Hi, I'm very happy with my A77 and hopefully on the way to a A99. One of the worst aspects of the A77 and presumably most Sony DSLRs is that Sony 'refuse' to embed the camera serial number and shutter count into the EXIF information. Oddly, they are the ONLY DSLR manufacturer to take this position. Why is it so important? Well the serial number comes in very useful in tracking the camera (or more precisely) the images taken with it, if and when your camera is stolen. You will see on this page from a tracking website, how, as a Sony owner you are at a huge dissadvantage:
http://cameratrace.com/faq
any camera with serial number in EXIF data is a supported camera, many websites use this data for tracking, there is no reason for it to be missing. If Sony really are expecting professional photographers to 'switch' to Sony systems, they really need to get their act together on this one.
A similar exclusion is the Shutter Count, again, this can easily be checked from a Nikon jpeg by opening in Preview on a Mac, and going to 'tools' show inspector. The shutter count is under 'Nikon' the serial number is under 'EXIF'. I expect one of the resons for Sony 'hiding' this is that some multi-frame technology is just that, multi-frame, i.e. takes 6 to 8? images to produce one picture, so when and if it comes to re-sale of the camera, your shutter count will be much higher than is normal. That's not a bad thing, you just need to be aware of it when using these modes.
Switching from Nikon to Sony has cost me quite a bit, it's great to see Sony trying to get Pro's on board with some superb hardware, as a corporation, Sony need to 'get real' to the normal expectations of photographers when purchasing high-end equipment. There really is no excuse for Sony to be the only manufacturer that doesn't embed this information.
