My a77ii arrived

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the_hefay
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My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

When the a77ii went on sale for $300 off with a free Sony grip ($300 value) I decided it was time to upgrade. I must not have been the only one to want it because B&H ran out right when I ordered and it took several more days for them to get it in stock to ship. Well, it's finally here. I've only had time to take a few sample shots and try to familiarize myself with the features, buttons, menu, etc. Hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to do some real shooting.
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mikeriach
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by mikeriach »

Good news, I look forward to hearing how you get on with it. I have the Mk1 and like it other than find it a bit noisy at higher ISOs.

A friend has one but I have not yet managed to borrow it for a comparison.
All my Sony SLT gear gone. Still got my RX100 though.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Good stuff give us an update on how you feel about it only had a brief hands on with one
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

I've never used or handled an a77. So the following thoughts may or may not be revelations to a77 owners.

I haven't been able to use my a77ii much yet. The thing I was most leery about was the EVF. My only experience with EVF's were camcorders and point and shoot cameras. They served the purpose of getting the camera pointed in the right direction and some of the better ones allowed you to see the subject in a rather grainy fashion. The EVF on this camera is amazing. Of course if you have the a77 you already know how good the EVF is. So far in my limited use of the camera, I haven't noticed anymore viewfinder eye fatigue/strain than I had using the OVF on the a580 and a100. This is my first camera where several buttons are customizable and I have already taken advantage of that. The battery grip is much bulkier than the one for the a580. One thing about the grip that I really like is that the battery door of the camera does not need to be removed in order to use the grip. It has a slot into which the open battery door fits. With the a580 grip the door had to be removed and attached to a storage point on the battery grip. I like the feel of the mode control dial. I do not care for the push button lock in the center of it though. I find it to be quite cumbersome. Of course if you mostly leave you camera in one mode, say aperture priority, then this really wouldn't be a problem at all.
Last edited by the_hefay on Sat Dec 20, 2014 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

I took this shot the other night. I'm not the best at removing noise in LR but I did a little bit of pp on this image. The first is out of camera jpeg. The second is LR jpeg no pp. The third is with pp. After looking at the last one again, I think I have too much saturation, but this was mostly a noise test for me.

high ISO NR is off
1/250 @ f/3.5
ISO-12800
CZ 16-80mm @ 18mm
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out of camera jpeg
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LR jpeg
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

Here are some 100% crops of the post-procesed image. Part of the lack of detail/sharpness in the eyes is the fact that this was shot using f/3.5 and it looks like I was focused on the top of my forehead. Just so it's completely clear, I in no way claim to be an expert on photography, post-processing, camera reviews, noise management, color management, etc. If anything I post is helpful, great. If it's not, I fully understand. :)
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

I posted this image in another thread earlier and just figured out how to attach an already uploaded image. The first crop is from the focal point of the image. The second crop shows some markings around the leaves. I don't think it's ca, but I'm not sure what you call it.

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classiccameras
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by classiccameras »

It could be colour leaching. Did you have all the auto corrections switched on.
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

Not sure. What auto corrections are you talking about?
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classiccameras
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by classiccameras »

CA and distortion possibly, I have that feature in my A-57, whether that works I don't know, may be the phenomena is some thing completely different and beyond my technical knowledge.
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

I didn't know the a77ii had that. I'll have to look through the menu again. I'm not sure what it's set at.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Corrections only work for jpegs as far as I'm aware (unless you have a profile in LR/ACR for the lens) there are a few I rarely use them though
ISO 12800 is pushing things a bit IMO on APS-C you get all sorts of problems like colour shifts and the noise requires a lot of processing you'll wing a small print, but ISO 6400 is about the limit on a crop body that can be pushing it a bit at times too, 3200 being safe enough bar whacky exposures.

Or try b&w solves an awful lot of problems for super high ISO shots no colour problems to worry about or WB issues
The grip isn't small I would prefer a more compact one being honest, I only use it for all day shoots weddings etc, if not I usually take the grip off. It's a decent grip but I'm not a grip person though the battery capacity boost is handy and it helps balance things with a flash on top. Most folks think you're shooting a FF body with an A77 gripped
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

Barry, I was thinking that the corrections would be jpeg only. I did find them on the menu and both ca correction and distortion correction were set to auto. ISO 12800 is a bit high but with the 24mp sensor it seems like the noise is less evident than with my a580 at a comparable viewing/printing size. I'm not much of a grip button user. I use a grip as a battery holder. I suppose I should practice using the buttons on it as long as I have it attached.

Speaking of buttons...every button on my a580 was exactly the same feel and look. On the a77ii most buttons are unique to the touch. This includes domes and dips along with raised rims and various combinations of these. Once I get familiar with the feel I'm sure I'll shoot, review, adjust settings, etc. primarily through the evf.
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the_hefay
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Re: My a77ii arrived

Unread post by the_hefay »

One thing for sure, it uses batteries. I'm glad I have the battery grip.

The more I use it the more I like the the EVF. I'm not sure why. It's plenty large and it really doesn't bother my eye at all. In fact at times it feels more comfortable to look through than my a580 or a100.

With the grip attached, it is bulkier than I prefer. In fact, it overpowers my tripod. Time to upgrade that I guess. All that aside, both the body grip and the vertical grip are the right size for my hand and fingers. I can reach all the buttons and dials without feeling like I'm really stretching or scrunching to get the task done. Kudos to Sony on this.
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