Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (higher sensitivities)

The A200's high ISO performance reminds us a little bit of what we found when reviewing its sister camera, the A350. Both cameras produce remarkably good output at base ISO (with the exception of low-contrast detail) but once you increase the sensitivity things go slightly downhill. This is mainly due to Sony's fairly heavy-handed noise reduction which smears a lot of fine detail.

If you compare the A200's high ISO output to that of the Nikon or Canon you can see what a large proportion of detail is actually being lost. Activating High ISO noise reduction (which comes on top of the 'base' noise reduction that you can only get rid of by shooting RAW) only makes things worse. You'll end up with heavily blurred images which are still full of noise.

ISO 800

Sony DSLR-A200	Canon EOS 1000D
Olympus E420	Nikon D60

ISO 1600

Sony DSLR-A200	Canon EOS 1000D
Olympus E420	Nikon D60

ISO 3200

Sony DSLR-A200	Nikon D60

High ISO Filter On

Sony DSLR-A200 - ISO 1600	Sony DSLR-A200 - ISO 3200