Sony Alpha A200 announced for US

Remember that post on the Sony A200 DSLR that we just posted, oh ... four hours ago? Well, they've gone ahead and confirmed that the camera's coming to the US and were even kind enough to bless us with a date and price for their new "mainstream" DSLR. The $700 DSLR-A200K kit comes with the body and a DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 3.9x zoom lens, while the $900 DSLR-A200W includes the camera body, the aforementioned lens, and a 75–300mm f4.5-5.6 lens. Strangely, there's no mention of a body-only option. Both models ship in February but you eager beavers out there can place your pre-orders online starting tomorrow. Go on, git!

Gallery: Sony Alpha A200 DSLR

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[MastrCake @ Jan 6th 2008 8:19PM]

Very nice. Perfect timing too... I am in the market for a DSLR.

[Tony C @ Jan 6th 2008 8:21PM]

Wow. Nice price Sony! Canon and Nikon are going to have to respond to the price point with their DSLRs if this camera is as good as the specs make it out to be.

[marc @ Jan 6th 2008 8:38PM]

nice that the camera has anti-shake built into it but those lens... yuck! they can't compare to the big boys. real pro-sumers go for Nikon and Canon. right?

[Za @ Jan 6th 2008 9:19PM]

Real "prosumers" can always go with the safe choice of Canon or Nikon and pay out the wazoo. However, Sony with their Zeiss partnership actually has some excellent lenses out and Pentax actually has incredible lenses and bodies as well. The K10D will give EOS30D performance, except for the burst mode, for the price of the Rebel XTi. It also has weather sealing and works with all K and KA mount Pentax lenses ever. The "prosumers" who care about image quality can be found across the board. The "I only buy Canikon" group that is doing it because those are the only brands it has heard of...are the ignorant prosumers.

[tamoghno @ Jan 6th 2008 10:10PM]

Sony has some great lenese ? Pentex Incredible body & lenses ?


Ok i can understand that some people just comments without knowing anything except brandname.


if there's any company NOW that can compete with nikon & canon , that is olympus.

[marc @ Jan 6th 2008 11:46PM]

@za
sony's relationship with zeiss is all marketing IMHO. Look at the aperture on those lens they're boasting about in this release! f/3.5-5.5. That's not a lens a prosumer would ever go near. Zeiss makes nice glass but... these lens don't even come close to the quality they've been known for in the past.

[Geir E @ Jan 7th 2008 5:30AM]

marc @ Jan 6th 2008 8:38PM

"nice that the camera has anti-shake built into it but those lens... yuck! they can't compare to the big boys. real pro-sumers go for Nikon and Canon. right? "

For in body vs lense stabilizaton read this one:

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4615/image-stabilization-special-stop-the-shake-lab-report-page2.html

and you see in body stabilization of the sony brand has all the stabilizaton adventage of in lense systems, but works with every lense! and the a200 and a700 have even improved stabilization than the a100 (0.5 stops) - so based on the chart only one lense - the nikon 18-200mm - has a 0.5 stop more effective stabilization system than the sony alpha a200 and a700 is capeable of.

[Geir E @ Jan 7th 2008 5:38AM]

marc @ Jan 6th 2008 11:46PM

"sony's relationship with zeiss is all marketing IMHO. Look at the aperture on those lens they're boasting about in this release! f/3.5-5.5. That's not a lens a prosumer would ever go near. Zeiss makes nice glass but... these lens don't even come close to the quality they've been known for in the past."

You must be refering to the 16-80mm carl zeiss lense. Which is optically one amazing lense. Built with price in mind it do suffer from a slower aperature than it should have had. I agree to that.

But the other Carl Zeiss lenses - the 85mm 1.4 and 135mm 1.8, they are extremly sharp, very large aperature and build very well. So the guy who badmouth those two must not know very much about what he is talking about.

[Mike @ Jan 13th 2008 5:46PM]

When you compare lens stabilization with body stabilization, I propose adding one dimension: time.
Camera lenses used to be sustain more than 10 years. This has gone, I think. Any stabilization system uses electric circuit and mechanical drive. These two parts will decline it's functionality after long years, 5 to 10 years. Do you imagine any consumer electric device that sustain full power for 10 years? I doubt. So, after 5 years, lens professionals will be using faded lens without noticing it.
On the other hand, body stabilization system will give us fresh and improved functionality when we purchase new body. This will be a big advantage after 5 years.
For example, I upgraded Sony Alfa 100 to Alfa 700, and feels stabilization capability has improved one step (not 0.5 step). Further, I expect future Alfa 900 will improve it a little bit, and continue improving forever. On the other hands, Lens stabilized one will start losing power over long time range, and never refreshed unless you replace all the expensive lenses.

[marc @ Jan 16th 2008 10:32AM]

@Geir E

"You must be refering to the 16-80mm carl zeiss lense. Which is optically one amazing lense. Built with price in mind it do suffer from a slower aperature than it should have had."

-yes, that was what I was referring to.

"But the other Carl Zeiss lenses - the 85mm 1.4 and 135mm 1.8, they are *extremly* sharp, very large *aperature* and build very well. So the guy who badmouth those two must not know very much about what he is talking about."

-sticks and stones, sticks and stones. No need to throw an insult my way. Obviously I wasn't talking about the 1.4 and 1.8 lenses. Have a nice day.

[mclassic @ Jan 6th 2008 9:32PM]

I was set on getting a Canon EOS 400 or its successor because Canon just seemed to be the way to go. After much research, I decided to go with a Sony A100. Now, Sony announces the A200. I couldn't be happier with this news. I will definitely be placing my pre-order for this camera!

[Chakko @ Jan 6th 2008 10:02PM]

A lot of pro-sumers (like professionals) have considerable investments in their respective brands of lenses... so I guess they don't have any choice.

I'm don't (yet). But I'm on the verge of going digital with a Canon 40D after years of film. I'm going Canon 'cause it's what my family has used as long as I can remember - it's emotional more than anything else. That said, I know I'd be happy with any of the big brands 'cause they all take pretty good pictures right? (ducks for cover)

These new Sonys are really interesting though. And Minolta had some really sweet lenses. I like the sound of the A700 for myself. I've even started pricing it up here in Australia. Anyway, the release of the A200 kinda reinforces Sony's commitment to this area of imaging. :)

[Steve @ Jan 7th 2008 9:37AM]

FWIW, Sony makes the image sensors for many og the Nikon cameras.

[RobE @ Jan 26th 2008 5:20PM]

I'm not that camera literate so please excuse my jumping in here but I'am wanting to upgrade from a very basic digital to a DSLR. I have a Minolta Maxxum 7000 AF film camera that I bought in 1985. I have two lenses with this camera and have been told they will work with the new Sony A200 and you can guess I'm pretty happy about that. Some preceding comments have dised Sony lenses pretty bad so I'm wondering how do my Minolta lenses compare? I have a lens that says: Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm 1:4(22) then what looks like a dot with 49mm after it. The other lens says: Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 70-210MM 1:4(22) then what looks like a dot with 55mm after it. Are these lenses going to give me better results than the lens that comes with the Sony A200. All comments appreciated. Thanks