My rating reflects the camera as a whole. I bought it, use it and love it, but I'm going to take a different approach here and review one aspect of this camera: the viewfinder.

Most of the professional reviews I've found for the Sony a77 (dpreview, etc) are entirely missing the point. The electronic viewfinder alone is reason enough to consider this camera a step up from a traditional DSLR, even if the DSLR you were comparing an a77 with had identical specs. I'd say the a77's viewfinder is a pleasure to use (and it is), but even that is missing the point.

This viewfinder will change the way you use your camera. It'll change it for the better because it gives you greater control over the camera than you've ever had before.

Because the viewfinder is an OLED video screen in the eyepiece instead of being a typical piece of glass, you're seeing something entirely different. Something more useful.

An optical viewfinder shows you what the lens... Read more

The Camera Fairy blessed my porch last Friday and handed me an Amazon box which upon opening, disgorged a familiar black and orange Alpha box with my A77 body inside, safely cushioned in bubble-wrap. In addition to the charger, manuals and ads, software CD, neck strap and USB cable, there was an empty space (sadly) for the kit lens. Since I already own a very nice Minolta 28-75 f/2.8 standard zoom, I passed on ordering the A77 with the new 16-50 f/2.8 SSM "kit" lens. I put quotes around "kit" because the new 16-50 is anything but a standard starter lens. It has a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture, solid build and is weather-sealed to match the A77. Though not designated as a "G" or "CZ" lens, in tests it approaches the performance of Sony's excellent 24-70 f/2.8 Zeiss and is actually designed to fill the same effective focal length range on the APS-C cameras that the 24-70 does on full-frame. I planned on replacing my Minolta lens with the Zeiss next year but this new "kit" entry seems... Read more

UPDATE 12-11-11
Last week we put our 2 SONY SLT-A77s through the ultimate test.

We were the official photographers on the Rock Legends Cruise and shot over 9,000 excellent photos over 3 days. I had to only reboot my A77 3 times but my wife did not have to reboot hers at all.

We shot about 65% of the concert photos with no flash in low natural stage light and got amazing results with very little ISO noise problems.

We also shot our 1st and 2nd rock videos with the A77 and were amazed at the results. I was set up about 15 feet from the main PA system right stack and the sound was not blown out even though I only used the on-board microphone. The stereo sound is crystal clear and other than some faint wind that was picked up the audio was perfect!

We've received hundreds of compliments on our concert photos and many are from Canon and Nikon users :D They have already been published on several online rock magazines and there are a lot more... Read more