Help not sure if i should stay in the sony dslr fam

[gsgary]

If you are going for a studio setup ... Sony still has to workout some issues with non-dedicated off-camera flash and the EVF.
I hope one day Sony does figure out that important aspect.

Sony does have a nice array of G and Zeiss lenses ... so if you stick with Sony, budget for that and stick with full frame capable lenses.

In terms of EVF, the A77 is higher resolution at 1.2 million dots, brighter and with greater contrast. The criticism of a little too much shadow contrast in some shots is apparently fixable in the firmware update. The fact that Sony is still going with the EVF on the A99 full frame indicates that it is not a problem compared with the optical viewfinder of other cameras and has some advantages over them.

skieur

Best thing about is you can see the noise before you take the shot

 

[Crollo]

Here we go again...

 

[skieur]

If you are going for a studio setup ... Sony still has to workout some issues with non-dedicated off-camera flash and the EVF.
I hope one day Sony does figure out that important aspect.

Sony does have a nice array of G and Zeiss lenses ... so if you stick with Sony, budget for that and stick with full frame capable lenses.

In terms of EVF, the A77 is higher resolution at 1.2 million dots, brighter and with greater contrast. The criticism of a little too much shadow contrast in some shots is apparently fixable in the firmware update. The fact that Sony is still going with the EVF on the A99 full frame indicates that it is not a problem compared with the optical viewfinder of other cameras and has some advantages over them.

skieur

Best thing about is you can see the noise before you take the shot

Uping the gain in the viewfinder does not change the shot and that is only done where light is too low for even an optical viewfinder to work properly.

skieur

 

[gsgary]

In terms of EVF, the A77 is higher resolution at 1.2 million dots, brighter and with greater contrast. The criticism of a little too much shadow contrast in some shots is apparently fixable in the firmware update. The fact that Sony is still going with the EVF on the A99 full frame indicates that it is not a problem compared with the optical viewfinder of other cameras and has some advantages over them.

skieur

Best thing about is you can see the noise before you take the shot

Uping the gain in the viewfinder does not change the shot and that is only done where light is too low for even an optical viewfinder to work properly.

skieur

If you up the ISO you can see it changing in the veiwfinder because i tried

 

[kassad]

With the A77 can I adjust the viewfinder independently of the shutter, aperture, and iso. For instance with the a55 if you are shooting with off camera flash at 1/160 second f8 iso 100 the evf is completely black. I understand that the camera can be tricked by popping up the pop up flash and blocking it. Unfortunately that seems like a clunky solution.

 

[kassad]

Back to the original question. What do you want to upgrade? Look at used lens. Minolta made some great lens the 70-210 f4 is amazing. They can be found for under $150 on ebay. With these older lenses the depreciation is minimal. If you decide to jump to Nikon, Canon, Pentax etc your resale value is about what you paid originally. Decide what features you want, then the brand is incidental. Sonys can do do almost anything you may want.

 

[gsgary]

With the A77 can I adjust the viewfinder independently of the shutter, aperture, and iso. For instance with the a55 if you are shooting with off camera flash at 1/160 second f8 iso 100 the evf is completely black. I understand that the camera can be tricked by popping up the pop up flash and blocking it. Unfortunately that seems like a clunky solution.

No idea, but i came across your problem when i set up a studio night and one of the club members had the A55, it was a pain in the ass, if the A77 is similar it is a very big minus point

 

[skieur]

With the A77 can I adjust the viewfinder independently of the shutter, aperture, and iso. For instance with the a55 if you are shooting with off camera flash at 1/160 second f8 iso 100 the evf is completely black. I understand that the camera can be tricked by popping up the pop up flash and blocking it. Unfortunately that seems like a clunky solution.

As I previously indicated you can up the gain on the A77 viewfinder alone in that situation without it affecting the photo.

skieur

 

[DiskoJoe]

My friend Jay works for the Houston Press and uses only sony gear to do his photography. He has an alpha 850 and lots of nice zeiss and minolta glass. If you talked to him you would wonder why anyone would buy anything besides sony. He also host a radio show called tech bytes so he is a formidable expert on technology.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Back to the original question. What do you want to upgrade? Look at used lens. Minolta made some great lens the 70-210 f4 is amazing. They can be found for under $150 on ebay. With these older lenses the depreciation is minimal. If you decide to jump to Nikon, Canon, Pentax etc your resale value is about what you paid originally. Decide what features you want, then the brand is incidental. Sonys can do do almost anything you may want.

This is not pro quality. Get the Sigma 70-210 f2.8 APO or the newer versions that are 70-200 f2.8 APO. The APO glass is really nice. My 70-210 caost me $525 used but was worth every penny.