As a commenter has helpfully pointed out, one of the major differences between the A77 and competitors such as the Nikon D7000 and Canon 7D is that they have optical viewfinders, whereas the A77 will have an electronic viewfinder (EVF). At the moment Panasonic is also in the EVF camp with cameras such as the GH2 and G3, but Canon and Nikon are sticking firmly in the optical camp.
I think the matter of which is best very much comes down to personal preference and the type of photography you do. If I was mainly shooting things that move, and particularly if my living depended upon it, I would want an optical viewfinder, even more so if I wasn’t bothered about video. But I mainly shoot landscapes and also do some video, so an EVF has some strong potential advantages:
- I can see, and adjust, the actual exposure, which is of crucial importance for landscape work.
- I can see, and adjust, the colour balance, which is also of crucial importance for landscape work.
- I can shoot video whilst looking through the viewfinder and have some idea of what I’m getting. (…whilst at the same time not looking as if I’m shooting video, which can sometimes be helpful…)
If the A77 also has an articulated screen, which I hope it has, I also have the advantage that it becomes easier to compose and shoot with the camera in positions other than at head height, such as close to the ground or high above my head; I find shooting from head height always gives me the most boring shots.
Panasonic GH2 - Like The A77, an EVF Camera
Whether these things are advantages for you very much depend on what you are trying to do and your personal experiences. Certainly lots of people won’t move from optical viewfinders, and I won’t be criticising them. But I’ve pretty well decided I’m going to move to EVF.
Since I was the one who brought up evf I guess I should answer this one
I’m currently a Sony owner and the never-ending rumours surrounding the a77/a700 successor was for me the final nail in the coffin. I’m moving on. Sony has demonstrated that they can make good cameras, but have not convinced me that they’re capable of keeping an entire product line up to date over time. Like many I’ve been waiting for an a700 successor, but considering how long this has taken (remember, it’s still not here) I don’t want to buy an a77 just to end up in the same situation three years from now. I want a brand I can expect to have pretty much up to date cameras at any time. The fact that it is an SLT and not an SLR isn’t really the main problem as long as the new electric viewfinder is a lot better (the rumours says OLED and that it is better) than the current ones they use (they are crap!). So when I say it will need an ovf to beat the d7000 that is the old school sceptic of a photographer in me. I’ve yet to be convinced that the evf has much going for it, the quality just isn’t there at the moment.
Maybe this gamble to go for the translucent mirrors will prove the right one for Sony, I for one hope there is a feature for Sony’s DSLRs,… I mean SLTs. If they make a version of the a77 with an ovf I will have to reconsider, but being a Sony owner has other drawbacks too. I truly will miss built-in image stabilisation in the body instead of the lens however!
I guess some can live with having a bad evf because of the benefits: proper phase detection auto focusing in live view and video mode, and faster AF that stays active during exposure (ready for the next shot). For me these things aren’t important and I really couldn’t care less about video
For you points on exposure and white balance we have similar needs, but very different views on this.. and that’s not a problem I guess. If I need to preview images to have control of exposure and white balance I’m happy to do this in live view, even with just manual focus. Still (I’m probably old school here) white balance and exposure isn’t that hard, it’s the basics of digital photography. If I need to really fine tune the WB I’ll do it in post-processing anyway as I always shoot RAW for that kind of use.
So, I don’t think our needs are that different, we just seem to choose different tools to satisfy them and I guess that’s ok .