No more film

Author's Rating:

Pros: SLR, uses Minolta lenses, and can take photos is low light.

Cons: Only allowed to install software on one computer.

The Bottom Line: 
Would recommend for great photos.

Author's Review
The Alpha combines the best of a film SLR and a digital camera. I like it better than my Minolta SLR. It has a comfortable grip and the buttons are well placed. I have printed some photos 13X19 inch, the largest my printer can, and they still look great. Unlike a film SLR, you can view your photos on the built in screen to see how they came out without having to wait for film to be developed.

You can put it in auto, portrait, landscape, macro, sports, sunset, or night view and take photos as easy as using any point and shoot digital camera. You can also put it in aperture priority, shutter speed priority, or manual mode plus change many other settings and have the complete control you expect in a SLR. One of the things you can control is the ISO setting. You can let the camera set the ISO speed or you can manually set the ISO setting up to ISO 1600. Its ability to have a high ISO allows you to take photos in low light without a flash. This comes in handy at museums where flash is not allowed or in situations when you are out of flash range.

Minolta lenses work on it. I have a Minolta 28mm-80mm zoom, a Sigma 28mm-200mm zoom, and a 500mm T-mount lens. All three work on the Alpha with no problems. I did have to change the flash from ADI mode to pre-flash TTL mode to prevent under exposure with the Sigma lens. Lenses on the Alpha have an apparent focal length 1.5 times the real focal length of the lens. For example, a 50mm lens becomes a 75mm lens. A wide angel 28mm lens becomes a not so wide angle 42mm lens. A 200mm telephoto lens becomes a really telephoto 300mm lens.

I can only think of two cons with this camera. One is that you can not see the image on the screen before you take the photo like you can with many point-and-shoot digital cameras. You have to use the viewfinder just like a film camera. The other problem is that license agreement only allows you to install the software to open its RAW files on one computer. I have a desktop I use at home and a laptop I would like to use on vacations and trips. Sony only allows me to install the software on one computer and you can not buy additional license (I asked).