New Sony A77

dd1989

Suspended / Banned
Messages
449
Name
Daniel
Edit My Images
Yes
Enough to tear some buyers away from Nikon/Canon?

'Spec-wise the A77 is impressive: it features a new 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor, 12fps full-resolution shooting and the highest resolution EVF we've ever encountered (a 2.4M dot OLED finder). It also uses a new 19-point AF sensor, 11 points of which are cross-type (sensitive to detail in both the vertical and horizontal axis). Clever use of the main sensor's live view allows the A77 to track objects as they move across the frame, enabling the camera to have a better understanding of which AF point it should be using at any given time.'

Well that sounds good! I'm really in to the idea of a high resolution EVF that can provide a wealth of adjustable shooting info, and being OLED, so far most OLED things I've used have been pretty amazing to look at!

Sony SLT-A77 key specifications:

24MP CMOS Sensor
12fps continuous shooting with autofocus
1080p60 movies with autofocus
2.4M dot OLED viewfinder
1/8000th maximum shutter speed, shutter rated for 150,000 actuations
ISO 100 - 16,000 (25,600 with multi-image combination)
Auto ISO with customisable lower and upper limits
Optional, profile-based correction of vignetting, chromatic aberrations and geometric distortion
Pull-out three-hinge tilt/swivel 920k dot LCD screen
Built-in GPS
Top panel LCD
Stereo microphone and external mic socket
AF Micro Adjust
\

DPreview First Impression said:
The OLED 'TruFinder' appears to have been the key technological barrier Sony felt it needed to overcome to offer an SLT camera at this level. It's certainly very impressive and more than a match for the pentamirror style finders that the A65 will find itself up against. The difference is less pronounced at the A77 level, where the competition feature 100% field-of-view pentaprism finders. It is considerably larger than even those finders, though, and the ability for the preview to more closely resemble the output image can be a real bonus.

Front.jpg

allroundview.jpg
 
Certainly are very eye catching specs :)

Might force canikon to upgrade their plans for the 7DII/D400 (which should be just around the corner as well).

To me, the one thing I'd care about with this is how the viewfinder looks. Bigger and brighter is all very well, but if it isn't smooth and exceptionally detailed, I'm sure most people will still prefer OVF's. But the specs certainly look promising, sony has certainly been putting their best tech into it :)
 
Having read a few previews general opinion seems to be leaning towards (taking pros & cons into account) overall being better than OVFs found on APS-C bodies but not quite as good as the best FF OVFs (A900 etc.).
I'm interested in AF performance & IQ but apart from them all being on pre-production firmware & shooting jpeg the sites seem to be comparing them to FF bodies (& even MF!) whereas I would much rather see them compared to other APS-C bodies.

the 16-50/2.8 seems to be decent & cheaper than I expected. :)
 
They've pumped 24mp out of the APS-C sensor, but what does the real world ISO performance actually stack up to? No point in 24 million noisy pixels...

Continuing camera improvements are impressive, though.

More interestingly is that Nikon use Sony sensors for many of their cameras, does this point to the next sensor of choice in the next pro DX body?
 
Last edited:
To me High ISO performance is of greater importance than pixel count. I find the 16mp of the D7000 more than enough for me. Also as I shoot raw, processing 24mp files on any machine would be quite painfull.
 
Nikon do use sony. Somehow they make them less noisy than sony manage. I wish sony would find out how! I suspect it is slightly deliberate as if they were as noise free as nikon for half the price fewer people would buy Nikon...

I'm surprised no one offers in camera png. Lossless compression would be useful as not everyone can be bothered fiddling about with RAWs.
 
So far I don't think the ISO is as good as I hoped.

Won't be rushing out for one in a hurry
 
Its that old argument, why keep pushing up the pixel count. Most people in industry seem to think it pointless, but it's seen as a selling point.
Its the actual sensor any better?
 
It looks good on paper however I'd like to see it in real world conditions. Somehow nikon have always seemed to beable to tweak the sony sensors to produce better lowlight performance, I would like to see how the IQ fares against the D7000 but i kind of feel its not going to be much better.
 
