Sony DSLT-A77 and 16-50 f/2.8 SSM hands-on review

[Ouverture]

Well , most product launches arent without glitches. pretty sure those bugs will be resolved via new batches once the causes for the problems are arrested.

Yes of course these will be fixed in due course.

We have lots of concern as we are guning to be the first few to own the first batch.

 

[sabian]

planning to get mine maybe Dec let see how it goes 1st... looking at the noise control versus A580 and NEX 5N really pain in the heart seeing A77 loses out to much lower models.. So it's really a balance of Megepixel versus Noise Control is the game... now I fully understand why some brands reluctant to move forward on the megapixel war... anyways hope they'll be able to fixe it soon else I might end up buying A580 or Nex5N lolz

Same here. Was waiting so eagerly for the a77 but cannot understand why 5N can produce cleaner pictures.

a77 is supposed to take the fight to the competition and now "it's stumbling over its own shoelaces".

 

[Atarandas]

Nex5N is the indisputable iso king , however that doesnt make A77 a flop. Must all Sony camera from here onwards be ISO king in order to be sellers ? I find it strange that ISO becomes the sole indication for performance.

What about resolution , DR , and qualities of noise , ergonomics , handling, AF speed, metering accuracy , quick changes of settings on the fly , build quality ... all these taken for granted meh ??

 

[greenieadi]

I hope it's only a firmware mismatch against the new BIONZ chip as rumored by SAR link here.

If it's the bionz design flaw, then that's bad. Hope it's the first case and a firmware upgrade is only required rather than a total recall.

I, like many others, judge a camera performance based on it's overall basic features. Just to zoom in on ISO performance (1600 and above) at pixel peeping level is kinda an acute assumption, bordering to trolling in nature.

 

[sabian]

Not saying it's a flop but there's a lot expected from the a77 given all the pre-launch hype.

ISO matters for me but I will wait for it to b reviewed by my fav sites before deciding.

 

[albertri]

Nex5N is the indisputable iso king , however that doesnt make A77 a flop. Must all Sony camera from here onwards be ISO king in order to be sellers ? I find it strange that ISO becomes the sole indication for performance.

What about resolution , DR , and qualities of noise , ergonomics , handling, AF speed, metering accuracy , quick changes of settings on the fly , build quality ... all these taken for granted meh ??

I really like A77 and hoping they'll fix the bug issue... hopefully it's just firmware not qaulity control issue at thier manufacturing plant =(. Anyways is all about photo quality you could have al the best features and yet IQ is not that great then what's the point of having such high end and feature pack cam right? I am not saying A77 is a flop or IQ not that good but having a cam that could perform a great noise control is great, imagie your photo at ISO 200 day light showing noise would that concern you?

Let's hope and pray Sony would fix the bug issue =)

 

[Ouverture]

I really like A77 and hoping they'll fix the bug issue... hopefully it's just firmware not qaulity control issue at thier manufacturing plant =(. Anyways is all about photo quality you could have al the best features and yet IQ is not that great then what's the point of having such high end and feature pack cam right? I am not saying A77 is a flop or IQ not that good but having a cam that could perform a great noise control is great, imagie your photo at ISO 200 day light showing noise would that concern you?

Let's hope and pray Sony would fix the bug issue =)

I think after 4 long years and with competitors like 7D, K5 and D7000 and their own nex5n has really spoilt the market with high iso performance, therefore increasing the overall perspective of potential users to expect unusually low light performance from a camera.

A33/55 did not really fare well, A580 did not come SGP and still its a entry level model. So this new mid range A77 has lots of shoes to fill in and lots of expectations (even unreasonable ones) to meet.

When i was having my first A300, i seldom go pass iso400 and use fast primes or zooms to counter it.

Then got A700 where i am so happy that iso800 is clean and never have to go pass 1600 either.

A550 then was the game changer for Sony as it was all along not being considered as low light performer. Iso1600 and 3200 suddenly becomes magic for Sony.

A580 improved on that but was still a entry level model, as for A33/55, dun have to say much, although low light performance has improved, but was overshadowed by D7000 and K5.

So now A33/55 has a elder bro who supposed to improve on all fronts. While sony has gone upsurp in pushing the boundary to go 24mp, its low light performance is actually same or slightly better than its fellow SLTs.

In jpegs, the way sony process it has also improve as you wont see unnecessary details smearing like before. Even up to iso1600 is still very sharp. Try compare it with jpegs of A33/55 and A580 and you will see its absolutely better.

Though the sad part (according to many), performance at iso3200 and above are not acceptable.

For me, i seldom shoot pass iso1600 since i know no matter how good it is, a iso3200 picture will never look as good as a iso800 one. Either you use big aperture lenses or flash or strobes to enable us to shoot at low iso.

If its really so dark, i rather not take any photos than to embarass myself in showing a poor noisy photo.

In fact with my D7000 (which has acclaimed to be the best low light apsc camera), it is still very noisy to me from iso3200 onwards. So i am not too sure why all reviews sing praises of it.

