Sony A230

Sony A230 is Sony's Entry-Level DSLR camera first released on May of 2009. The camera houses a 10MP, CCD APS-C sized sensor and has a full resolution of 3872 x 2592.

Sony launched this camera to replace the previous Sony A200 (Read Full Comparison) and afterwards released the more recent Sony A290 (Read Full Comparison) as a way to update this camera.

The A230 places at #60 out of 80 in Entry-Level DSLR cameras and over all #502 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our collection. Please look at our Smart camera search to get camera listings based on your custom factors.

Below is a graph of specific factors used in the rating system.

The Sony A230 is part of a family of digital cameras. You can read the detailed range below.

You can see the A230 from different angles in the gallery below.

Below is a selection of pros and cons of the Sony A230 based on features that are often regarded as important in a camera.

The Sony A230 features the Bionz processor. The spec of the sensor on the Sony A230 is 23.5mm x 15.7mm (APS-C). The 369 mm² sensor can capture 3872 x 2592 pixels at aspect ratios of 3:2 and 16:9. The camera has got Image Stabilization (Sensor based). In body stabilization is better than digital stabilization since the latter may lead to cropping.

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The CCD sensor boasts 10MP and delivers a native ISO range of 100 to 3200. RAW format is supported which means that you have wider margin for error.

The image below shows the A230's sensor dimensions compared to other common sizes. The A230 sensor comes with a crop factor of 1.5 and is outlined in green.

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To get a sense of different aspect ratios, you should refer to the visual below.

Sony A230 weighs about 1.08 lb (490g / 17.28 oz) and features external proportions of 128mm x 97mm x 68mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 2.7"). The weight of average Entry-Level DSLR camera is 540g and the Sony A230 is similar as compared with various competitors.

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Below is a photo of the Sony A230 with a softdrink to help you to have a feel for its scale.

The top view below will show the button layout on the A230.

The A230 uses the Sony/Minolta Alpha mount and has 145 lenses available on the market. Below is some of the lenses we have in our database which will work with the A230.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Sony 28-75mm F2.8 SAM28-75mmf/2.8 565g

Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM C18-200mmf/3.5-6.3 430g

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Sony 20mm F2.820mmf/2.8 285g

Sony DT 16-105mm F3.5-5.616-105mmf/3.5-5.6 470g

Sigma 300mm F2.8 APO EX DG HSM300mmf/2.8 2400g

Sigma 28mm F1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro28mmf/1.8 500g

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Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G SSM II70-200mmf/2.8 1500g

The A230 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• HDMI Yes

Digital cameras which have NFC or Bluetooth connectivity can be controlled wirelessly with smartphones. You can easily copy pictures and oftentimes alter settings with no need to connect straight to the camera.

Certain applications even stream a Liveview and release the shutter if you are not close to the camera. If the camera boasts a HDMI out, it can be attached to an external monitor. Nearly all cameras will allow you to charge the battery pack with the USB socket.

Sony A230 doesn't capture video. If you are wanting a camera to take only photos, this is not a concern.

There is no environment proofing for the Sony A230 so you need to be careful in rainy and dusty conditions.

The Sony A230 is equipped with a 2.7 inch fixed display boasting a resolution of 230 thousand dots.

Unfortunately the display is not a touch screen.

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The ViewFinder details regarding Sony A230 are below:

• ViewFinder Optical (pentamirror)
• Coverage 95%
• Magnification 0.55x

Viewfinders are very handy for bright outdoor conditions which can make the camera display washed out and very difficult to view.

Sony A230 can shoot continuously at 3.0 frames per second. The max shutter speed is 1/4000 seconds.

Sony A230 has got both in-built flash and also external flash support. The max flash sync speed is 1/160 seconds.

Sony A230 has got both Phase Detect Auto Focus and Contrast Based Auto Focus. Phase Detection autofocusing is a lot quicker & accurate compared with Contrast Based autofocusing.

The Sensor supports 9 focus points to select from. Sony A230 boasts manual focusing when required for low light conditions or you require more precise focusing control.

The battery life (NP-FH50) for the Sony A230 is fashioned to last for 230 photos according to the CIPA measurements making it less as compared with its competitors. The average Entry-Level DSLR camera battery life is 589. Pentax K-x has got the best (1900) battery life for this class of cameras.

Underneath is a number of Entry-Level DSLR cameras which have the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Pentax K-x
A230 vs K-x1900 yesnono

Nikon D3500
A230 vs D35001550 yesnoyes

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Nikon D3400
A230 vs D34001200 yesnoyes

Canon SL3
A230 vs SL31070 yesnoyes

Sony A450
A230 vs A4501050 yesnono

The following bar chart shows a rundown of the Sony A230 for varying styles of photography. To read more, scroll to the specific paragraph below.

The Sony A230 receives a points tally of 54 which is moderate, and means the camera is relatively suitable for portraits. Shooting portrait images favors greatly towards sensor specs, support for RAW files together with the ability to utilize off-camera lighting.

Getting a very good rating of 67, the Sony A230 is a fine option for street photography. A decent street photography camera has a perfect balance of picture quality plus portability.

A decent sports photography score of 46 means the Sony A230 is somewhat suitable for shooting sports. A camera should have fantastic focusing and fast shutter speeds for sports photography.

Weight is super important in choosing a travel camera. Over-all, the Sony A230 gets a terrible 45 for a travelling camera which makes it not very good to buy for your vacations.

For anybody who is planning to buy a camera for landscape photos, the biggest aspect is going to be image quality. The Sony A230 and it's moderate rating of 51 for a landscape camera is somewhat adequate within the current market.

A vlogging camera should really posses a moving display, mic input and preferably IBIS. Taking everything in to account, the Sony A230 is not very good as a vlog camera as it delivers a terrible rating of 9.

If you are trying to find replacements to the A230, below is a selection of the highest scored cameras which fall within the class of Entry-Level DSLR.

The diagram down below offers you a bird's eye view of the A230 compared to it's highest ranking rivals shown earlier.

Following are additional cameras you might take into account as alternative options. To read through a thorough comparison, simply click the "compare" link.