I need some feedback from a A57 owner

i dont suspect at 12fps that you will be able to accurately look at each pic and make any adjustments.

I WILL tell you, that at 12fps, the camera crops down the images to 8.4MP. And does a GREAT job of keeping each frame in focus. That paired with a quality lens will lead you great results. You can also go with 10fps at full res.

As far as delay time, shutter actuation happens instantly after your depress the button. there really is no delay after you take the photo as long as you have a fast card. I use a standard of brand class 10 card, and the picture is displayed a split second after the photo is taken. Heres the advantage of SLT cameras though...LIVE VIEW. Any changes you make before the shot, shows up immediately on the viewfinder, so you have a almost 100% view of how the photo will come out, providing you or the subject doesnt move.

The a57 also has a large buffer so can take a lot of shots in a row, before it needs to start processing them.

I am not a pro photographer, but have owned a few dslrs. The a57 is by far my favorite. Is it the best out there? No. But for what it offers it is an EXCELLENT camera in its price range. And has scored Gold ratings from dpreview and is praised highly by many other personal and professional reviewers.

The only disadvantage (and really isnt to me) is the amount of lenses available for sony versus Nikon. Sony has built up a pretty good collection of quality lenses, including Zeiss lenses, and also can use most of the old legacy minolta lenses. But Nikon does have more lenses available.

Id pull the trigger on the sony, as most of the other users in this forum will recommend well... because its a sony forum