Camera Labs

I'm looking for a DSLR for €500 or a bit below if possible, mostly for architectural/landscape photography

Just wondering if anybody knows anything about the Sony Alpha A290L or the next model up the Alpha A390L

As you have probably guessed I'm pretty new to this, so any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

The 2 bodies you mentioned are fairly dated and therefore priced accordingly.
If your preference is shooting Buildings and Landscape, the body is not as important as the specialty lens that you need to use, and in most cases they will cost more than the body.
If you can stretch it, I would recommend going up to an A33 or A55 which is more advanced and should last you years.

http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Alpha_SLT_A33/

ok thanks, aside from Sony does anybody have any other reccomendations?

The usual recommendations - any of the brands are fine - Sony, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax...it's more a matter of finding the best camera for you, that feels good in your hands, fits your budget, and has as many of the features you need as you can get in that budget.

No reason to be discouraged on the Sony options - truth is, what you'll get from any of the brands will be pretty similar for each price band. At the price of the A290, there isn't much else available - it's very inexpensive. Move up a small notch, to the $450-500 range, and you can get a Sony A500 or A550, or Pentax KX, or Nikon D3100 - all of these would be a decent step up from the A290, with faster continuous shooting and much better high ISO ability.

But on the flip side, you may not need those things, and the A290 is still a solid DSLR, much better than a P&S, accepts interchangeable lenses, and has stabilization in body - so it's certainly going to allow you to take stunning photos if you have the skill to match and the right lens. Those other cameras just give you more flexibility or range to expand into other types of photography, like action or handheld low light.

Each price range will give you fairly close performance between the brands - figure out what you think you'll want or need to shoot, and what your upper limit budget is, and you can find which cameras fit in that range to try out.

_________________
Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

thanks for your help, much appreciated