The Best EVF Camera On the Market - Sony NEX-7

NEX-7 with the 18-55 mm kit lens thinking that was getting a miniature SLR, delusionally thinking that could put it in a pocket etc. The fact is it is about 1/2 the size of a DSLR body; however, lenses are the issue. It is not possible to make them flat, except for a few prime pancake ones and an 18 -200 mm lens is large no matter what body it is on.

The NEX-7 with a comparable lens as on a conventional SLR or DSLR, is about 1/2 the weight. The camera as others have said is excellent and it is a very usable camera; the question is simple; should you pay a premium because of the camera's size and weight reduction. If you had used this camera for a while prior to purchasing it, you would not have done it. Please note, this has nothing to do with the camera's ability to take pictures and is simply a question of how much a premium if any should you pay for the camera based on its size and weight.

A long-time photography enthusiast bought the NEX-C3 because it was the cheapest way to get a good sensor and manual control. However, after a year of using it, He really wanted more dials and buttons and was seriously considering moving back to a DSLR. After spending many hours in different camera stores, he decided that DSLRs really are too bulky to carry around frequently and that mirror less really is the future. In his mind, the NEX-7 is definitely the best mirror less camera on the market right now. It is capable enough to be relevant for 5+ years with a growing system. My trifecta for excellence is (in order of priority) image quality, ease of control, and size/portability. The NEX-7 delivers on all three.

There are four good points about this Sony NEX-7.

1. By compare to DSLRs, the NEX-7 has a handful of important advantages. Size and weight are obvious and make a huge difference in conspicuity. Burst mode speed is better than most at 10fps. The shutter lag is extremely minimal and awesomely responsive. The EVF, while not quite as detailed as an OVF, has advantages of being able to show more information (love the horizon indicator!) and give live image previews reflecting DoF and camera settings. With good CDAF you also don't have to worry about front- or back-focus issues on different lenses, though there is an option to micro-adjust the AF.

2. By compare to other mirror less options, the NEX-7 has the best EVF on the market, a very compact but more comfortable body (better than OM-D E-M5), amazing resolution and the best control setup to be found on a mirror less body. If you are a serious or enthusiast shooter, this is going to be your good friend. Its autofocus speed is also quite good and is near the top of the heap. If you use it with a few legacy MF lenses as well and it works great.

3. Video quality is amazing and is up there with the best from a stills camera. The option for an external mic is great, though it lacks a headphone monitor port.

4. The grip is quite comfortable, more so than many DSLRs have tried! It is surprising since it is still compact. The Tri-Navi interface really is great and makes changing settings quickly easy. Custom function menus and button assignments make it fairly customizable, though the primary dials are not configurable.

There are two further improving points for this Sony NEX-7.

1. The sensor is such high-resolution that you will start to notice imperfections in your lenses that you had not before. Pixel peeping just is not as pleasing as with the 16MP NEX sensors unless you pay for the sharp lenses (50mm 1.8, Zeiss 24mm 1.8, 35mm 1.8, Sigma 19,30mm 2.8s).

2. The camera also does not support UHS-1 speeds. It will work just fine with the cards. You would not see the increased speeds. Unloading that buffer after shooting 10fps in RAW or RAW+JPEG modes can take a while.

Overall, this camera is worth the investment for anyone who wants top-notch image quality and excellent physical controls and ergonomics. You do not want to deal with the bulk of a DSLR all the time. It is you primary camera and you should happy with it.