Re: Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
My \"first look\" impressions of the A7 are not good.
Build quality. Plastic body feels every bit as cheap and hollow as the 300% cheaper NEX-6. And since it\'s a smooth glossy plastic instead of the NEX-6\'s textured matte, it actually LOOKS cheaper. Battery and SD card doors are going to be extremely easy to break.
Grip. A bright spot. Thank goodness, it is much taller than the NEX\'s. Only half a finger and a fifth of my palm hang off the bottom. I think with the vertical grip I\'d be able to hold it quite comfortably. That\'s a step backwards from my D700, but hey.
Ergonomics. I hate this retro trend. A lot. No, A7 designer, I don\'t care that some old film camera some old fogies are nostalgic for had the shutter button there. It\'s a bad spot. You should\'ve at least tilted it forward some, though it still would\'ve been a bad spot. I can\'t stop \"pressing\" the top of the front control dial (aka where the shutter should be). And as others have reported, shutter \"feel\" is horrible, I can\'t identify crossover point from AF/AEL to firing (it feels different every time). Also, for ergonomics, none of the buttons (excluding the shutter) have enough \"travel,\" especially the Menu and C2 buttons since they\'re recessed behind the LCD.
EVF. Panel itself is great. Optics are crap. \"Eye point\" is too low to use with glasses: I see reflections and severe smearing around the edges. Diopter correction is extensive enough that I can shoot without my glasses (something my D700 can\'t say, so that is impressive), but I\'m too blind to leave my glasses off (and what a pain to push them up every time I want to shoot). Should\'ve put the eyepoint several millimeters farther back (which would\'ve been worth doing just to solve the nose-jamming-into-LCD problem even if it didn\'t fix the optics) The A99 had great EVF optics, they should\'ve used those.
Shutter Lag. Much better than a compact point-and-shoot but noticeably worse than the EM-5 or even NEX-6. Which is to say quite bad.
Shutter Blackout. Horrendous. What is going on with this? It\'s 3-4x the NEX-6 and ~5x my D700. I kept thinking I\'d bumped the shutter speed dial to a long exposure time.
Focus magnification. Very minor gripe. One press shows where the magnification \"window\" will be so you can easily/quickly move it, and a second press is required to actually magnify. I can see how many would prefer this functionality (even though it\'s probably not necessary since the \"window\" is far easier and faster than on the NEX\'s to move during magnification - just spin the control dials), but I wish it could be turned off.
Image review magnification. Another minor gripe. This is really easy and intuitive on the NEX\'s. Why not here?
I\'ll be taking it out and shooting with it for a while and taking a look at image quality before I give up on it, but so far it feels like a step backwards from my D700.
Re: Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
My \"first look\" impressions of the A7 are not good.
Build quality. Plastic body feels every bit as cheap and hollow as the 300% cheaper NEX-6. And since it\'s a smooth glossy plastic instead of the NEX-6\'s textured matte, it actually LOOKS cheaper.
Grip. A bright spot. Thank goodness, it is much taller than the NEX\'s. Only half a finger and a fifth of my palm hang off the bottom. I think with the vertical grip I\'d be able to hold it quite comfortably. That\'s a step backwards from my D700, but hey.
Ergonomics. I hate this retro trend. A lot. No, A7 designer, I don\'t care that some old film camera some old fogies are nostalgic for had the shutter button there. It\'s a bad spot. You should\'ve at least tilted it forward some, though it still would\'ve been a bad spot. I can\'t stop \"pressing\" the top of the front control dial (aka where the shutter should be). And as others have reported, shutter \"feel\" is horrible, I can\'t identify crossover point from AF/AEL to firing (it feels different every time). Also, for ergonomics, none of the buttons (excluding the shutter) have enough \"travel,\" especially the Menu and C2 buttons since they\'re recessed behind the LCD.
EVF. Panel itself is great. Optics are crap. \"Eye point\" is too low to use with glasses: I see reflections and severe smearing around the edges. Diopter correction is extensive enough that I can shoot without my glasses (something my D700 can\'t say, so that is impressive), but I\'m too blind to leave my glasses off (and what a pain to push them up every time I want to shoot). Should\'ve put the eyepoint several millimeters farther back (which would\'ve been worth doing just to solve the nose-jamming-into-LCD problem even if it didn\'t fix the optics) The A99 had great EVF optics, they should\'ve used those.
