TheEmrys wrote:Its for my wife and she wants it to be as point and shoot as possible. We do not forsee being into photography in a big way. However, we do see wanting to pictures of wildlife at a distance as well as some of the scenery here in Colorado. I'm looking for something in the A200/230/290 range. Might it be worthwhile to look for an A100?
I'm reading some contradictory goals here. A dSLR doesn't take good pictures, a photographer does. A photographer uses a dSLR if that's the right tool for the job AND they want to spend time becoming familiar with the tool. In your case, you're talking about wanting it to be P&S and not making a big hobby out of it. That's not what a dSLR is for, and if your wife wants to use one as a high-end P&S, she'll get the results of a high-end P&S...except it will be more cumbersome to carry around and possibly annoy her now and then.
There are a number of higher end P&S cameras on the market with 20-30X power zooms that can easily rival the quality and capabilities of an entry-level dSLR and lens collection under all but the worst lighting conditions. The
Nikon P100, for example, or perhaps the
Canon SX30IS. And if your wife is going to be the primary user, I would strongly recommend visiting a B&M store that carries a few of these models and make sure she likes the handgrip, weight, control, etc. before dumping the four hundred bucks.
If you really want to pursue the Sony Alpha route, it would be helpful if you could describe which lenses and flashes you currently own. Some of the Sony/Minolta aficionados around here could then help you decide whether the kit is worth reusing/reselling.