A290 for simplicity ?

[deeslexia]

I have just bought an entry level A290 because it is so uncluttered with one recessed dial and not bristling with knobs etc like the oppostion .
OK , it's plastic fantastic , but light and reasonably compact and so reminiscent of my much loved Minolta 404si unshamedly advanced point and shoot .
I love it .

I have currently exhausted funds , but would consider an close out / used A55 body when the next model appears , 'cos it is small and light , despite the EVF !

The Nikon 5100 and Pentax K5 , even the Sony A580 seem too bulky to me , but heck , my 1st DSLR were and are used Leica Digilux 3 / Panasonic L1 bodies with Olympus zooms with totally retro controls , but the magnesium body and ' brick ' styling seems less obtrusive somehow .
The 7.5 meg sensors are computer storage friendly too LOL

I wonder if specs are everything , or handling and personal preference is as important ?

 

[jcoffin]

For real use, I think handling and personal preference usually matter quite a bit more than specs. Yes, if you spend some time looking in the MF forum, you can find that specs matter too, but the simple fact is that 6 MP dSLRs could produce some excellent pictures.

You can get more detail with higher resolution, but you don't gain nearly as much as the numbers suggest. You can also quickly run into lens limitations -- an 8-10MP sensor with a really good lens will usually have more usable resolution than (say) an 18MP sensor with a typical kit lens. At least IME, sensor size makes a bigger difference than pixel count.

 

[pegelli]

Congrats on your purchase and as Ansel Adams said, the most important part of the camera is the 12 inches behind it. I started my DSLR career with a Konica-Minolta 5D which was often described as plasticky, but it took (and stll takes) great quality 6 MP pictures.

 

[deeslexia]

Thanks .

Having used the A290 alongside my bargain basement Panasonic G1 at a kid's Birthday party , I loved using the Sony .

The G1 is smaller , but the EVF is a pain except for it's flexibility with my 35 f 3.5 Colar Scopar used manually inside . It also allows a 50 f1.4 and 35 f 1.8 Rokkor which would lose quality from an adapter with glass , which is why I bought it .
The G1 was delegated to manual focus interior shots wide open at f2.5 where it excells .

I thought that I may have made a mistake with yet another system DSLR , but the Sony prompts looking for an A580 body [ not A55 with EVF ! ] when that model has been superceded .
I certainly do not feel short changed by my plastic-fantastic point and shoot with attitude !