Sony Alpha 77 II hands-on review

NEED FOR SPEED

The a77 II is Gareth Bale-ingly fast to autofocus, thanks in large part to its 79 AF points. No, that’s not a typo; while Canon’s top two APS-C cameras, the 7D and 70D, have 19 AF points each, and Nikon’s D7100 has 51, the a77 II has 79. 

What this means in use is that pretty much whichever direction you point the camera, it locks on to a subject instantly. Seriously – we tried focusing on distant subjects followed swiftly by near subjects followed swiftly by subjects on the edge of the frame, and it nailed it every time.

But be warned. While you might know which subject you’re aiming at, the autofocus can’t, so narrowing your options down a little will often be the best option for static subjects.

We tried using the Wide area mode, which spreads the full 79 AF points out over the whole frame, and found that unless we were aiming at a clearly defined subject in a relatively clear area, the a77 II often made the ‘wrong’ choice.

Really it was our error, rather than the camera’s – you can’t aim at a crowd and expect your camera to guess that you want the third person from the left. And besides, it’s easily fixed by switching to one of the many other AF zone options, or using the centre-point alone. It’s merely a reminder that sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

READ MORE: Fujifilm X-T1 review

Sony Alpha 77 II hands-on review