Sony NEX-7

One Moment One Shot · October 8, 2011

The long awaited Sony NEX-7 has a release date of 11/10/11... I have done alot with my Sony Alpha 100 (Sony First DSLR Camera) over the past 3 years and now it's upgrade time.

Any thoughts on the New Sony NEX-7 Coming out...

ziggy53 · October 8, 2011

The NEX-7 is an awfully nice mirrorless camera, but it doesn't really replace the need for a "true" SLR for some applications. If you're looking for an SLR replacement in a mirrorless body, that's still a few years down the road.

The NEX cameras are not suited for sports/action photography, mostly due to the AF section. The lack of an optical viewfinder may also affect your ability to time shots with live motion. (By the time you see what you want to capture, it may have already passed due to the lag between live image capture and image display in the electronic display or LCD display.)

For $1200USD for the body alone you should also look at the Sony Alpha SLT-A65V. For quite a bit less money it's a more direct replacement for your A100. It has a very similar, if not the same, imager and retains phase-contrast AF.

The true Sony/Minolta hotshoe on the NEX-7 is certainly welcome and Sony has an impressive basic lineup of lenses for the NEX line, so I'm very interested myself in the NEX-7 and NEX-5N.

Do you have a collection of Minolta/Alpha-mount lenses to use?

One Moment One Shot · October 8, 2011

Thanks for the input. That's one thing I was concerned about when shooting sports or action shots. I like looking through the viewfinder to capture moments.

I have two lenses now that I use. An 18-55 and a 75-300.

I see that Sony has an adapter for the A-Mount lenses to work but then how BIG would that make the camera when shooting...

I considered the Sony A65/77 before but liked the fact of the compact feature of the NEX-7.

ziggy53 · October 9, 2011

There's the problem.

By the time you invest in the lenses that will give you the image quality that a 24 MPix imager deserves (like that in the NEX-7), you no longer have a small "system". The small camera body may even feel pretty clumsy with the better lenses.

If you use smaller, lesser quality lenses, you won't be making use of that wonderful imager.

If you want sports action capabilities, I don't think the NEX-7 is suitable.

It's vexing having to decide. I still think that multiple systems, and choosing the appropriate system for the task, is the only practical (but costly) solution.

davev · October 9, 2011

I think with the 10 shot per second burst that the Nex 7 has may make it the perfect camera for sports, if you can get a lens to focus fast enough with it.

ziggy53 · October 9, 2011

davev wrote: »

I think with the 10 shot per second burst that the Nex 7 has may make it the perfect camera for sports, if you can get a lens to focus fast enough with it.

That's "up to 10fps" without revising focus or exposure (Speed Priority Mode). The fastest frame rate "with" focus refresh is only 3fps, and that's in very bright light with high-contrast subject edges. In lower light or with subject matter with rounded edges, the AF speed will predictably suffer, as all contrast based AF systems suffer. Even at 3fps there is no telling the rate of change the AF system will accurately track. (Probably not very good.)

There is a video on Vimeo which purports to show the continuous AF for video, capturing a cheetah at full speed, but if you review the HD (1280x720, around 1MPix) footage frame-by-frame I'm not sure if it really tracks better than a dedicated camcorder. (Imagine that series of images at 24MPix resolution. Of course, video will never be as crisp as properly shot still images.)

http://vimeo.com/29452306

It will be interesting to see how the camera performs once it hits the distribution pipeline and gets some thorough testing. Until then, I stand by my recommendation that it is probably not going to be a suitable sports/action camera.

ThatCanonGuy · October 9, 2011

We need the electronic shutter, manual/advanced features, and speedy processor of the Nikon 1; the AF of the Olympus E-P3 (but make it good at continuous tracking too); the APS-C sensor of the NEX-7; the video features of the GH2; the lens selection of m4/3; the DSLR-lens adapters of Sony NEX and Nikon 1; and the mount-specs-shared-with-3rd-parties of the Sony mirrorless cameras, all in one camera. That will be a serious sports camera, landscape camera, walkaround camera, portrait camera, and all-around DSLR competitor

Make it, Canon! (or Kodak)

One Moment One Shot · October 10, 2011

Sport and action shooting will not be my main focus but I have grown to love it with my sons being involved. I enjoy more nature and landscapes and also weddings.

I may go ahead and make the leap and have the smaller function and also keep running with the Alpha 100.

davev · October 11, 2011

ziggy53 wrote: »

That's "up to 10fps" without revising focus or exposure (Speed Priority Mode). The fastest frame rate "with" focus refresh is only 3fps, and that's in very bright light with high-contrast subject edges. In lower light or with subject matter with rounded edges, the AF speed will predictably suffer, as all contrast based AF systems suffer. Even at 3fps there is no telling the rate of change the AF system will accurately track. (Probably not very good.)

