The new Sony 16-50mm f/2.8 lens has been already reviewed by SLRgear (Click here). They did NOT test the lens on the new Sony A77! The lens is sharper at the wide end than on the tele end. It has a very good corner to corner sharpness. The only real “issue” is Chromatic Aberration. But overall “the combination works to produce excellent photographs.“. You can read the full review and see all the graphs here at SLRgear.

Meanwhile Thom Hogan (Click here) gave his first impressions about the A77: “This is a top end camera, and so obviously it should have a top end level of features, but one thing that struck me in reading all the Sony marketing material was that there was a lot of emphasis on the bells and whistles and not nearly as much on the quality side. When quality was mentioned, it was obviously hyperbole (“flawless image quality”).” and “A few people with preproduction cameras have sent me image samples to analyze, though, and what I see is a lot of noise reduction in the JPEGs, which pretty much rules out the word “flawless” in my book.”
If you don’t agree with Thom drop a comment on SAR. I am sure he is reading your them!

You can check the price of the new Sony stuff and preorder at Amazon:
Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A77 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A65 with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A65 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-7 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N at Amazon (Click here).
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 55-210mm E-mount at Amazon (Click here).

Charles Michel form videoacademy made that 9 minute long A77 presentation. he speaks in German but there are English subtitles!

Now it’s time to focus on the real quality of the Sony A77 (preorders here). Let’s start with one of my preferred websites:

Luminous Landscape A77 test (Click here to read the full article):
Feeling: “The A77 is a “pretty” camera; one of the nicest styled Sony cameras in a long time. It has a very organic shape and falls to hand very nicely as well.”
Video: “There is much less visible rolling shutter with this camera than I’ve seen before. If this holds true with a full production camera then DSLR video makers are going to be all over this camera like a kid with a bowel of strawberry jello.”
EVF: “Is it good? Yes, it’s very good – for an EVF. I would go so far as to say that it is much preferable to the dim and small reflex viewfinders found on most reduced frame DSLRs. This then begs the question – how does it compare to the viewfinder on a full frame DSLR like the Sony A900? Not so well.”
Fullframe (A99): “I think that there is, and it even may well use the same (or similar) body as the A77. As mentioned earlier, the A77 is a full-sized camera, with the heft and gravitas that a Prosumer model deserves. It certainly appears as if a full frame sensor could be used with the same chassis (if not the same actual body) as the current one.”
Again, I invite you to read the full article as it is in my opinion one of the best previews written today!

Imaging Resource (Click here to read the full article):
IR has been the first to post a detailed image quality analysis. And starts with that considerations: “I won’t go too much into detail about my disappointment that the A700 went so long without an upgrade or successor; suffice it to say that I thought that camera was Sony’s best chance at making a dent in the Canon/Nikon hegemony, and instead of addressing its few flaws, Sony was spending too much time trying to appeal to the consumer market, a place where Nikon and Canon dominate even more pervasively.”
EVF: “A sensor over the viewfinder detects my eye and makes the switch between the LCD and EVF, but usually doesn’t make the switch fast enough, leaving me first in the dark, then I see a screen that’s a little too dark at first, then my eye adjusts. It’s not a comfortable set of changes, going from very bright to very dark, then to somewhat bright, so most often I and my colleagues shied away from the EVF when out in daylight, preferring the LCD.”
The new 16-50mm lens: “At the outer edges of the frame, the 16-50mm lens shows a little softening, which you can see in the last crop below, but it’s truly remarkable performance from a lens that effectively costs $600 when purchased as a kit, while the full-frame 24-70mm Carl Zeiss lens sells for around $1,750.”
Image quality: IR made many comparisons mostly with fullframe cameras. It’s a bit unfair comparison as the larger fullframe pixels can deliver a much better per pixel sharpness. ANyway, the A77 does a good job at base and high ISO and is not far behind the top (and more expensive) fullframe cameras.
Also in that case I highly recommend you to read the full article (Images are at the bottom of the post).

Preorder the new stuff!

Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A77 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A65 with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A65 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-7 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 16-50mm A-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 50mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 55-210mm E-mount at Amazon (Click here).