A300 is out!!!

[wind30]

Same class as D80? I dun think so leh bro... it's an A200 with liveview... entry level same class as D40 I should think... D80 is one class higher...

Actually I think nobody on the market as the similar offering as the D40. I think the D40 is a sub entry class. No AF for so many nikkor primes... No other brands has done such a move. The D70/D80 is more like nikons entry level (A300/A350/400D/450D) and the D200/D300 is the advanced amateur level (A700/40D).

 

[tanjonhan]

sorry if i am being ill-informed...but is sony like releasing many many cam models at one shot..?

 

[eow]

But in terms of the important stuff like useability, more advanced feature set, it's a whole class or maybe half a class behind the D80... so I would consider the A300 to be in between the entry and the amateur range... A700 would compare with the D80... while the D300 is in another class with the A700 trailing slightly behind perhaps... again the A700 is between classes... I sense that SONY is trying not to compete head on but create their own product lines... that perhaps make more sense to the consumer...

better throw that D7D out of yr dry cab....i reckon...after living with that cam for around 3 yrs no wonder u had such negative thought

 

[TME]

better throw that D7D out of yr dry cab....i reckon...after living with that cam for around 3 yrs no wonder u had such negative thought

The point I'm trying to make is that there is really no point comparing the SONY cameras to other competitors... neither could you really compare between brands and expect to neatly pigeon hole every manufacturer's offering into distinct, clear-cut categories...

If you really want to compare the cameras by category for each camera brand then it would look something like this:

Canon: 450D, 40D, 5D, 1D
Nikon: D60, D80/90, D300, D3
SONY: A200, A300/350, A700, A900(?)

Canon has the most logical (or perhaps most easily understood) product line... 450D = entry, 40D = amateur, 5D = serious amateur/semi-professional, 1D = professional. This is also one reason why they are so successful...

Nikon has a bit of an overlap between the D80 and D300 which perhaps could lead to cannibalisation... D60 = entry, D80/90 = amateur, D300 = serious amateur/semi-pro?, D3 = pro

SONY's line-up is quite incomplete at the moment... A200/300/350 = entry, A700 = amateur, A900(?) = serious amateur/semi-pro(?), no pro level camera as yet...

If you look also at the price points for each category, then you will see that the 40D = A700 = D80/90.... the D300 is a good few hundred dollars more... so it really occupies one level higher... but it's not good enough to really be the semi-pro body of choice like the 5D is or the A900 may turn out to be... in fact, I'm not clear if the D3 was meant to fill the 5D category or meant to compete with the 1D? Nikon's product line isn't quite clear to me at least...

In other words, there is no obvious direct competitor to the D300 at it's price point... the A700 is an anomaly in it's own category where it's feature spec is almost equivalent to the D300 but better than the D80/90...

Canon and SONY's line for now appear to be the most similar... and it is quite obvious that Canon's neat categorisation of DSLR offerings has made it very successful... and SONY is also obviously hell-bent on becoming a major player and maybe from the product lines, you could see that they are really gunning for Canon...

Every manufacturer wants to one-up the competition with every iteration released... hence it would seem that the A700 should compete against a higher category... the point is that when Nikon releases the next D90, it would probably match the A700 but still keep its distance from the D300... then it would perhaps be more logical to compare the A700 and the D90... remember the D80 is previous generation but actually sits in the same category as the A700 in their respective line-ups...

The same goes for the A200/300/350... it has set the benchmark for entry level cameras... we're going to see the next iteration of the 450D from Canon stand toe-to-toe with the A200/300/350... so SONY has started something interesting here... give entry level a few flavours... something which has not been done before perhaps... the price point difference between the A200 & A300 isn't that big... at the moment the A300 is just A200 + live-view... so it's an interesting strategy...

Also some mentioned that the D60 from Nikon cannot even be considered entry level... and that it is not compatible with a whole host of legacy and current Nikkor lenses... I think these may have missed the point completely... Nikon appears to be trying to pioneer a new way to manufacture DSLR bodies... to remove the body motor and replace it with the lens motor... the body motor design is ancient... and whichever way you cut it, having a lens motor as we all know and some have experienced, makes your AF that much faster and possible also more accurate, also cuts down power consumption... eventually all Nikon DSLRs might go this way given the way Nikon has been launching motor driven lenses recently... so this is the entry level for Nikon... and seriously, entry level DSLRs are targeted at coca-cola tourists who want to upgrade from P&S to something "serious"... I don' think they even consider lens legacy/compatibility for a moment... so these are not targeted as us... the hobbyist/amateur/free-lancer...

There you have it... ;p

 

[TME]

sorry if i am being ill-informed...but is sony like releasing many many cam models at one shot..?

They are trying to fill up their product line to compete with the other brands... SONY is about the only major manufacturer at the moment who does not have a full line-up from entry to professional... all other brands have something equivalent for each category... the other major manufacturer being Pentax...

 

[boombox]

They are trying to fill up their product line to compete with the other brands... SONY is about the only major manufacturer at the moment who does not have a full line-up from entry to professional... all other brands have something equivalent for each category... the other major manufacturer being Pentax...

Yeap, I guess, they've just started. Given some time, and there will be Pro line. It's good to tackle the entry level in force, because many pros start off as consumers with entry level equipment.