gonzalomoreno Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Hello, My intention is to get a Sony Alpha 300 with the 16-80 Zeiss zoom. I prefer theA300 to the A350 because 1) I do not copy so big as to need 14 Mpixels and, mostimportant, the A300 sensor is less noisy at high (>400) ISO. Any experience withthis combo?How good is the RAW converter SW included in the box? Thanks a lot and best regards, Gonzalo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
._._z Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 The only review specifically of the A300 I know of is: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Alpha_DSLR_A300/index.shtml "There was also a hope the A300's lower resolution sensor would significantly out-perform the A350 in terms of noise levels, but that's sadly not the case. In our tests it certainly delivered lower noise across the sensitivity range, but not be a large degree, and again, by sharing the same sensor as the A200 and A100, its noise levels were already beaten by many rival 10 Megapixel DSLRs to start with. So once again, don't buy the A300 believing it's a low-light leader." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_tuthill Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Reading between the lines, the Alpha A350 just got panned by dpreview.com. Did you look there concerning RAW converter? (And why does everybody capitalize RAW?) According to Consumer Reports, Nikon D80 and Olympus E-410 (and presumably E-420) are the only tested sub $1000 DSLRs that produce acceptable results at ISO 1600. The Sony A300 was not tested, but they rated the A700 at only ISO 400. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbon_dragon Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 I have a A350 and like it so far. The Sony raw software is kind of a later generation of the Minolta Raw software I got with my KM5D. Ironically though it doesn't read the Minolta format, just the Sony raw format ARW. It's sort of a lightroom clone, but a lot clunkier, slower, and crash-prone, at least on Macintoshes. It's better than nothing, but not a lot better. At least it's free (it has to be because I don't think anyone would pay for it). By contrast the Canon DPP software while not the equal of Lightroom is actually useable on a fast Intel Mac and it's free too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willem b Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 The output of my a200 has less noise than the a100. Even though it might he the same sensor, the processing is improved. I guess it is possible that there are additional changes in the a300 ibnt even it it is the same as the a200, it is pretty darn good. quick search at http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1037 (Sony SLR Forum) should answer a lot of your questions. Also, there is a plug in for photoshop that will open Sony RAW files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpeterson Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 <p>I own the Sony Alpha A200 which hs the same sensor and specs as the A300. I rarely shoot above iso400 so I can't comment on that. However, the image quality of jpg images with the DRO option enabled is often better than what can be obtained from RAW images. The sensor is excellent at capturing highlight detail, one of the best I've worked with. The RAW converter is not so good for final image quality. You will get better results from Bibble Light or Pro. However, the jpeg images straight out of the camera are exceptional for color and dynamic range. All that is needed is sharpening. Here is an image from the A200 shot in low light at 100 ISO in jpeg with the Advanced DRO option enabled. The in camera processing is quite impressive.</p> <p><img src="http://www.abqstyle.com/papa3.jpg"></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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