Jerome Marot
Well-known member
The Sony seems to generate lots of excitement... but AF it with Canon lenses is not likely to be really usable. On the NEX-7, contrast AF is not really usable on lenses designed for the A mount. Of course it works with the "translucent" mirror system, but nobody is going to produce an adapter with that system except Sony and for their lenses only. So, basically, one loses AF.
Then there is the electronic viewfinder. I don't find these any good. In any case, they are not a great help for focussing fast lenses: peaking is not very accurate and the resolution is far too low to judge optimal sharpness. I think that the people who swear by them must be using lenses open around f/5.6, then it works. You can ask the display to enlarge the center of the picture for precise focus, but that means working on a tripod and who wants that with a small camera?
About tripods: I find it a real problem that Sony did not include their sensor based stabilization in the NEX line. Not only it is extremely convenient in low light, but having compared the Sony A900 and the Nikon D800 a generally unnoticed advantage of sensor based stabilization occurred to me: the A900 is generally a bit sharper than the D800 when one does not use a tripod. It is a small effect, but it shows that the higher resolution of the D800 (or A7r) is simply going to be wasted. And lens based stabilization adds another problem: it requires one to wait till the lens is stabilized, while sensor based stabilization is simply always on.
As to the Zeiss 24mm f/2.0 (SAL-24f20Z): it is one of the finest lenses available in all mounts, but is designed for the A mount. So it needs to be used on the A900/A99 or with the LA-E4 adapter. It is not compact.
Then there is the electronic viewfinder. I don't find these any good. In any case, they are not a great help for focussing fast lenses: peaking is not very accurate and the resolution is far too low to judge optimal sharpness. I think that the people who swear by them must be using lenses open around f/5.6, then it works. You can ask the display to enlarge the center of the picture for precise focus, but that means working on a tripod and who wants that with a small camera?
About tripods: I find it a real problem that Sony did not include their sensor based stabilization in the NEX line. Not only it is extremely convenient in low light, but having compared the Sony A900 and the Nikon D800 a generally unnoticed advantage of sensor based stabilization occurred to me: the A900 is generally a bit sharper than the D800 when one does not use a tripod. It is a small effect, but it shows that the higher resolution of the D800 (or A7r) is simply going to be wasted. And lens based stabilization adds another problem: it requires one to wait till the lens is stabilized, while sensor based stabilization is simply always on.
As to the Zeiss 24mm f/2.0 (SAL-24f20Z): it is one of the finest lenses available in all mounts, but is designed for the A mount. So it needs to be used on the A900/A99 or with the LA-E4 adapter. It is not compact.