Emerging from the ashes of Konica Minolta, Sony's first digital SLR takes the electronic consumer giant marching into the big leagues of digital still imaging. The new Alpha DSLR-A100 is a 10.2 mega pixel DSLR and a realisation of the brilliance of the Sony and Konica Minolta marriage. Build quality is also very good, the camera feels solid, reliable and purposeful with good use of different materials and a nicely sized hand grip with soft rubber and it is only slightly larger than the EOS 350D.

With many similarities to the Konica Minolta 5D, the camera is introduced with 19 high-quality Sony lenses and at the same time accepts Maxxum AF lenses. The A-100's CCD is mounted on a CCD-shift Anti-Shake platform (now named Super SteadyShot) which delivers image stabilisation and Sony's personal form of dust reduction. In-built Dynamic Range Optimiser image analysis technology produces unparalleled picture quality and natural colour reproduction. To add to all this, the A-100 also features a new Bionz image processing engine. The A100 utilises a good penta-mirror setup which provides a bright clear view. The A100 features an eye sensor just below the viewfinder eyepiece which (when enabled) triggers continuous auto focus as well as dimming the LCD monitor. Combining advanced SLR features with Sony digital imaging innovations, the A-100 really does give its rivals a seriously worthy competitor.

The A100 has a pop-up flash on the top of the viewfinder prism, it is opened manually by flicking it up. When raised the flash is approximately 90mm above the center of the lens, which is about 20mm less than the Konica Minolta 7D. The built-in flash unit has a guide number of 12 and a maximum sync speed of 1/160 sec (1/125 sec with AS on). In a low light situation with the flash raised the camera will strobe the flash to act as an assist lamp for the AF system (it must be raised manually to perform this function).

The Sony 18-70mm superb standard lens handles the full range of shots offering the most common focal lengths. In 35mm equivalent, it covers wide-angle 27mm to 105mm midrange telephoto for snapshots, portraits, interiors and more - an excellent all-around lens to travel with.