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in the Alpha 200 and its brothers. The This diagram shows how the Alpha 350 Live View system works. The front
type of DRO resembles the Alpha 100 mirror face of the hollow prism is tilted to redirect the image to a CCD
rather than the 700, but it’s made a sensor, while an eyepiece shutter closes off the finder.
little more effective. You can now have
DRO active when shooting RAW+JPEG.
The 2-second mirror lift self timer
function has been altered so it is
just a plain 2-sec timer, with no pre
exposure mirror up. This is bad news
for some types of tripod and macro
photography at speeds like 1/15th
or 1/30th where mirror vibration
can affect sharpness and Super
Steady Shot is not recommended.
In compensation, the whole
mirror and shutter action has been
improved. The camera now has a
very slick action – noticeably more
responsive and faster than the
Alpha 100 – and loses the rather
tinny shooting sound. Instead it
becomes smooth and unobtrusive.
The Alpha 350
small CCD camera positioned near
SSS has been improved too, by the viewfinder eyepiece, which can
around half a step over the 100, fall- The 300 and 350 are essentially 200 focus on the viewing screen and
ing slightly short of the superior ver- bodies with Live View added. This relay the image to the rear LCD.
sion fitted to the 700, at 2.5-3.5 stops. means you can compose your shot You are not seeing the image
The menus have been simpli- on the 2.7" rear LCD screen of the from the shooting sensor, but a sort
fied so that you no longer have the camera instead of looking through of CCTV view of your groundglass
ability to prevent shutter release the viewfinder. The rear screen folds complete with its focusing marks. The
with no card inserted, or to enable out on a double hinged frame to optical finder only covers 95% of the
release with ‘no lens’. Since ‘no allow waist-level, tripod or chest-level picture, and the Live View camera The Live View switch is mechanical,
lens’ also means T-mount lenses, viewing as well as overhead ‘above does not quite cover the whole screen, and very fast to operate.
bellows, adapted lenses and so on the crowd’ camera positions. so what you get is only a 90% view.
there has to be a workround. The A300 has the same 10.2 The good thing about this your main method of composition.
This is provided by Manual megapixel sensor as the A200, but the system is that normal fast-action The Sony QuickAF Live View is
exposure mode M automatically 350 uses a brand new 14.2 megapixel autofocus, including continuous AF, totally different and can be used
enabling release with no lens. CCD. Had Pentax not launched their still works. The LV screen shows at any time, with just a light touch
It is the only mode in which you K20D with a 14.6 megapixel Samsung multiple focus points when you use to a small mechanical switch on
can use non-Alpha lenses with CMOS sensor at the same time, Sony Wide Area AF and can highlight all the camera top changing over
any of the three new cameras. would have been claiming the highest the correctly focused sensors. from optical finder to live view.
One missing function that may pixel count of any sub-£1,000 DSLR. With other Live View systems Live View reflects exposure
affect your choice with the 200-350 They end up claiming the highest there is a clumsy sequence of changes if you work with compensa-
series is the AE Lock function. This pixel count of any sub-£500 DSLR mirror-down, AF measure, mirror tion or use Manual. It also shows
can no longer be set to provide Spot instead, because the A300 is priced up, shoot then resume sensor-based white balance changes. When
Metering, which must instead be set at only £50 more than the A200 (for screen viewing. I have tested the you use evaluative (multi zone)
as a full-time option via the menus. the Live View) and another £50 gets Canon EOS 450D, Pentax K20D, metering, LV switches from using
It is possible to hold and compare the 14.2 megapixel sensor. This is Nikon D300, and Olympus E-510 all the 40 zones in the prism to taking
readings when using evaluative highly competitive pricing and the of which have 100 per cent field, off a 1,200 zone reading from the LV
metering. AE Lock can still be set A350 has been selling out as a result. the shooting sensor LV. Generally, CCD. This is extremely accurate.
to toggle or hold, as before. Live View in the Sony models is LV with all these cameras is not You also get a preview histogram.
Finally, the onboard flash now has not the same as anyone else’s, though practical to use for every shot. You What Sony LV does not permit is
an auto popup function which you it is most similar to the Olympus could not treat them like consumer manual focus on an enlarged image.
can disable very easily, and a manual E-330 Mode A in design. It uses a digital cameras where the screen is Since the LV is from a low res CCD in
popup button rather than the recent
tradition of manually lifting it. There
is a new no-flash Auto mode added.
The flash has the familiar GN of 12,
but less rise above the prism top. The
reasons for this are explained in the
A300/350 section. The A200 clearly
shares components so ends up with
the flash close to the lens axis.
The improved picture quality,
focusing speed, exposure accuracy
and white balance more than make
up for the loss of some of the Alpha
100 functions. Handling will be
a matter of personal taste, but we
found the A200 had a better handgrip
and button positions. It is a bargain Four positions of the Alpha 300/350 rear screen – intermediate angles are possible. It can not turn round to face the front, or
replacement at around £350. be angled out to the side for portrait format shots.
photoworld 6
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