Sony Alpha DSLR-A350

SONY ALPHA DSLR-A350 IN NEW MODELS

Perhaps it was a feint, perhaps it was just a matter of introducing the right camera to the right audience, but Sony's Alpha A200 introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show early this year was a very minor upgrade to the A100. The more buzz-worthy news came with Sony's announcement of the Alpha A300 and A350 at PMA. Both incorporate a new Live View mode, with a unique mechanism that no one has yet tried: drawing an image from inside the optical viewfinder with a special tilting mirror.

While the A300 is essentially an A200 with an articulating LCD screen and Live View mode, the A350 also raises the resolution from 10 megapixels to 14.2 megapixels.

Like the A200, Sony says that improvements to the A300 and A350's AF have made focus acquisition 1.7 times faster, thanks to the high-torque AF motor and improved AF sequence borrowed from the A700. Autofocus in Live View is also as fast as it is in optical viewfinder mode, a major breakthrough among digital SLRs.

Shaped to better match the sensor's 3:2 aspect ratio, the Sony A200's 2.7-inch "Clear Photo" LCD has an anti-reflective coating for easy viewing in the sun, and 230,000 pixels, but the version on the A300 and A350 tilts up and down for easier viewing while shooting low or overhead.

The same LCD-based function menu that appeared on the A200 earlier this year replaces the old dial-based function menu on the Sony A100, and many of the menu items and systems from the Sony A700 have made their way into the Sony A300 and A350.

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