Sony gets official with Sony A290 and A390 digital SLR cameras

By | June 9, 2010, 2:19am PDT

Summary: Even though rumors and photos have been circling about these two cameras for awhile now, Sony has finally gotten official and announced the addition of the DSLR-A290 and DSLR-A390 to the Alpha series.

Even though rumors and photos have been circling about these two cameras for awhile now, Sony has finally gotten official and announced the addition of the DSLR-A290 and DSLR-A390 to the Alpha series.

Let’s make something clear immediately: with their basic specs and budget-friendly price tags, this pair of new Alpha digital SLRs are definitely entry-level. They are essentially upgrades from the A230 and A380, respectively.

Some of the shared features include 14-megapixel CCD sensors, a new grip design, an updated button layout, a max ISO of 3200, Bravia Sync support and a mini-HDMI port for connecting to HDTVs.

The differences are really slim, mainly dimensions and some autofocus features. The price gap comes down to the A390’s tilting screen, whereas the display is fixed on the A290. But both are 2.7-inch, 230,400-dot TFT LCD displays.

Both Alpha DSLRs will become available in July, with the A290 kit starting at $499.99 (CNET reports that it will include a 18-55mm lens). The A390 kit will be priced slightly higher at $599.99.

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Rachel started playing with her mother's old Brownie camera when she was just a toddler, working her way up from a Hello Kitty point-and-shoot to training on both film and digital SLRs.

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