The Alpha A700 is the highly anticipated second DSLR from Sony and the first to be entirely designed by Sony itself. Announced in September 2007 it fills a gap above the original A100 body, targeting serious enthusiasts and semi-pro photographers with higher resolution and more powerful features. The A700 features a jump in resolution to 12.2 Megapixels with a new CMOS sensor, making it the highest resolution Alpha body, and a step-up from existing rival 10 Megapixel DSLRs. The sensor measures the same size as the existing APS-C chip in the A100, so rumours of a 1.25x crop or larger didn’t emerge for this particular model. On the upside though, this makes the A700 compatible with the full range of Alpha lenses including DT models, and like the A100 before it, all effectively become stabilised thanks to the built-in – and improved – Super SteadyShot. Like most new DSLRs, Sony’s made the jump in screen size to 3in, but fitted the A700 with a super high resolution mod...