Summary: Bravo Sony

Comment: As a Sony advocate I applaud the Sony Alpha! Sharp pics! Flip screen is awesome! Move over Canon and Nikon !
I upgraded from a Sony F828 (which I still use! and it's in excellent like new condition and trouble free since the day it arrived).
Sony stands behind their product!

The only glitch with the alpha is the must purchase of a convertor which allows one to use MemorySticks. Personally, I feel that for the price of this camera Sony should include the adaptor.

Summary: Love this camera

Comment: I have had this camera for a little over a month and just love it. I did read the manual the second day and now I can get even better shots of flying geese using the motion setting and the anti-shake button. The auto focus is great for someone trying to get that once in a lifetime shot. It is easy to use even without reading the manual and I was really impressed with the quality of my pictures. I would recommend this camera to anyone. My only regret is that I didn't order the Sony 500mm lense, but maybe next Christmas.

Summary: Started off pleased. I am not so pleased now.

Comment: I purchased the Sony A300 5 months ago through J&R Music World. The camera came to me quickly and with no apparent problems. Since then I have used the camera several times to take photos of my grandchildren and also some landscapes. I always mount the camera on a sturdy tripod. When it is not being used, it is stored in a padded camera case. The last time I turned on my camera the LCD showed a white screen with just a couple of lines running through it. I did not bang it, drop it or otherwise abuse it. The camera comes with a 1 year warranty. Since I purchased a Sony product I did not expect to have a problem with them honoring my warranty. They gave me instructions to send it to Precision Camera Repair. After about a week I checked Precision's online repair status and I had a message saying that repairs were delayed because they were waiting for payment. When I called they told me that the camera showed some small scratches on it's base so the camera was obviously abused and therefore they would have to charge me $254 to repair it! I went ballistic. Precision's customer service person told me that maybe they could reduce the repair cost and immediately reduced the charge to $175. Now you may say that my argument should not be with Sony. It should be with Precision Camera. However when I called Sony Customer Relations they refused to intercede and told me I was out of luck. My argument is with Sony because they are using an obviously unscrupulous repair service. How do I know they are unscrupulous? Because I have since found out that what they did to me, they have also done to other people. There are many complaints about them at these websites: [...]
[...] Sony's Customer Relations Department turned a deaf ear to my complaint. I had no choice but to pay for a repair that should have been covered by the warranty.
I am very disappointed with the durability of this camera and the way Sony handled my problem.

Summary: Not all it should be

Comment: I purchased this camera about 6 weeks ago with the optional Sony 75-300 mm lens. I took over 1100 pictures, including landscape, air show (w/ 300 lens) and on vacation in mountain terrain. I should note this was my first camera purchase in over 5 yrs, having used a Sony Mavica 5MP camera all these years. On auto mode the pictures were hit or miss, sometimes the sky was washed out in color, I'm talking about taking one picture after the other just seconds apart on a sunny cloudless day, other times it looked fine. I used aperature and shutter priority modes with mixed results, again just inconsistent exposure one shot to the next. It did not help that I got dust on the sensor when I put the very first lens on!
The one constant on all the pictures regardless of which mode I used was a lack of sharpness with either lens, in any zoom range. I have read the kit lenses are not the best and that detail suffers, I have to agree. When I looked at photo's taken using my old 5MP I noticed no difference, and acturally preferred the old camera's quality. I'm sure in an experienced DSLR user the results would have been different. In the end, the issue of dust on the sensor, did not realize this is common among DSLR camera's (of note I tried the camera's cleaning mode to no avail), the lack of pop in the pictures (a $500 lens upgrade would take care of that I imagine)and on top of that lugging around a bag with the other lens just took the fun out of taking pictures. I now know I was not ready or did not realize how much time a DSLR would require. So I returned the package, and have now purchased a prosumer camera, much easier to operate! I wrote this review mainly for people like me that have used a simple point and shoot for a few years and got carried up in all the hype the DSLR camera's have gotten lately. They will take the best pictures in the right hands, but for me an upgrade to DSLR was just too much of a jump. I gave 3 stars for disappointing detail and softness of the lenses. Just know what your getting into.

Summary: An Excellent Choice

Comment: The Sony Alpha a300 is an excellent choice for a modern DSLR at Sony's very attractive price point. The fully functional Live View [with real AF, tilt LCD and automatic viewfinder curtain] adds an exciting and useful facility [especially on tripod with a remote shutter control]. The Super Steady Shot feature [Sony's in body image stabilization] works very well and makes the function available with any lens. The a300 user [even more so the a350] will likely appreciate the full image quality available from the image sensor using Sony's pricier lenses, but the Minolta A-mount allows continued use of the many fine Minolta AF lenses and accessories. The Smart Teleconverter [digital zoom] is useful on all lenses and works very well. The build quality is good, but the camera should be handled with some care. All in all the a300 is a very useful DSLR and very attractive at Sony's pricing point.