Photoclubalpha

i really like the look of the a77 but have not tried one out yet. is it better that the dslr's of othermakes, how does it compare images wise with the a700 or is that a good comparison.

mike hawthorne

Mike I haven’t even seen one in real life yet myself, but those who have taken the plunge seem pretty happy with the A77 from what I’ve seen, have you read DK’s review? http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2011/10/1 ... rrow-today
Greg

I still have my old trusty a700... but never used it after getting the a77.

Hi Mike

I'm a landscape person, similar subjects to your work I'd say. I went from a KM D7D (which I love) to the A77. I found the change-over frustrating because, not only did I have to change my handling of the camera, I also had to change my raw conversion software, and in fact ended up changing my workflow and most of my software. I have also just changed my tripod. The detail that you get from the A77 shows up deficiencies in your methods, lenses, and tripod! (I previously submitted a couple of posts on this forum highlighting my frustrations.) I haven't bought any new lenses yet, but have sort of thought about it! Fortunately my computer equipment is reasonably new and up to the job.

Having got over the hump I'm now very happy with the A77. The EVF cannot display the range luminousity that I'd like, but on the other hand in low light conditions its a joy to use when compared to the D7D's OVF (which had one of the better digital camera OVF's). I photograph only raw, so the ultimate image is not going to look exactly like an LCD in any case.

For me the most annoying aspect of the A77 is that I often accidentally move the front "thumb wheel", which is set up to adjust exposure compensation. But that is more me than the camera.

Bottom line - I've grown attached to the A77.

regards - Peter

The A77 takes a bit of getting used to. It is a complex camera. The 24MP are amazing if you make big prints. No more up-sizing. The main potential problem is the EVF. You need to look through one before you lay down your cash. You need to keep an open mind and realise that OVFs have weaknesses too - just different ones. I quickly adapted to it and I can put on a 9 stop ND filter on and see what I am photographing (a noisy view for sure but better than having to remove the filter to recompose and focus). Also you get a much better impression of what happens when you stop the lens down. I am snowed under with work etc at the moment but shortly I will get out the A700 and A77 and try to do some meaningful comparisons re IQ.
Can someone tell me what the rules are for attaching files here - max file size etc?
In the meantime here is a small section of an A77 test shot taken at iso 6400 and treated in adobe Camera Raw for the best result that I could get. It would measure about 10.8 x 8.4 cm at 360 ppi and 39 x30 cm at 100 ppi, which is about what your monitor is displaying it at. The whole image would be 41 x 28 cm at 360 ppi. This should give some indication of what the camera is like at high iso. I don't have an in-camera jpeg to show you but I know that it would be worse. This is pixel peeping of course.

johnstra wrote:...Can someone tell me what the rules are for attaching files here - max file size etc?

if attaching then max. 250KB and 1024 * 1024 max
Better to link a photo from a hosting site (e.g. Flickr, Picassa, PBase, Smugmug...) with no restrictions