{"id":1344,"date":"2012-11-02T13:52:27","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T18:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2024-09-05T17:37:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T22:37:34","slug":"sony-nex-7-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/sony-nex-7-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Sony NEX-7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sony NEX-7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Sony NEX-7 has been out for quite a while now, but it still sits atop the NEX line of mirrorless Compact System Cameras in the flagship position. It features a 24 megapixel APS-C sensor in a very tiny body, and for many people was somewhat of a ‘holy grail’ camera when it was released last year. This is the first NEX body I’ve had a real chance to put through the paces, and my friends at LensRentals.com<\/a> were kind enough to loan me an NEX-7 body and the Zeiss 24mm f\/1.8 for review. I also purchased a Konica AR to NEX adapter so I could use a few of my Hexanon lenses, with a particular eye towards my 57mm f\/1.2, which would make an ideal portrait lens for the NEX-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, having used the Micro 4\/3 system for quite some time, would the NEX inspire envy? Let’s take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. There are plenty of other sites that cover those. I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool. Also, I would like to thank my friends at LensRentals.com<\/a> for providing the camera and lens for this review. Please visit them whenever you need a lens for that once in a lifetime shoot, or just if you want to try a lens out without having to buy it first.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Body Layout<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Sony NEX-7 Front, with Pop-up flash raised.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The NEX-7 is a small camera, though the largest of the NEX bodies. It is basically a rectangle with a lens mount and a protruding grip. The design of the camera is starkly minimalist, which you will either really like or find boring. The grip is large and chunky, and contains the shutter release, power switch and one of the function buttons that can be reassigned. The top of the camera features the two large programmable dials, primarily used for changing shutter speed and aperture, as well as the NEX-7’s proprietary hot shoe and the pop-up flash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rear of the camera has two buttons that operate on-screen items, and the menu dial with a four way switch and center button. The video record button sits to the upper right. An interesting item on the rear is the switchable button, which allows you to switch functions between AutoExposure Lock and a manual focus toggle. To the left of this is the image review button and the pop up flash release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting in the upper left corner is the NEX-7’s electronic viewfinder. This is a high resolution 2.4 million dot EVF that adds no bulk to the camera, save for the small protrusion of the eyecup. The rear screen is a 3″ 16:9 aspect ratio monitor that tilts up or down in nearly the exact same way as the Olympus OM-D E-M5’s screen does. The 16:9 aspect ratio is well used, as during still capture, the 3:2 aspect ratio image from the sensor is displayed shoved to the left, while a display of the current functions of the rear controls is put to fill the remaining space on the right. It works well, and makes good use of the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The camera is very well built, with a solid magnesium alloy body and tight tolerances. It feels reassuringly solid in the hand. The squared off grip is wonderful for many people, but, at least in my hands, I found it uncomfortable in practice. No matter what grip I tried, it either felt too thick or oddly shaped. My fingers felt crammed into the space between the grip and the lens mount, and the lack of curvature on the grip was uncomfortable. I would have much preferred if Sony had taken a little width out and rounded the grip off a little more. It would have added considerably to the comfort of the camera in use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ergonomics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

All the dials and buttons are easily accessible, though the video record button is placed in a manner a little too easy to bump. However, a recent firmware update has allowed the user to lock that button to prevent accidental pressing. When I first started using the camera, I found myself changing the ISO accidentally, as I had set it to be on the rear control wheel. The rear wheel spins VERY easily, and it was far too easy to bump. Luckily that front button next to the shutter release allows one to lock the rear controls if desired. I did so, and assigned the ISO control to the right point on the four way controller, allowing for much less accidental changing of those settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NEX-7’s viewfinder position is a mixed bag. I loved the upper left positioning when shooting in landscape orientation, as it avoided the ‘nose on screen’ smearing that can happen with other cameras, but in portrait orientation, I found it awkward, as it sits too low on the camera. I also noticed that in either orientation, it doesn’t allow you to stabilize the camera against your face as well