p.9 #1 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
We are also talking about one semi fast prime....not a bag.
I get that I could use a single 2.8 zoom for the same dof and range as say a few small primes on the nex...however
I'd like to see what the quality difference is.
The weight in hand is quite different
The intrusiveness is quite different
The fun factor may be different
Comparing equiv fl and apertures doesn't work when you start talking about low light...if I want a low light lens I have to take the fast prime for canon, some would say that's an advantage of the nex...light gathering of 1.4 with greater dof... Of course if the 5d high iso is half a stop better then I doesn't matter...but from what I see it isn't. additionally, when taking one prime with a camera, half the weight and 2/3 the volume does matter. It's the difference between me taking a tiny shoulder bag or not. There's always 'well it's only a bit more'. That is, unfortunately, the American mantra which leads to super sizing fast food, large debt, etc. to me it makes more sense to say, what are my needs and match that. There's always something a bit better for a bit more.
It's interesting to talk about prints and I think there are two schools here...people that care about prints and some that care about digital presentation. For me the real reason to get the nex was to Have a small system camera my gf and I could both use and to take one or two lenses out at a time. All I have for the 5d2 are fast large primes, so I can't compare there, but I'm happy to weigh the 5d2+24-105 vs nex with two g lenses..though I think to be fair one would weight the 24-70.
That said I am not yet qualified to opine whether the system is a good enough replacement as its just arriving..,but the proof will be which I take, when, how often, etc.
p.9 #2 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
douglasf13 wrote:
I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture where I thought, "If only this shot had one stop shallower depth of field, it would have been successful." In fact, I'd usually stop down my lenses to f2 on my fullframe DSLRs, so shooting fast rangefinder glass wide open on NEX made the transition relatively unnoticeable.
NEX with rangefinder glass gives you a setup about the same size as a m4/3 setup, but it splits the DOF (and IQ) difference between m4/3 and 135 DSLR, and that's what makes it such an appealing compromise to many of us. I just haven't seen a single shot that I've taken with a nex camera that would have been dramatically more successful with my A900, personally. I have taken shots with nex that would have never been taken in the first place with my A900, because the larger camera would have been at home. ...Show more →
I agree. In most situations I'm DOF limited and need to stop down in order to get adequate DOF, even for those creamy shots. That gives APS-C the advantage, since there's 1.3 stops more DOF vs FF for equivalent framing. That means for DOF-limited situations the FF noise advantage completely disappears since FF has to be stopped down to get adequate DOF and that means 1.3 stops more ISO to match the minimum shutter speed.
p.9 #5 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
pdmphoto wrote:
But I haven't seem a single shot with the NEX, even with the CV 35/1.2, that has wow'd me
I've seen plenty of samples in the NEX image thread that have wowed me. I've only seen a couple of samples from the CV 35/1.2 though, mainly some from Ulrik.
p.9 #6 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
philber wrote:
What is your experience in printing from mirrorless ?
For the record, images taken with my NEX 5N and ZM 50 Planar and printed at 16x24 with my Epson 4900 are stunning. Would the same image taken with a D3s and a 75 mm lens be better? Maybe, but I really don't care.
Also, for the record, my main criteria for judging camera/lens combinations are not the ability to do wide angle shallow DOF images.
p.9 #7 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
The CV35/1.2 together with the Nex-5 is OK. It's not super but it will do in most situations. Some will of course say it's soft wide open, some will compare it to a FF with a good, cheap and light weight 50/2 mounted, some like the way it renders and that's it.
The border and corners aren't great at large openings and when trying the lens with the 5N they didn't improve much at all (very little actually).
If anyone is really interested in the combo Nex/CV35/1.2 there are quite some pseudo-scientific material available if you click this link which goes to my report about it at DPR. Some of the samples there are also posted here, in the Berlin thread (but not in the Nex thread as I don't care a lot for cross posting).
There is also a long thread at the RF Forum but that one is mainly about the CV35/1.2 used with the M9.
p.9 #8 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
AhamB wrote:
I've seen plenty of samples in the NEX image thread that have wowed me. I've only seen a couple of samples from the CV 35/1.2 though, mainly some from Ulrik.
Agreed, there are some outstanding shots in there..specifically from contax and old fd... I dunno, I guess I'm not looking to do portraits with this..otoh, it could be the gateway drug to a m9
p.9 #9 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
ergonomic delight is a matter of opinion, the camera is still unnecessarily large, i always thought the 5D was an ergonomic disaster. the optical viewfinder not much of an advantage, it's the worst of any FF digital. i'd much prefer a decent evf or the viewfinder and ergonomics of any decent film slr.
Yes, this is all relative - I too prefer the ergonomics of the Pentax LX or the Leica R9. But, having used three of the current DSLRs 5DII, A900 and D700, I can only say that the A900 is only a little better; they all seem to me to be in the same narrow range - it's hardly like picking up a Pentax 67II.
