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This camera is superb, it is light and solid and very cumfortable to hold and use. Extraordinary feature set and suoper image quality. Auto HDR, Aur D-Range etc, B/W+ 1 colour etc. loads and loads, ISO 50 - 16,000 + multi frame low noise/ easy to use, good buttons + easy menue through FN button. Electronic first curtain means super responsive shutter, no shutter lag what so ever!!! Did direct comparisons with 7D and 5D and D7000 and the a77 blows them out of the water, including image quality, and dynamic range! 16-50 f:2.8 lens is blindingly good and pin sharp very fast AF, but rather heavy! Slow to start up and switch off, slow to react to adjustments, no EV control on Manual?
I've been using mine for about 16 months now, and I can honestly say I love it. The Sony 16-50 f/2.8 zoom is tack sharp, even at full aperture, and to really ensure perfect focus you can enlarge the EVF image to 100% for fine focussing. There's also a function for micro-adjusting the autofocus. Both the body and the lens are weather-sealed. Whilst that doesn't mean you can go shooting in a downpour with the camera unprotected, it does buy you some time when conditions take a turn. Both also feel very well built, in common with its A700 and Konica Minolta Dynax 7D predecessors. Whilst the Sony glassware is excellent, it's not cheap, so it's good to know that there are loads of lenses available from makers such as Minolta, Sigma, and Tamron among others, because the Sony / Minolta A-mount has been around since 1985. That said, the more recent lenses have internal focussing, and quieter and more responsive autofocus. Thanks to Sony's translucent mirror technology, in which the mirror does not have to flip up during exposure, the shutter action is very quiet and smooth, important when you're covering a wedding or other event where noise might be an issue. The controls are well-placed, and functions such as the shooting modes, ISO, drive speed, exposure compensation, and white balance all have their own dedicated button or dial. Other functions can be added to a quick access menu, accessible via the Fn button, whilst the main menu system allows a myriad of settings. As a wedding and events photographer, I like the responsive operation. I've used Minolta / Sony cameras since 1997, so can't really compare with Canon or Nikon, but I've always found them very intuitive. Picture quality is excellent, as you would expect from a 24MP APS-C sensor in a camera of this class, and high-ISO noise is a great improvement over my previous cameras, the A700 and Dynax 7D. Using RAW further enhances this by keeping the full picture information, and of course allows for greater adjustment of white balance and exposure in post-production e.g. Lightroom or Photoshop. The HD video quality is also good, as you would expect given Sony's expertise in video cameras at all levels. The change to a more standard style of hotshoe means that an adapter is needed to use older Sony and Minolta Dynax-fit flash, but allows for a wide range of accessories, including microphones. It also means that non-dedicated flash can be used more easily, but I wouldn't recommend using guns dedicated to other makes. Sony is at last being taken seriously by makers of professional lighting gear, and there are a number of manufacturers, including Sony themselves, Phottix, Nissin, Elinchrom, and Godox, producing radio-activated flash systems, complete with TTL and Hi-Speed Sync (HSS). I haven't yet bought into any of these systems, but I'm really keen to try it. Whilst the optical wireless flash system is quite effective in a small area, the range is limited whereas some of the radio systems have a range of over 300 feet. One must-have accessory for prolonged use is the battery / vertical control grip. This allows you to use two NP-FM500H batteries simultaneously, essential if you are shooting all day. It also duplicates the shutter release, input control dials, and other controls for use in portrait orientation. Sony also produces control apps for Mac, PC, Android, & iOS. The Mac & PC apps allow the camera to use the computer for storage, and also allow settings to be viewed and changed, but don't allow live image viewing. I can't comment on the iOS app, but the Android app is rubbish; It allows viewing, and the shutter can be fired, but:: a) you must be in full auto; b) you cannot change exposure settings c) the app does not control the autofocus. That's unacceptable in 2016. To sum it up, It's a great camera, and the question is whether I'd buy another. Well, I would. Enough said.Read full review
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What a great machine, perfect for my goal, foto and some movies. It was nice for the camera to have 2 card slots, one for filming/fotos and other for fotos. If you don't have much money spent on lenses from another company, look at this machine.