At the end of the day, i seldom use my D7000 as i am primarily a live-view shooter and hates to squeeze my eyes into the small ovf. If the camera does not have the features that makes me use it often, even if its give me super clean iso12800 photos also no use!

 

[cairocks]

I really like A77 and hoping they'll fix the bug issue... hopefully it's just firmware not qaulity control issue at thier manufacturing plant =(. Anyways is all about photo quality you could have al the best features and yet IQ is not that great then what's the point of having such high end and feature pack cam right? I am not saying A77 is a flop or IQ not that good but having a cam that could perform a great noise control is great, imagie your photo at ISO 200 day light showing noise would that concern you?

Let's hope and pray Sony would fix the bug issue =)

Me too... I am actually waiting for its launch and hoping to own it one day.

 

[Atarandas]

kinda sad that theres no official special invite for Sony Singapore for A77. Or there is one which I dunno lol. I know Sony is having a Tablet S special launch at MBS tomorrow though , got the invite ... Hope they do similar for A77 and Nex7

 

[Fezqu]

Tempted to sell my D7000 and get A77 and its CZ lens!

 

[Fezqu]

And wow! Digitalrev website is selling A77 with the kit lens for USD2299.5! More expensive than SONY HK price. Chopping head!

 

[albertri]

I think after 4 long years and with competitors like 7D, K5 and D7000 and their own nex5n has really spoilt the market with high iso performance, therefore increasing the overall perspective of potential users to expect unusually low light performance from a camera.

A33/55 did not really fare well, A580 did not come SGP and still its a entry level model. So this new mid range A77 has lots of shoes to fill in and lots of expectations (even unreasonable ones) to meet.

When i was having my first A300, i seldom go pass iso400 and use fast primes or zooms to counter it.

Then got A700 where i am so happy that iso800 is clean and never have to go pass 1600 either.

A550 then was the game changer for Sony as it was all along not being considered as low light performer. Iso1600 and 3200 suddenly becomes magic for Sony.

A580 improved on that but was still a entry level model, as for A33/55, dun have to say much, although low light performance has improved, but was overshadowed by D7000 and K5.

So now A33/55 has a elder bro who supposed to improve on all fronts. While sony has gone upsurp in pushing the boundary to go 24mp, its low light performance is actually same or slightly better than its fellow SLTs.

In jpegs, the way sony process it has also improve as you wont see unnecessary details smearing like before. Even up to iso1600 is still very sharp. Try compare it with jpegs of A33/55 and A580 and you will see its absolutely better.

Though the sad part (according to many), performance at iso3200 and above are not acceptable.

For me, i seldom shoot pass iso1600 since i know no matter how good it is, a iso3200 picture will never look as good as a iso800 one. Either you use big aperture lenses or flash or strobes to enable us to shoot at low iso.

If its really so dark, i rather not take any photos than to embarass myself in showing a poor noisy photo.

In fact with my D7000 (which has acclaimed to be the best low light apsc camera), it is still very noisy to me from iso3200 onwards. So i am not too sure why all reviews sing praises of it.

At the end of the day, i seldom use my D7000 as i am primarily a live-view shooter and hates to squeeze my eyes into the small ovf. If the camera does not have the features that makes me use it often, even if its give me super clean iso12800 photos also no use!

true bro wih my A33 i seldom shoot ISO800... like you I've switch lens if I can... anyways let see how it goes with A77 and hope NEX7 wont have the same issue as it's bigger bro A77. Im planning to get A77 maybe in Dec so hopefully by then all are clear sailing for A77.

SLT really spoiled me just love EVF and LV what I see in the EVF or LCD is what's suppose to be my finish product/photo so no need to guess specially in the WB department I suck in WB control lolz

 

[Ghostfit]

Same here. Was waiting so eagerly for the a77 but cannot understand why 5N can produce cleaner pictures.

a77 is supposed to take the fight to the competition and now "it's stumbling over its own shoelaces".

Totally disagree with you on that ! ...you are comparing a Nex with a semi-pro camera !
Although they both have APS-c sensors you couldn't have picked 2 more different cameras, the 5N is the champion of High ISO but how does it compare in terms of High Resolution, DR, Handling, AF ...I could go on and on.

Don't know about you but I will never compare a Mini Cooper to WRXs and Evos ...not saying the Mini is no good, it's a really chic set of wheels, nice and compact but you don't put them all in the same category.

 

[ageha]

Totally disagree with you on that ! ...you are comparing a Nex with a semi-pro camera !
Although they both have APS-c sensors you couldn't have picked 2 more different cameras, the 5N is the champion of High ISO but how does it compare in terms of High Resolution, DR, Handling, AF ...I could go on and on.

Don't know about you but I will never compare a Mini Cooper to WRXs and Evos ...not saying the Mini is no good, it's a really chic set of wheels, nice and compact but you don't put them all in the same category.