As to preferring an EVF, well I haven't tried the Nex 7, so can't comment, but all the others I've seen seem utterly awful to me - just no comparison at all. I do hope the Nex 7 is a game changer here, but cannot imagine it; I'll have to see.
I would much prefer an LX sized FF DSLR, of even an R9 sized one, if the ergonomics and general feel remained the same. If the M9 were both cheaper and much more reliable I would go for that, being already used to film M's, with a full set of good lenses. But from what I've seen so far, I'm still not tempted to give up on the 5DII when paired to the 40/2 for digital.
p.9 #10 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
This is going to sound like heresy, but, as a user of the A900 and its beautiful OVF for over 2 years, as well as other film OVFs over the years, I'm not sure I'd trade the new Sony EVF for it. Manual focus peaking, a live histogram, and easy to see lowlight performance (albeit grainy) is spoiling me quite a bit, and the size of the new Sony EVF is slightly smaller than the A900 (think Nikon D3 size.) It would be a tough choice for me, now.
p.9 #11 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
douglasf13 wrote:
This is going to sound like heresy, but, as a user of the A900 and its beautiful OVF for over 2 years, as well as other film OVFs over the years, I'm not sure I'd trade the new Sony EVF for it. Manual focus peaking, a live histogram, and easy to see lowlight performance (albeit grainy) is spoiling me quite a bit, and the size of the new Sony EVF is slightly smaller than the A900 (think Nikon D3 size.) It would be a tough choice for me, now.
I like looking at the world through an OVF, but I get more shots in focus with the EVF.
As a result, I'm going to get a Pentax to NEX adapter to use my Pentax Limiteds with my NEX 7 (when it arrives) as an alternative to my K-5.
I love my K-5 and Pentax lenses, but I get too many OOF shots when using the Pentax AF system. As a result, I got a Katz Eye split prism screen, which I had installed and calibrated by Katz Eye and I still only get 70% of my shots with critical focus with my K-5.
The accuracy of live view focusing with the NEX 5N EVF is very addictive.
p.9 #12 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
One area where the 5D wins hand down is a viewfinder that I can use in the sun. It's complete guess work with my NEX5 in bright sun. Also, being a varifocals user it gets a bit difficult to see the screen at some angles. So I live in hope that the '7 will deliver the goods as I'm not that keen on a 5 plus an expensive EVF.
p.9 #13 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
Make sure you put the LCD brightness to "Sunny Weather" to get rid of most problems with sunlight. But in all I agree with the 5D2 OVF, though I wish it was swivable more than ever...
p.9 #14 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
MarkJones wrote:
One area where the 5D wins hand down is a viewfinder that I can use in the sun. It's complete guess work with my NEX5 in bright sun. Also, being a varifocals user it gets a bit difficult to see the screen at some angles. So I live in hope that the '7 will deliver the goods as I'm not that keen on a 5 plus an expensive EVF.
I still have the 7 on preorder, but I've become quite accustomed to the 5N's tillable EVF, so I'm not sure I'll prefer the 7's implementation.
p.9 #17 · Giving up 5D II for NEX? My experience in Japan
wolfloid wrote:
Yes, this is all relative - I too prefer the ergonomics of the Pentax LX or the Leica R9. But, having used three of the current DSLRs 5DII, A900 and D700, I can only say that the A900 is only a little better; they all seem to me to be in the same narrow range - it's hardly like picking up a Pentax 67II.
As to preferring an EVF, well I haven't tried the Nex 7, so can't comment, but all the others I've seen seem utterly awful to me - just no comparison at all. I do hope the Nex 7 is a game changer here, but cannot imagine it; I'll have to see.
I would much prefer an LX sized FF DSLR, of even an R9 sized one, if the ergonomics and general feel remained the same. If the M9 were both cheaper and much more reliable I would go for that, being already used to film M's, with a full set of good lenses. But from what I've seen so far, I'm still not tempted to give up on the 5DII when paired to the 40/2 for digital....Show more →
indeed, i didn't mean to imply that the a900 or d700 viewfinders were that much better, they all suck compared to a decent film slr (though the difference between the a900 and 5D is noticeable). being the worst of a bad bunch is not a selling point to me though. i am quite enamored with evfs because of the more precise manual focus, the ability to overlay shooting info, see actual dof, and see in b&w. obviously people who shoot differently than me will have different tastes. my main issue is that any of the current FF dslrs would stay at home for 95% of my shooting due to bulk or just being off putting to others.
wfrank wrote:
Make sure you put the LCD brightness to "Sunny Weather" to get rid of most problems with sunlight. But in all I agree with the 5D2 OVF, though I wish it was swivable more than ever...
using any kind of screen protector makes the lcd useless in the sunlight too.