Its that old argument, why keep pushing up the pixel count. Most people in industry seem to think it pointless, but it's seen as a selling point.
Its the actual sensor any better?

+1
 
tee_tee said:
Somehow nikon have always seemed to beable to tweak the sony sensors to produce better lowlight performance,

According to DxO Mark, there's really no difference in IQ between the a580 and the D7000. Certainly there's no evidence that Nikon have "tweaked" the sensor in any way.
 
To me High ISO performance is of greater importance than pixel count..
& to others high Mp is more important than high ISO (usable 6400 is all that I would need & that rarely).
No one do-it-all wonder camera exists.
 
Can't wait for it to come out. Not that I have the money for it, but since I have an A33 I would love to see it's capabilities...My EVF does **** me off at times, but I love my camera.

The a77 ooks so much chunkier then all the other Alphas I've seen...More like a FF (which I also hope sony will release at some point).
 
It should be great for sports. And with sony you have in body stabilisation which isn't confused by panning which a lot of in lens systems seem to be. If you don't want an EVF then the A580 is well worth a look. I've not tried it for sports but generally the AF seems pretty quick.

I don't know whether anyone has compared the A900 with later sonys as I get the feeling it is the AF that lets it down a bit.
 
srichards said:
It should be great for sports. And with sony you have in body stabilisation which isn't confused by panning which a lot of in lens systems seem to be. If you don't want an EVF then the A580 is well worth a look. I've not tried it for sports but generally the AF seems pretty quick.

I don't know whether anyone has compared the A900 with later sonys as I get the feeling it is the AF that lets it down a bit.

I've got an a850 and (recently) an a55. The former is certainly no slouch in AF terms. I've been very happy with results shooting drag racing, which can be fairly demanding. That said, the a55 AF is quicker and tracks better without a doubt. I know which cam I'll take next time I go to Santa Pod.

Based on my experience so far (I've had the a55 for about a month), I think the a850 has a slight edge when it comes to getting a lock in very low light.
 
No.
It sounds like new FF(s) is/are coming next year.

Seen some shots from RAW now & using a slightly later but still pre-production firmware. At ISO3200 it looks like it may have a slight advantage over the current 16Mp sensor but it may just swing the other way at 6400 - still very usable though. :)
 
It certainly looks like an interesting piece of kit, a technical marvel in fact, good on Sony for doing something different! But I'm not sure it will tempt many away from other brands. I doubt high ISO performance will be better than the current class leaders, given the technology employed, but we won't know until the camera is fully released into the wild. The biggest concern amongst Sony users appears to be the rather small buffer which would fill in just over a second of burst shooting!
 
I think with this beast they're going to need more than a high a low setting, 4, 8 and 12 fps would be nifty options I think. But that 12fps would be really sexy in some situations.
 
But I'm not sure it will tempt many away from other brands. I doubt high ISO performance will be better than the current class leaders, given the technology employed, but we won't know until the camera is fully released into the wild. The biggest concern amongst Sony users appears to be the rather small buffer which would fill in just over a second of burst shooting!
I'm not sure that it's prime purpose is to tempt other brands users? Possibly more to provide an upgrade path for existing Alpha users (& thereby also instill confidence in potential new entry level system users that there will be an upgrade path when they may want to move up).
I agree that high ISO performance probably won't be better than the current class leaders (which also use Sony sensors) but the results from RAW appear to point to similar performance but with 24Mp instead of 16 ...
The small buffer is a concern although tbh I'm not sure that 12fps will really be used that often, the 8fps probably more.

I think with this beast they're going to need more than a high a low setting, 4, 8 and 12 fps would be nifty options I think. But that 12fps would be really sexy in some situations.
Dosen't it have 3, 8 & 12 ?
 
just checked DPReview - they say single, 3, 8 & 12 via high speed mode.
 
I'm not sure that it's prime purpose is to tempt other brands users? Possibly more to provide an upgrade path for existing Alpha users (& thereby also instill confidence in potential new entry level system users that there will be an upgrade path when they may want to move up).

A very valid point. I bet there's a few patient a700 owners who've already put their pre-orders down too! :)
 
Back
Top