Oh, but you are so wrong! You have to shoot in raw!!! According to all the knowledgeable people who contribute to the main photo discussion section, one must always shoot in raw - period; even the novices. That makes these tests totally invalid. What good is a photo shot in 2 million ISO in Jpeg, even if the photo is still totally clear even in almost non existent light?

I just bought a Sony a77 M2 in late June and I love it! I can do stuff with the focus points that are not possible with the Nikons or the Canons. I know, I have tried. What I also like about the A77 M2 is that one now has to depress a button in order to move the dial from one mode to another. On all my other Sony cameras, used to have to super glue the mode dial in the M position so I would not accidentally switch modes. Now I have more super glue to use on my model trains.

Anyway, I pre-ordered 2 A99 ll's because I am going on a cruise to Norway in January and I want to use a different lens on each one so I don't have to change lenses. I suppose I am going to have to ask a question on the main photo section as to which lens to put on each camera because I am too stupid to understand what each lens does. I have 3 lenses (all A mount, full frame). One is a Minolta 24-85mm zoom, one is a Sigma 24-85mm zoom, and the 3rd one is a Tamron 24-85mm zoom and I don't know which one to leave at home. In addition, I am going to have some one to teach me how to shoot in Auto Mode because from what I understand so far, that is what you are supposed to do when you buy a real expensive camera. Always something.

Oh, but you are so wrong! You have to shoot in raw!!! According to all the knowledgeable people who contribute to the main photo discussion section, one must always shoot in raw - period; even the novices. That makes these tests totally invalid. What good is a photo shot in 2 million ISO in Jpeg, even if the photo is still totally clear even in almost non existent light?

I just bought a Sony a77 M2 in late June and I love it! I can do stuff with the focus points that are not possible with the Nikons or the Canons. I know, I have tried. What I also like about the A77 M2 is that one now has to depress a button in order to move the dial from one mode to another. On all my other Sony cameras, used to have to super glue the mode dial in the M position so I would not accidentally switch modes. Now I have more super glue to use on my model trains.

Anyway, I pre-ordered 2 A99 ll's because I am going on a cruise to Norway in January and I want to use a different lens on each one so I don't have to change lenses. I suppose I am going to have to ask a question on the main photo section as to which lens to put on each camera because I am too stupid to understand what each lens does. I have 3 lenses (all A mount, full frame). One is a Minolta 24-85mm zoom, one is a Sigma 24-85mm zoom, and the 3rd one is a Tamron 24-85mm zoom and I don't know which one to leave at home. In addition, I am going to have some one to teach me how to shoot in Auto Mode because from what I understand so far, that is what you are supposed to do when you buy a real expensive camera. Always something.

Oh, but you are so wrong! You have to shoot in raw!!! According to all the knowledgeable people who contribute to the main photo discussion section, one must always shoot in raw - period; even the novices. That makes these tests totally invalid. What good is a photo shot in 2 million ISO in Jpeg, even if the photo is still totally clear even in almost non existent light?

I just bought a Sony a77 M2 in late June and I love it! I can do stuff with the focus points that are not possible with the Nikons or the Canons. I know, I have tried. What I also like about the A77 M2 is that one now has to depress a button in order to move the dial from one mode to another. On all my other Sony cameras, used to have to super glue the mode dial in the M position so I would not accidentally switch modes. Now I have more super glue to use on my model trains.

Anyway, I pre-ordered 2 A99 ll's because I am going on a cruise to Norway in January and I want to use a different lens on each one so I don't have to change lenses. I suppose I am going to have to ask a question on the main photo section as to which lens to put on each camera because I am too stupid to understand what each lens does. I have 3 lenses (all A mount, full frame). One is a Minolta 24-85mm zoom, one is a Sigma 24-85mm zoom, and the 3rd one is a Tamron 24-85mm zoom and I don't know which one to leave at home. In addition, I am going to have some one to teach me how to shoot in Auto Mode because from what I understand so far, that is what you are supposed to do when you buy a real expensive camera. Always something.

Oh, but you are so wrong! You have to shoot in raw!!! According to all the knowledgeable people who contribute to the main photo discussion section, one must always shoot in raw - period; even the novices. That makes these tests totally invalid. What good is a photo shot in 2 million ISO in Jpeg, even if the photo is still totally clear even in almost non existent light?

I just bought a Sony a77 M2 in late June and I love it! I can do stuff with the focus points that are not possible with the Nikons or the Canons. I know, I have tried. What I also like about the A77 M2 is that one now has to depress a button in order to move the dial from one mode to another. On all my other Sony cameras, used to have to super glue the mode dial in the M position so I would not accidentally switch modes. Now I have more super glue to use on my model trains.

Anyway, I pre-ordered 2 A99 ll's because I am going on a cruise to Norway in January and I want to use a different lens on each one so I don't have to change lenses. I suppose I am going to have to ask a question on the main photo section as to which lens to put on each camera because I am too stupid to understand what each lens does. I have 3 lenses (all A mount, full frame). One is a Minolta 24-85mm zoom, one is a Sigma 24-85mm zoom, and the 3rd one is a Tamron 24-85mm zoom and I don't know which one to leave at home. In addition, I am going to have some one to teach me how to shoot in Auto Mode because from what I understand so far, that is what you are supposed to do when you buy a real expensive camera. Always something.

