How about the A-77 for aviation photography?

Dear forum-members,

As a long time Minolta-KM-Sony user since the prehistoric SRT-101, I come to this forum with a specific question concerning the A-77.

How does it behave for aviation photography?
Anyone has hands-on experience with it for this specific subject?

• What about AF-speed compared to A700?
• What about viewfinder lag while panning fast action?
• I don't mind high ISO, but what about low ISO noise in blue sky?
• Does object tracking works for aviation?

The last camera in my bag is the A700 (coupled to the 70-400G), with well over 250000 clicks it's about to be replaced, so I look forward to some real world experience ... Below some of my shots with the A700.

Kind regards and enjoy the year-end, Jan aka Louis Bleriot

I'd like some feedback also. Currently using the A900 and wanting better tracking of moving aircraft.

Nice shots. The a77 is a great improvement over the a700, specially for the tracking and AF. The only weak points I can think of in your case with the a77 are the noise at high ISO and the small buffer. Tracking and AF are much better than on the a700.

Those are spectacular photos. #3 is a prize winner IMO - a perfect angle, great colors and wonderful sharpness & shutter speed.

I used the A-77 last weekend at a wedding. I was tracking moving kids in near darkness (BV - 4.6) with my Minolta 50mm f1.4. I actually managed to get a few shots IF. The A-77 AF is pretty nice using AF-C IMO, but have not used it for aircraft. It even works well on my SAL 18-250mm at f6.3 - far superior to my A-100.

Here's an example of sky noise - a 100% crop. All I did with the original RAW image was run it through Lightroom defaults (default color NR, but no luminance NR). No editing. It was shot at -1/3 EV. It should give you some idea of sky noise @ ISO-400.

SLT-A77V, Big Beercan, f/8 @ 300 mm, 1/2500, ISO 400



--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!

I think here the noise is exaggerated because the shot was grossly underexposed. But then again tough because in order to increase exposure you have to increase the ISO. So striking a balance is really tough sometimes.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/39182144@N03/

Thx for the nice comments, Ed ... the third one actually won a prize in the local foto-competition.

That noise in the blue sky, is what I'm a bit afraid of ... otoh it's a 100% crop and I normally don't peep at this level. On top, I must confess I never shoot RAW. Up till now jpeg is OK for me (and it saves me a lot of work).

phiri said:

I think here the noise is exaggerated because the shot was grossly underexposed.

Click to expand...

The Eagle, yes, but the sky, I think "grossly" is an exaggeration. As I noted, it was shot at -1/3 EV and, with multi-segment metering. IMO, the A-77 metering is very good. EXIF is attached.

Louis - also, IMO, the A-77 OOC jpgs are really nice as long as you keep ISO below about 800. Above that, they start getting a little mushy - I assume due to the heavy handed NR.

--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!

--
Barry

Ed at Ridersite said:

phiri said:

I think here the noise is exaggerated because the shot was grossly underexposed.

Click to expand...

The Eagle, yes, but the sky, I think "grossly" is an exaggeration. As I noted, it was shot at -1/3 EV and, with multi-segment metering. IMO, the A-77 metering is very good. EXIF is attached.

Louis - also, IMO, the A-77 OOC jpgs are really nice as long as you keep ISO below about 800. Above that, they start getting a little mushy - I assume due to the heavy handed NR.

--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!

Click to expand...

I think the exif does not really tell all about exposure. I checked the photo using a histogram so from that you can tell that the shot was underexposed. Metering of the a77 can be great but then the histogram shows how the tones are distributed. You can check the histogram and tell me what you think about it, I could be wrong
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/39182144@N03/

Canadian Club is a pilot and A77 user who has often posted aircraft photos here. He claims the A77 is great for photographing aircraft and I have no doubt that is true. Send him a private message if you want to discuss it with him.

http://www.dpreview.com/members/1474996061/forums/messages?page=1

--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/

Louis Bleriot said:

How does it behave for aviation photography?
Anyone has hands-on experience with it for this specific subject?

Click to expand...

Well, with Sony getting the A77 out in November, even if aviation is usually my main subject I must say I barely have anything in that department yet. Not really the season... last airshow of the season was in September, so still used the A580+Bigma.

The only aircraft shots I have with the A77 so far are static, plus a couple of air-to-air but those aren't moving much in relation to the camera, so not what you're about...

Louis Bleriot said:

• What about viewfinder lag while panning fast action?

Click to expand...

In single-shot mode there is zero lag, and blackout time is shorter than on a moving-mirror camera, so no issues there. Just disable auto-review.

