Best of What's New 2011

Gadgets

Sony Alpha SLT-A77

The fastest camera

Gadgets 7 of 11

SONY ALPHA SLT-A77 Sony

Sony made a DSLR that could continuously refocus high-speed bursts last year, but that camera’s slow-to-refresh LCD viewfinder often displayed a delayed view of subjects. So on the 24.3-megapixel A77, the company swapped the LCD for a 2.3-million-dot OLED that responds to changes millions of times a second—fast enough to keep up with a sprinting quarterback. For continuous focus, a two-way mirror bounces light up to the autofocus sensor at the same time that the previous shot hits the image sensor. $2,000

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Tested

Our friends at Popular Photography just posted a thorough test of the thoroughly awesome Sony A77 DSLR, the better-in-every-way followup to last year's A55, which PopPhoto actually declared the Camera of the Year. It's got a brand-new 24.3MP sensor, the world's first electronic OLED viewfinder, and, most satisfyingly, an overall rating of Excellent in PopPhoto's tests--no mean feat. Oh, and it's $200 cheaper than competing Nikon and Canon models. Read the full test here. Read more