It also presumably saves wear and tear on your mirror, one of the most vulnerable and oft-used moving parts in your camera. The upshot of this is that because there's no time-consuming flipping of the main mirror, the new cameras give you the convenience and flexibility of live view, while still retaining the speed associated with SLR systems. Sony, meanwhile, has opted for a dual-CCD sensor, with a second mirror that tilts slightly to reflect light either to the viewfinder - pictured - or to a secondary sensor that records the image for display on the screen.
Some manufacturers flip the internal mirror up and keep it up to facilitate live view. Although this is a mainstay of the compact camera and is now virtually ubiquitous on dSLRs, it's still implemented in different ways. The A300 is a 10.2-megapixel version of the 14.2-megapixel A350.īoth cameras boast live view - the ability to compose pictures on the camera's screen. The A300 is similar to the A200 that took a bow recently at CES 2008, with a new-form 69mm (2.7-inch) screen and live view bolted on. Where other manufacturers showed their hands early, Sony has gone right down to the wire with the proclamation of two new entry-level α (Alpha) dSLRs: the A300 and A350.
With PMA 2008 kicking off today, the new camera anouncements just keep on coming.
