Sony DSLR-A100 Digital Camera: Delivers Excellent Performance

Introduction: Sony was the first to produce the digital camera when digital cameras were merely an idea. Last year Sony released the DSLR-A100 digital camera with 10.2 mega pixels. The A-100 has a whole lot more to offer than any of its previous models. This camera also holds much more importance because it is a result of joint collaboration between Sony and Konica Minolta. Therefore it has years of Konica experience and is backed by Sony's design and style.

Compatibility: The SONY DSLR-A100 comes with the Sony's traditional Memory Stick Pro Duo.

Sony has solved another problem in the SONY DSLR-A100 camera which is Dust. This camera comes with a special "indium tin oxide" coating on the outermost glass which resist the static build up of the dust.

Sony has embedded a new processor this model called the "BIONZ" processor. It has a special feature of hardware based Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO). It adjusts an image's dynamic range to match the scene and produce images that otherwise would be poorly exposed. Furthermore the BIONZ processor makes the image capture way faster even with the highest resolution, three frames per second and lowest compression.

Features: The DSLR-A100 is a 10.2-megapixel camera that delivers the resolution of 3,872 x 2,592 pixels. It has 2.5-inch TFT for image and menu review, interchangeable lens mount, auto and manual focus options, different exposure modes (portrait, landscape, macro, sports, sunset, and night), built-in pop-up flash, external flash hot-shoe, sharpness saturation, contrast and white balance adjustments, USB 2.0 interface, NTSC and PAL video output, and it is powered by a single lithium-ion battery or separate AC adapter.

Benefits: The users of the DSLR-A100 can enjoy an LCD menu interface, night shooting modes, and external flash compatibility. It also holds a technology introduced by Sony known as SteadyShot; it is actually based on Konica's anti-shake technology. The SteadyShot technology keeps the camera stable in shaky conditions. On the view finder of the SONY DSLR-A100, there are five bars which defines how shaky the user can be. As SONY DSLR-A100 is a result of collaboration between Sony and Konica Minolta, so there are many specs in the camera which are driven from the Konica Minolta family, like the main menu which is same as many Konica cameras.

Limitations: Of course there are a few limitations with the SONY DSLR-A100. First one is the noise that the camera makes, when the camera finds the focus, it makes a noise which grabs a lot of attention. Secondly, the auto focus mechanism is a little slow. Thirdly the SONY DSLR-A100 has a unique flash hot shoe which reduces the compatibility of the camera with the third party flashes.

Conclusion: As a whole, Sony's DSLR-A100 is worth the money and delivers excellent performance. Its main edge is its sensor based anti-shake technology which makes the images stable than any other camera does. The DSLR-A100 has an excellent body with a good finish and sleek controls, good battery life, and a very high resolution. The only limitation in the DSLR-A100 is its high noise. After the release of the SONY DSLR-A100, it is pretty obvious that Sony is a powerful competitor in the digital camera market.