mbu
New member
Switched from DSC-V1 looking for some more creative tool (and found great one! 
). Had been deciding between XTi, D80 and A100. Finally chose Alpha mainly because of Steady Shot, which works wonderfully! XTi was too small (grip) and D80 too expensive. I have shot only about 3.000 photos but am really pleased with the overall performance of this great camera. Image quality is really nice imo (never had to use higher ISO than 400 so noise isn't an issue) with plenty of details, battery is outstanding (camera works well also in freezing conditions - however a spare battery might be a good idea ), the camera is pretty fast, all the controls are easy to use and body build fits perfectly (compared to XTi)...
Still have only the kit lens (18-70 - sufficient for now; 75-300 - suffering from aberrations when full tele, sometimes hunting AF; however still think that both are quite good value for the money) because ran out of money
But there are plenty of used KM lens out there in nice condition and not so expensive, so Alpha surely was a good decision!
I really recommend the Gary Friedmanns book on Alpha - good for beginners - that really helped. That's all, hope that this worked for you to decide
Problems:
None so far - the only problem is in inexperienced photographer - camera works well
). Had been deciding between XTi, D80 and A100. Finally chose Alpha mainly because of Steady Shot, which works wonderfully! XTi was too small (grip) and D80 too expensive. I have shot only about 3.000 photos but am really pleased with the overall performance of this great camera. Image quality is really nice imo (never had to use higher ISO than 400 so noise isn't an issue) with plenty of details, battery is outstanding (camera works well also in freezing conditions - however a spare battery might be a good idea ), the camera is pretty fast, all the controls are easy to use and body build fits perfectly (compared to XTi)...Still have only the kit lens (18-70 - sufficient for now; 75-300 - suffering from aberrations when full tele, sometimes hunting AF; however still think that both are quite good value for the money) because ran out of money
But there are plenty of used KM lens out there in nice condition and not so expensive, so Alpha surely was a good decision!I really recommend the Gary Friedmanns book on Alpha - good for beginners - that really helped. That's all, hope that this worked for you to decide
Problems:
None so far - the only problem is in inexperienced photographer - camera works well