It's been about four years since Sony brought out my trusty Alpha 700, and almost criminal that they discontinued it over a year ago and left us with only rumours of a replacement floating about on the ether.
It was very well regarded when it was brought out as a rival to the Nikon D300 and Canon 40D, and although I never thought it was quite as good as the Nikon (I've never used the Canon) it matched up very well. If you look at the reviews below it shows the age of the camera when they talk about it's predecessor; the Konica Minolta 7D, which is a truly ancient camera now!
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/sony_alpha_700.html
I've loved the a700 since buying it over a year ago and it's been brilliant at weddings, product shoots and portrait sessions but I've been wanting something with a snappier auto-focus and larger file sizes. It's possible to print the a700's photos fairly big, but you can always go bigger :)
But it seems now that the wait is finally over and Sony have finally launched the a77 and pegged it as a worthy successor to the venerable a700. This has followed months of fairly un-subtle 'leaks' from Sony employees obviously intended to work us all up into a panic buying frenzy as soon as it's released. Although if the Jessop's price is accurate...
...it's not going to be an immediate problem for me at least. I hope something happens to that price because it seems to be more than was expected.
It looks fantastic on paper, although I'm keen to read some in-depth reviews once the final models are out and about. The few previews and reviews that exist out there at the moment seem to be based on 'near-final' pre-production models which may not give a full picture (geddit?) of the camera.
This preview contains some images from the a77 taken around New York and looking through them, I'm not that blown away. The high iso images show some pretty hefty noise reduction and the others are perfectly ok pictures but not exceptional in terms of clarity. I'm not fussed about iso because I rarely even use 1600 but the picture clarity and sharpness needs to be spot on.
I like the photography blog and there are a few images of the camera itself if you're keen to see it in the flesh as it were.
It seems that a few pre-production models ended up in Canada of all places, it's interesting that they compare it to the Sony Alpha 900 which is the (three years old) full-frame flagship, daddy model of the Sony DLSR line. It's a bit of an inconclusive comparison because they are quite different but it seems that the cheaper and better specced a77 may be the smarter purchase.
We'll leave the most interesting preview till last. If you scroll down the (fairly long) review, they've compared iso's and IQ to several different cameras including the Sony Alpha 850 (essentially the same camera as the a900) and (hugely unfairly) the medium format Pentax 645D which costs about $10,000. In fairness to Imaging Resource, they compare against the Pentax to demonstrate what their test shots should look like but the Sony Alpha 77 compares reasonably well.
Anyway, before I waffle on too much, I've copied the technical specs from the Sony UK website for anyone interested in buying me one as a present :)
NEW! Model:
SLT-A77VQ
A77 Translucent Mirror interchangeable lens camera
Built to meet the creative demands of serious photo enthusiasts
24.3 megapixel Exmor™ APS HD CMOS, Full HD AVCHD, 25/50p, 12fps, 7.5cm 3-way LCD, GPS. With 16-50mm lens.
- Very high resolution 24.3 effective megapixels
- Ultra-high speed continuous shooting up to 12fps
- Responsive, high-performance 19-point AF system
Sorry, price information for this product is not currently available.
Available in shops from middle of October 2011
- Overview
- Features
- Technical specifications
- Accessories
Technical specifications SLT-A77VQ
Please note our accessories are model specific and specifications may differ from country to country.
