Sony Alpha A200K 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization with 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens

My very first major brand 35mm SLR was a Minolta SRT 101. I made some excellent photos with that camera, but was unimpressed with the construction quality and the quality of the pictures taken under fluorescent light. Otherwise, it took excellent indoor and outdoor shots. Moved on to Canon. Talk about impressed...nowhere in 35mm photography could you find a better combination of meter and lens! Tack sharp lenses that gave VERY detailed shots of greenery, true to life color registers and a construction quality to rival Hasselblad's! Something happened to BOTH Canons I had! It was like they were cursed, so my next purchase was a Nikon FM. So, let's leap ahead to 1985, and back to Minolta. The Maxxum 7000 comes out, and I can't resist this camera that does everything but go up to the subject and tell it to say "Cheese!". Autofocus, motor-driven, auto-rewind, aperture preferred, shutter-preferred, match-needle AND program modes!! Interchangeable Fresnel screens, facility to enlarge battery source, all for about $300.00!! What I had was a Nikon FTN with all the fixins' for about one third the price! Served me beautifully until, after 20-some years, it started to show its wear. So, I perused the 'net to see what was for sale and saw a Maxxum 50 for the unbelievable price of $164...INCLUDING the lens!! Got it. A definite improvement over my old 7000 at half the price! Then disaster! After merging with Konica...Minolta gets out of the photographic camera business! However, they pretty much sell all their rights to Sony, and Sony proceeds to produce a line of excellent DSLRs that use the Minolta AF lens mount. Wanting to go beyond just the regular point and shoot viewfinder digitals, I buy a Sony a200K and couldn't be happier! The shots I've taken so far look like something out of a 4X5 view or "ideal format" medium format camera. VERY sharp! The feature that really has me fascinated is the way the LCD menu will adjust to the way you're holding the camera, from vertical to 90 degrees off axis....VERY thoughtful feature! The battery's ability to be charged even if it's not totally depleted is nice, too! Anti-shake, an in-camera dust-cleaning feature, 10.2 megapixels....shutter/aperture priorities, match-needle and program......I'M IN HOG HEAVEN!! This thing is a studio all in one camera!! Couple that with the amazing price I paid for mine and the fast as blazes delivery time I got from my vendor, and I'm sure I'll be a Sony DSLR man for a looooong time! Recommended and a half!

Excellent camera. Why spend more money on other brands when this has all the features of the more expensive cameras. I love this camera, takes awesome photos and has so many creative aspects to photo taking. You can change the lenses for other types of photography; macro, etc...but the lens that comes with this camera does it all. You can zoom in when you need to. There is a pop up flash that senses low light. You can put it on all automatic; focusing, light metering or you can go creative and make your own settings. This is a very versitile camera that is great for the beginner or for the advanced photographer because there are so many possibilities. This takes creative photography to the max! I love this camera, my camera, and would recommend it to anyone!

Great buy for NEW old stock. Camera is flawless. Works perfect.

I'm a newbie in the dSLR world. I made a lot of internet research between the distinct models in the market, always looking for good features and lower price. I nailed my choise down to the SONY A200 with the 18-700mm lens, and I can tell you guys, I'm sooooooo happy with it!!! *- Feels VERY good in my hand. *- Optical stabilization in the body, not lenses. *- Very good build quality, for an entry-level dSLR. *- The kit lens have a bigger optical range (18-70mm) than the others entry-level dSLR (18-55mm). *- Superb IQ, nothing to envy the entry-level rivals. I don't hesitate to recommend all of you this camera, you'll not getting dissapointed going with this Alpha, but always keep in mind a couple of things: *- Is an entry-level budget camera, don't push it beyond limits, is not meant to extreme situations or weather. *- Remember is the photograph, not the camera who's gonna take the picture. So... GET CREATIVE!!!

Sony's a33 and a55 have taken its digital cameras to a higher level and are to be preferred to the older camera reviewed here. However, the following comments still apply, particularly to the lenses. The 18-70mm kit lens was sharp enough for portraiture at its telephoto focal lengths. All-automatic exposure, focus and flash produced good results on many typical scenes. Both this lens and the companion 75-300mm kit lens should have numerically smaller f-stops, and so I bought a 1.7 used Minolta 50mm lens for serious available light work. Therein lies one of the Sony's attractions: Minolta A-mount lenses work in full auto mode. Sony's proprietary battery is outrageously expensive, but so are batteries for other DSLRs -- even so, it's wise to have a backup battery.