Sony Alpha SLT-A77 (pocket lint)
A true DSLR beater?
Sony’s SLT-A77 has to be one of the most hotly-anticipated cameras of recent
years. Since the Alpha A700 was pulled from production there’s been something
of a gap in the Alpha lineup – a gap that the A77 looks to fill. But with its
SLT (Single Lens Translucent) construction, it’s not a straight DSLR
replacement. So, is this forward-thinking, DSLR-beating material at its best?
### Single Lens Translucent ?
Ah, acronyms. In the past few years digital camera technologies have evolved
in leaps and bounds – the staple DSLR has seen mirrorless CSC (Compact System
Camera) rivals and now the latest Single Lens Translucent (SLT) tech adds to
the pile.
For the most part an SLT is similar to a DSLR, but it has a translucent mirror
that means light can always pass through to the sensor without the mirror
needing to move out of the way to make an exposure. Light is still reflected
from the mirror to an autofocus sensor, but there’s not enough light left to
successfully engineer an optical viewfinder, so the SLT uses the readout from
the sensor to feed an electronic viewfinder (EVF) instead. The much-maligned
EVF …
