Strengths: Fast focusing, outstanding 3" LCD, image stabilization, excellent high ISO/low noise. Large, bright viewfinder.

Weaknesses: Sony brand lenses are expensive. But discontinued Minolta lens work too and can be found used on e-bay at good. prices. Lacks the live-view feature that some competitors are adding to their products.

Summary: This is my first DSLR. It is easy to operate right out of the box using the automatic program settings. (To take full advantage of its capability will require learning a lot more about the camera's features.) It focuses very fast. The VGA resolution LCD is great. Controls and menus are intuitive. Image stabilization works as advertised. The 18-70 kit lens is decent but slow (in terms of aperature) so buying a fast prime lens or f2.8 constant aperature zoom would help in low-light/no-flash situations. The camera feels solid, but is not too heavy. All in all I am very pleased with this camera.

Strengths: Super Fast focusing, excellent color reproduction, compatible with all Minolta a-mount lenses and flashes

Weaknesses: none so far

Summary: This is very good camera, I really like it. It feels right holding it, especially with an optional vertical mount. For users of Minolta D7, the controls are not where you are used to them. Pictures taken with Minolta lenses on this camera look brighter than on Minolta D7.

Strengths: would you like a decent ISO6400 in an affordable body with a decent lens selection?

Weaknesses: camera OS is a bit immature, tuned to the casual shooter...has a LOT of options not too many of them very useful, but I'm still learning about it.

Summary: ...ok so I took the plunge and bought an a700...they only had the body, at the store I went to (seems that they are selling like hotcakes) so I had to get a tamron 75-300 lens to go with it. That was $1500 right there. this is a day after I bought a 30D for $900 from that store, shot it one night, wasn't all that enthused with the high-iso performance, did a little more research...what I saw was that the a700 had about half the noise at ISO1600, and even less noise at ISO6400 than the 30d at ISO1600. So far I'm quite impressed with it. For one, ISo6400 is tres cool. Even if it's a little noisy in this camera (recall the old PS days where "ISO400" was fairly noisy? That's what ISO1600 is like on the a700. Shooting jpeg. ISO3200 is fine. Second, the jpegs may not be "full of fine-detail" but they look ok to me on my computer screen. Third, it is nice to get a real lens again...that Sigma 18-200 DC OS is not very sharp wide-open, and this 75-300 is just fine F4-F5.6. I have to admit, once you make the break and pony up the extra dosh to get into this body, the rest is all downhill, in terms of price. And without a doubt it takes nice photos at high ISO.

Strengths: Excellent high resolution images, optical lens stablization in camera body for all lenses, many controls on body rather than buried deep in menus, feel comfortable and solidly built.

Weaknesses: It doesn't have live preview or a top data LCD screen, but I don't feel these hinder my photography.

Summary: Two unique features are: The camera can save RAW files in a lossless compressed format. It also has built-in Dynamic Range Optimization which adds detail to the shadows as if a fill flash was used. This is very close to a full professional DSLR rather than a souped-up point-and-shoot amateur camera. It has extensive options that can be tweaked in its menus. I felt very comfortable using it and am very pleased with the results.

Strengths: FAST! shutter speeds, auto focus with finger on grip or at view finder, 3" high resolution display, quick start time, sturdy build, dual media card support (CF Duo), A mount support

Weaknesses: There is a weakness? Haven't found it yet!

Summary: I've owned the Konica Minolta 7D, the predecessor to the Sony A700. KM sold their photo business to Sony earlier this year, leading to the development of the A100 and now the A700. I sold my 7D after reading the specs of this camera and handling it in a retail store. I was very impressed. The shutter speeds is amazing! Hard to believe a camera can capture a good quality image that quickly. The start up time is very fast - what seems like a fraction of a second. HDMI video out support, remote control for conducting slide shows or remote control for photo taking comes with this camera! Sony's decision to continue support of the 'A' mount means that any Minolta or Sony branded lenses will work with this camera.

Strengths: This is a top quality DSLR that falls just under the $3000-5000 DSLR's in performance and IQ. A serious bargain at US$1300!!!!

Weaknesses: Battery prices - not to worry...one battery lasts a very long time and the prices will fall.