Shutter Lag. Much better than a compact point-and-shoot but noticeably worse than the EM-5 or even NEX-6. Which is to say quite bad.
Shutter Blackout. Horrendous. What is going on with this? It\'s 3-4x the NEX-6 and ~5x my D700. I kept thinking I\'d bumped the shutter speed dial to a long exposure time.
Focus magnification. Very minor gripe. One press shows where the magnification \"window\" will be so you can easily/quickly move it, and a second press is required to actually magnify. I can see how many would prefer this functionality (even though it\'s probably not necessary since the \"window\" is far easier and faster than on the NEX\'s to move during magnification - just spin the control dials), but I wish it could be turned off.
Image review magnification. Another minor gripe. This is really easy and intuitive on the NEX\'s. Why not here?
I\'ll be taking it out and shooting with it for a while and taking a look at image quality before I give up on it, but so far it feels like a step backwards from my D700.
Re: Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
My \"first look\" impressions of the A7 are not good.
Build quality. Plastic body feels every bit as cheap and hollow as the 300% cheaper NEX-6. And since it\'s a smooth glossy plastic instead of the NEX-6\'s textured matte, it actually LOOKS cheaper.
Grip. A bright spot. Thank goodness, it is much taller than the NEX\'s. Only half a finger and a fifth of my palm hang off the bottom. I think with the vertical grip I\'d be able to hold it quite comfortably. That\'s a step backwards from my D700, but hey.
Ergonomics. I hate this retro trend. A lot. No, A7 designer, I don\'t care that some old film camera some old fogies are nostalgic for had the shutter button there. It\'s a bad spot. You should\'ve at least tilted it forward some, though it still would\'ve been a bad spot. I can\'t stop \"pressing\" the top of the front control dial (aka where the shutter should be). And as others have reported, shutter \"feel\" is horrible, I can\'t identify crossover point from AF/AEL to firing (it feels different every time). Also, for ergonomics, none of the buttons (excluding the shutter) have enough \"travel,\" especially the Menu and C2 buttons since they\'re recessed behind the LCD.
EVF. Panel itself is great. Optics are crap. \"Eye point\" is too low to use with glasses: I see reflections and severe smearing around the edges. Diopter correction is extensive enough that I can shoot without my glasses (something my D700 can\'t say, so that is impressive), but I\'m too blind to leave my glasses off (and what a pain to push them up every time I want to shoot). Should\'ve put the eyepoint several millimeters farther back (which would\'ve been worth doing just to solve the nose-jamming-into-LCD problem even if it didn\'t fix the optics) The A99 had great EVF optics, they should\'ve used those.
Shutter Lag. Much better than a compact point-and-shoot but noticeably worse than the EM-5 or even NEX-6. Which is to say quite bad.
Shutter Blackout. Horrendous. What is going on with this? It\'s 3-4x the NEX-6 and ~5x my D700. I kept thinking I\'d bumped the shutter speed dial to a long exposure time.
Focus magnification. Very minor gripe. One press shows where the magnification \"window\" will be so you can easily/quickly move it, and a second press is required to actually magnify. I can see how many would prefer this functionality, but I wish it could be turned off.
Image review magnification. Another minor gripe. This is really easy and intuitive on the NEX\'s. Why not here?
I\'ll be taking it out and shooting with it for a while and taking a look at image quality before I give up on it, but so far it feels like a step backwards from my D700.
Re: Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
My \"first look\" impressions of the A7 are not good.
Build quality. Plastic body feels every bit as cheap and hollow as the 300% cheaper NEX-6. And since it\'s a smooth glossy plastic instead of the NEX-6\'s textured matte, it actually LOOKS cheaper.
Grip. A bright spot. Thank goodness, it is much taller than the NEX\'s. Only half a finger and a fifth of my palm hang off the bottom. I think with the vertical grip I\'d be able to hold it quite comfortably. That\'s a step backwards from my D700, but hey.
