Thanks a bunch for your reply... It really helped clear things up. The only two things that concerned me was the full frame vs crop frame.... and the pixel size. Do you find the pixel size being substantially less on the A77 has any real bearing on the quality of pictures? I read that the 12 FPS is not realistic with the A77, and it's more like 8... also, that the build quality of the A900 was somewhat better.... Since you have both, do you see a difference in build quality?
Thanks again.
Mick

Both the A77 and A900 are part of Sony's Alpha line. Sony's Alpha line was Minolta's AF line before Sony acquired Minolta. So all or most of your old Minolta AF glass and all of Sony's Alpha glass are compatible with these bodies... But yes, they are proprietary and I'm sure Nikon, Canon, etc glass will not work with them.

Hi... Sony A700 w/Sony 70-400 G lens. Unfortunately I didn't record what my settings were. I started with a very fast shutter speed.. like 1/8000 and started working my way back to very slow. Of course as I got slower shutter speed, the exposure kept getting more and more over done... so to compensate I started backing off on the ISO till I got somewhere in the ballpark. The lens was reaching out a little.. maybe around 100. The day was overcast. I'll try again tomorrow and do what I should've done today.. record my settings! Here's one that was on the far end of Slow... obviously exaggerated . Interestingly, the lens was quite heavy and I was free holding it... so the A700 stabilizing feature worked quite well.
Thanks for words of encouragement.
-Mick

Hi,
Your thread inspired me to go out and shoot some of the falls by me. Thanks!

Can someone please explain what Pixel Size of (A77) 15.3 µm² vs (A900) 35.3 µm² mean... and if the much higher number for the A900 is substantial in any way? Can it be seen in the photo quality?
Thank you.

Hi,
I'm about to pull the trigger on a new body, and out of the two that it boiled down to for me, Sony's DSLR-A900 and DSLR-A77... I heavily leaning toward the A77. Most of my shooting is outdoors, birds, sporting events, etc.. where there is a lot of fast movement. It seems as though the A77 has it all over the A900... 12 FPS vs 5 FPS, takes 1080p movies (A900 doesn't shoot movies, has a built-in flash (A900 no built in flash), it's 1/2 the price. The couple of things the A900 has over the A77 is the full size sensor vs the 23.5 x 15.6mm sensor, and the Pentaprism view finder vs the electronic view finder of the A77. Is there really a noticeable difference between a full size sensor and the more compact one? Also, there's been so much negative press on Electronic View Finders... are they really that inferior to a classic Pentaprism view finder?
I guess if the FPS on the A900 were at least somewhere in the range of the A77, I'd lean toward getting it. Is there a reason that a full frame sensor has such slow FPS shooting?
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Mick

True that... Thanks. Although the Japanese build has been dulling my senses of warrantee.... sense!

Thanks! After reading the through the page you linked to, I bet you that's what it is. TLW, and it makes sense that Sony (or any producer) would accomodate one purchasing their products out of their locale.. as long as it was with an authorized dealership. Thanks Snowbear!

Does anyone know if Sony Alpha cameras have this setting... perhaps called something else?
Thanks.
Mick

Thanks for the reply. I don't really think these qualify as grey market, as the vendor is a Sony dealer and has a brick n mortar store there. So if you were visiting Hong Kong, and purchased a camera from an authorized dealer.. I don't think it would be considered grey goods. I'm still not clear on this international warrantee.. and even if such thing exists.
Thanks again.

Hi,
I have purchased a few pieces of equipment from a highly respected ebay merchant located in Hong Kong. I would much rather purchase from a US distributor, but I couldn't seem to get the same goods here. For instance, I purchased the Sony SAL-70400G lens from him, and it was more reasonable price wise than I found it from local vendors.... But the biggest selling point for me was that his lens' were made in Japan, and the same Sony lens offered here (and I searched for WAY too long) were all made in China. Same thing for the camera I'm about to get. I am about to purchase the Sony DSLR-A900, and it was the only place I can find where the camera offered is made in Japan. Without getting into politics, I will always go after equipment made in Japan over the rest of Asia. The goods I've gotten from the merchant in Hong Kong have always been factory fresh sealed "made in Japan" goods. I asked about the warrantee as I don't want to have to send something to Hong Kong for warrantee work, and he assured me this camera comes with an "International Warrantee" and is valid in most of the world, but absolutely here in the US. Has anyone ever heard of an International Warrantee?
Thank you everyone.. and thanks for being so welcoming! Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year.
Regards,
Mick

Hi,
My name is Mick and I've been a part time photography hobbyist since high school.. the days of rolling 35mm film onto spools in complete darkness, BW enlarging, developing, etc. Miss those days. I am an IT architect and work for the worlds largest IT company. I'm a musician with most of my love in stringed instruments... mandolin, guitar, bass, banjo. I also work sport with my dogs, and have photographed the events.
Thanks for the welcome!