Sony NEX-7... Canon.... Wake Up!

My interest was piqued a week or so ago by the Olympus E-M5. After a few days of research into the mirrorless category, I have dipped my toe in the water for a second-hand NEX-5N.

After a few days of shooting with it, and as far as I'm concerned, I am reasonably sure I wont have any DSLRs in 12-18 months time. If the mirrorless category keeps advancing as it has, I dont really see a reason for me to keep the large DSLR form factor at all.
But thats me, I dont do action, people, shallow-dof or low light and I'm more than comfortable with touch-screen menu-driven navigation. Its the IQ that counts and I'm happy with what I'm seeing. However I do realise that the ergonomics of a large DSLR is a necessity for some people and I must admit, shooting them side-by-side, the handling is miles ahead on my 5D2.

I'm not overly thrilled that its Sony but whichever way you look at it, they have ponied up a nice camera line with the NEX series. I would love Canon to release a mirrorless this year that could accept EF and EF-S lenses with full electronic aperture and IS. It would be great for them to release a new line of smaller lenses too for the EVILs as the compactness is a huge draw for me.

Having said that I am still waiting for the metabones EF -NEX adapter to come into stock so I can use my 17-40 and see what I can really get out of the 16MP sensor. I quite like the large lens/small body look

As usual, its a great time to be in photography!!

But I doubt Nex has competitive burst shoot mode against Canon.Canon has comparatively faster burst mode as I watched some youtube comparision vdos. ! yet I haven't tried myself.

Sony NEX 5N/NEX 7: 10 fps
Olympus E-M5: 9 fps

You'd need to spend a LOT of money to get a DSLR that matches those numbers.

I'm on the fence as far as a MFT, as the NEX-7 sparked it and the Olympus E-M5 really got me thinking as well. My friend just picked up the Panasonic GX1 (he shoots D3s/D4) and he loves it.

I'll wait until June to see if Canon makes an announcement as far as releasing one. I like the G1X, but I'll wait a few more weeks.

With that said, I love the fact that I can take my DSLR (no grip) with a prime or 24-105 on a trip and be able to take the shot without having to power the camera on or wait for it to power up if in standby mode. I'm sure carrying any of the MTF's is heck of a lot lighter and easier, but I'll take the DSLR for the above mentioned, etc.

The weather sealed Olympus is another nice feature..

Luckypenguin wrote in post #14473019
Sony NEX 5N/NEX 7: 10 fps
Olympus E-M5: 9 fps

Do you have to select a mode from the menu to shoot 10fps? Or, is it capable of this in any mode?

On the E-M5 you can select the drive mode from the "Super Control Panel" screen, accessible by pressing the "OK" button: Low speed sequential, high speed sequential, or single. If you go into the menus you can set low speed (1-4 fps) and high speed (5-9 fps) rates. I don't have either of the Sonys so I don't know how they work.

coldcuts113 wrote in post #14473020
With that said, I love the fact that I can take my DSLR (no grip) with a prime or 24-105 on a trip and be able to take the shot without having to power the camera on or wait for it to power up if in standby mode.

You can leave the Panasonic m4/3 cameras and also the Olympus E-M5 in sleep mode indefinitely and wake the camera by half pressing the shutter, but the startup time is at least one second compared to the near instantaneous start-up time on a good DSLR.

Luckypenguin wrote in post #14473019
Sony NEX 5N/NEX 7: 10 fps
Olympus E-M5: 9 fps

You'd need to spend a LOT of money to get a DSLR that matches those numbers.

Those burst specs are misleading because the NEX cannot focus between shots. That makes such bursts useless for most sports.

You can't compare a camera with a real functional burst and one with a fakey useless burst and then marvel at the cheaper camera specs. The NEX line is interesting, but it really does not have the features of a 1D. It also has a very limited lens line for the kinds of things where one typically uses bursts.

JeffreyG wrote in post #14473133
Those burst specs are misleading because the NEX cannot focus between shots. That makes such bursts useless for most sports.

You can't compare a camera with a real functional burst and one with a fakey useless burst and then marvel at the cheaper camera specs. The NEX line is interesting, but it really does not have the features of a 1D. It also has a very limited lens line for the kinds of things where one typically uses bursts.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Who cares who makes it? If it serves your purpose, that's all that counts.

I have an Olympus XZ-1 as a walk about. I bought it just before the S100 came out. Bad timing. But it does the job.

Luckypenguin wrote in post #14473053
You can leave the Panasonic m4/3 cameras and also the Olympus E-M5 in sleep mode indefinitely and wake the camera by half pressing the shutter, but the startup time is at least one second compared to the near instantaneous start-up time on a good DSLR.

Thanks.

When out and about with the family, that 1 second could be the shot.

The Sony is near instant on, and is instant on if you leave the power swich in the on position and let it go to "sleep" on its own. A simple tap of the shutter release and it is awake again.

But that isn't or shouldn't be the biggest inhibitor in getting family shots. It is how fast the camera focus locks. Again, the litle Sony focus locks not as fast as my 1D, but is close to what my 7D does, and is absolutely faster than my old 20D, 50D locked. There is no hint of hunt on it. I used the camera to shoot some presentations down at SAP Sapphire a week ago in a moderately dimly lit convention center and it had no issues instantly locking on to subjects. Sometimes it picked the wrong subject - like the back of the guys head sitting in front of me rather than the speaker... but it was instantanouse.

Just my mileage... yours may vary.

"Those burst specs are misleading because the NEX cannot focus between shots. That makes such bursts useless for most sports."

Not sure where this comes from but yes, it does have subject tracking in burst mode. It is only 10 shots, but it had not problems tacking my son doing jumps on his dirt bike. Would I use it as a primary sports camera - nope. As a part time shooters camera to get juniors soccer game - absolutely up to the task. Quality glass is the biggest problem here, not focus tracking.

Jeffrey, your comparing my usual sports kit that cost over 15k, something the average shooter should never spend for just for fun shots, and a camera that is only $1,300. Lets me a little more reasonable here. If you compare it to something like an XXXD Canon with a 70-300 canon lens - you would be really hard pressed to find a difference, and yes, the Sony will do the 10 frames RAW with no issue... where the xxxD will have issues. Lets talk apples to apples here. Not many people normal people are going to want to drop 5-15k on gear to get their kids T-Ball game - or at least they shouldn't.

The difference here is I am more than willing to pocket the NEX when I head out to field for my kids games. I can capture good enough shots, and 1080P at 60 fps video. I will be more than glad to bring this to each and every game. Halling a 1D with a 400 2.8 or 300 2.8 just isn't going to happen for most.

I would love a Canon equivelent, if they would give us the AF adapter like Sony has for it's full line of AF lenses.

You can't actually use this with EF lenses, adapters exist, but you will not be able to adjust the aperture. I can manually focus, this is not problem but we need to be able to adjust aperture. That one aspect really renders the idea moot. Too bad, if this weren't the case, I'd get this Sony.

It's tempting to get one and mate it to some of the old MF lenses though with manual aperture rings, it would make it a very affordable system.

joedlh wrote in post #14473155
Who cares who makes it? If it serves your purpose, that's all that counts.

I have an Olympus XZ-1 as a walk about. I bought it just before the S100 came out. Bad timing. But it does the job.

Agree, I know I'm odd in that I really do want one that will function with my EF lenses, but whoever makes it, that's my dream.