New Sony a77 24.3 Megapixel DSLR - $1399 What?!

[James Shadle]

Highlights of the new Sony a77 with Translucent Mirror.

Exposure System

• Metering : Advanced 1200-zone evaluative metering
• Metering Modes : Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot
• Metering Sensitivity : -2EV to 17EV (at ISO 100 equivalent w/ f/1.4 lens)
• Exposure Compensation : +/-5.0 EV(1/3EV,1/2EV steps selectable)
• Exposure Settings : AUTO,AUTO Advanced (AUTO+), Scene Selection (SCN), Sweep Panorama, 3D Sweep Panorama (3D), Continuous Advance Priority AE (12fps), Movie, Programmed AE (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter-speed priority (S), Manual (M)
• Scene Mode(s) : Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports action, Sunset, Night portrait, Night View, Handheld Twilight
• Picture Effect(s) : 11 types (15 variations): Posterization (Color, B/W), Pop Color, Retro Photo, Partial Color (R,G,B,Y), High Contrast Monochrome, Toy Camera, Soft High-key, Soft Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-tone Monochrome, Miniature
• D-Range Optimizer : Yes: (Auto, Level, Off)
• Auto Exposure Lock : Yes (AE Lock button)
• Color Temperature : 2500 - 9900 k with 15-step each Magenta/Green compensation (G7 to M7), Amber/Blue (A7 to B7)
• Creative Style : Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait , Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn leaves, Black & White, Sepia (Contrast (-3 to +3steps), Saturation(-3 to +3steps), Sharpness(-3 to +3steps))
• Exposure Bracketing : Bracket: Cont./Bracket: Single, 3/5 frames selectable
• ISO : Auto (ISO 100-12800, selectable the lower limit and the upper limit ); Selectable ISO100 - 16000 equivalent (ISO numbers up from ISO50 can be set as expanded ISO range)
• Noise Reduction : Long Exposure NR: (On/Off, available at shutter speeds longer than 1 second) High ISO NR: (High/Normal/Low)
• White Balance Mode : Auto,Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent (Warm White, Cool White, Day White, Daylight) , Flash, Setting the color temperature, Color Filter, Custo

Flash

• Flash Compensation : ±3.0 EV (switchable between 1/3 and 1/2 EV steps)
• Flash Coverage : FOV coverage up to 16 mm (in the focal length)
• Recycling Time : Approx. 3 sec.
• Flash Bracketing : 0.3/0.5/0.7/2.0/3.0EV steps, 3/5 frames(2.0/3.0EV : only 3 frames) selectable
• Flash Metering System : ADI flash / Pre-flash TTL / Manual flash
• Flash Modes : Auto, Fill-flash, Slow Sync., Rear Sync., Hi-speed sync., Red-eye reduction (on/off selectable for Autoflash and fill-flash mode), Wireless, Off
• Flash Type : Built-in, Pop-up Auto
• Guide Number : 12 (in meters at ISO100)

Drive System

• Burst Buffer : JPEG Standard (17 shots) JPEG Fine (17 shots) JPEG Extra Fine (13 shots) RAW (13 shots) RAW+JPEG (11 shots)
• Continuous Shooting Speed : Continuous (Hi: up to 8fps,Low: up to 3fps) Continuous Priority AE (12fps)
• Drive Mode : Single-shot, Continuous shooting (Hi/Lo selectable), Self-timer (10/2 sec delay selectable), Bracket (Continuous/Single/WB/DRO), Remote commander (RMT-DSLR1 Sold Separately)
• Self-timer : 2-sec. or 10-sec. delay,
• Shutter Speeds : 1/8000 to 30 seconds, bulb
• Shutter Type : Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane shutter

Weights and Measurements

Dimensions (Approx.) : Approx. 5-3/4 × 4-1/8 × 3-1/4" (142.6 x 104 x 80.9mm) (W/H/D) excluding protrusions
Weight (Approx.) : Approx. 1 lb 7 oz (653g) (excl battery, lens & media) Approx. 1 lb 9.8 oz (732g) (w/battery & media)

Imaging Sensor

Imaging Sensor : Exmor™ APS HD CMOS sensor (23.5 X 15.6mm)
Processor : BIONZ™ image processor
Anti Dust : Charge protection coating on Low-Pass Filter and electromagnetic vibration mechanism
Pixel Gross : Approx. 24.7 megapixels
Effective Picture Resolution : Approx. 24.3 megapixels
Focal Length Conversion Factor : 1.5x
Color Filter System : RGB primary color filters

