Sony A290

Sony A290 is Sony's Entry-Level DSLR camera originally introduced on June of 2010. It includes a 14 MegaPixel, CCD APS-C sized sensor and has a max resolution of 4592 x 3056.

Sony brought out this camera to update the earlier Sony A230 (Read Full Comparison)

The A290 is rated #51 out of 80 in Entry-Level DSLR cameras & over all #420 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our collection. You should try our Advanced camera search to find camera results based on your personalized requirements.

Here is a diagram of specific factors used in the rating system.

The Sony A290 has a history of related digital cameras. Down below, you can identify all older and latest models as well as important specs.

You can check the A290 from several angles in the gallery below.

Below is a checklist of advantages and drawbacks of the Sony A290 based on criterias that are often considered essential in a camera.

The Sony A290 is powered by the Bionz processor. The measurement of the sensor on the Sony A290 is 23.5mm x 15.7mm (APS-C). The 369 mm² sensor has the ability to capture 4592 x 3056 pixels and aspect ratios of 3:2 and 16:9. The camera features Image Stabilization (Sensor based). Optical stabilization is preferable than digital stabilization since the latter might lead to cropping.

Photography Glossary

The CCD sensor has 14MP and features a native ISO range of 100 to 3200. RAW photos are supported which means that the user has wider room to maneuver in post.

The picture below shows the A290's sensor dimensions when compared to other common sizes. The A290 sensor has a crop factor of 1.5 and is pointed out in green.

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To get an understanding of specific aspect ratios, you can refer to the visual below.

Sony A290 weighs about 1.21 lbs (549 gr / 19.37 oz) & has outside size of 128mm x 97mm x 86mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 3.4"). The weight of typical Entry-Level DSLR camera is 540 gr and the Sony A290 is very much the same as compared with various competitors.

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Listed below is a visual of the Sony A290 with a softdrink to help you get a sense of its scale.

The top view below will highlight the button layout on the A290.

The A290 uses the Sony/Minolta Alpha mount and has 145 lenses that are available. Below is a small number of the lenses we have in our collection which will work with the A290.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Lensbaby Burnside 3535mmf/2.8374g

Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM II70-300mmf/4.5-5.6 750g

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Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM II70-200mmf/2.8 1390g

Rokinon 85mm F1.485mmf/1.4 539g

Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM85mmf/1.4 725g

Samyang 100mm F2.8 Macro100mmf/2.8720g

Photography Glossary

Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM70-400mmf/4.0-5.6 1490g

The A290 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• HDMI Yes

Digital cameras which have NFC and Bluetooth support can be used wirelessly via smartphones. You are able to send pictures and oftentimes adjust settings without connecting straight to the camera.

Some applications even provide a Liveview and hit the shutter if you are not near the camera. If the camera includes a HDMI port, it can be connected to an external display. Most cameras will allow you to recharge the battery pack using the USB socket.

Sony A290 does not capture video. If you are searching for a camera to take only images, this is not a problem.

Sony A290 does not include environment sealing so rainy conditions might ruin the camera.

The Sony A290 includes a 2.7 inch fixed display screen supporting a resolution of 230 thousand dots.

Unfortunately the display screen is not a touch screen.

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The View Finder specs for Sony A290 are below:

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

Viewfinders are pretty handy in bright outdoor situations which might make the camera display washed out and very difficult to see.

Sony A290 continuous shooting speed is 3.0 frames per second. The highest shutter speed is 1/4000s.

Sony A290 features both integrated flash together with external flash support. The max flash sync speed is 1/160s.

Sony A290 features both Phase Detect AF plus Contrast Based AF. Phase Detection focusing is a lot more faster & exact in comparison with Contrast Based focusing. The camera includes Face detect which is valuable for taking photos of people.

The AF system includes 9 focus points to pick from. Sony A290 can use manual focusing when required in low light scenarios or you need to have more accurate control on focusing.

The battery pack (NP-FH50) in the Sony A290 is made to last for 290 clicks as per the CIPA standards making it lesser compared with it's competition. The usual Entry-Level DSLR camera battery life is 589. Pentax K-x has the maximum (1900) battery life in this range of cameras.

Following is a listing of Entry-Level DSLR cameras which have the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Pentax K-x
A290 vs K-x1900 yesnono

Nikon D3500
A290 vs D35001550 yesnoyes

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Nikon D3400
A290 vs D34001200 yesnoyes

Canon SL3
A290 vs SL31070 yesnoyes

Sony A450
A290 vs A4501050 yesnono

The following bar chart shows a summary of the Sony A290 for varying styles of photography. To look at more, scroll to the specific paragraph below.

The Sony A290 receives a score of 65 which is nice, and means the camera is a respectable choice to use for portraits. Photographing portraits favors greatly towards sensor dimensions, support for RAW files in addition to the flexibility to utilize off-camera flash.

Having a above average points total of 66, the Sony A290 is a fine option to buy for street photography. A decent street photography camera has a perfect balance of image quality plus portability.

A decent sports photography points total of 55 suggests the Sony A290 is relatively suitable for taking pictures of sports. A camera really should have excellent focusing plus fast shutter speeds for sports photography.

Portability is very critical when picking a travel camera. All round, the Sony A290 gets a average 53 as a travelling camera which is reasonably acceptable to purchase for your trips.

For anyone who is looking to buy a digital camera for landscape photographs, the biggest factor will no doubt be image quality. The Sony A290 with it's decent grade of 58 as a landscape camera is relatively acceptable amongst its competitors.

A vlogging camera really should come with a articulating display, mic port and if possible image stabilization. Considering everything, the Sony A290 is simply not good as a vlog camera as it comes to a low score of 9.

If you are trying to find replacements to the A290, here is a range of the highest placed cameras that fall under the class of Entry-Level DSLR.

The chart below will give you a bird's eye view of the A290 versus it's highest rated competitors shown earlier.

Here are a handful of other cameras you may regard as alternate options. To check out a extensive comparison, visit the "compare" link.