-
Pros
- Competitive price.
- Lightweight.
- Good image quality.
- Noise is unnoticeable up to and including ISO 1600.
- Clever interface guides beginners.
- HDMI port with support for HDMI CEC.
-
Cons
- LCD does not support Live View.
- Kit lens produces soft images at wider apertures.
- Still image frame rate is a bit sluggish when compared with comparable cameras.
Sony Alpha DSLR-A230 Specs
| 35-mm Equivalent (Telephoto): | 55 mm |
| 35-mm Equivalent (Wide): | 18 mm |
| Battery Type Supported: | InfoLithium |
| Boot time: | 0.61 seconds |
| LCD dots: | 230400 |
| LCD size: | 2.7 inches |
| Lines Per Picture Height: | 1699 |
| Media Format: | Memory Stick Pro Duo |
| Media Format: | Secure Digital High Capacity |
| Megapixels: | 10.2 MP |
| Optical Zoom: | 3 x |
| Recycle time: | 0.4 seconds |
| Type: | D-SLR |
| Video Resolution: | No |
Sony's latest entry-level SLR shooter, the 10.2-megapixel Alpha DSLR-A230 ($549.99 direct, with 18-55mm kit lens) is competitively priced, captures great images, and delivers a solid feature set for the money. You won't get extras like a Live View LCD or HD video capture, but the A230 excels by offering an innovative interface aimed at newbie SLR users.
As the least expensive model in Sony's D-SLR lineup, the A230 shares its body design with the A330 ($649.99 direct, with lens) which adds a tilting Live View LCD, and the A380 ($849.99 direct, with lens), which includes the Live View LCD but also ups the imaging sensor to 14.2 megapixels.
Measuring 3.5 by 4.81 by 2.63 inches (HWD), the A230's build is compact, and at 1.58 pounds with the kit lens, the camera feels light. The A230 is available in black only, but the A330 and A380 offer a choice of black with either gray or brown accents. Sony includes a standard 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 interchangeable lens. The A230 is also sold bundled with a second lens for an additional $80; in addition to the 18-55mm lens plus, you get a 55-200mm lens. And Sony offers a full line-up of interchangeable lenses, so there's room to grow with this camera.
Though the A230 lacks the tilting LCD and the ability to use the screen for framing shots in Live View, much of the user experience is identical to the more expensive models, the A330 and A380. An accelerometer rotates the images on the screen to match the camera's orientation and the controls are easy to use; buttons are well-placed and responsive.
Those new to D-SLR photography will appreciate the A230's user interface, which is geared towards beginners, going so far as to teach the fundamentals of aperture and shutter speed. The camera includes a shooting screen that illustrates the relationship between shutter speed and aperture by showing a meter for each, with the shutter speed meter showing a man running at one end (representing faster shutter speeds) and standing still at the other (representing slow speeds, for shooting stationary objects). The aperture meter includes a subject with a blurry background at one end (large aperture) and a subject with a clear background at the other. When you change one value, both meters move in real-time to demonstrate the expected results. (See the slideshow for details.) I've not seen an interface like this on any other camera.
Despite feeling very fast, the A230 is actually a bit slower than comparable entry-level DSLRs. The
In the PCMag Labs, we use Imatest to objectively measure image noise and sharpness. In my tests, the A230 produced sharpest results at an aperture of f/11. At ISO 100, the camera captured an average of 1,699 lines per picture height, which is good for an entry-level D-SLR. Images at lower f-stops were much softer, however—the camera received a poor score of 1,317 lines at f/3.5, for example. At f/11, sharpness hovered near 1,700 lines from ISO 200-400 and then dropped to 1,581, 1,414, and 1,017 at ISO 800, 1600, and 3200 respectively—acceptable results given the high ISO sensitivities. The Pentax K2000 captured images with comparable results—it averaged in the 1,700 range at ISO 100-400 and just slightly higher than the A230 at higher ISO sensitivities, scoring 1,689 at ISO 800, 1,549 at ISO 1600, and 1,247 at ISO 3200. The more expensive entry-level Canon EOS Rebel XSi captures much sharper images, producing average scores between 1,900 and 1,800 at ISO 100-400.
Imatest also showed that the A230 is a champ at handling noise—it performed just as well as the more expensive Canon XSi and the
Outside the lab, the A230 also did well. At an indoor family get-together, I was able to shoot at ISO 1600 and produce solid shots with no noticeable noise. Outdoors I mostly shot at ISO 100-400, and images were clean and clear—not as sharp as those shot with the Canon Rebel EOS XSi, but the A230 did produce good-looking images.
The A230 includes a variety of connectivity options, with the ports neatly concealed under a sliding panel on the left side of the camera. There are two memory card ports, including one for Sony's Memory Stick PRO Duo format and one for SDHC, the memory format that most other cameras use—it was thoughtful of Sony to include both. There's a mini-USB port for connecting the camera to your computer to transfer photos, and a mini-HDMI port to connect the camera to an HDTV for photo playback. The HDMI port supports Consumer Electronic Control, and if your HDTV does too, you can navigate the A230's menus with your TV's remote.
With its user-friendly interface and budget price, the Sony Alpha DSLR-A230 is an excellent choice for D-SLR newbies. Another solid entry-level contender, the $600 (with lens) Pentax K2000 is user-friendly and takes sharp pictures but you won't get the HDMI port or an accelerometer-enabled LCD. If you're you're willing to spend a bit more, our Editors' Choice, the $700 (body only) Rebel XSi takes even-better images, and it includes a Live-View LCD.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS: Check out the test scores for the
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