as your typical DSLR or CSC with a more centered viewfinder, as the camera tends to pivot around that contact point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sony NEX-7 and Olympus OM-D<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned before, the NEX-7 is a small camera, but it’s not too small. It’s roughly the same footprint as the Olympus OM-D E-M5, as seen above, though the Olympus is taller due to the hump containing the EVF and Image stabilization sensors. The NEX manages to cram it’s EVF into the main body of the camera, keeping a lower profile. I think the NEX manages a very nice balance of size and ergonomics, and think the body is well sized. Due to the larger sensor, the lenses for the NEX system tend to be a bit larger than those on Micro 4\/3. Below shows the difference in size between the Zeiss 24mm f\/1.8 and the diminutive Olympus 12mm f\/2. The overall NEX package is still relatively compact and surprisingly lightweight, but compared to Micro 4\/3, you’re probably going to be carrying a larger bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sony NEX-7 and Olympus OM-D E-M5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next: Operation and Performance<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Operation and Menus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Sony NEX-7 – Rear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I found the NEX-7 to be a relatively well-thought out camera with regards to the controls and operation, though there were a few quirks. The dials and some buttons are programmable, allowing you to set up the camera to operate how you’d like them to operate. Because of the well laid out controls and the flexibility in button customization, the camera can be set up to the photographer’s liking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The menu system is broken down into six main menu sections, though sometimes settings weren’t in the section you’d expect, and the individual sections are LONG, with many, many options to scroll through. This can make things a little daunting when trying to find a setting you want to change. Overall, though, there weren’t any major issues with the menu system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that I did find a little jarring was the lack of a touch screen. While touch screens are somewhat newer additions to cameras, after using them extensively on my Micro 4\/3 cameras for the past two years, it was a little hard to remember that I couldn’t set focus points by simply touching on the screen. While these touch features are very welcome, and I enjoy having them, once I got over that fact and became comfortable with the camera, it wasn’t really an issue. However, I think that it would be wise of Sony to add this functionality to future cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Screen and Viewfinder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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NEX-7 Rear Screen in Dim Light<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rear screen and viewfinder for the NEX are both high quality and high resolution. There is a proximity sensor that will switch to the EVF when the camera is raised to your face, and it works well, though it’s not perfect. While the sensor on the Olympus OM-D is too sensitive, and often switches when holding the camera at waist level for shooting, the one in the NEX-7 is not quite sensitive enough, and you really need your eye in good position before the switch occurs. As a result, there is a small delay when the camera switches to the EVF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In good light, the EVF is beautiful. It’s very high resolution and is quite sharp. It can have a little too much contrast, however, and in high contrast scenes, blacks will block up pretty easily. However, it’s merely a cosmetic issue, as you can still easily frame and focus your shots. In good light, it’s among the best EVFs available. However, in dim light, both the EVF and rear screen will become quite noisy and moderately laggy. You can see the noise visible in a low light situation by clicking on the image above, showing the rear screen of the NEX-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus Peaking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One awesome feature of the NEX-7 is focus peaking. This is especially helpful for users of adapted manual focus lenses, as it highlights the in-focus areas of the image in a color of your choice. I chose yellow, as it stood out enough to be noticed, but wasn’t distracting to me when composing an image. You can also select white or red. (Clicking on the screen image in the previous section, you can see the focus peaking display on the edges of the chair)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found the focus peaking mode to work relatively well, and it was especially helpful on more distant subjects. It certainly works better with higher contrast lenses, especially in portraiture. I found shooting something like my Hexanon 57mm f\/1.2 wide open didn’t provide enough contrast in portraits to allow for the focus peaking to work well. However, in those situations, the EVF was clear enough to allow for accurate manual focus regardless. This should be in every EVF equipped camera. