobile phone division, Vaio is still an Apple-wannabe, etc.). Sony is a consumer electronics company, and it should stick with this in the camera business--i.e., consumer cameras with fast production cycle, fast marketing cycle, and affordable price. SLRs (I am a user) are for people who value quality of pictures over weight, simplicity, and (most of the time) price. As a result of this move, Sony may further lose its market share in consumer cameras to the likes of Samsung, and not make enough of a dent in the turf of Nikon and Canon to make a good profit. A fairy-tale scenario would be that Sony would revolutionize the SLR market, changing the economics of it (I don't see how, though). The result would be a high performance consumer camera without interchangeable lenses. Back to where we began, in consumer electronics.

Date reviewed: Jun 8, 2006 2:01 AM

Nickname: NOTSURE

Review: Sony is missing a point here. They should stick to their core products and concentrate on PlayStation, LCD TVs, DVD players and music components. Leave the SLR business to the Canons and Nikons. With the high price tag, it will only be a niche product with no takers. There are better products in this price range. Sony will spend a lot of dollars in marketing these cameras and divert the attention to a virtually new market. They should, rather, concentrate on their core offerings.

Date reviewed: Jun 7, 2006 8:49 PM

Nickname: MinoltaLover

Review: I had mixed feelings when I saw this report. As a long time Minolta lover?my first SLR-Minolta XG-M dates back to the late 80s?I have been keeping an eye on SLR technology development and Minolta was a true innovator when they first introduced their a7000 auto focus SLR in early 90s. It was a huge hit to the calm SLR market (when even Olympus/Pentax have to fade out the high-end SLR competition due to slow sales growth) and opened a whole new camera era by introducing the first truly practical auto focus SLR (with fast enough auto focus speed and overhaul of old SLR design and Minolta received about 300 patents for this new camera). Although Canon and Nikon have been the leaders in the professional/high end SLR market with cameras like Nikon F3/FM2 etc. since the 70s, they have had to put a lot of effort for several years after a7000 to catch up with Minolta?s SLR innovation, which includes products like multi-point auto focus, mutli-zone metering and the wide selection of auto focus.

Date reviewed: Jun 7, 2006 7:25 PM