Focus Control

Focus System : TTL phase detection AF (CCD line sensors)
Focus Points : 19 points (11 points cross type)
AF Modes : Single-shot AF(AF-S), Continuous AF(AF-C), Automatic AF(AF-A) selectable, Direct Manual Focus (DMF), Manual Focus
Focus Area : Wide (auto,19 points)/Zone/Spot/Local selectable
Focus Sensitivity : EV -1 to 18 EV (at ISO100 equivalent, with F2.8 lens attached)
Focus Features : Predictive control(AF-A, AF-C), Focus Lock, Eye-start AF
AF Illuminator : Built-in LED, Range: approx. 3' - 21' (1m-7m)

Viewfinder

Type : 0.50" XGA OLED EVF (Electronic viewfinder) (2,359k dots)
Diopter Adjustment : -4.0m-1 to +3.0m-1
Field of View : 100%
Magnification : 1.09x (with 50mm lens at infinity, -1m-1 )

Advanced Features

Auto High Dynamic Range : Yes, (Auto Exposure Difference, Exposure difference Level (1-6 EV at 1.0 EV step), off)
Embedded GPS : Yes
Sweep Panorama : Horizontal (Wide/Standard), Vertical, and 3D Panorama
Face Detection : On/On (Regist. Faces)/Off
Smile Shutter™ technology : Smile shutter (selectable from 3 steps)
Image Stabilization : SteadyShot INSIDE™ in-body image stabilization

LCD Display

LCD Type : 3.0” TFT Xtra Fine™ LCD (921,600 pixels) w/TruBlack™ technology
Angle Adjustment : Tilt angle: Up: 150 degrees; Down: Approx. 180 degrees Rotation angle:180 degrees clockwise and 90 degrees counterclockwise.
Brightness Control : Auto, Manual (5 steps between -2 to +2)
Coverage : 100%
Live View : Continuous Live View (LCD/EVF Auto, selectable)
Real-time image adjustment display : Yes(On/Off)
Histogram : Yes (On/off)
Grid Display : Yes (Rule of thirds, 4x6 Square, Diagonal & 4x6 Square Grids, Off)
Customization : Grid, Histogram display, Digital Level Gauge, Grid Line, Magnified display for playback

 

[Roger Clark]

I'm surprised Sony is still clinging to the word Translucent.

Translucent means it will pass light diffusely, which means a lot of scattering and poor for imaging. A flash diffuser is translucent. Lenses are transparent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparency_and_translucency

If Sony really means translucent, it is not good!:Whoa!:

Roger

 

[Sinuhe Hahn]

I guess the term would be semi-translucent. It seems to be similar to the mirror system that canon used on their Eos RT, which they have long abandoned.

Concerning the new Sony, it does appear that 24 Mp is too much of a good thing - the photos posted on DPReview do not bode well, especially at ISO 1600 - muddy and noisy.

I hope that Nikon does not follow this route for their new release.

 

[Robert Hardy]

i just saw a video showing the a77 - considering it does not have a mirrow to throw up and down the shutter seems very loud .
Rob.

 

[Roger Clark]

I guess the term would be semi-translucent.

So you would like all your images semi-fuzzy?:w3

Roger

 

[Sinuhe Hahn]

Sorry - I meant semi-transparent :e3

Wikipedia has a ref on the development and use of the Pellicle Mirror, which was 1st used way back in 1965......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellicle_mirror

 

[Robert Hardy]

Having seen a few more video's of the a77 the shutter might not be as loud as i first thought .

Im suprised there is not more coments on this - as a wild life / bird photographer the shutter noise of my mk3 and 7d really loses shots as it can scare the subject away after just 1 shot.
Rob.

 

[Kenneth Liljeholm]

Well its news from sony,if it would have been from canon or nikon you should have got 100 answers in the the thread and it have been fantastic!
Its the same in sweden they try to keep the lid on as much as they can on sonys new innovations and keep silent.
But fact is that sony is the only one coming with new ideas at the moment.

 

[Roger Clark]

Well its news from sony,if it would have been from canon or nikon you should have got 100 answers in the the thread and it have been fantastic!
Its the same in sweden they try to keep the lid on as much as they can on sonys new innovations and keep silent.
But fact is that sony is the only one coming with new ideas at the moment.

Kenneth,

Perhaps it's because it is a wait and see how it really performs. And it is not a new innovation, as Canon had this, what, 20+ years ago.

I think the camera is interesting from a HD video perspective as it has predictive AF during HD filmng. But the EVF means a readout delay, so for fast action photography it seems like it has a significant weakness (EVF) when the no mirror movement idea should have moved the camera into a faster realms. And one has to wonder what the beamsplitter will do to image quality. This is not the film days and today's digital pixesl are very small requiring unprecedented image quality.

Roger