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The NEX-7 is a responsive camera. The camera starts up quickly and operates quickly as well. Shutter lag is nearly non-existent, with near instantaneous shutter response once the button is pressed. The camera is capable of shooting at 10 frames per second when locking focus beforehand, and 3.7 fps when continually focusing, however, like all cameras using contrast-detect autofocus, the continuous autofocus left a little to be desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autofocus performance in single shot was quite nice, though I only had the 24mm to test. While not quite as quick as some of the fastest mirrorless cameras around, it’s certainly fast enough for most anything. The camera locked focus surely and accurately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is one big failure of the NEX-7’s autofocus system. In any sort of low light, the camera will switch off single point autofocus and revert to full area AF. So, instead of focusing on a single point, it will choose something to be in focus over the entire frame. This happens at, in my opinion, a ridiculously bright level: EV 5. That is, f\/1.8, ISO 1600 and 1\/125s (or whatever combination of that exposure). This is NOT that dim of a condition, and is frankly about the level of a typical room in my home at night. After further research, it appears that you can avoid this by turning off the AF assist light at the expense of AF speed. Still, this is a very baffling design decision that is unnecessary. Given the good high ISO performance of this camera, it is strange to me that they would hamper the autofocus in dimmer light like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flash<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, I failed to test the built-in pop-up flash. I tend to use flash with portrait type subjects, which demand softer light from bounced flash, and it completely slipped my mind to test the pop-up flash for this review. Since the camera is now back at Lens Rentals, I can’t retroactively test it. However, it brings up another point:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NEX-7 contains a proprietary Sony hotshoe. As I don’t have any Sony flashes, I also couldn’t test the hotshoe, or take images with the NEX even using my manual flashes. It is a very<\/em> odd decision in my opinion to have a proprietary hotshoe on a camera of this caliber…it eliminates everything but Sony accessories, including my wireless flash triggers and manual flashes. Luckily, the newer NEX-6 has replaced the Sony hotshoe with a standard center-fire hotshoe. I would assume that any future NEX cameras will have the standard shoe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Image Quality: Detail, Dynamic Range and Color<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Locked – Sony NEX-7 with Zeiss 24mm f\/1.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If there is one thing the NEX-7 has going for it, it’s image quality, especially low ISO image quality. The APS-C sensor in the NEX-7 is among the best APS-C sensors out there, and packs 24 megapixels into its circuitry. The NEX-7 provides very detailed images with extremely wide dynamic range. Others have tested it at over 13 stops of usable dynamic range in RAW at base ISO, and my shooting bears that out. Basically, you can shoot in most any condition, and you’ll be able to retain detail in the shadows and highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NEX-7’s color response is pretty good. While I found JPEG images to be flat, the RAW files are very malleable, and the base color balance is accurate and pleasing. While by default the images aren’t particularly saturated, especially in the greens, I was able to bring out excellent color in Lightroom by boosting the saturation a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned the detail, and the NEX-7 does indeed provide detailed images. I found that while the JPEG color quality was a little flat, Sony has tuned JPEGs to retain a very high level of detail. In RAW, you can get even more detail out of the images, though it does seem the NEX-7 has a moderately strong anti-aliasing filter, so the resolution advantage over 16 megapixel cameras isn’t quite as large as I might have expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image Quality – Noise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Seamstress – Sony NEX-7 with Zeiss 24mm f\/1.8 @ ISO 1600<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the NEX-7 contains a good sized APS-C sensor, there are a lot of pixels crammed into the sensor, so noise has the potential to be worse at the pixel level than the lower megapixel NEX cameras. Indeed, tests seem to show that a camera like the NEX-5N retains a pixel level advantage over the NEX-7 in the noise department. That said, the higher resolution will offset some of that higher per-pixel noise, and indeed, the NEX-7 has very fine high ISO capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At low ISO, the NEX-7 does a very nice job controlling noise. While there is still a very slight amount of noise in clear blue skies, it’s very well controlled, and better controlled than any of the Micro 4\/3 cameras. At high ISO, noise remains well controlled. Images are extremely usable up through ISO 1600 for most any use, and even ISO 3200 and 6400 are plenty good enough for 8×10″ or 11×14″ prints. At ISO 12,800 and 16,000, a magenta cast creeps into the images, and noise becomes objectionable, but could still be usable in a pinch or for small prints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pros:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n