# A77 ah ha



## BGeise

So i am still trying get used to my A77 but i still feel like i am not getting the full use out of a lot of the features the camera has to offer. Wondering if anyone has had any "ah-ha" moments of things they have learned how to use or things they have discovered.


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## Kolia

Lots !  Lol !

-Focus Peaking
-Setting the exposure preview so that it only works when you push the preview button. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## BGeise

I need more details lol


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## ConradM

I had kind of an ah ha moment when I started using the picture effects and realized how much I like shooting in high contrast mono.


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## BGeise

ConradM said:


> I had kind of an ah ha moment when I started using the picture effects and realized how much I like shooting in high contrast mono.



Yeah i have found that one and i agree that it is quite fun


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## kenerickson

I shoot largely in manual, and love the ability to assign shutter speed to the front wheel and aperture to the rear wheel.


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## ConradM

kenerickson said:


> I shoot largely in manual, and love the ability to assign shutter speed to the front wheel and aperture to the rear wheel.



I love that too. Was using my a33 after I got my 77 and was confused when I went to adjust aperture.


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## BGeise

kenerickson said:


> I shoot largely in manual, and love the ability to assign shutter speed to the front wheel and aperture to the rear wheel.



I agree i even like the fact that my vertical grip has the same controls


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## Stevepwns

I ouwld have to say the focus peaking was the best ah ha moment for me.... that and learning how to use the focus mode knob on the fly.....  I love my A77 just wish it was better with ISO....


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## BGeise

Stevepwns said:


> I ouwld have to say the focus peaking was the best ah ha moment for me.... that and learning how to use the focus mode knob on the fly.....  I love my A77 just wish it was better with ISO....



How do you use that? I am interested


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## Stevepwns

BGeise said:


> Stevepwns said:
> 
> 
> 
> I ouwld have to say the focus peaking was the best ah ha moment for me.... that and learning how to use the focus mode knob on the fly.....  I love my A77 just wish it was better with ISO....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> How do you use that? I am interested
Click to expand...


I shoot a lot of birds in flight, so I keep the knob on S  or single focus.  In that mode it locks in and holds when the shutter button is pressed half way.  Then when I need to I rotate the knob to C  which is continuous so when I catch something moving like a flying bird it tracks and continues to focus as I shoot.  The lens being used has a big effect on the ability of the camera to keep up.  My Tamron 70-200 doesnt have the best of focusing so mine tends to be a little slow. But being able to switch between the 2 can help tremendously when shooting birds of wild life in general.


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## BGeise

Stevepwns said:


> I shoot a lot of birds in flight, so I keep the knob on S  or single focus.  In that mode it locks in and holds when the shutter button is pressed half way.  Then when I need to I rotate the knob to C  which is continuous so when I catch something moving like a flying bird it tracks and continues to focus as I shoot.  The lens being used has a big effect on the ability of the camera to keep up.  My Tamron 70-200 doesnt have the best of focusing so mine tends to be a little slow. But being able to switch between the 2 can help tremendously when shooting birds of wild life in general.



Great tip thanks i will sure use that


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## jfrabat

Manually adjusting the focus was a big step for tack sharp images...


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## ConradM

jfrabat said:


> Manually adjusting the focus was a big step for tack sharp images...



I've almost never had a problem with sharpness using AF. I'm still impressed by that...


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## ConradM

Yesterday was shooting my 10 year old skating and realized I could orient my screen out to shoot low in portrait mode... lol.


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## jfrabat

ConradM said:


> jfrabat said:
> 
> 
> 
> Manually adjusting the focus was a big step for tack sharp images...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've almost never had a problem with sharpness using AF. I'm still impressed by that...
Click to expand...


Mine was sharp, but after adjusting, sharpness increased further, which impressed me quite a bit, as I considered the camera to be sharp before the adjustment.  The difference will depend on the lens, though; for example, my 70-300 G lens was almost spot on from the factory, and my 16-80mm Zeiss was close to spot on, but my Minolta 50mm 1.7 was way off, so that one improved drastically.


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## BGeise

I have discovered some new tricks that i would say i knew were there just didn't think to use. First is some of the scene modes especially hand held twilight which really helps with low light noise if you have a still subject. The other is the built in Tele converter/ 1.4 or 2.0x zoom. I was able to use my 50mm for some pretty far off shots today that turned out pretty great and i didn't have to lug around a heavy zoom lens.


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## sonicbuffalo

Do most of you shoot RAW or jpeg?


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## jfrabat

I always shoot RAW+JPG...  JPG is easier to catalogue, and if it is a snapshot I took, I simply delete the RAW later on (in my PC).  But if I need to salvage a pic, I have the RAW file available.  Of course, I also use a 64GB card, so space is not an issue, and, to be honest, I rarely need 12 FPS.


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## ConradM

I only shoot jpeg. I tried shooting in RAW years back with my a33 but I found since I was composing in real time I never needed the RAW file to make any big changes.


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## jfrabat

ConradM said:


> I only shoot jpeg. I tried shooting in RAW years back with my a33 but I found since I was composing in real time I never needed the RAW file to make any big changes.



