Sony Alpha 900

The basics

The standard in digital photography has arrived with the Sony a (alpha) DSLR-A900. Packed with features, this flagship DSLR is the first a (alpha) to incorporate a 35mm full frame image sensor and 24.6-megapixel resolution. It also incorporates the world's first body-integrated, full-size SteadyShot INSIDE image stabilization technology. You'll also experience a larger capture area, improv...

The good

The resolution wars are officially over – and Sony has won. The A900 has the most pixels of any SLR camera on the planet (this week, at least) and certainly knows how to use them. Image quality is top notch for daytime shooting, and there more than enough techie tweaks on board to satisfy the geekiest of snappers. A built-in stabiliser should be compulsory on all SLRs, with Sony’s super-smooth system leaving you stirred not shaken.

The bad

Cheer up, Sony! You’d hardly think the same company that cranks out fun-loving PlayStations and razor-thin compacts could be responsible for this po-faced product. There’s no Live View, no movie mode and no face detection, and the chunky A900 won’t have your fellow snappers cooing over its functional design. Watch out in low light, too: the Sony’s 24MP images get pretty noisy in the dark.

The bottom line

A serious tool for serious photographers with seriously large memory cards (and wallets to match). The biggest, certainly, but with the launch of Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, perhaps not quite the best pro SLR out there.