THE number seven holds special meaning for me. It is my favourite number; the MRT stop closest to my home is number 17 on the North-Easy line; and my favourite movie - yes, you guessed it - is se7en, starring Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman.

So when Sony brought out the Alpha 700, I hoped it would live up to my personal expectations. Well, it kind of did, but only up to a certain level.

The Alpha 700 is a sturdy camera, is both dust- and water-resistant and has well-placed buttons...well, almost all of them are, but more on that later.

The specifications of the camera are solid. Consider these: 12.24MP Exmor CMOS sensor, ISO 100 to 5,000, Super Steady Shot anti-vibration system (in camera), 40 exposure metering spots, two types of memory cards (Compact Flash and Memory Stick/Pro Duo), 11 auto focusing points, and High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) for rich screening of pictures on a Full HD Sony LCD telly.

Upon looking through the camera's viewfinder, I noticed that it automatically does two things - it switches off the LCD screen when my eye goes to the viewfinder and the camera focuses without you having to touch the shutter button.

For a seasoned DSLR user, it is disconcerting to have the camera focus on its own. But it is a nice touch for a beginner.

Unfortunately, the auto moves are a power drainer - half of the battery power is gone after just an evening's shoot around the City's civic area. The good thing is that can it be turned off during times when full control is needed for macro photography or composing a 'creative' shot.

This being an advanced model for amateurs, the camera still has its mode dial for different scene modes (like sports, sunset, night scene and portrait). There is also the manual option, of course.

What Sony has picked up on that other DSLR makers usually miss out is the inclusion of a five-way navigation joystick.

What Sony has also done well is to employ Carl Zeiss' top notch optics for its lens, without which the Alpha 700 would have floundered. Armed with the 18mm-80mm F3.5-4.5 Vario-Sonnar Carl Zeiss lens, it has a 35mm equivalent focal length of 24mm-120mm (crop factor 1.5), making it a good general purpose lens for travel photography.

To enhance image colour vibrancy, the Alpha 700 uses its proprietary D-Range Optimiser to control brightness, colour and contrast. Expectedly, the images are stunning and the dreaded cool blue hue from most Sony cameras is nowhere to be seen.

The area in which the Alpha 700 disappoints most is ergonomics. For instance, the power, exposure composition, multiple-exposure, metering mode and focus-mode buttons are so poorly placed that they hinder quick changes of settings and slow down image capture.

Then there is the addition of the Memory Recall (MR) mode, which allows different camera settings to be saved into three slots.

Although useful when shooting events, to have to change from one MR setting to the next, you have to turn to other modes first and switch it back to MR again to select the required slot. So missing that Kodak moment is highly probable.

FINAL SAY

A real contender in the serious amateur DSLR market with its fantastic picture quality. The poor ergonomics, however, took a lot of shine off an otherwise outstanding camera.

Sony Alpha 700 DSLR camera
» $3,399 (with Carl Zeiss lens)
» Get it from authorised dealers