Sony Alpha 200 digital SLR

Surprise super snapper from Sony

Review Sony came to the digital SLR party late, with its first model, the Alpha 100 - launched in 2006. Its successor, the Alpha 200 (A200), is also aimed at the entry-level market. First announced in January, Sony recently sent one over for a more in-depth look.

That isn’t to say that the A200 is a basic camera – no sireee – but it has enough automatic and semi-automatic features to satisfy anyone new to digital SLR photography.

Sony's Alpha 200: an 18-70mm lens is included

Take the A200 out its box, attach the supplied 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 lens and you’re presented with a very handsome camera. Measuring 130.8 x 98.5 x 71.3mm and weighing 532g and you also have a fairly compact machine too.

At the top is a large mode dial, a pop-up flash, a small drive mode/self timer button, ISO button, shutter button and small dial for adjusting parameters such as shutter speed and aperture setting. On the back is a power on/off slider and two small buttons for adjusting, respectively, the exposure compensation and the AE Lock.

The Alpha 200 has a bigger display than its predecessor

Below these are a large, 2.7in LCD screen; rocker selection switch; and Super Steady Shot on/off slider. There’s also a handy function button that makes it dead easy to adjust a range of settings including flash mode, autofocus mode, metering mode and white balance. On the left hand is a vertical row of four small buttons for the menu, display mode, deleting pics and playback.