... While the Sony A200 won't make you do back flips for its techno-gadgetry, the Sony A200 does instill confidence. If you're like me, gadgetry isn't what you buy an SLR for; you just want great pictures. The Sony A200 delivers. It works very well, is easy to understand and use, and most importantly it produces great images. The technological gadgetry that it does have is all directed toward that purpose, and Sony's execution is excellent. ..."

... Ultimately few existing A100 owners will be upgrading to the A200, as there’s no truly compelling reasons for doing so – instead they’ll be eyeing-up the A300, A350, or a bigger step to the semi-pro A700. But anyone who was about to buy an A100 – or indeed any entry-level DSLR – should definitely add the A200 to their shortlist. It may not have the bells and whistles of Live View or more than 10 Megapixels, but you may not want or need them. So as it stands, the A200 may be unremarkable, but remains a good, solid, entry-level 10 Megapixel DSLR we can easily recommend, although as always, carefully compare it against the competition."

... Overall, image quality was Excellent from ISO 100 through 800. It slipped to Extremely High at ISO 1600-3200, when noise reduction, a default setting, kicked in at the expense of resolution. This dropped to 1725 lines at ISO 3200 from 2150 lines on average at lower ISOs. ..."

... The camera is responsive, feels good in your hand and lets you take very nice pictures. What's more, it comes with a lens with a wider zoom range than more expensive models, plus in-camera image stabilization that means you can benefit from anti-shake technology without investing in pricey stabilized lenses. ..."

... Overall, the A200's photo quality was very good, but the difference between RAW and JPEG images is disconcerting. JPEG images are considerably softer than those taken in RAW format, with noticeable noise reduction artifacts starting at ISO 200 in low light, and ISO 800 in good light. The soft-in-the-corners kit lens doesn't help matters, either. The good news is that you can avoid these issues by shooting in RAW, and the bad news is that you then have to post-process each image. ..."

... In terms of overall performance the A200 is a definite improvement over the A100. As with most DSLRs the A200 starts up in well under a second, and shuts down again almost instantly on power-off. The AF system is now much faster and more accurate, and is noticeably better at locking on quickly to low-contrast or poorly lit subjects, something that was a bit of a problem for the A100. ..."

... If you have no investment in a DSLR system and you're looking for an entry-level model, the Sony A200 is a real alternative to the likes of the Nikon D60, Canon EOS 450D and Olympus E-510. It may not be the most exciting camera on paper, with no Live View and "only" a 10 megapixel sensor, but in practice it's an easy-to-use, solid proposition from which you can confidently upgrade in the future to a more feature-rich model. ..."