The video on top shows a new A77 hands-on by Whatdigitalcamera.
Whatdigitalcamera also posted following videos on youtube:
Sony Alpha A77 and A65 Press Launch on youtube.
Sony NEX7 & NEX5N Press Launch on youtube.
Amy Davies posted a new A77 hands-on at Techradar (Click here) with new Images samples:
EVF: “Its detail resolution is impressive. Unlike most EVFs, which have a visible texture, the view in the A77’s finder is smooth.”
AF: “In use the Alpha 77’s AF system proves to be fast and accurate in many situations. Provided you can keep the active AF point over the subject the camera does a good job of tracking focus with fast moving targets. That’s not to say it is infallible, if the AF point strays over an area of low contrast, the lens may hunt and the subject goes in and out of focus. As soon as the AF point is back over an area with contrast, the lens snaps the subject back into sharp register.”
More A77 news:
Dcfever posted a set of A77 image samples
Those are all preorder links I have now. Feel free to send me links if you find more stores!!!
Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Jessops UK (Click here) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony A77 body only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Jessops UK (Click here) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony A65 with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Bhphoto (notification only), Jessops UK (Click here) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony A65 body only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Bhphoto (notification only), Jessops UK (Click here) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony NEX-7 body only at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Jessops UK (Click here) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony NEX-7 with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (notification only) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Bhphoto, Jessops UK (Click here) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Bhphoto, and Sonystore (Click here).
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Bhphoto (notification only) and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony 50mm f/1.8 at BHphoto (notification only), Adorama and Sonystore (Click here).
Sony 55-210mm E-mount at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, Bhphoto (notification only) and Sonystore (Click here).
27 Responses
Nice, it seems to be a great camera. Only the amount of AF sensors is still outdated but most people use only the center point anyway.
Sounds like A77 is a good camera after all, Sony just really needs to work on their noise reduction technology and IQ on high ISO. If they manage to improve their technique on their future camera’s then there’s no question Sony can finally enter Nikon and Canon’s league.
The initial previews look good however it’s a shame Sony couldn’t get production cameras into the hands of reviewers. Launch date pressure I presume.
Even some of the camera hacks seem to be getting caught up in the hyperbole that accompanies (any) new camera launch.
Best system for sports? 12 fps for just over a second then wait for the buffer to clear or at 1 frame a second for about 10 seconds…
Or suggesting that it’s the first camera to AF during focus tracking? I distinctly remember the film EOS1v and Nikon F5 managing it very well.
The EVF is interesting but I don’t think it’s as revolutionary as some ‘excitedly’ suggest and think that a more pragmatic view will emerge. The Luminous Landscape first look is the most thoughtful (and MR uses Sony). Now, that NEX7 really is interesting.
Just wondering if you have used a77 or not! If answer is no, how come anyone comment without using one?
Good grief, it doesn’t take long for peoples ego’s to be bruised if others don’t fawn over their choice of consumer brand.
No I haven’t used the A77 – yet. If I require a production firmware loan camera I will be provided with one by my photo dealer for as long as I wanted it.
I have used the A900 and CZ lenses extensively as well as the 70-200 and 300/2.8. Nice competent tools but I have to say, not for me for various reasons. Good to see Sony taking the old Minolta marque forward though.
If you have taken offence to my comments about the fps/buffer relationship then refer to the known data that’s available. Subject to a firmware revision, that’s where it’s at. It’s a great headline feature for marketeers to use however without knowing why the buffer rate is important, they end up with observers picking holes in their feature list and no camera manufacturer is immune to marketing pressures. After all, it’s the headlines that get the fanboys salivating.
My comments about AF with tracking being available previously on film camera (and subsequently digital) is correct.
I’m reasonably familiar with the workings of AF. I was first issued with a manual focus 600mm Nikkor in 1979 and in the eighties used a lot of Canon FD before being one of the earliest adopters of the new AF EOS range in 1987. I used 300, 500 and 600 lenses eventually before reverting back to Nikon (fully) some years ago. As I said, I did have the opportunity to try the A900 but choose not to go down that path.
With regards to EVF’s. These are also used in military and analytical/industrial equipment (and of course most video). They are also very competant iterations of this technology (because the budget is available) and whilst excellent, they do have compromises. So I’ve used these and therefore my ‘view’ of the EVF is partly coloured by this experience.
Competent sites such as Luminous Landscape and Imaging Resource (specifically photo websites as opposed to generalist technology websites) offer some good insight based on pre-production models. Of course, they tend to be balanced views so may not correspond with your brand preference views.
Of course one can comment without using one, especially if one is very familiar with imaging technology as working tools.
I do think that Sony have gone down the path of SLT (pellicle mirrors aren’t new… ) as much as anything to differentiate themselves from Canon and Nikon. In fact they has alluded to this this week.
I do think that the NEX7 promises to be excellent. I suspect that I will readily appreciate the EVF better in the NEX. A ‘rangefinder’ sized camera with all that modern technology has to offer. I am looking forward to my loan one although I suspect that’s a little way off just yet.
I’ve noticed that the A77 has a redesigned Bionz processor and I’m wondering whether its having an adverse effect on IQ. That could be why there’s a reported difference in ISO performance over the NEX-5N.
Also early rumours on SAR were that the A77 would be having dual Bionz processors but I think they’ve put a single one in the A77. The A900 has dual processors to cope with it’s 24 mp images and if true then it’s hardly surprising that the A77 burst rate and buffer clearance is limited.
