plesbit
Leading Member
Opted for this when I decided to upgrade my KM5D. The reason for the upgrade was an significant increase in the amount of wildlife photography I did. Key to my needs was much faster AF performance and high MP to allow greater crop ability. It doesn't matter what lens you are using, a goldfinch 30ft away is not going to fill your frame!
The AF is definitely much faster, but not any quieter, though the big shutter "clunk" from the KM5D has been muffled somewhat. Not as much as I would like (am also used to shooting with Canon EOS400D and that is much quieter) but quieter nonetheless.
Overall, shot for shot with the same lens and in similar conditions, the a200 did produce clearer, more pleasing images and it was definitely nicer to use.
The a350 seemed to be the one everyone was interested in but LiveView was of absolutely zero interest to me and the viewfinder on the a200 is small enough without the additional image sensor jammed in there. Also the a350's slower continuous frame rate counted heavily against it for my birdie shooting. The only way to shoot garden birds is just to keep firing and hope that 1 in umpteen shots turns out well.
Problems:
Much is made of the lack of MLU on this model (and indeed the other entry level Sony's). Didn't bother me, and besides I still have the KM5D WHICH does have it. That camera didn't suddenly become a bad camera just because there is a newer model.
However what I did find annoying, was that on the KM5D you could reset the AEL button to be a spot metering toggle button. On a recent trip to Thailand, wandering around bright ornate templates in glaring sunshine the multi-zone metering was constantly struggling and the ability to flip in and out of spot metering at the push of a button would have been a godsend.
The AF is definitely much faster, but not any quieter, though the big shutter "clunk" from the KM5D has been muffled somewhat. Not as much as I would like (am also used to shooting with Canon EOS400D and that is much quieter) but quieter nonetheless.
Overall, shot for shot with the same lens and in similar conditions, the a200 did produce clearer, more pleasing images and it was definitely nicer to use.
The a350 seemed to be the one everyone was interested in but LiveView was of absolutely zero interest to me and the viewfinder on the a200 is small enough without the additional image sensor jammed in there. Also the a350's slower continuous frame rate counted heavily against it for my birdie shooting. The only way to shoot garden birds is just to keep firing and hope that 1 in umpteen shots turns out well.
Problems:
Much is made of the lack of MLU on this model (and indeed the other entry level Sony's). Didn't bother me, and besides I still have the KM5D WHICH does have it. That camera didn't suddenly become a bad camera just because there is a newer model.
However what I did find annoying, was that on the KM5D you could reset the AEL button to be a spot metering toggle button. On a recent trip to Thailand, wandering around bright ornate templates in glaring sunshine the multi-zone metering was constantly struggling and the ability to flip in and out of spot metering at the push of a button would have been a godsend.