I think at least DR will be pretty much the same for both.

 

[Rashkae]

Though the sad part (according to many), performance at iso3200 and above are not acceptable.

I must note though that, if resized to web size or printed up to S10R, even ISO 3200 looks crisp, sharp and quite clean. 6400 is my boundary really.

Then again, I very rarely shoot above ISO 400 anyway due to the nature of my preferred shooting style.

In fact with my D7000 (which has acclaimed to be the best low light apsc camera), it is still very noisy to me from iso3200 onwards. So i am not too sure why all reviews sing praises of it.

I thought the best were the Pentax K-5 and the NEX 5N.

 

[sabian]

Totally disagree with you on that ! ...you are comparing a Nex with a semi-pro camera !
Although they both have APS-c sensors you couldn't have picked 2 more different cameras, the 5N is the champion of High ISO but how does it compare in terms of High Resolution, DR, Handling, AF ...I could go on and on.

Don't know about you but I will never compare a Mini Cooper to WRXs and Evos ...not saying the Mini is no good, it's a really chic set of wheels, nice and compact but you don't put them all in the same category.

As you have pointed out, I am comparing Nex with a semi-pro camera. Yes, you could on and on...

There are many potential buyers of the a77 with a different sets of expectations. Why do you make it sound like it's some cardinal sin to expect the a77 to outperform the Nex on every count since it's a semi-pro?

I would also expect a 60D to outperform a G12, even if Canon plonked in an APS-C sensor into the G12. There are still some common metrics to measure them and I actually expect the a77 to at the very least match the nex-5n in every aspect.

Is that too much too ask for given that the nex-5n is probably a quarter-pro camera and not a semi-pro like the a77?

 

[tntrue]

Just unboxed my a77, battery is now on the charger. I ordered it even after I read about some of the reported bugs. Cutting-edge technology seldom comes to the market in a state of perfection, but rather relies on the market reaction to either approach perfection or abandon the effort.

Sony's directly-stated commitment to EVF and SLT was enough to get me to jump from Nikon. As such, I'm prepared to tolerate a few glitches if they occur, figuring that Sony will iron them out in the long run. And as soon as the light goes out on the charger, I'll start to see what's what. In the end, the statistics and numbers mean nothing as long as the IQ makes me happy.

Just looking out the window now, probably won't be shooting landscapes to begin with...;p

 

[albertri]

Just unboxed my a77, battery is now on the charger. I ordered it even after I read about some of the reported bugs. Cutting-edge technology seldom comes to the market in a state of perfection, but rather relies on the market reaction to either approach perfection or abandon the effort.

Sony's directly-stated commitment to EVF and SLT was enough to get me to jump from Nikon. As such, I'm prepared to tolerate a few glitches if they occur, figuring that Sony will iron them out in the long run. And as soon as the light goes out on the charger, I'll start to see what's what. In the end, the statistics and numbers mean nothing as long as the IQ makes me happy.

Just looking out the window now, probably won't be shooting landscapes to begin with...;p

pls post your experience here once you have your little new shiny toy is powered up. Just do take note when you're shutting down and wants to remove the memroy card pls wait for a while maybe half a minute to be sure I read that this caused most of the issue they thought the cam is fully power off when they remove the memry card from there all hell breaks loose so be careful bro =)

 

[eow]

woah u make quite a big change... as a ex owner of d700 and nikon user, i need yr honest opinion how does the a77 fare against yr d700, aside from iso which is quite obvious not it biggest advantage

Just unboxed my a77, battery is now on the charger. I ordered it even after I read about some of the reported bugs. Cutting-edge technology seldom comes to the market in a state of perfection, but rather relies on the market reaction to either approach perfection or abandon the effort.

Sony's directly-stated commitment to EVF and SLT was enough to get me to jump from Nikon. As such, I'm prepared to tolerate a few glitches if they occur, figuring that Sony will iron them out in the long run. And as soon as the light goes out on the charger, I'll start to see what's what. In the end, the statistics and numbers mean nothing as long as the IQ makes me happy.

Just looking out the window now, probably won't be shooting landscapes to begin with...;p

 

[Ghostfit]

As you have pointed out, I am comparing Nex with a semi-pro camera. Yes, you could on and on...

There are many potential buyers of the a77 with a different sets of expectations. Why do you make it sound like it's some cardinal sin to expect the a77 to outperform the Nex on every count since it's a semi-pro?

I would also expect a 60D to outperform a G12, even if Canon plonked in an APS-C sensor into the G12. There are still some common metrics to measure them and I actually expect the a77 to at the very least match the nex-5n in every aspect.

Is that too much too ask for given that the nex-5n is probably a quarter-pro camera and not a semi-pro like the a77?

Pointless to enter into argument on this, the facts is simple ! Don't like the camera ? DON't buy the camera !!!
Whining and arguing about it only makes one looks like a Canikon fanboy !


(now where's that 'ignore' button)