Summary: I have posted a full A700 field review complete with a wide range of lens and ISO performance tests. Hundreds of A700 images to view, many with 100% Crops. Just sit back and enjoy the A700 image slideshows in the larger galleries if you so chose. Don't miss your chance to see the DSLR-A700 in a wide range or real world shooting conditions by visiting my Sony galleries at the link below. http://www.sonolta.com/ The A700 is a great camera...see for yourself! Happy Shooting! -Sonolta

Strengths: Easy to get started with. Great feature set. Takes great photos especially in BW.

Weaknesses: The documentation isn't very comprehensive. Manual intervention required to ensure you have the right settings to get the perfect shot.

Summary: This is my first DSLR and it replaces my Maxxum 7 which had been an excellent film camera. It takes superb photos and I'm happy to see that its every bit as good as its competition. While it doesn't offer live view I find that function overrated (especially in a DSLR) and the various exposure controls mean that you can get a great shot in just about any conditions. That being said the documentation about how to best use all those controls is sparse and I've the feeling that I've a lot to learn about how to get the most from this camera. And I've definetly found that tweaking the various settings can make a big difference in the appearance of the final image. Suffice it to say if you've an existing investment in Minolta lenses or flashes buying this camera is your no-brainer choice.

Strengths: Ease of use - great megapixel for the cost vs. other models of same megapixel

Weaknesses: freezes after repeditive shots. Makes a vibrating noise when shutting off.

Summary: I love this camera but a couple of issues have me concerned and no one seems to have an answer for me, not evven sony. When I turn the camera off it makes a shuddering sound. Also more than once it froze up during shooting. If anyone who owns this camera can let me know if this is normal or not, it would ease my mind.

Strengths: High megapixel count. Fast autofocus. Effective image stabilization. Works with existing Minolta/Konica lenses and some flashes. Solidly built. Thankfully uses CF in addition to MemoryStick.

Weaknesses: Accessories overpriced. Noise issues at higher ISOs. Older flashes not fully supported. Proprietary flash shoe.

Summary: I shot semi-pro for years with Minolta film cameras, and was not happy when that firm signed over its camera division to Sony. Sony? Making SLRs? Since when? And Sony's flagship DSLR offering, the A100, was a big disappointment. More a mainstream body, it just didn't have the resolution to keep a pro happy, despite its other useful features. And so I waited for the A700. Thankfully the wait proved worthwhile.This camera has an immediate heft to it when you take it out of the box---reassuring to a pro who equates lightweight with "breakable plastic construction." I've only been shooting with it about a month, but I haven't been disappointed. You will need to invest in bigger memory cards to take advantage of the resolution (and large RAW file sizes) that this camera has to offer. I'm getting more proficient at post-processing, and have to say, the image quality is impressive. Like all DSLRs, it does fall prey to some noise issues if you push the ISO. But the support for wireless flashes (which Minolta never seems to get credit for pioneering) offers tremendous flexibility in otherwise poorly-lit situations.

Strengths: super fast auto-focus, fast 5fps continuous shooting, advanced dynamic range adjustment, high 6400 ISO, great image quality, easy to use interface

Weaknesses: Automatic noise reduction in the RAW, poor indoor white balancing, white balancing apparently changes depending upon shutter speed

Summary: This product has already impressed my photo-elitist friends and I am still learning all the ins and outs of this feature-rich camera. I must comment though that the white balancing indoors is less than satisfactory and I have to process most of my pictures that I take with the auto white balancing setting indoors. Custom white balancing resolves this issue though, it is just an extra annoying step. Overall, the image quality is great, so this issue is really minor. The auto-focus in this camera is spot on in every case that I have tested so far and it is amazingly fast. Adjusting settings in this camera is very easy and there are many methods to change them including several function buttons and easily navigable menu settings. The image quality of the pictures produced by this camera are amazing even at 1600 ISO and the colors are rich at all ISO settings. I should also mention that this camera implements the new compressed RAW image format which is a lossless compression that compresses the normal RAW picture size of about 20MB down to about 12MB. When the RAW images are so large, I'll take any savings I can get.