NEX-7 : Manual Focus / Lens Recommendations / ISO Performance

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gingerweasel

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Hi guys, I'm looking around for my next camera and the NEX-7 has really caught my eye. At first I thought it was a bit gimmicky having read various threads on TP but having held one in a local camera store I'm very impressed.

The shape looks awkward to hold, especially looking at the lens sizes but oddly the opposite seems to be true. I thought it felt quite natural in the hand.

I'm particularly interested in using manual focus lenses with any future camera and the Sony appears to have a good system for ensuring accurate focusing.

I'm also a big natural light shooter so ISO performance is at the very top of my list of specs. I've used the D700 in the past which set a very high standard and I was worried when switching that I'd lose this. However the X100 performed amazingly and I'm happy to using anything unto 6400 with it.

I'd love to here from any NEX-7 owners, what has your experience been of manual focusing, lens adaptors and ISO performance??
 
I think CT has a NEX-7 on here, not sure who else has one. I use a NEX-5 and the focus peaking is pretty handy when using the M mount adapter with Leica/Zeiss lenses. I'd imagine it would be even easier using the viewfinder. Have you looked at the Fuji XPro-1? That's what made me think twice about the Sony.
 
I've been looking at the Fujifilm X-Pro 1 but it appears to suffer from much of the x100's faults. Whilst I love the x100 I can see it being very frustrating when mixed with interchangeable lenses.

The manual focus ring is still unworkable, the MF assist is not very helpful and the viewfinder (beloved by everyone) is still a weak point as far as I'm concerned.

I have to say though, imagine quality is second to none.

I've seen a lot of users on Flickr with Voigtlander glass, looks interesting.
 
Sorry John, I've only just seen this. Yes - I've had the NEX-7 for a few weeks now and I really couldn't be happier with it. I think it fits the hand perfectly. It's a little larger than a lot of the competitors, but that's no bad thing- in reality it's much the same size as a fairly compact rangefinder camera. The viewfinder is superb - large and bright with all the info you could want on display. The viewfinder gets a little grainy in very low light situations, particularly at high ISO settings, but it's still very usable.

As far as high ISO noise is concerned it's excellent - it just blows away both my 7D and 50D, I don't think you need worry on that score - noise performance is very impressive.

The focus peaking system which is used with manual lenses is nothing less than inspired, I don't think I've used any other system which is so quick and accurate for manual focusing.

I could write forever about what's good about it, but it's probably easier to tell you what you might find to be issues...

(1) The AF system is excellent, but in servo mode it's not anywhere near as quick as a DSLR, so as a camera for capturing the action, it's far from ideal, but if you want it for street, candid, portrait, or landscape type shooting, it's definitely the real deal and will produce large files and an image quality which most top end DSLRs would struggle to better.

(2) It appears that certain legacy wide angle lenses produce a magenta cast at the edges of the image. It's down to the design of these lenses which are either symmetrical or retro focus and it's the former type which cause the problem due to the oblique angle at which light is transmitted to the sensor. There's no issue at all with retro focus type lenses, so these are the type you need to go for, although there is free software available which cures the issue with symmetrical lenses, and you can of course just take the easy option and shoot in black and white.

Both my Contax G2 Zeiss wide lenses, the 21mm and 28mm exhibit the magenta cast which is a bit disappointing, but the issue isn't insurmountable and image quality is otherwise stunning

Sorry mate, this is very much the short version as I don't have a lot of time at the moment. I will post some pics as soon as I get some breathing space, but I've no regrets at all and I would buy it again in a heartbeat. If it wasn't for the fact I'm primarily a wildlife photographer, I'd seriously consider using it exclusively and getting rid of my DSLRs.

Hope that helps somewhat, but you should just get one, I can't imagine you'd be less than delighted with it.
 
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Oops -missed the question about lens adaptors.

I use the Metabones converter (Contax G2 version). It's very well engineered and gives smooth manual focusing when connected to my G2 lenses. There are cheaper converters available, but I'd be a bit wary, it seems some them go fubar pretty quickly.

Any specific questions I'll do my best to answer - just sing out.
 
Thank you for responding, I really appreciate it.

I'm mainly use primes and I only tend to use two focal lengths so equivalent 35mm and 85mm lenses would be all I needed to keep me happy. I was looking at Voigtlander glass to be honest, some other manual focus lenses look far too disproportionate on the body.
 
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I also have just received my nex-7 in the last few days, I am also very impressed with its high iso capability. I personally think the nex7 with 18-55 or zeiss 24mm looks very well balanced & fits into the hand very nicely.
The menu system I find very easy to navigate & changes to controls are quickly done.
The images I have been getting with only the 18-55 kit lens are nice & sharp and full of detail; I have no regrets about exchanging the nex7 for the 40D & 24-105L I previously owned, it's a perfect camera for me that i can carry anywhere
 
I had a play with a NEX-7 in park cameras yesterday, really liked the build and the handling, was fitted with the kit 18-55 lens. The EVF was very fluid almost OVF like, but did notice a lot of noise, that was a bit distracting. Other than that i'd have one if there were only more e-mount lenses.
 
I'd love the Navi key on the Nex 3, especially for the custom white balance selection.

I'd never actually seen how the controls worked on the Nex-7, you can see they've matured a lot from the first gen.
 
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Hi guys
Have just joined and coming to this thread late, but am considering buying the NEX-7. Reviews tend to be very positive. Others mentioned to me are Olympus OMD, Fujifilm X-Pro 1 and the new Samsung NX300. I go into the hills a lot wild camping and drive across inhospitable lands in my old Land Rover. I need a camera to be small and light to pack and carry long distances but have a sensor big enough to produce great images. Most photographs I take are landscape, people, and whatever catches my eye.
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
Steve
 
I'm sure I've read that the Nex 6 is better for legacy lenses as it doesn't suffer the colour cast?

Can anyone confirm?

If so it may be something for the OP to think about.

I'm sure I've read that the Nex 6 also has better noise performance.
 
The NEX-7 is due to be replaced in ~a month or so.
If you can wait you should be able to choose between a new (hopefully improved) camera or the existing NEX-7 which should get cheaper.

The NEX-6 & NEX-7 have pretty much identical noise the same as the A57 & A77 do. The noise only looks worse at 100% because you have zoomed into a smaller section due to the higher pixel density of the 24MP sensor v the 16MP sensor. & the 24MP has more detail.
 
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