Sony A77 II Shooter’s Report Part II: Great performance, but is continuous AF up to snuff?

posted Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 6:57 PM EDT

It was a long time in the making, but our second and final installment of our Sony A77 II Shooter's Report is here at last. Photographer John Shafer was almost ready to put down his own cash for Sony's latest APS-C A-mount camera, sight unseen, based solely on the specs of the camera. He was quite smitten with the camera in the first part of his review, based on image quality and usability. However, being a sports and action photographer, he was keen to really put it to the test and, in particular, see how its continuous autofocus system performed.

What resulted was a very in-depth, detailed investigation, as John took the Sony A77 II out to a variety of difficult action sports venues, including mountain biking, cyclocross and skiing. Although Sony refrained from calling the A77 II a "professional sports camera," they really emphasized the camera's action shooting capabilities. So not only was it important for John to test the camera in these situations, but he was also personally curious to see just what the A77 II was capable of.

So, is the Sony A77 II's performance -- notably it's continuous AF performance -- impressive enough to make John, and perhaps other sport and action photographers, put down their trusty Canon or Nikon DSLRs and switch to the world of a Sony SLT camera? Head over to read all about John's experience in his Sony A77 II Shooter's Report Part II.

And, of course, if you haven't already read Part I of John Shafer's A77 II Shooter's Report, be sure to check that out as well!