I use RAW not for composing; you can do that with JPG as well...  I use it for bringing out the highlights and shadows.  Raw has more bits than JPG, and it does not compress (better quality).


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## ConradM

jfrabat said:


> ConradM said:
> 
> 
> 
> I only shoot jpeg. I tried shooting in RAW years back with my a33 but I found since I was composing in real time I never needed the RAW file to make any big changes.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I use RAW not for composing; you can do that with JPG as well...  I use it for bringing out the highlights and shadows.  Raw has more bits than JPG, and it does not compress (better quality).
Click to expand...


Not composing as in framing but getting WB and exposure. Also, 90% of my photos go on FB so I'm not missing that last little bit of quality.


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## vvcarpio

I recently bought the A77 (not the M2). I don't use it much because I'm thinking of saving it for important work. For my everyday hobby, I still use the A65.

I do mainly HDR. I like doing HDR in NYC because moving objects like people confuse the HDR software and so are effectively erased. The resulting images are of NYC devoid (well, mostly) of crowds.

With the A65, I use the knob-wheel to change shutter speeds between shots. Even when mounted on a tripod, my touching the camera (by turning the knob wheel) introduces mis-alignments. They are mostly minuscule and are easily fixed by nudging the images up/down or left/right during the alignment step. But occasionally, misalignment is harder to fix because it occurs as a pitch-roll-yaw movement. Although the resulting HDR image's mis-alignments aren't noticeable by most people, I know they're there because I've seen better.

Yesterday, I took my A77 out for a spin. My aha moment came when I found out I can set it to bracket 5 shots spaced at 0.7 ev apart. I only needed to press the button on my shutter release cable once until all 5 shots were taken. Because I didn't touch the camera, all 5 shots are perfectly aligned. Also, my brackets took a lot faster because I didn't have to turn the knob wheel for each shot.

Granted, the total spread is only +/-1.30 ev (as opposed to what many recommend as +/-2.0 ev). But the A77 is also capable of bracketing 3 shots with 2.0 ev and 3.0 ev spacings. The 5-shot bracket and 2.0 ev and 3.0 ev spacings are available only on the A77, not the A65.

I still plan on using the A65 for my everyday hobby and save the A77 from wear-and-tear-and-bumps by only using it for more important work. But it's going to be a lot harder now that I've taken better and faster brackets with the A77 which seems to have been designed with the HDR shooter specifically in mind.

Attached photo is of Times Square early in the day. A77 bracket of 5 shots at 0.7 ev used. Lens is Sigma 10-20mm. Software used are Dynamic Photo HDR (DPHDR), Topaz, and Photoshop CC.


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## BGeise

vvcarpio said:


> I recently bought the A77 (not the M2). I don't use it much because I'm thinking of saving it for important work. For my everyday hobby, I still use the A65.
> 
> I do mainly HDR. I like doing HDR in NYC because moving objects like people confuse the HDR software and so are effectively erased. The resulting images are of NYC devoid (well, mostly) of crowds.
> 
> With the A65, I use the knob-wheel to change shutter speeds between shots. Even when mounted on a tripod, my touching the camera (by turning the knob wheel) introduces mis-alignments. They are mostly minuscule and are easily fixed by nudging the images up/down or left/right during the alignment step. But occasionally, misalignment is harder to fix because it occurs as a pitch-roll-yaw movement. Although the resulting HDR image's mis-alignments aren't noticeable by most people, I know they're there because I've seen better.
> 
> Yesterday, I took my A77 out for a spin. My aha moment came when I found out I can set it to bracket 5 shots spaced at 0.7 ev apart. I only needed to press the button on my shutter release cable once until all 5 shots were taken. Because I didn't touch the camera, all 5 shots are perfectly aligned. Also, my brackets took a lot faster because I didn't have to turn the knob wheel for each shot.
> 
> Granted, the total spread is only +/-1.30 ev (as opposed to what many recommend as +/-2.0 ev). But the A77 is also capable of bracketing 3 shots with 2.0 ev and 3.0 ev spacings. The 5-shot bracket and 2.0 ev and 3.0 ev spacings are available only on the A77, not the A65.
> 
> I still plan on using the A65 for my everyday hobby and save the A77 from wear-and-tear-and-bumps by only using it for more important work. But it's going to be a lot harder now that I've taken better and faster brackets with the A77 which seems to have been designed with the HDR shooter specifically in mind.
> 
> Attached photo is of Times Square early in the day. A77 bracket of 5 shots at 0.7 ev used. Lens is Sigma 10-20mm. Software used are Dynamic Photo HDR (DPHDR), Topaz, and Photoshop CC.



Nice photo. Great tip!


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## Wasp1

I have had my Sony a77 since last Christmas. It was a shops demo model and it came with the battery pack, 3 batteries. Though I will say this little lens is one of my most favourite out there.
My only problem was one day the battery pack and the camera didn't want to play together. So I took it off and the next day replaced it and it has never played up again. 
I have not heard of the focus peaking but I will go and see where and what it is all about.

My a77 replaced my old Sony a390 which was a great camera and it had to be the best camera to learn what to do.
I am now in a massive learning curve with this one and to this date I have never regretted getting it.
Sony will always be my camera of choice.


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