Ergonomics. I hate this retro trend. A lot. No, A7 designer, I don\'t care that some old film camera some old fogies are nostalgic for had the shutter button there. It\'s a bad spot. You should\'ve at least tilted it forward some, though it still would\'ve been a bad spot. I can\'t stop \"pressing\" the top of the front control dial (aka where the shutter should be). And as others have reported, shutter \"feel\" is horrible, I can\'t identify crossover point from AF/AEL to firing (it feels different every time). Also, for ergonomics, none of the buttons (excluding the shutter) have enough \"travel,\" especially the Menu and C2 buttons which are also recessed behind the LCD.
EVF. Panel itself is great. Optics are crap. \"Eye point\" is too low to use with glasses: I see reflections and severe smearing around the edges. Diopter correction is extensive enough that I can shoot without my glasses (something my D700 can\'t say, so that is impressive), but I\'m too blind to leave my glasses off (and what a pain to push them up every time I want to shoot). Should\'ve put the eyepoint several millimeters farther back (which would\'ve been worth doing just to solve the nose-jamming-into-LCD problem even if it didn\'t fix the optics) The A99 had great EVF optics, they should\'ve used those.
Shutter Lag. Much better than a compact point-and-shoot but noticeably worse than the EM-5 or even NEX-6. Which is to say quite bad.
Shutter Blackout. Horrendous. What is going on with this? It\'s 3-4x the NEX-6 and ~5x my D700. I kept thinking I\'d bumped the shutter speed dial to a long exposure time.
Focus magnification. Very minor gripe. One press shows where the magnification \"window\" will be so you can easily/quickly move it, and a second press is required to actually magnify. I can see how many would prefer this functionality, but I wish it could be turned off.
Image review magnification. Another minor gripe. This is really easy and intuitive on the NEX\'s. Why not here?
I\'ll be taking it out and shooting with it for a while and taking a look at image quality before I give up on it, but so far it feels like a step backwards from my D700.
Re: Official: Sony A7 and A7R Fullframe Mirrorless
My \"first look\" impressions of the A7 are not good.
Build quality. Plastic body feels every bit as cheap and hollow as the 300% cheaper NEX-6. And since it\'s a smooth glossy plastic instead of the NEX-6\'s textured matte, it actually LOOKS cheaper.
Grip. A bright spot. Thank goodness, it is much taller than the NEX\'s. Only half a finger and a fifth of my palm hang off the bottom. I think with the vertical grip I\'d be able to hold it quite comfortably. That\'s a step backwards from my D700, but hey.
Ergonomics. I hate this retro trend. A lot. No, A7 designer, I don\'t care that some old film camera some old fogies are nostalgic for had the shutter button there. It\'s a bad spot. You should\'ve at least tilted it forward some, though it still would\'ve been a bad spot. I can\'t stop \"pressing\" the top of the front control dial (aka where the shutter should be). And as others have reported, shutter \"feel\" is horrible, I can\'t identify crossover point from AF/AEL to firing (it feels different every time).
EVF. Panel itself is great. Optics are crap. \"Eye point\" is too low to use with glasses: I see reflections and severe smearing around the edges. Diopter correction is extensive enough that I can shoot without my glasses (something my D700 can\'t say, so that is impressive), but I\'m too blind to leave my glasses off (and what a pain to push them up every time I want to shoot). Should\'ve put the eyepoint several millimeters farther back (which would\'ve been worth doing just to solve the nose-jamming-into-LCD problem even if it didn\'t fix the optics) The A99 had great EVF optics, they should\'ve used those.
Shutter Lag. Much better than a compact point-and-shoot but noticeably worse than the EM-5 or even NEX-6. Which is to say quite bad.
Shutter Blackout. Horrendous. What is going on with this? It\'s 3-4x the NEX-6 and ~5x my D700. I kept thinking I\'d bumped the shutter speed dial to a long exposure time.
I\'ll be taking it out and shooting with it for a while and taking a look at image quality before I give up on it, but so far it isn\'t even close to as good as, much less an improvement on, my D700.
Dec 02, 2013 at 07:04 PM
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