AF speed
AF tracking
Continuous shooting
Flash consistency
Ergonomics
Tough Body/ Sealed buttons
Quick Navi
In body stabilization
Big bright viewfinder
High resolution LCD
Excellent High ISO

Should have included some sort of LCD protector for that 3 inch screen.
I think it could be useful to have a feature that disables buttons and dials to avoid accidentally changing settings.

Auto-focus:
Extremely fast. With a f/2.8 lens it's pretty much instantaneous. Auto focus tracking is also fast and accurate. With previous camera's I've owned, AF tracking was pretty much a joke. With the a700, it's proven very useful. In dim light the a700 slows down a little but it is still very fast thanks to it's AF assist lamp. I used to miss shots all the time due to my a100 focus hunting. Not so with the a700.

Responsiveness:
Like all DSLR's, there is really no noticeable shutter lag. Also no lag when entering playback. On power up, I find that it often takes it a second to 'find' the memory card. Maybe I need a faster card? This is not really an issue though, because by the time I've pulled the camera up to my eye after turning it on it is ready to shoot. Sony claims 5 shots per second in continuous shooting. It seems to be pretty much dead on in use. Continuous shooting definitely benefits from faster memory cards. I found that for short bursts, there's enough buffer that I don't notice any slowing down.

Flash:
Flash performance was the biggest issue with the a100. It was pretty slow and caused a lot of lazy eye issues. That means there was enough time between the pre-flash and the exposure flash to allow people to partially blink (thus the term lazy eye) by the time the exposure was made. With the a700, this problem is gone. I just spent a week in Vancouver with my family. Not one lazy eye issue.

The a700 also produces more consistent flash results. The a100 would get thrown off occasionally, especially by shiny/reflective surfaces, and grossly underexpose. With the a700, flash results are generally dead on. I did have a couple of shots that were a tad underexposed, but not nearly as bad as the a100 by any means.

In use:
The a700 feels great in the hands. All buttons/dials/controls are positioned for quick and easy access while holding the camera in shooting position. I wish the ISO and WB buttons on top were more towards the front of the camera though. I also noticed that I tend to accidentally hit the af/mf button with my thumb. Perhaps my long lanky fingers are to blame. I also find that I often sling the camera over my shoulder while it is still on (traveling short distances or a pause in the action), and sometimes buttons and dials get bumped and settings get changed unintentionally.

In the field, the a700 is a dream. No more menu diving!! Changing settings on the fly has never been so easy. The quick navi feature is what makes this camera shine. Many settings also have dedicated buttons as well. With quick navi, you can either push the joystick to access the menu for a particular setting, or just use the finger and thumb wheels to scroll through the settings without directly accessing its menu. You can also set the custom button for a particular setting, in my case it's the focus area.

Sony claims to have improved the Super Steady Shot in the a700. I can't say for sure, since I haven't pushed it's limits. If I had to guess though, I'd say there is a slight improvement because I'm not seeing as many shake bars with the a700 as I usually saw with my a100.

The body is also built like a tank with a magnesium-alloy body and dust/weather seals. During my week in Vancouver, it did get banged by accident on some metal thing sticking out of a post. It wasn't a huge hit, but it was plenty enough for me to get upset about it. The body held up just fine though. It also had a few drops of juice spilled on it by one of my 5 year old nieces, and it seems the sealing didn't allow any of it under the buttons. I take great care of my equipment, so it's not like I go out looking for ways to abuse my camera. Sometimes these freak things just happen though.

One of the improvements over the a100 that I enjoy most is the bigger and brighter viewfinder. I can't tell you how much this feature alone improves my photography. It's much easier to compose my shots with the a700.

I also have to mention the giant 3 inch high resolution LCD screen. It is amazing. It can easily be used to judge the sharpness of a photo, and allows for very smooth looking text. It's also easier to see in direct sunlight than the screen on my a100. I suggest finding an LCD protector for it ASAP. I think Sony should have included one, but instead you can buy it from Sony for like 11 bucks.

I also have to mention that I immediately purchase the vertical grip for the a700. I highly recommend it. It holds two batteries and duplicates many buttons and dials so it's just as easy to use and change settings when holding it vertically. I found that it also helps the horizontal holding by slightly extending the grip for my pinky finger. I never used vertical grips until I bought a 3rd party one for my a100, now I live by them.

Imaging:
The a700 has a 12.24 APS-C sized CMOS sensor with 1.5x crop factor. The images are sharp and clear. I heard that the a700's JPEG's were a little soft with firmware version 1.0, but the issue was resolved with the release of the 2.0 firmware. I couldn't tell you personally, since I've shot nothing but RAW with my a700.