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Lens Mount
Lens Compatibility
All types of Sony A-mount lenses | YES |
Minolta & Konica Minolta α/MAXXUM/DYNAX lenses | YES |
Image Sensory
Image sensor type | CMOS Sensor |
Image sensor colour filter | R, G, B, Primary color |
Size (mm) | 23.5 x 15.6mm (APS-C size) |
Camera
Total sensor Pixels (megapixels) | Approx. 24.7 |
Effective Pixels (megapixels) | Approx. 24.3 |
Automatic White Balance | YES |
White balance: preset selection | Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Flash |
White balance: custom setting | YES |
White balance: types of color temperature | 2500 - 9900 k (G7 to M7,15-step) (A7 to B7,15-step) |
White balance bracketing | 3 frames, Selectable 2 steps |
ISO Sensitivity Setting | ISO100 - 16000 equivalent |
SteadyShot INSIDE
System: Sensor-shift mechanism | YES |
SteadyShot INSIDE scale (in viewfinder) | NO |
Camera-Shake warning (in viewfinder) | NO |
SteadyShot INSIDE capability | Approx. 2.5 EV - 4.5 EV decrease in shutter speed (varies according to shooting conditions and lens used) |
SteadyShot INSIDE compatibility | All Sony DSLR lenses and A-Mount bayonet lenses from Minolta and Konica Minolta |
*SteadyShot INSIDE was previously known as Super SteadyShot | |
Anti-Dust
Charge protection coating | YES |
Auto Focus System
TTL phase-detection system | YES |
Contrast AF system | NO |
Sensor | 19 points (11 points cross type) |
Sensitivity Range (at ISO 100 equivalent); EV | -1 to 18 |
Eye Start AF System (on off selectable) | YES |
AF Area: Wide focus area | YES (auto with 19 areas) |
AF Area: Spot | YES |
AF Area: Local focus area selection | YES (19 local areas) |
AF Area: Multi Point | NO |
AF Area: Center Weighted | NO |
AF Area: Flexible Spot | NO |
AF Modes | Single-shot AF, Automatic AF, Continuous AF |
Predictive Focus Control | YES |
Focus Lock | YES |
AF Illuminator | YES (with built-in LED) |
AF Illuminator range (meters) | Approx. 1-7 |
Auto Exposure System
Light metering type | 1200-zone evaluative metering |
Light metering cell | Exmor™ CMOS Sensor |
Light metering: Multi segment | YES |
Light metering: Spot | YES |
Light metering: Center weighted | YES |
Exposure: Automatic | YES |
Exposure: Program Auto | YES |
Exposure: iAUTO | NO |
Exposure: AUTO+ | YES |
Exposure: Shutter priority | YES |
Exposure: Aperture priority | YES |
Exposure: Manual | YES |
Exposure: Scene selection | YES |
Sweep Panorama | YES (2D, 3D) |
Anti Motion Blur | NO |
AE Lock | YES |
Exposure compensation | YES (+/-5.0 EV, 1/3, 1/2 EV step selectable) |
AE Bracketing | With 1/3EV, 1/2EV, 2/3EV, 2.0EV, 3.0EV increments, 3 /5frames (2.0EV, 3.0EV : only 3frames) selectable |
Shutter
Type | Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane type |
Shutter Speed Range (seconds) | 1/8000 - 30 and bulb |
Flash Sync Speed; second | 1/250 |
Flash Sync Speed (With Steady Shoot On); second | 1/250 |
Flash
Built-in-Flash Guide Number (in meters at ISO 100) | 12 |
Flash Metering System | ADI / Pre-flash TTL / Manual flash metering |
Flash Compensation | +/-3.0 EV (switchable between 1/3 and 1/2 EV steps) |
Built-in-Flash Recycling Time (approx. time in seconds) | 3 |
Flash Mode | Autoflash, Fill-flash, Slow sync, Rear flash sync. High Speed sync. |
Wireless flash mode | YES (with optional compatible accessory flash) |
Red-Eye Reduction | YES |
Flash Popup | Auto |
Viewfinder
Type | Electronic |
Focusing Screen | NO |
Field of View (%) | 100 |
Magnification (with 50mm lens at infinity) | 1.09x |
Eye Relief | Approx. 27mm from the Eyepiece lens |
Diopter Adjustment | -4.0 to +3.0 diopter |
Live View
LCD screen
Screen Size | 7.5cm / 3" Wide |
Monitor Type | Xtra Fine TruBlack LCD |
LCD Total Dot Number | 921.600 |
Brightness adjustable | YES |
Tilting screen | YES |
Rotating screen | YES |
Recording
Drive Mode | Single, Continuous, 10 seconds and 2 seconds Self-timer, Bracket (continues, single, white balance bracket, DRO bracket) |
Continuous-Advance Rate (approx. frames per second at maximum) | max. 12 fps |
Number of Continuous Advance | Extra fine: 13 images/Fine: 17 images/Standard: 17 images/RAW & JPEG: 11 images/RAW: 13 images |
Recording Media | Memory Stick PRO Duo™, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™, SD, SDHC, SDXC memory cards (UHS-I compliant) |