What is GROUP AUTO FOCUS? Sounds like it would be a face detection and narrow aperture multi-point focus mode. And doesn't the a77ii have more focus points than the Nikon you refer to? Gotta know how to use them. I had trouble with focus on my a77ii at first. I had to learn to use its capabilities before I started getting a good number of keepers. I couldn't understand why with its reputed superior focus system I was getting worse results than I had with my a77. One thing that helped was enabling face detect to get it to prioritize a face over a random object that happens to be in an active focus point a bit closer than my subject. The typical algorithm will lock onto the closest object within the focus zone, so I set focus mode to the fn button on the back for easy access, and I assigned a back button to toggle center spot for quick change when needed.

Sony even published an in-depth mini-manual dedicated to what it calls 4D focus. That helped, and there are a few YouTube videos on it. I remember watching one in particular by Gay Fong about "lock on expanded flexible spot" that is now the primary focus mode I use.

Now, the a99ii has an even more capable focus system that will either work great or work badly depending on the user's knowledge. Not just skill, but knowledge on how it operates. These definitely are not point and shoots.

GROUP AUTO FOCUS is a exclusive focusing system found only on upper Nikon models, D810, D750, D4s,D610?, D500, and D5. I use this primarily on moving birds. You pick any one of the focus points you want, I use the center spot, then Nikon puts four more spots around that one, so you are using 5 focus spots. The Group auto focus tends to ignore background clutter when shooting moving objects, which in my case is moving birds in flight. I have gone from a focus rate of 75 to 80% to over 97% and better with the group auto focus system. I have owned Canon and currently own both Sony and Nikon. Now the Sony A77II has excellent focus systems built into it but it just cannot keep up with the Group Auto System found on my D500, which has the same focusing system software as the D5 ( a $6500.00 camera). I have shot wildlife almost every day for the past seven years and have never had a better focusing system than the GROUP AUTO SYSTEM found only on Nikon DSLR cameras. Now sometimes when shooting a bird in the bush (pardon the pun) the group auto system will pick out something other than the bird, in that case I have my auto focus lock button on the back of the camera programmed for just the center spot, I just push that, put the center spot on the bird and it comes in focus no matter what is around it. Now, this has been my experience only, others will swear by their system, but for me, I have found none better.

Oh, but you are so wrong! You have to shoot in raw!!! According to all the knowledgeable people who contribute to the main photo discussion section, one must always shoot in raw - period; even the novices. That makes these tests totally invalid. What good is a photo shot in 2 million ISO in Jpeg, even if the photo is still totally clear even in almost non existent light?

I just bought a Sony a77 M2 in late June and I love it! I can do stuff with the focus points that are not possible with the Nikons or the Canons. I know, I have tried. What I also like about the A77 M2 is that one now has to depress a button in order to move the dial from one mode to another. On all my other Sony cameras, used to have to super glue the mode dial in the M position so I would not accidentally switch modes. Now I have more super glue to use on my model trains.

Anyway, I pre-ordered 2 A99 ll's because I am going on a cruise to Norway in January and I want to use a different lens on each one so I don't have to change lenses. I suppose I am going to have to ask a question on the main photo section as to which lens to put on each camera because I am too stupid to understand what each lens does. I have 3 lenses (all A mount, full frame). One is a Minolta 24-85mm zoom, one is a Sigma 24-85mm zoom, and the 3rd one is a Tamron 24-85mm zoom and I don't know which one to leave at home. In addition, I am going to have some one to teach me how to shoot in Auto Mode because from what I understand so far, that is what you are supposed to do when you buy a real expensive camera. Always something.

GROUP AUTO FOCUS is a exclusive focusing system found only on upper Nikon models, D810, D750, D4s,D610?, D500, and D5. I use this primarily on moving birds. You pick any one of the focus points you want, I use the center spot, then Nikon puts four more spots around that one, so you are using 5 focus spots. The Group auto focus tends to ignore background clutter when shooting moving objects, which in my case is moving birds in flight. I have gone from a focus rate of 75 to 80% to over 97% and better with the group auto focus system. I have owned Canon and currently own both Sony and Nikon. Now the Sony A77II has excellent focus systems built into it but it just cannot keep up with the Group Auto System found on my D500, which has the same focusing system software as the D5 ( a $6500.00 camera). I have shot wildlife almost every day for the past seven years and have never had a better focusing system than the GROUP AUTO SYSTEM found only on Nikon DSLR cameras. Now sometimes when shooting a bird in the bush (pardon the pun) the group auto system will pick out something other than the bird, in that case I have my auto focus lock button on the back of the camera programmed for just the center spot, I just push that, put the center spot on the bird and it comes in focus no matter what is around it. Now, this has been my experience only, others will swear by their system, but for me, I have found none better.