Sony A300 Anybody?

[ScubaSteve]

Does anybody out there shoot the Sony A300? I am considering (who knows when though) making the jump into a starter DSLR and have been eyeing this one. I know that Sony is fairly new to the game, but I am looking for anybody with stories (good or bad) and maybe samples of pictures too. This would likely stay as a topside camera only for a while due to expense and I would stay with my P&S system for diving.

Any information would be appreciated.

 

[maged_mmh]

while sony is not new to the SLR field (for sensors at least) all Nikon sensors are manufactured by sony.
but the most of what SLR is all about is the "L" (lens); so far, personally tested & what i'm hearing only 2 manufacturers really excel in glass Canon & Olympus; you can't go wrong with either. Besides, I doubt if 3rd party lenses are yet available for sony mounts.

 

[treywilly]

I have this Dslr and it is my best purchase, out of all my toys !!! Although i would never take it underwater for fear of damaging my baby. I mainly use it to take pictures of my kids in their sporting events. if you want to see some pictures let me know. give me your email and i'll send my facebook link with my pictures !!!! It is a great camera for a beginer, although the a700 takes video............doing it all over i would have gotten the a700 for the video aspect, but i am still happy with my a300!!!!

 

[Larry C]

while sony is not new to the SLR field (for sensors at least) all Nikon sensors are manufactured by sony.
but the most of what SLR is all about is the "L" (lens); so far, personally tested & what i'm hearing only 2 manufacturers really excel in glass Canon & Olympus; you can't go wrong with either. Besides, I doubt if 3rd party lenses are yet available for sony mounts.

I don't shoot Sony, though I had one of the really early 2mp Sony P & S cameras which my son now uses, but Sony uses Carl Zeiss lenses which are quite excellent. My little Sony took terrific pictures given its lack of zoom length and manual settings. I would imagine the DSLR's do as well.

 

[Mariozi]

while sony is not new to the SLR field (for sensors at least) all Nikon sensors are manufactured by sony.
but the most of what SLR is all about is the "L" (lens); so far, personally tested & what i'm hearing only 2 manufacturers really excel in glass Canon & Olympus; you can't go wrong with either. Besides, I doubt if 3rd party lenses are yet available for sony mounts.

Sorry, strongly disagree...
Not ALL Nikon sensor were manufactured by Sony, and the current sensors are designed specifically for Nikon, under Nikon parameters, and are not even used on the latest Sony Bodies. Sony is more of a partner in profit...
On the lenses side, what about the Canon guys buying Nikon F mount adapters nowadays, specially for the 14-24mmm??? And for UWPhoto what about the dreaded inability of Canon going 1:1 on a single lens??? What is the Canon equivalent of the AMAZING Nikkor DX 10.5mm fisheye for uw work??? What about the very annoying Body-Lens incompatibility (not to mention the several different sensor sizes) that I don't really want to understand... Don't take me wrong, but uw things are a bit different.
Anyway, I would love to see some GOOD ALUMINUM housings for Sony DSLRs... this market needs a shake up!!! Did you hear Sea&Sea???

 

[Mariozi]

Of course... someone mentioned Carl Zeiss... WOW!!! If there is ONE thing tempting me to get a Sony is this alone!!!

 

[alcina]

From the accounts I've seen, the Sony cameras are just fine.

One thing to keep in mind is that there aren't going to be as many housing choices available as quickly for the Sony cameras and more importantly because you said you weren't likely to house this for underwater use anyway, the lens line up may be significantly more limited than going with Canon or Nikon or Olympus. OK, that was two things...

There is no one manufacturer who has everything 100% right, so I tend to ignore the fanboys of any denomination or the dissers of a particular brand. Just look at what kind of shooting you are going to do and what your particular needs are and try to narrow the field as best as you can.

My theory is do a little research, ask some specific questions and then jump ... there are few duds out there from any of the big players, so you're bound to be happy - at least until you decide you want something else We all need new toys now and again, so that's just part of the fun!

 

[riftvalley84]

We have just purchased the SonyA350 and are planning to use it on our trip to Nassau in February so I will post some photos once we have some. In the next few weeks we will be buying an Ikelite housing for it so that we can try it out in the pool before our trip. We like Sony a lot & are really excited to be moving up to a DSLR camera.

We looked into buying the A700 but it doesn't have live view which we thought was odd. I'm not sure how you can take photos looking through the tiny view finder, especially when the camera is in an underwater casing!

 

[alcina]

We have just purchased the SonyA350 ...

We looked into buying the A700 but it doesn't have live view which we thought was odd. I'm not sure how you can take photos looking through the tiny view finder, especially when the camera is in an underwater casing!

Congratulations on the new toy!! Look forward to hearing what you think of it underwater and seeing some results We'll have to add them to the Sticky!

Live-view. Well, I have to say that I've turned it on once to do an aerial photography shoot and I had to have the manual with me to figure out how to do it and to turn it off again. I couldn't tell you now. I never use live view underwater.

You get used to looking through the viewfinder I now have the magnifier eye piece on my Subal, but I did not have it on the housing for my 20D and I did just fine. Actually it took more time to get used to using the you beaut new viewfinder than it did going from the lcd on the Oly 5050 to the small viewfinder on the Canon 20D!!

 

[Heavy D]

I purchased the A300 back in May and I can't say enough about this camera. Some people have already pointed out in this thread but just as a repeat, Sony has been producing sensors for years for other DSLRs to include Nikon (not all but some).

I agree that Sony's kit lens may not be quite as good as Nikons, It will hold its own and I would say is comparable if not better than Canons and if you want to talk quality, you can't get much better than the Carl Zeiss lenses that are offered.

Other features that turned me on to the Sony were its ease of use for a novice as an entry DSLR, the live view function, and the tiltable screen. As for easy to use, you can set this up to work just like a point and shoot if so inclined only with much better pictures. The live view is nice sometimes and the way that Sony has it set up, it doesn't expose the sensor until you shoot the picture unlike all the other DSLRs with live view. Finally, as far as I know, the Sony is the only DSLR that has a multi-angle, tiltable screen for low and high angle shooting.

For the money, I think the A300 gives the best bang for the buck. The A350 is the same exact camera except with a higher megapixel rated sensor but IMO not needed unless you plan on blowing your prints up to poster size or larger so save your money and buy some extra lenses or an UW housing for it.

If you have any questions or would like to see some sample pics, feel free to pm me and I will help you out as much as I can.