Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 24.3 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Sony A77 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The Sony A77's has an extensive and very usable ISO range of 50-16000. ISO 50-1600 is noise-free, whilst ISO 3200 and 6400 produce more than acceptable results, and even ISO 12800 and 16000 are OK for emergency use. The RAW samples illustrate just how much processing the camera does by default, though, as they're much noisier at all ISO values than their JPEG counterparts.

Chromatic aberrations are very well controlled, only appearing in areas of high contrast. The 24 megapixel images are a little soft straight out of the camera using the default creative style and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera sharpening level. The built-in flash worked well indoors with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and the Bulb mode offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The built-in SteadyShot anti-shake system works well when hand-holding the camera at slower shutter speeds.

The effective Dynamic Range Optimizer function extracts more detail from the shadow and highlight areas in an image, without introducing any unwanted noise or other artifacts. The High Dynamic Range mode combines two shots taken at different exposures to produce one image with greater dynamic range than a single image would produce. It only works for JPEGs and for still subjects, but does produce some very effective results. Sony's now tried-and-trusted Sweep Panorama is still a joy to use. The 11 creative effects quickly produce special looks that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the 6 Creative Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images.

Noise

There are 9 ISO settings available on the Sony A77. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 50 (100% Crop)	ISO 50 (100% Crop)
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)
ISO 16000 (100% Crop)	ISO 16000 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Sony A77 has 3 different image quality settings available, with Extra Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

24.3M Extra Fine (12.08Mb) (100% Crop)	24.3M Fine (6.06Mb) (100% Crop)
24.3M Standard (4.12Mb) (100% Crop)	24.3M RAW (23.9Mb) (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Sony A77 are Autoflash, Fill-flash, Slow sync, Rear flash sync. and High Speed sync., with Red-eye reduction available in the Main Menu. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (27mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (82.5mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (82.5mm)

And here are a couple of portrait shots. Neither the Auto setting or the Red-eye reduction mode caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye reduction	Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Sony A77's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's also a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 20 seconds at ISO 100.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Steadyshot

The Sony A77 has an antishake mechanism built into the camera body, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Shake Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Shake Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than when it's turned off.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Shake Reduction Off (100% Crop)	Shake Reduction On (100% Crop)
1/10th / 27mm
1/4th / 82.5mm

Dynamic Range Optimizer

D-Range Optimiser (DRO) is Sony's solution to improve shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light. There are 5 different levels and an Auto option.

Off	Auto
Level 1	Level 2
Level 3	Level 4
Level 5

High Dynamic Range

High Dynamic Range Optimiser (HDR) is Sony's solution for capturing more contrast than a single exposure can handle by combining two exposures into one image. There are 6 different EV settings and an Auto option.

Off	Auto
1EV	2EV
3EV	4EV
5EV	6EV

Creative Styles

There are 6 Creative Style preset effects that you can use to change the look of your images.

Standard	Vivid
Portrait	Landscape
Sunset	B/W

Picture Effects

Just like Olympus and Panasonic, the Sony NEX-C3 now offers a range of eleven creative Picture Effects.

Off	Toy Camera
Pop Color	Posterization
Retro Photo	Soft High-key
Partial Color (Red)	High Contrast Mono
Soft Focus	HDR Painting
Rich-tone Mono	Miniature

Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony A77 allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching and even successfully compensates for moving subjects. The main catch is that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution.

Standard

Download the Full Size Image

Wide

Download the Full Size Image

3D Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony A77 also offers a 3D Sweep Panorama mode. If you're lucky enough to own a compatible 3D HDTV, download the sample below to experience the full 3D effect.

Download the Full Size Image

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony A77 camera, which were all taken using the 24.3 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony A77 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Function Menu

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Sony A77 is a big leap forward for Sony's DSLR range, offering a feature-set, handling and performance that beats its main rivals. The new 24.3 megapixel sensor offers greatly increased resolution without impacting on low-light performance or operational speed, while the OLED viewfinder is simply the best EVF that we've ever had the pleasure of using. The inclusion of full 1080p movies, built-in GPS, 12fps burst shooting, dual control dials, top-panel LCD and an excellent 3-way rear screen make the A77 our new favourite prosumer DSLR.

As it shares the same sensor with the A65, image quality is also excellent, with results from the 24.3 APS-C sensor easily rivalling the DSLR competition. Noise doesn't rear its ugly head until ISO 3200 for JPEGs and even the faster settings prove eminently usable, although the A77 does apply some pretty aggressive noise reduction to keep the files clean as shown by the much noisier RAW images. The myriad of creative effects such as HDR, Dynamic Range Optimisation, creative styles, picture effects and the innovative sweep panorama mode help to get the most out of the A77.

As with its SLT predecessors, the A77's translucent mirror and EVF combination open up a world of possibilities for Sony, with headline grabbing burst shooting speeds, fast auto-focus for both stills and video, barely any shutter lag to speak of, and 100% scene coverage. There are some limitations of this ambitious design, most notably the almost complete inability to pan with your subject and rather noticeable jumps in focus if using continuous auto-focus during video recording, but overall the new A77 feels more mature and well-rounded than the first generation.

Compared to the cheaper A65 model, the bigger, magnesium-bodied A77 is clearly designed to appeal to the enthusiast who wants all the bells and whistles. It therefore has a magnesium-alloy body with weather-sealed controls, two control dials, faster 12fps burst mode, a 3-way swiveling LCD screen, useful top LCD panel, 19-point autofocus with more cross-sensors, a flash sync socket, and an optional vertical grip. But if you can live without those features and want to pocket the rather substantial cash saving instead, the A65 is still a fantastic and crucially cheaper alternative.

Having said that, we'd definitely splash the extra cash and choose the A77 every time. It offers enough upgrades over the A65 to tempt us, and crucially it out-performs the direct competition too. At a time when compact system cameras are the centre of attention, it's great to see some real innovation in the DSLR world, and for that innovation to result in a truly exceptional camera like the new Sony A77.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony A77 from around the web.

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