Sony SLT Alpha 77 : Tests and Reviews

12-12-12 We captured over 250,000 images so far this year with our Sony SLT-A77s in our concert and wedding photography divisions. We change out our cameras quickly so that we don't get too high of a shutter count to hurt the resale. We are now on cameras number 4, 5, 6, and 7, all Sony A77s. We love everything about these cameras and once we got used to them the results keep getting better and better. We have changed out and upgraded all of our lenses... it is not fair to this camera to shoot with anything less than the best glass.

Our lens battalion now consists of:
-Tokina 11-16 2.8(excellent low light super wide angle, great for video. Very sharp with excellent color. Not good for long distance or extreme closeups))
-Sony 16-50 2.8 (our 1st copy of this lens wasn't quite right and I'm glad we got another one... very sharp, great color, silent focus, great for video)
-Sony 18-135 (this lens surprised us and gave results close enough to our Minolta 28-135 to replace it. Add in the better electronics and slightly better low light usability and you have a great walk around DAYTIME lens. Very sharp, excellent color)
-Sony 35MM 1.8 (excellent low light lens, portrait lens, perfect for indoor video. Extremely sharp with excellent color, great for extreme closeups)
-Sony 50MM 1.8 (excellent low light lens, portrait lens, perfect for indoor video. This is our go to lens if the 35MM is already being used on another camera. Extremely sharp with excellent color)
-Minolta 80-200 2.8G (my favorite lens and I use it whenever I can. Excellent sharpness and color. The only downside with this lens is the 6' "MFD" minimum focus distance)

Some of the other great lenses we have tried on the Sony SLT-A77:
Minolta 20MM 2.8
Minolta 50MM 1.7
Minolta 28-135 4-4.5
Minolta 500MM f8 AF
Tokina 19-35
Tokina 20-35
Minolta 17-35 2.8-4
Minolta 28-85
Minolta 100-300 APO

Some of the lenses we tried and were very unimpressed with
Tamron 17-50 (sharp but color was way off)
Sony 18-200 (soft on both ends)
Sony 18-200 (soft on both ends)
Sony 18-55 (best maker of 18-55 but still garbage)
Sony 18-70 (one of the worst lenses ever made)
Tamron 75-300 (sharp but bad color)
Sigma (tried many, not impressive compared to Sony or Minolta)
Here's some links to recent photos taken with these cameras and lenses
http://www.rocklegendsphotographers.com
http://abetterdj.zenfolio.com/f573970812

<div id="linkdxomark">This a comment for <a href="http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Sony/SLT-Alpha-77">this page on the website</a></div>I posted something similar on the A65 page, but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on why, given both are using the same sensor, that the A77 scores 801 in high-ISO while the A65 only scores 717. I understand why the A77 might score higher overall due to the lower ISO range, but not why it would be better in low light.

Looking at the NEX-5N vs the NEX-7, the high-ISO performance difference isn't as great (1079 for the 5N vs 1016 for the 7) and they are using sensors with significantly different resolutions.

So why such a big difference in high ISO for the A65 vs A77?

We just shot over 9,000 photos and 2 videos in 4 days with our 2 SONY SLT-A77s!

We just returned from a gig as official photographers of the Rock Legends Cruise. I shot about 5,000 photos with my A77 using my (favorite) MINOLTA 28-135MM 1:4-4.5 lens and my wife took about 4,000 photos using her SONY SLT-A77 using her favorite... the SONY 16-50MM 2.8 lens.

We shot about 75% of the indoor shots with no flash. You can read a review of the cameras performances and see the photos and videos under the RLC Cruise photo tab at http://www.abetterdj.net ENJOY!

Sony's SLT fuzzy pix are a bear to deal with.

SONY could have easily called this lens a "G" lens!

Our 2nd A77 with the 16-50 lens came in on Wednesday and I can't seem to leave it alone (HELP! I'm taking photos and I can't stop!) This camera and lens were made to be together. The sharpness and color beat all of my legendary Minolta glass and the speed is incredible! Photos are processed and already showing on the LCD before your subject is finished saying cheese.

This one is going to be permanently attached to my wife's A77 since she's the primary shooter but I might just have to get another one for my own A77 if I can convince myself that I'm no longer addicted to my MINOLTA 28-135 1:4-4.5! That lens has been so good to me I can't bear the thought of bagging it.

The A77s grow on us more and more every day. I was kinda jealous of some of our other shooters that had the SONY zoom button, our A55s didn't and I wished they did. I love zooming in with the 28-135 then hitting the button twice and getting that fabulous crop. I also have a 100-300 APO that looks great doubled to 600MM... kinda makes me want to go for a 100-400 APO!

We've posted some great flower shots with the A77/16-60 combo on our site... just got to the SONY|MINOLTA tab http:www.abetterdj.net

This camera continues to impress us! After the 2nd wedding we ordered a 2nd A77 and sold all of our A55s. This time we ordered the 16-50 lens with it and I'll be back with results :D

For those of you that already have the SONY A77 the update is published on our site. It's east to do and only takes about 10 minutes :D www.abetterdj.net go to the SONY/MINOLTA tab

This page is supposed to be measurements and review of the Sony a77, but I cannot find any measurements or review. Where are they?

<div id="linkdxomark">This a comment for <a href="http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Camera-Sensor-Database/Sony/SLT-Alpha-77">this page on the website</a></div>We didn't have the patience to wait for the US release of this camera plus we were worried it would be pre-sold-out (like happened in the UK), so we ordered 1 from Hong Kong (2 day delivery $1329 US). We sold one of our 3 SONY A55s to make room for it in our camera tub and all we can say is WOW!

We've had ours for 6 days now and shot about 300 test shots before shooting our 1st wedding (800 shots) last Saturday. We were not expecting much photo quality improvement over the A55s but boy were we wrong. The detail, sharpness, and color that this camera put out were a noticeable improvement from our A55s.

The wedding we shot was very dimly lit and the camera had no problem making the proper adjustments. We shot all night in Auto to put it through the tests. The camera reacted well and is super fast both in AF speed and shutter reaction. Out of 800 shots we had 798 useable, with the 2 bad ones being an ooops and one shot that the flash didn't fire. There was no noise at all in any of the photos taken.

The camera is larger, but not too large for my wife's normal female sized hands. The weight was actually less than we expected and she was comfortable during the whole 6 hour shoot. We never experienced a lag time while the buffer unloaded and we got almost 700 shots from the SONY battery. The buttons and dials are all nicely placed and after a few days of getting used to the camera we have found everything to be easily accessible. There is very little need to go into the menu once the camera is set up for your shoot, there are buttons for just about everything.

For anybody thinking of buying one of these... stop thinking and start your preorder process, it is well worth the $1400 selling price. We will be replacing our A55s with A65s soon, but the A77 will continue to be our primary camera.

We've posted some sample shots at www.abetterdj.net and will post some of the wedding shots Thursday or Friday.

One more thing... in case you didn't know the legendary MINOLTA lenses work perfectly on these cameras! You will get much more bang for your buck going with these. We shoot exclusively MINOLTA lenses on all our SONYs. Our primary lens is a MINOLTA 17-35MM 1:2.8-3.5 and our A55s are both equipped with MINOLTA 28-135 1:4-4.5 lenses. We also bag a MINOLTA 100-300MM APO lens for long distance shots at concerts we shoot. We are the official photographers on the Rock Legends Cruise in December www.rocklegendscruise.com and will be posting about 15-20,000 photos to share with everyone :D