samsen wrote in post #15177178
Just to give a bit background about myself, let me tell that I am a fan of high tech stuff. That said, just like you said, I do have essential need for clear high ISO sensor that is related to at least 50 percent of what I shoot. For a long time my main bodies where 20D and 30D. I was one of those that got hand on 5Dii on the first day that it showed up in US market and had to wait for some six month to actually get it. Then to compensate for the need for speed, I got 1Dn and later 50D. Well 50D is very close to your 60D minus video rec.
To answer you, now that I know more as to what your needs are:
If you need clear ISO say 3200 or 6400, you will never be happy (Given current market) unless you have 5Dii or iii or Nikon 800. Simply no other camera can match that and I very much doubt if A77 gives you that either. In fact the only thing I don't like about my alpha 55 is the noise in high ISO. I have to do a lot of post processing to get rid of noise when shooting at or more that 1600. So a red flag for your A77, though I really do not know if 77 is any better than 55 (They both have Bionz CMOS sensor).
As for HD video recoding and AFing, Very few cameras come close to sony in that AF is still available, thanks to translucent mirror and ingenuity of sony as opposed to very many much more expensive other manufacturers bodies that need manual focus with video. But reality is how much of video do you think will be handled by your still camera? I still prefer to have my tiny JVC $200 HD camcorder that does miracles so why to bother with difficulties of Still camera, then post processing then very poor mic and audio quality that needs a separate external recording. Another important thing, with my Sony 55, after say 2minutes of video recording I get an error saying Sensor is warmed up and can't record any more for sometime, and next that recording function comes, back, this time I can record even shorter time... I don't have anything like this with my 5Dii that goes flawlessly but then needs focusing.
Why do I like Sony Alpha 55?
1- Price
2- Build in GPS. Really very handy as I travel a lot. Then its fun to organize your pictures by Geography.
3- Build in HDR. Very useful IMO.
4- Build in Panorama mode. Again very innovative an fun mode. Also the same set of images obtain in pano mode, can be used to watch 3D image, if you already have 3D glasses and TV set up.
5- Detachable angled LCD. Very useful for low angle shooting. Then if you like me, attach your camera to a large telescope, you will know how difficult it gets to go and take control of view finder when shooting an object right over head, at times impossible unless I use an external monitor(USB HDMI attachments). With Sony, its just a tiny flip of LCD an you have it all, focus, set up, preview, review, etc.
6- Small and light. I hardly know if I have anything extra in my bag when I have this little one.
7- Ability to use short 500mm F8 CAT lens (Mirror lens) that has AFing (You get very many same focal length mirror lens but all manual focusing). I don't know of any other such lens with AFing capability and specially in winter and with snowboarding or hiking in a tough train, when weight maters, this is very handy.
8- A 10 frame per second burst mode.
9- Price. And yes I would like to mention it for the second time.
Well. If you definitely need very high ISO function, seriously look for and consider 5Dii or iii specially that now price of both are dropping, but then you don't have burst mode. If you can wait for a short time, It would be very beneficial also to look into 6D.
Also don't forget, Canon has simply the best lens line second to NONE.
Yes Sony gives you the chance of using High end Zeiss lenses. Also You have ability to use high quality Minolta AF series Lenses. Indeed when I started with my sony, Minolta lenses were very cheap, not many knew they can have a new life due to Sony so I stocked on a good number of lenses for little money, but now that more people are aware of that, price of old Minolta lenses are up too. Then Minolta lenses are surely much much slower than Canon's ultra fast motor lenses.
I am sorry that I might have caused more confusion now than to simply help you. That is why first I said close your eyes and go for 77. As the more you investigated, the harder decision making is going to be.
Bottom line, A77 is a new generation body with a lot of features for a tech savvy person as opposed to 60D that is a very good body, but older generation and limited (But solid) function.
Another thing you want to remember is you simply wont find a site like POTN with this many high end support that much more useful as long as you are a Canon user. I don't know of any other Camera brand that has an equivalent site even Nikon. This means a lot to me.
And last piece of advice for your consideration: You don't have to have only one body. A body with the right lens attached for its situation x 2 works a lot better than one of everything, so why don't you consider adding instead of replacing? Unless budget is very thigh.