In burst mode there is a lag during the burst, you see the last shot image rather than live view. Might be more annoying for some, personally I'm more of a "short burst" guy i.e. I'll use 8fps mode but shoot 3-shot bursts at most, reframe, repeat... with the intent of getting one decently framed shot in the 3, and which already worked better than machine-gunning with a conventional DSLR (couldn't do anything about correcting your framing between 2 shots with the fraction of a second you had before the VF blacked out again anyway, had to rely on correct panning more than on visual feedback), so I don't think it will be an issue for me.

Louis Bleriot said:

• I don't mind high ISO, but what about low ISO noise in blue sky?

Click to expand...

Fairly "high" compared to my previous A580, however that's to put in relation with the pixel count. And when you shoot aicraft in blue sky you're in good light = ISO200, which is no issue unless you crop like crazy. ISO400 is OK too. Above I'd refrain.

Louis Bleriot said:

• Does object tracking works for aviation?

Click to expand...

No idea. Don't think you'd really have time to frame, then go press the tracking button before actually shooting.

If you have the "aircraft on blue sky" scenario, I doubt it would be of much use, the camera will focus on the only subject there is anyway.

Note, I always shoot RAW only.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kilrah/
http://www.youtube.com/user/kilrahvp

I also went from the a700 to the a77 and use it for aviation photos. I got the a77 in late October and have not had a chance to really give it a good work out but was at the model R/C field for a quick go right after I got it. It is better than the a700 without a doubt! I'm really looking forward to spring and summer.
Here are a couple of shots:





and here is one just for you with the a700:



BTW, I'm a retired USAF fighter pilot.

--
Busch

Take the scenic route! Life is too short to do otherwise.

http://www.pbase.com/busch

Sony a77 + minolta 70-210 , Manchester Airport

Here's the histogram from the jpg straight out of camera.

jpg histogram - Eagle



--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!

Ed at Ridersite said:

Here's the histogram from the jpg straight out of camera.

jpg histogram - Eagle



--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the histogram. It looks ok in this one. So what do you think is causing the noise in the sky?. Of course I discussed this with some other members that whenever there is a brighter subject than the sky, with a denser sensor like the a77, the sky will be underexposed if the subject is properly exposed. I think that is the nature of the beast
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/39182144@N03/

phiri said:

Thanks for the histogram. It looks ok in this one. So what do you think is causing the noise in the sky?.

Click to expand...

It's a 100% crop of a 25mp sensor. If you size it down to 25% (still huge), you don't notice the noise. This has been discussed quite a bit here lately.

For the record, I've just started shooting & processing RAW, so I don't really know what I'm doing yet with the settings and processing. I probably should have overexposed this shot, but at the time, was not expecting any BIF opportunities. This was the first Eagle I've seen in our area in over four years of daily shooting. It was nothing more than a grab shot with a 300mm lens. But, I do think the shot is a reasonable example of the sky noise.
--
AEH
http://aehass.zenfolio.com/
Question: What do you do all week?
Answer: Mon to Fri. Nothing, Sat & Sun I rest!

http://www.dynaxdigital.com/images-to-share/f15-eagle/

http://www.dynaxdigital.com/images-to-share/coningsby-typhoon/msg163763/#msg163763

http://www.dynaxdigital.com/images-to-share/c-130-close-up/msg163762/#msg163762

I am a moderator on another forum and one of our members is shooting aviation regularly. He has jumped ship and got himself a Canon 7D, which is apparently perfect for his style of shooting. I do not want to lure you away from Sony but I do believe in horses for courses and if I were you I would check the Canon 7 D before making any decision.

Stef.

Kappels said:

I am a moderator on another forum and one of our members is shooting aviation regularly. He has jumped ship and got himself a Canon 7D, which is apparently perfect for his style of shooting.

Click to expand...

Did he mention why?

His photos are very nice indeed, but as usual any of today's camera is capable of taking them with the right photographer behind... what could the Canon give him over the Sonys?

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kilrah/
http://www.youtube.com/user/kilrahvp

With due respect, position plays a great part in many of his shots. Panning is the key to great aviation shots. Most any good camera can take excellent aviation shots if used properly.
BTW, you should see what it looks like from the cockpit. ;-)

--
Busch

Take the scenic route! Life is too short to do otherwise.

http://www.pbase.com/busch

Kappels said:

I am a moderator on another forum and one of our members is shooting aviation regularly. He has jumped ship and got himself a Canon 7D, which is apparently perfect for his style of shooting. I do not want to lure you away from Sony but I do believe in horses for courses and if I were you I would check the Canon 7 D before making any decision.

Click to expand...

He went from an A900 to a 7D. It says nothing about the A77.
--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/