A77 II announced ~

ConradM · May 1, 2014

A newfound focus: Sony SLT-A77 II First Impressions Review: Digital Photography Review

Sony has announced the SLT-A77 II which, as the name implies, is an overhaul of its semi-pro APS-C camera from 2011. The camera itself looks interesting, but so do some of the things it could be taken to signify.

Sony is not a company that could ever be accused of not trying. Eight years on from buying Konica Minolta's camera business, Sony has produced over forty interchangeable lens cameras based on at least three fundamental design approaches: conventional DSLRs, the fixed-mirror SLT system and the mirrorless E-mount models. Those cameras have continued to get better and the company has recently hit a particularly good run of form.

This success in terms of making very good, as well as very innovative, cameras starts to make sense of what has at times looked like a 'try lots of things, see what sticks' approach. The question is: once one of the designs really delivers on its promise, does it make sense to continue the other technologies in parallel?

Clearly Sony believes it does. Despite the leaps and bounds being made with the E-mount Alphas, both in terms of the on-sensor phase detection autofocus of the a6000 and the full frame sensors shoehorned into the A7 triplets, it has continued to develop its SLT cameras. The A77 Mark II features a new autofocus sensor, and it's much more than a refreshed version of an existing design. Instead the A77 II is built around the AF module with the most focus points of any camera on the market (79), covering an extremely wide area of the frame. That doesn't necessarily make it quite as sophisticated at pro-grade DSLRs, since they have more cross and diagonal sensor elements, but it looks very impressive for a camera in this part of the market.

The autofocus capability combines with the camera's ability to shoot images at 12 frames per second to offer a compelling feature set. The A77 II also benefits from the autofocus tracking advances that have been included on recent Sony cameras, which use information from the main image sensor to identify and follow a given target.

Beyond that autofocus sensor, the A77 II gains an updated 24MP sensor (presumed to be a version of the sensor from the a6000, but without the on-chip sensor phase detection design) and all the benefits that the company introduced with its Bionz X processor. This means it gains three features: context-sensitive noise reduction, diffraction reduction technology and more-sophisticated sharpening.

79 AF points, 60 jpeg buffer for continuous shooting. Curious to see how the high iso performance is.

Stevepwns · May 1, 2014

The iso performance is the only thing I am interested in. I have no complaints other than that with my A77 so I really dont have a reason to upgrade unless there is a somewhat large jump in ISO usability.

Here is the Factory page.
New Sony A77 Specs

ConradM · May 1, 2014

I don't either although it's nice to see the advancements in the AF system.

ConradM · May 1, 2014

Is there anything that comes close to a 60 frame jpeg buffer? That's massive...

jaomul · May 1, 2014

ConradM said:
Is there anything that comes close to a 60 frame jpeg buffer? That's massive...

I think the 7d will do 70+ jpegs. It's usually only in raw where the buffer really shows it's muscles

BGeise · May 1, 2014

I agree less noise would be nice but the bigger buffer would be nice too. Although not sure that i would need to use the 60 jpegs. How big of a buffer to the D4s have?

jaomul · May 1, 2014

I am not certain but 200 jpeg buffer on the d4s rings a bell from when I wasted my time reading reviews and specs of a camera I can't afford

I think a 5d3 will go until card is full on just jpegs

ConradM · May 1, 2014

BGeise said:
I agree less noise would be nice but the bigger buffer would be nice too. Although not sure that i would need to use the 60 jpegs. How big of a buffer to the D4s have?

It is quite a bit... But the idea is nice. I generally don't need more than 10 shots at a time if I'm shooting action.

Stevepwns · May 1, 2014

I do like the buffer increase, I have missed more than a few shots of birds in flight due to the small buffer on my A77. The more I read about it, I am considering the upgrade. but I am going to wait until there are some hands on reviews I can watch on youtube. I really want to go FF but need the speed of the A77 so I may just get the A99 or its replacement and milk my A77 for all its worth.

jfrabat · May 5, 2014

Stevepwns said:
The ISO performance is the only thing I am interested in. I have no complaints other than that with my A77 so I really dont have a reason to upgrade unless there is a somewhat large jump in ISO usability.

I am more or less in the same boat; I love my A77, and the only real complain is the low ISO range that I can use (I try to keep to ISO 800 or lower, with the absolute max being ISO 1,600). And, while the new camera is amazing, I still prefer GPS to WiFi. Granted, being able to control the camera from your phone is pretty cool, but I do have both wired and wireless remote triggers, so it is not a must have for me. Similarly, the buffer increase is nice, but the current one works OK for me (I guess if you spray and pray, the new buffer will work great for you, but if you time it, the old one does the job).

I am happy Sony is continuing to invest in the A mount series, so this is good news, and this is a camera many enthusiasts can get that will give them great performance at a competitive price.