Sony Alpha A100

Speaking of beginner, the design and functionality of the A100 is extremely easy to get into. Like in most starter-level models, this one too is accompanied by an Auto and a range of shooting presets like portrait, landscape, macro etc. to make things easier for a newbie. If you're a pro photographer, you're probably rolling your eyes at all this, but in my tests, these more worked pretty well for times when I wanted a quick picture without messing about with all the manual settings.

The optical image stabilization is built into the body of the camera itself, and works on the sensor shift technology. Though I wouldn't go as far as saying that it makes shooting in low light easy, it did make a noticeable difference in medium light conditions.

I think one of the biggest fears of any D-SLR owner in this country is sensor dust. There is a hell lot of dust out here and it does manage to make its way into the most unlikely of places, including our precious camera sensors. Luckily the CCD in this one comes coated with an anti-friction layer that doesn't allow dust to settle in easily, and also with sensor vibration every time you turn off your camera. While his doesn't mean that you can now change your lens in the middle of a sand storm, it does mean that you won't have to worry too much about stray dust particles settling on the sensor.