Sony takes back speed crown: A77, 24.3mp up to 12fps (also the A65)

Roger

Roger

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Staff member
While this has been known since the camera shows earlier this year, it's finally official:

Sony has released the A77, their refresh of the prosumer A700. ; It is an SLT, 24.3mp, up to 12 fps with autofocus, OLED viewfinder. ; You can get the same sensor with less bells and whistles in the A65.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqs5TDU0X20[/youtube]

Someone even posted a test of the 12 fps, not sure how good of a test it was though...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF1-I-Zmvrk&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]
 
Most likely this will be the samne 24mp sensor Nikon will use in their D300 follow up. ; As Sony has theirs rated, it's 100-16,000 ISO. ; The same sensor is shared in the NEX7, sans the mirror, which will most likely show the best example of the sensor's ability since it doesn't suffer any light loss from a mirror. ; The 12fps mode is a locked aperture mode - set the aperture, and it won't change during the burst - however it CAN track focus during the sequence. ; If you want full metering AND focus during continuous shooting, the camera has a 'regular' 8fps mode...still quite fast.
 
Scott, Nikon will probably squeeze a little more out of the sensor than Sony has. ; Sony has followed Pentax's lead by offering ISO 50 as an extended range. ; I'm a little disappointed with the high ISO and the samples that have come out so far but that could be related to the preproduction firmware/NR settings not being changed.....
 
Yeah, I wouldn't look too hard at any samples yet - there's not one single verified production version sample out there - all seem to be cameras tagged with 'firmware .65' and so there could still be big differences. ; Not to mention how important the lens becomes when dealing with a 24MP sensor!

The only negative so far for me that's verifiable is battery life - but that's the Cipa rating, and there's still no official word on what settings were activated. ; At 500 shots, that's a lot less than I'd like to see from a semi-pro...but would turning off GPS, turning off eye-start, turning off image review, and setting sleep mode to 1 minute increase that by 10%, or 80%? ; Until I know that, I can't say for sure that the battery life is a make-or-break for me. ; The high ISO performance I will want to see at least as good as the A580 at identical resolution - so a 24MP photo, resized to 16MP, that looks as good or better than what the A580 does, would be fine for me. ; My other unknowns remain whether I'll be able to use the EVF comfortably for tracking flying birds while firing bursts, and whether overheating can occur in 100 degree heat with a camera on for hours at a time, firing 12fps bursts for 2,000-3,000 frames.

The positives? ; Love the speed, love the origami screen, love the size of the EVF, love the custom floor and ceiling for the auto ISO, love the multi-frame NR modes, love the additional cross sensors for the focus system, love the almost completely customizable control/button interface, love the DMF ability, love the size, weight, and grip of the camera.

Waiting for reviews and a hands-on for me, to determine if it would be my next camera, or not.
 
You know I could answer some of those questions Justin...

I have my A55 turned to the no image review, the quickest time off (it responds quickly!), and it will overheat after about 20 mins of CONSTANT use. ; That means not letting it shutdown. ; In 100 degree temps it might be more, but I'm not going to go test that anytime soon. ; Wouldn't take much for me mind you! ;

Anyway, the battery lasts for 500-700 shots and I know the A55 was rated less. ; I think that's why they added the battery grip to it.
 
You are right about the lenses too. ; Even with 16mp I can see some areas that the vaunted 18-250 Tamron is starting to show loss of resolution....seriously thinking about the Zeiss 16-80 or one of the Sony full frames, like the 28-75/2.8.....just in case.
 
Only a few sites have the pics for it, and you can't preorder it just yet on Amazon, but Sony also announced the new Alpha to E Mount adapter that includes phase detection AF via SLT mirror AND it will AF screw driven lenses.

They are starting the bridge to the NEX series.....once the image samples start coming out from the real world the time may be coming for me to get one....esp now that they have Zeiss native glass!
 
The NEX7 does look like quite an amazing beast - I love my NEX3, but that faster shutter, more customization, more controls, OLED viewfinder, and faster speed all sound pretty nice. ; I'm back to not needing 24MP again, but I will be looking hard at that one. ; In the meantime, they're finally starting to bulk up the lens selection on the eMounts, and now solved the Amount screw drive issue with the new adapter for anyone wanting to share between systems...so it's getting more interesting.
 
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