Speaking of RAW, the a700 also has a compressed RAW (cRAW) format, which Sony claims is lossless. I've been using cRAW, since it takes up far less space than uncompressed RAW; and since it's lossless, I see no reason to choose the uncompressed format over cRAW.

The huge improvement though is in the high ISO image quality. Sony heard all of the moaning and groaning caused by the a100's poor high ISO performance, and fixed it in the a700. I missed shots with my a100 because I refused to shoot above ISO 400 due to bad image quality at 800 and 1600. With the a700, you can feel free to crank up the ISO anytime you need it. I've shot up to ISO 1600 consistently during my time in Vancouver, and the shots look great!

Final thought:
This is the camera that we (Minolta users) have been waiting for. The a700 is a dream to use, and performs well in all aspects. Sony has done a great job in taking a struggling camera system and turning it into a true contender. For me, the a700 proves Sony's commitment to the Minolta user base and to Sony's own goals for it's DSLR camera business.

Customer Service

Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Sony a100
Minolta Maxxum 7
Canon EOS 20D
Canon EOS 1D mkII

5 frps
12 m/p
feature set is very good
layout and controls
Overall Quality

I wish it had live histogram
Overall not anything that makes this camera under perform

Having owned a couple of DSLR's this last year (along with the Sony A100) and must say that I have enjoyed using the A100 but being a person that like to be on the edge of technology I bought the new Canon 40D thinking that it will have what will carry me for awhile (it specs out very nice) But to my disappointment the 40D had quality issues (blown pixels) I know that there is a limit to what is allowed but for a new product out of the box I found it to be unacceptable, So I waited a few weeks and decided to stay with Sony. I bought the A700 and must say I am very glad I did. This camera adds a new enthusiasm to shooting. From the 12 meg. pix to 5 frps and the feel of this camera is very good. Also I am not sure that live view is a deal breaker compared to image quality.

What is the next one going to be? wow

Customer Service

N/A
I did however buy an accidental (if I drop it) warranty

Similar Products Used:

Sony A100
Canon 40D
Pentax K10D

Fast, in every category. Start up, FPS, shutter lag (practically none)
Built like IVAN DRAGO
Excellent Dynamic Range, and high ISO performance (very usable images to iso 3200 w/boost to 6400 in a pinch), and overall Image Quality
User interface blows away all the competition, truly you have to try it.
Total upgrade over the A100 in every way
Great price to performance ratio
Sealed buttons and dials
Offers the best battery grip on the market, full featured just like the back of the camera's control layouts etc, very ergonomic.
Lightweight and smaller size than competition
LCD is photo quality 800x600 resolution you won't believe it!
HDMI capable
Wireless remote control w/ 30' of range
Superior AF speed and accuracy
Well thought out design leaves little to desire for its class
This is a photographers camera design, KM influence is highly evident w/ Sonys best attributes and styling cues.

Battery life is about 100 shots less than A100 (without purchase of battery grip, then it would be a no contest win for the A700).
Could be more weather sealed on certain doors etc.
Not many weaknesses to speak of worth mentioning overall, and the weakness it does have are minuscule at best.

Great upgrade to the A100. All around, this camera is a absolute joy to use. I first purchased mine on preorder, and was one of the first to have a production model in the US, and each day since then I like using it more and more. Every category of this camera is upgraded over the A100. Handling, ergonomics, UI (very intuitive and owns flat out), build, ISO performance, IQ (dynamic range).. you name it, it is better.

The most comfortable and user friendly DSLR I have ever put in my hands. Silicon weather seals on the buttons help keep out dust and moisture. A 922K pixel LCD 3" lcd is a dream to use with the user interface. Shutter button is very sensitive, very precise. Viewfinder is fantastic, bright and clear with a real pentaprism inside for excellent light transfer. Fit and finish are top notch, this camera is a solid piece of magnesium and aluminum, very durable and handsome to look at.

This camera excels at metering, AF speed and accuracy, overall speed, write times, 5 FPS fine jpegs until card is full, comfortable beyond belief, interface is too good to be true with lots of custom features and customizable settings. Dynamic range optimization adjusts each pixel separately to bring awesome dynamic range of a full 9 stops of latitude! (Less ND Grad/Split ND Filter usage!)

Meant to give an amateur something to work into and to be a workable professional photographers camera, it hits the mark at a great price point in the competing category market segment.

If you are looking for an upgrade to your Sony A100 and have the cash, don't hesitate to purchase it, using it is indeed believing.

I use only Sony equipment, and by far this camera is the best engineered camera by Sony to date.

See my full preview here:

http://www.carlgarrardphotography.com/-/carlgarrardphotography/article.asp?ID=2564

Homepage here: www.carlgarrardphotography.com

Customer Service

Decent

Similar Products Used:

Sony A100
KM 5D