Photoclubalpha

At an airshow last week I met a chap with the above combo.
He was not a happy chap at all. He had a very high proportion of out of focus shots. We discussed settings and they were similar to mine yet I was getting a high percentage of in focus shots. He also had a A77mk1 and reported no issues when the lens was on that body just on the mk2 body.

In the end he was going to send them back to Sony in disgust for them to investigate. Pity as it was a fair chunk of money and should have been an ideal pairing.

there are others with just that pairing who are very happy with it - either he has a faulty body or it's a switchology/user error.

I offered to strap it onto my Mk1 or let him try my Mk1 lens but he was quite determined that it was going to be shipped back to Sony for them to sort out. I do suffer from quite a few out of focus shots on aircraft approaching me front 3/4 but rarely on one rear 3/4. I guess I don't give it enough time to acquire the subject before releasing the shutter.
I tried an A77Mk2 for a few hours and was amazed at the large wide focus area but it did often get distracted by a close object on the periphery which triggered a swift refocus and a missed shot. Switching to a centre zone was much better. I liked it but not enough to buy one though a mate has one and is now looking to sell it on so I might dabble......

What was the metering set for? -- I've seen this problem on the A850 at air shows, unless I set it to spot metering, and focus on the bird.

The A77II is not the A77.

The autofocus module is extremely flexible and powerful and you really DO have to know how to operate it in order to use it effectively.

Focus Track Duration is the key factor for high speed imaging. The best setting for shots where you have a single subject is 1.... low.

That, plus the expand spot lock on gives you nearly 100% keepers.... ESPECIALLY with the GII, which is substantially faster than the original 70-400mm and just as sharp.

Cholly,

Agree, the A77II seemed very responsive even with my Mk1 lens. I could see that there were a lot of settings and I didn't have time to play with them all. I don't know what the focus mode was called but the local array of points which could be moved about the frame seemed very good. I didn't play with the tracking durations etc as I didnt want to wreck my mates settings.
Just not sure that's the way I want to go though. Time may tell...

Mike

mike, the more I play with my camera the more it impresses me.

There really are quite a few ways to set the thing depending on what you are shooting. Not only is the AF track duration important, but so is the AF drive speed. And yes... each DOES make a difference in what the camera tracks as well as how long it tracks it.

It really is flexible... VERY flexible. And with a fast SSM or SSMII lens up front, can be used to capture almost any image... even in poor light.

I love the camera... I really do. It's a powerful tool.