Mirror misalignment

[sdecker]

I posted this over in a Flickr forum, but I wanted to hear you guys' thoughts on the matter:

I recently got my first dSLR, a sony a200, earlier this month brand new on ebay with 2 kit lenses. Right away, I noticed that the picture I take is a little different than the one I compose; the top is cropped and some is added to the bottom. This isn't that big of a deal when I'm not trying to fill the frame precisely with something, but when I am, it becomes a huge hindrance. I hate having to plan ahead and compensate, and more than a few shots have been marred because of this. I assume the mirror and sensor are not in perfect alignment, but is there anything I can do about this? Is this a common problem?

[DonSchap]

One of the unfortunate side-effects with the intro-DSLRs is they they are not 100% "framed" in the viewfinder. The only SONY camera that is ... is the A900. Even the A700 has only 95% of the image the camera's sensor sees framed viewable in the viewfinder.

Framing Differences
Framing-differences.jpg

You see even less of the real framed view with the A2x0-A3x0 series of DSLRs.

[sdecker]

Yes, I know I don't see 100% of the image in the viewfinder, but the problem is the final image is coming out cropped on top and added to on the bottom.

[DonSchap]

I would go to a store that may have another one of these and do a side-by-side test. See if you can duplicate the results.

[sdecker]

Do they still sell a200 anywhere?

[DonSchap]

I found two at Best Buy and one at the SONY Style store. They are still around ... just gotta look.