Upgrade to a77 from a100? Please advise.
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:22 pm
I am a relatively satisfied user of the SONY a100 since September 2006. I shoot only RAW. My themes are mostly landscapes (beach, sunsets) but also portraits and people. When I shoot indoors, I rarely use flash but rely on fast lemses of fixed focal length. I very rarely use ISO above 200.
In some situations like moving target (person) or indoor shooting, the autofocus fails.
I don't use high ISO because the noise is rising dramatically. ISO 1600 noise is visible even in small resampled pictures. On the other hand, ISO 100 with sunshine etc. is very good. I always have the camera on the beach with me.
So now I am wondering if the time has come to upgrade and the candidate would be the a77. I don't care that much about the extra pixels since I rarely print. I would benefit only in those occasions that I crop images to fix the composition.
What I am mostly interested to know in order to decide is:
1) Will outdoors picture quality at ISO 100, 200 be at least as good as a100 or maybe better due to higher dynamic range (sunsets, etc.)?
2) Will Autofocus be better at low light or moving person? Low light is more important.
3) Will ISO 400 - 1600 be significantly better than with the a100?
The other features are just a plus but they are not sufficient. The above three issues are the important ones.
Could somebody advise? In central Europe the thing is much more expensive than in the US. So if I buy it, I have to stick with it for at least 4-5 years.
For those curious about the photos I take: http://picasaweb.google.com/miltiadis.sarakinos
Miltos
In some situations like moving target (person) or indoor shooting, the autofocus fails.
I don't use high ISO because the noise is rising dramatically. ISO 1600 noise is visible even in small resampled pictures. On the other hand, ISO 100 with sunshine etc. is very good. I always have the camera on the beach with me.
So now I am wondering if the time has come to upgrade and the candidate would be the a77. I don't care that much about the extra pixels since I rarely print. I would benefit only in those occasions that I crop images to fix the composition.
What I am mostly interested to know in order to decide is:
1) Will outdoors picture quality at ISO 100, 200 be at least as good as a100 or maybe better due to higher dynamic range (sunsets, etc.)?
2) Will Autofocus be better at low light or moving person? Low light is more important.
3) Will ISO 400 - 1600 be significantly better than with the a100?
The other features are just a plus but they are not sufficient. The above three issues are the important ones.
Could somebody advise? In central Europe the thing is much more expensive than in the US. So if I buy it, I have to stick with it for at least 4-5 years.
For those curious about the photos I take: http://picasaweb.google.com/miltiadis.sarakinos
Miltos