Recording Format | JPEG (DCF Ver. 2.0, Exif Ver.2.3, MPF Baseline compliant), RAW (Sony ARW 2.3format), 3D MPO (MPF Extended compliant) |
Image Size L - JPEG (pixels) | 6000 x 4000 (24M) |
Image Size M (pixels) | 4240×2832 (12M) |
Image Size S (pixels) | 3008x2000 (6M) |
Panorama size:Max. degrees of sweep angle(focal length16mm/18mm) | Wide: horizontal 12,416 x 1,856 (23M), vertical 5,536 x 2,160 (12M), Standard: horizontal 8,192 x 1,856 (15M), vertical 3,872 x 2,160 (8.4M) |
3D Panorama size:Max. degrees of sweep angle(Focal length:16mm/18mm) | Wide: 7152 x 1080 (7.7M), Standard: 4912 x 1080 (5.3M), 16:9: 1920 x 1080 (2.1M) |
Still Image quality | RAW, RAW+JPEG, Fine, Extra fine, Standard |
Movie Recording Format | AVCHD / MP4 |
Video Compression | MPEG-4 AVC, H.264 |
Audio recording Format | Dolby Digital (AC-3) / MPEG-4 AAC-LC |
Movie recording mode - AVCHD | 1920 x 1080 (50p recording, 28 Mbps, 50i 24 Mbps, 50i Mbps, 25p 24 Mbps, 25p 17 Mbps) |
Movie recording mode - MP4 | 1440 x 1080(Approx.25fps, Progressive), Approx.12Mbps(Average bit-rate) / VGA(640 x 480, Approx.25fps, Progressive), Approx.3Mbps(Average bit-rate |
Noise Reduction (Long exp.NR) | On/Off, available at shutter speeds longer than 1 second |
Noise Reduction (High ISO NR) | YES |
Noise Reduction (Multi Frame NR) | YES |
Color Space (sRGB) | YES |
Color Space (Adobe RGB) | YES |
Color mode/DEC/Creative styles | Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait , Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn leaves, Black & White, Sepia |
Dynamic Range Optimizer | Off, Auto |
Playback/Edit
White/Black Out Alert | YES |
Index Playback | YES |
Enlarge (Maximum magnification) | L size: 13.6x, M size: 9.9x, S size: 6.8x |
Image Rotation | YES |
Auto Image Rotation | YES |
General
InfoLITHIUM Battery Indicator | YES |
Histogram Indicator | YES |
Exif | Exif Ver.2.3 |
Exif Print | YES |
PictBridge | NO |
Menu Language | English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish |
Zone Matching | NO |
Depth-of-Field Preview | YES |
PRINT Image Matching III | YES |
Remote Release Terminal | YES |
IR Remote Control | NO |
DPOF(Digital Print Order Format) | YES |
Indicator of remaining memory space (CF) | YES |
Beep Sound | On/Off selectable |
File Number Memory | On/Off selectable |
Folder Name Mode | Standard and Date |
Operating Temperature (degrees C) | 0 - 40 |
Jacks
Video Out | NO |
HD/HDMI® Out | YES |
USB 2.0 Hi-Speed | YES |
USB Mode | Mass-storage, MTP |
Power/Others
Battery System | NP-FM500H |
Supplied Battery | NP-FM500H |
Stamina (battery life in CIPA condition) | Approx. 470 shots(Viewfinder) / approx. 530 shots(LCD monitor) (CIPA standard) |
Weight (g) (Body only) | Approx. 653 |
Dimensions
Width (mm) | 142.6 |
Height (mm) | 104.0 |
Depth (mm) | 80.9 |
It was a very impressive wedding and a really enjoyable day with some great items and details such as the fob-watch above which added to the overall 'feel'. I was lucky enough to borrow a Nikon D3 for the day so the poor Alpha 700 was a little bit relegated to second place although I think it'll get over it in time. The Nikon's a great camera and teamed up with the Nikkor 24-70, was a pretty fantastic performer.
Saying that, the Sony Alpha 700 performed very well and you'll be doing well to pick out the two photos in this batch that were taken with it :) I spent most of the day with the Nikon and the second photographer, Anna spent most of her time with the Sony.
It was the indoor shots that the Nikon really shined in, it's a camera well known for high iso capabilities and genuinely didn't disappoint in the church. I was pretty happy to pick out the father of the bride during the service, it's very easy to get a little fixated on the happy couple!
The weather couldn't have been nicer and we had a good amount of time to go for a short stroll around the golf course. Holly and Toby were in no rush at all and we were able to get some fantastic and very romantic shots.
As a bit of a wedding day treat for the lucky groom, Holly had arranged a VW camper for the day! She did well to keep it secret and I was a little bit jealous :)
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