There is a video on Vimeo which purports to show the continuous AF for video, capturing a cheetah at full speed, but if you review the HD (1280x720, around 1MPix) footage frame-by-frame I'm not sure if it really tracks better than a dedicated camcorder. (Imagine that series of images at 24MPix resolution. Of course, video will never be as crisp as properly shot still images.)

http://vimeo.com/29452306

It will be interesting to see how the camera performs once it hits the distribution pipeline and gets some thorough testing. Until then, I stand by my recommendation that it is probably not going to be a suitable sports/action camera.

Although many sports are fast moving, lets see if a few of them could work with the Nex 7 "up to" 10 shot burst.
A pitcher on the mound, he's not going anywhere.
The batter in the batter's box, he isn't moving very far either.
Quarterback under center, the D-end after a sack, the dive over the goal line, a gymnast on the rings, uneven bars, a volleyball game, a penalty kick during a soccer game, and so on.
Pretty much all of these you can pre-focus on.

I think sometimes when people think of sports, all they think about is someone running passed them at a great rate of speed, it isn't always the case.

I don't think asking a camera to focus on a cat running by at 60 MPH is a good test of the focusing system.
Granted, if it can do it, as the video more or less shows it can, I would think it could keep up with an kid playing soccer.

I stand by what I said, depending on the sport, and maybe the time of day the game is played, this may be a great sports camera.

One Moment One Shot · October 16, 2011

Well after seeing the most recent review of the Nex-7 the Auto Focus seems to be lagging a little. I'm gonna hold off on the Pre-Ordering of this unit. I was a Sony addict for many years but I caught a deal this weekend on a Nikon D3000 and it's a pretty neat little camera compared to my Sony Alpha A100 I've been using. From this weekend this Nikon has turned out some amazing shots.... Looks like I may be getting converted to Nikon. I have a camera fund that I was saving for the Nex-7 but I'm am still stuck on the handling (in hand) and how comfortable it will be by the time you attach all the lenses.

For $1400 I can get a pretty nice upgrade with Nikon....

ThatCanonGuy · October 16, 2011

One Moment One Shot wrote: »

Well after seeing the most recent review of the Nex-7 the Auto Focus seems to be lagging a little. I'm gonna hold off on the Pre-Ordering of this unit. I was a Sony addict for many years but I caught a deal this weekend on a Nikon D3000 and it's a pretty neat little camera compared to my Sony Alpha A100 I've been using. From this weekend this Nikon has turned out some amazing shots.... Looks like I may be getting converted to Nikon. I have a camera fund that I was saving for the Nex-7 but I'm am still stuck on the handling (in hand) and how comfortable it will be by the time you attach all the lenses.

For $1400 I can get a pretty nice upgrade with Nikon....

The D3000 had better not cost you $1400... $400 is more like it. Hopefully the $1400 includes some nice lenses

One Moment One Shot · October 17, 2011

No, it didn't. Actually got a New one for $96...Gotta love Clearance working in Retail. I have the $1400 Saved up waiting on the Nex-7.

ThatCanonGuy wrote: »

The D3000 had better not cost you $1400... $400 is more like it. Hopefully the $1400 includes some nice lenses

hiroProtagonist · October 22, 2011

ThatCanonGuy wrote: »

We need the electronic shutter, manual/advanced features, and speedy processor of the Nikon 1; the AF of the Olympus E-P3 (but make it good at continuous tracking too); the APS-C sensor of the NEX-7; the video features of the GH2; the lens selection of m4/3; the DSLR-lens adapters of Sony NEX and Nikon 1; and the mount-specs-shared-with-3rd-parties of the Sony mirrorless cameras, all in one camera. That will be a serious sports camera, landscape camera, walkaround camera, portrait camera, and all-around DSLR competitor <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/deal.gif" border="0" alt="" >

Make it, Canon! (or Kodak)

You forgot the high ISO performance of the D3s, the resolution the Hasselblad H4D-60, <del>and the high ethcal standards of Olympus Corp.</del>

Internaut · November 1, 2011

It's not often I get GAS but I find the NEX 7 awfully GAS inducing. The only thing that makes me put the wallet (and Mr Amex) back in its rightful place, for now at least, is the relative lack of lenses for the system (and also, the short registration distance can, I understand, create as many problems as it solves in terms of making good lenses that aren't to big compared to the small NEX bodies).

b08rsa · November 4, 2011

I currently shoot youth soccer with a Sony A33. At 7 FPS isn't that fast enough ??? I was torn between the A33 and A55 at the time. But for 100 bucks more, did I really need that extra 3 frame burst? I think not. Just my 2 cents.Any faster, and I may just buy a camcorder and video tape.

Sony NEX-7

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