Wandering past London Camera Exchange yesterday in Worcester there was a Nex 7, with kit lens, proudly displayed in the shop window. £1149. My credit card hurried me away before I could do anything foolish .

That's where bringing the missus comes in handy as my financial advisor

You've come a long way Birma. You've actually resisted GAS this time Would you care to be my non-GAS guru? I'm sure the missus will welcome it hahaha!

Mark

well done Birma,
I succumbed to the 5n and am waiting on it arriving on Tuesday, I hope I'm not making a mistake, I have the panny GF1 and it is a great wee camera but I'm hoping the bigger sensor and the electronic gizmos in the nex 5n make the purchase worthwhile

Birma be vewy quiet and approach vewy carefuwee and … don’t take credit card out until the last moment.
Actually the NEX7 is one that interests me also (for some kinds of photography) so keep us posted on the battle with gas. I would like to see some macro/close up shots of flowers at 12MP as well as 24MP please….if you loose.
Greg

Thank you for all of your support guys

Congrats on the new 5N gio67 . I hope you'll be able to tell us how it compares to the GF1 once you've got it and given it a bit of a test run.

My struggles with GAS are perhaps not heroic as they sound ... my resistance was helped by the fact that I had already splurged on a second-hand lens this week - something with a blue square on the front .

Oh, ouch. Just did that a few months ago but bought it new. Did hurt as well. What did you procured?

Mark

As my Tamron 17-50/2.8 has been in the wars a bit I decided to replace it with a second-hand Sony CZ 16-80. I haven't had the opportunity to test it properly outside yet . The build quality is nothing to get excited about (as expected). It has made me appreciate the Nex lenses more, which although light, have a very nice 'quality' feel to them.

That's the lens I bought too. I bought it new and although the build isn'tvas good as other Zeiss ir G lenses, it does make it light which is exactly what I wanted. And it's not thát bad. Only grudge I have is the manual focus ring, it feels loose if you know what I mean. The IQ is fabulous, so I think you're really going to enjoy it!

Mark

I agree with the feel of the focus ring. Overall build quality seems very similar to my Minolta 24-105, so not bad. I hoping for good things regarding IQ as you suggest . May get a chance to take it out for a run next Friday. I think I will bring the A700 out of retirement for this special event .

You should, it balances nicely on a dSLR and focusses quite rapidly with PDAF.

Let us know your findings!

Mark

You won't be disappointed if you don't expect much over the kit 18-55 zoom.

On the positive side you get much handier range, and that's about it.

On the negative side you get much stronger CA and bad (at times hard) vignetting; which means necessary cropping when using bolt-on filters.

Otherwise, you never can tell which is what between the 16-80 and the 18-55 in a proper blind test within the overlapping range.

Quite right - Jacobs at Focus had a small case of NEX-7 kit infestation and were wondering why they did not fly off the shelf at £1099 - that was easily answered, Cameraworld had theirs at £1049 (and so do I now!).



David

Having been lucky enough to get an early NEX-7 in late December I can say that after extensive use I am thrilled with it. The ergonomics are much better than the 5 (and I presume also the 5N) because it fits in the hand better, its built-in EVF is in a great place and the ability to re-programme the AF/MFbutton to bring up a magnified MF Assist view is fantastically useful. Indeed, that is sufficient reason alone in my view for it to be the Nex of choice. Without wishing to exude hyperbole I can say it is the most enjoyable camera that I have owned (with the Minolta Dynax 7 and Leica MP as runners up).

This weekend I have used it with great success in low light conditions at a party combined with a Zeiss Sonnar 50/1.5 at ISO 6400 and some of the rrsults are stunning.

So my recommendation If you are dithering about buying one would be don't hesitate. This is a wonderful little machine and I love it.

Agorabasta, thanks for the heads up. I think the 16-80 range will be very useful. The 50mm long end on my Tamron 17-50 has often been just a little too short, and 16 at the wide end is great. I will try the 16-80 against the SEL lenses that I have to see how I get on with it.

DK, congratulations on getting a Nex 7! I hope we can look forward to a review after you have had the opportunity to get to know it.

Artington, good to know your thoughts as a previous Nex 5 user.

And now ... someone should explain me why Sonystyle still not ship my NEX 7 Kit ... for a pre order done 2 days after the official announcement. This is ridiculous ... (sorry ... after all that months waiting ... ).

Regards,

Frank