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Sony Alpha DSLR-A100

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Image Quality
Our JPEG images were pleasing with rich vibrant colors and lots of details which we liked. Barrel distortions were minimal, though we did see some traces of it, especially with straight lines along the corners at the wide end of our lens. Exposures were well-controlled and the camera's automatic white balance was spot-on most of the time--good for first-time dSLR users still learning the workings of a dSLR. One thing to note is the shadow cast at the bottom of your frame caused by the pop-up flash.

You can convert your RAW files using the Image Data Converter SR to JPEGs or TIFFs.
Each JPEG averages at 3MB and RAW files are about 8-10MB. Sony uses a proprietary format for its RAW images with the ARW file extension. Two programs come bundled with the retail package. The Image Data Converter SR converts your RAW images to JPEG or TIFF formats and the Picture Motion Browser does as its name suggests--allows you to browse through your pictures either in a folder or calendar view, with basic photo-editing (adjust brightness, saturation, sharpness, tone curve and red-eye reduction) capabilities.

The Image Data Converter SR, however, is the more full-featured of the two. It allows you to post-process your RAW images. JPEGs have little use in this program since you can only rotate the photo or adjust the tone curve. The Master Palette shows the list of controls that, when selected, opens up another box from which you can edit your frames. Noise reduction using the software managed to reduce speckles on our high ISO pictures with little loss of details. Overall, installing the programs was a breeze and the learning curve was gentle.

The image shown here is with the DRO off. Click here to see a sample of how the DRO Advanced helped soften the shadows under the roof.
Much of the hype surrounding the Alpha 100 revolves around its D-Range Optimizer, which delivered surprisingly good results. Shadows in our images taken in the Advanced DRO mode were less pronounced without looking over-processed. We couldn't say the same for the Standard mode since the changes were minute.

Noise was very well-controlled between ISO 100 and ISO 400 and it's only at ISO 800 where we began to see image quality suffer a little. At the maximum selectable sensitivity setting of ISO 1,600, noise was clearly evident. However, that's still manageable for a camera of its class and our real-world shots looked decent.

 
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