DSLR Pics: Neighborhood people with the Sony a77

The Sony a77 isn't technically a DSLR. Unlike a single lens reflex camera, in which the mirror flips up out of the way to clear the light path to the shutter and sensor or film, the mirror in the a77 is a pellicle style mirror and fixed in place.

The pellicle mirror lets most of the light pass through to the sensor while reflecting some of it upward. Where the prism or mirror box would be on a normal SLR was a phase detection autofocus sensor. The viewfinder was electronic, like on a mirrorless camera. Mirrorless cameras of the time could only use contrast detection autofocus, which was much slower and more prone to focus hunting. 

Sony called these Single-Lens Translucent, or "SLT" cameras. Further developments in sensor tech rendered this obsolete in fairly short order. The SLT era at Sony was brief, with the first being launched in 2010 and the final model appearing in 2016.

This Can't Be a Fossil Already, Can It?

The "fossil" cutoff here at Digital Fossils is ten years old and, while it feels like the Nikon Df is still a fairly new camera, it was actually released in time for Christmas of 2013, so it's a dozen years old.

I wanted one but they were $2,750 for just the body when they came out. By early 2020 used ones had dropped down to a grand or so, but between inflation and the fact that they started getting desirable, the price kinda hovered right around that spot. In fact, nicer ones are back up in the $1100-1200 range last I checked.

Finally one with a low shutter count (under 12,000 actuations) and enough cosmetic wear to make the price bearable came out on the shelf at Used Photo Pro downtown, so... happy early birthday to me!

It's an interesting combination of parts bin stuff from the cheaper consumer full-frame Nikons, the 16MP FX sensor from the pro D4, and those retro controls. Thom Hogan's review I think does it justice.

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