I need some feedback from a A57 owner

Hi. Are we to understand that you are not able to handle an SLT model (any SLT model) in person and do some evaluation before buying anything? This would be a really important step.

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

Unfortunately I am about 3 hours from the nearest store that would handle this quality of camera so no, I can't try them out.

I purchased my A57 with 18-135 about a month ago, coming from Nikon (D40 with kit lenses and the 35 f1.8). I can't speak for the D3200, but I have taken over 2,000 pics with the Sony kit, including the 12 FPS feature (surfers at Huntington Beach).

45mm (18-135)/= to 67mm

Cropped 80%

IMO pic IQ was very good, and when necessary, I was able to crop down reasonably well working with a 4.6 MP JPEG image (I have a 100-300 Minolta arriving tomorrow to eliminate the need to do massive cropping). And frankly, at least to my eyes, it's impossible to follow individual frames at 12 per second.

Thanks - I don't need a really huge selection of lenses, I'm looking to buy the 18-55 & 55-200 or 55-300 right now.  I may buy others later but those will pretty much do everything I need to at this point.

I'm really glad to hear there is no lag time, that is one of the things I really fight with my current camera.  There are ways around it but it runs the battery down much faster.

CB

also, check out the a67 and 77 models too before you make a decision. Im fine with the a57 but if you have a little more loot you may want to look at those also, even though the 57 is superb.

also, dont forget about the 16-50mm lens. its effin awesome

Great pictures - I've never seen anyone serf in person but I'm guessing they are moving at a pretty high rate of speed and those are very clear.

I think the 12fps would come in handy when taking pictures at rodeos and horse shows when you have a horse running full speed after a calf or around barrels.  I honestly can't remember what the FPS is on my old camera but I know I usually get one, maybe two frames at the most that are in focus and the rest are a blur when taking a burst.  That is what I'm trying to eliminate because my luck seems to be it is never the pictures I really want that are in focus!

Thanks for your help!

CB

I bought A57 as birthday gift for my sister, here is a "test shot" to show A57's hi-speed tracking ability:

And low light ability:



Without a doubt the most fun I've ever had with a camera. Here's a couple more IQ examples, all shot with a $60 Minolta lens...



Fast shooting speed!!



Pretty good low light..not the best maybe, but usable for sure. This is at ISO 3200.



And nifty shooting modes, like HDR, Toy, Mini, 3D Panorama, etc...

I haven't regretted my decision once, as I'm sure you wouldn't either. Good luck with whatever you decide to go with!!

Cheers!

The a57 has great speed and I've used it successfully at kids baseball games and get good results of my dogs fetching. I have read that the EVF is not accurate when you are trying to track something, that you are actually seeing the shot you just took and not the one you are taking. I don't know if this is a real problem or not, but you may need an optical viewfinder for optimum results with sports.

I would strongly suggest you buy from someone with a good return policy and give the burst modes a try for yourself. It's a really, really nice camera.

Jack

Love the detail in those shots!  Great detail in both.

Truly awesome.  Thanks for sending these examples - did you use the burst mode to take the picture of the dog in the water by chance?

For the type of sporting events you described (football, voleeyball, rodeo, horse show, etc.), a57 is no problem.  The issue some people raise is keeping your subject in the field of view (and relatively centered) for fast moving subject, like in panning.  There is a little delay in display that can cause you to point your camera where the subject was milliseconds ago, rather than where it is NOW.  This issue is not unique to SLT cameras, the traditional SLR has similar issue of losing sight of the subject while the mirror is flipped.  The faster the subject moves across the field of view (like a race car moving left to right, or right to left), the more problematic it becomes.  But with practice, one learns to move the camera with the subject regardless of what the view finder or screen shows.  It also helps if you don't zoom in too tightly on the subject (e.g., instead of framing on the driver's face, pull back a little and frame the car, etc.).  I got excellent results with my a57 shooting races and aircraft flybys.

One way to avoid this "delay" is to use a camera with a separate viewfinder (like rangefinder or twinreflex-type camera), but they have their own issues (like parallax) and they don't usually make a good sport camera.

Adorama has a good deal right now A57 with 18-135mm and 55-300mm for $949

i bought this kit last week it's a great camera

Thanks! I did use the burst mode. The tracking does take some getting use to, but once you get the hang of it it's a cinch. 12 or even 10 FPS is pretty outstanding. The sound always makes me smile..lol.

Here is a real life example of what the A57 can do under some pretty tough conditions. The sequence starting in photo 5 are done at the full res 10 frames per second under terrible night lighting of very fast action at ISO 3200. I may not have uploaded a frame or two. There are some other sequences there too.

Sisters Rodeo 2012

Night Rodeo Sequence

Those are great sequences, Gary.

I am very pleased with my A57, an incredible piece of camera gear. Mine has the 18-55 kit lens, and it is usually set for f8 to f16. The images from the camera are very clear for a 'low end' kit.

Regarding the 12 fps - I have a 26 shot series that took about 2 seconds to get,  of sea gulls flying by and attacking fish. They are all in focus. My old Canon 1D series did not ever do as well. The Nikons I had never did as well, but I did not have a D series to check out.

So, the camera may have a shallow buffer - certainly not the size of what the 7d has, but sufficient for short bursts. And since the file size has been reduced with the 12 fps option, and when using a UHS-1 95 mbps card, the camera never loses a beat seemingly. Hopefully Sony will see that the little camera is worthy of a major firmware improvement that will augment some of these features.

It would be interesting to see how the little monster does with the 70-400g lens, I am contemplating that purchase. Hopefully one of you guys will review that combo, would be highly interesting.

So, I don't think there is a better bang for the buck in that price range. The next step up is the a77, so for about $300 you can have a pro body, and 24 megapixels, but not the image quality.

Thanks

Thanks. I'd only had the camera for a couple of weeks so I was pretty tickled at how well it did considering I had 'moved down' with a camera half the original price I paid for my A700.