Photography News Issue 45

Photography News | Issue 45 | absolutephoto.com

Camera test 38

Performance: Sharpness and colour

Features 22/25 There’s not much lacking here for beginners or enthusiasts Performance 21/25 Good image quality, speed of shooting and decent AF Handling 22/25 Offers an excellent grip, twin dials, and plenty of manual inputs. Value formoney 23/25 You get several features from the pricier 80D, for £50 over the 800D. 88/100 The EOS 77D is a camera with plenty to offer both serious beginners and upgraders fromolder bodies. Pros Image quality, ISO performance, tilting touchscreen, and general handling Cons Small optical viewfinder and no 4K video Overall I started off the test with an immediate dislike of the EOS 77D’s cramped and inaccurate viewfinder, but after a week’s testing, I had to return a camera that I had really enjoyed using. Despite shooting with full frame DSLRs, I got used to the small ’finder quickly, and while the 95% coverage isn’t ideal, it didn’t cause too many problems that minor cropping couldn’t fix. The 77D handles really well, too. It’s very comfortable in the hand, and not at all heavy. In shooting, although there’s point- and-click simplicity for beginners, it has just enough features borrowed from the higher end 80D, like manual and creative features for enthusiasts to grow into. With the top-plate LCD, you don’t spend ages with the screen, either, though you still need to dip in for some modes like metering. Performance is good, too. 27 Raws at 6fps plenty for most subjects, and the AF is quick and accurate. The only time it stutters is with fast-moving subjects. Video options are limited though, with no headphone jack and only 1080p rather than full 4K. The 24.2-megapixel sensor provides lots of detail Images All images shot with supplied EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens. Left Funningur village at 24mmat 1/200sec, f/14 and ISO 100. Below Sunset looking towards Koltur Island, at -1.0EV. Lens at 50mmat 1/160sec, f/11 and ISO 400. Belowleft Mykines island fromGasadular, withwhite-balance set to 4300K. Lens at 135mmat 1/800sec, f/11 and ISO 200. Below right Gjogv village with 85mm lens at 1/60sec, f/9 and ISO 100. Thanks to the Faroe Islands tourist board (visitfaroeislands.com) for its help in conducting this test. Verdict

In an age where many cameras are removing the traditional optical low pass filter (OLPF) in search of improved sharpness, results from the OLPF-equipped EOS 77D, were still very good. The 24.2-megapixel sensor provides lots of detail, especially when using higher quality lenses, but shots from the provided 18- 135mm IS USM lens were perfectly acceptable, too. The default sharpening level on JPEGs was a little harsh and some haloes were visible, but overall the effect is positive. The colours produced in default JPEGs were also good; bright, true- to-life and well saturated, especially the blue and reds.