“Best system for sports? 12 fps for just over a second then wait for the buffer to clear or at 1 frame a second for about 10 seconds…”
I think the camera is up to that (1 frame a second for about 10 seconds…)
just set it to single frame and push the button 10 times or more I wonder how many pics I can take that way.LOL…
I think burst mode is just that a burst! its not meant to last a long time,
I can’t tell you how many times I missed the take-off or a birds wings because of slow frame rate, I own a A 850. owned the A55(would still own it if it had a vertical grip, i can palm a basketball) for 8 months and I knew the 77 was my next camers. can’t wait to see a print @ 36’X24″
Techradar review looks good to me.
Thanks Andrea for sharing it with us 🙂
Andrea, the link for the A77/A65 press release is wrong.
Heh the press release sounds so boring. Sounds like some research conference.
this guy can reaaaaaaaaaally talk damn fast.
the samples are looking better n better…
at least in low ISO, these images are comparable to my a900’s
I think they should make an SLT camera where you have the option of using it in SLT mode for fast action but you also have another mode where the mirror flips up when exposing the image like a regular SLR so you don’t get the light loss from the translucent mirror.
There are images on the Internet showing that when the SLT mirror is fliped up it would make contact with the rear part on any lens mounted on. So you can’t do that I believe. But it is maybe possible to completly remove the mirror and still take image (but no auto focus of course). And of course not a metohod of shooting Sony would say was ok 🙂
For the price, the d300s or D7000 is starting to look pretty good judging by the way the reviewers are wording their reviews. I thought Sony claimed the a77 was to have the most sophisticated AF system to date in it’s class? This, with the whole iso noise issue, is starting to look bad compared to the rumours we’ve been fed the last year.
@Mark: this camera was intended to surpass Canikon. They had 4 years to work on it. I think this is proof of a Sony fail. Pardon my negativity but the hype over the last 8 months is to blame. We expected way more for this price.
Whats your problem with the AF? the reviewers have been impresed with its speed and acuracy especialy at 12 FPS or in movies.
Read my post. I was talking about the reviewers not praising the AF as much as Sony claimed. No one on this site seems to read posts acurately before replying with a quick flapping mouth. I think the a77 is okay from the specs but the reviews I’ve read are not selling me on it.
someone schould tell them how SLT works
Is the mic input a 3.5mm stereo jack?
Personally this was a very good review including the photo examples, once thing it mention this was not a final firmware which can improve things in the future.
Sony is watching this reviews and they will have a month to do a better firmware with a lot of improvements.
I which reviewers could show to me photo samples of NEX-7, everyone talks about the camera but I didn’t see any video or photo samples apart from Sony advert.
I suspect Sony to be still working on some NEX-7 improvement. They have taken time till November to do so.
the A77 has some nice advertising features, but it would have been much better only to give the A55 an evolution than the now proclaimed revolution.
Think of an A55 (16MP) just with the new EVF, 19 AF points with 11 cross types and the 1080p with 60 fps with manual control and it would outperform easily any 60D, D7000 or 7D on the market! Cause be honest, 10 fps is enough and with the nice burst depth of 35 pics (jpeg fine) you can shoot like that 3 1/2 seconds 😮 and not only something more than one second with the A77 😀
thats not a fair comparison. if ypou üut the A77 to jpg the buffer will last longer than in raw mode…
no, they tested it, the buffer of the A77 lasts for 16-17 jpegs … so its like 1 1/2 seconds! thats one of the “nice” results we get from the large resolution and file size 😉
In that video where the guy demos it in the store, he lets of several long bursts without a problem.
In the Sony Q&A, he guy said they optimised it for how people ACTUALLY use burst shooting.. i.e short bursts. The buffer clearly extremely quickly. So you can let off several shorter bursts to capture times of action. As long as the buffer clears quickly, I don’t mind the smallish maximum number of shots in a single burst.
well, look here: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sonyslta77/page2.asp
there is also mentioned as “Continous buffer: 13 JPEG Extra Fine images/ 18 JPEG Fine images” 😉
and that is with a 12 fps maximum 1 1/2 seconds.
of course many fast actions are in 1 second, but some last also 3-4 seconds! for example an attack at a soccer game … with the 1 1/2 seconds maybe you have the attack but then the time is over, when the guy shoots. or you want to shoot your child running to you or some moving animals at a safari and so on … of course, the typical “jumping thing” (skateboard, person jumping or something like that) is a thing of one second, but the other things need more flexibility and a little bit longer burst shooting.
and if you think about it, when I hear “12 fps burst” … then I dont want to have only these 12 pics 😀 if I hear 12 fps, then I think of something like 50 frames shooting, that would be fun. because even if you only want to shoot one of these “jumping 1 second things”, its not guaranteed, that you find the right second, you can press to early or too late … and then you have a problem :-/
I find it a shame Sony didn’t make a vertical grip for the A65. Sony makes very impressive (the most) grips for their cameras.
We’ve had ours for about 2 weeks now and are so impressed with the photos we are getting that we are selling our last 2 A55s and getting a 2nd A77. The first 2 weddings we shot were indoors with dim yellow/orange lighting and outdoors with a gray, dreary, rainy sky. This camera handled both situations with sharp flying colors 😀 We’ve had no buffer clearing issues even when shooting in burst and are also getting excellent battery life. We have some samples posted on our site at http://abetterdj.net/SONY-SLT-A77-SAMPLES.html