Sony A77 First Impressions

It's impossible to know what the future will bring. But, it's likely that theSony A77will be regarded as one of the most fascinating new camera introductions of 2011. The camera was announced on 24 August, and won't be released until early October. Thanks to Sony Canada I had an opportunity in early August to spend four days field testing a pre-production camera, along with the new 16-50mm f/2.8 lens.
Because the camera's firmware is pre-production, and there was no user manual or raw software available, it was not possible to put the camera through any rigerous tests, or to do any comparisons. Instead, my time was spent becoming familiar with the camera's features and functions, and of course shooting as much as I could (though it rained almost every day – Murphey's Law). This report then is about how the camera handles, how its major features operate, and my initial impressions. There are a couple of images posted, but they are not to be regarded as indicative of what final p...