Making a splash -

http://youtu.be/NbNwzLS0NCk

seems to be good quality as expected. The good news is that it does not crop like the A77. You get to use the full sensor width.

David

David, there is one question which is quite bothering me lately.
What is the future of the cameras?
I mean, are we headed toward a NEX like cameras for the near future? Or DSLR, SLT, DSLR-Like, SLT-without-T will remain?

Last year at the Photo Plus Expo, I had the chance to still 15 minutes of Mark Weir (Senior Marketing Manager for the Alpha division in the USA) time. One of my questions was if we'll see an A900 successor (not an A99: and OVF FF camera) and he told me that he didn't know. At all. He guessed that customer's demand could push Sony to offer both, EVF AND OVF cameras. I guess OVF at a premium price.

But he asked me if in 10 years, I could picture OVF cameras. And I recon that it is hard to imagine. Sony took the first step, and they will do everything in order to improve the EVF technology. I understand that the difference between the A55 EVF and the A77/A65/NEX7 is quite important. What can we expect from the next EVF generation?

I do personally prefer OVF, and I accept EVF on the NEX7 because there is no other solution. I don't know what I will do if Sony don't offer any other FF OVF camera. Anyway, I'm planning to switch to NEX a big part of my work.

Regards

The weakest thing about the NEX-7 is the 24 megapixel sensor. In every other respect, it's hit the mark perfectly, but the 16 megapixel sensor is in many ways better. I've now got a Tamron 18-200mm E in black, which looks excellent on the 7. It's a very odd lens and I will be writing a report on it shortly, but after comparing NEX-7 CD AF with Olympus/Panasonic, I know that Sony has got something right which the others are really struggling with. The Tamron has a very unusual way of using the CD AF process, which makes it quirky for still shooting but simply amazing for video - I suspect it's not much good for action tracking fast movement.

I will need to find some subjects to show how this works - it works better than the PD AF of the A77 during video. It's possible the Sony 18-200mm has the same quality but I have not used it.

I'm thinking, right now, that the NEX-7 may be the only APS-C camera type I need - ideally in a future version with an improved sensor, and GPS, and a couple of small changes. I need to get to know it better but it's not let me down on a single shot so far and all these pix except a few have been indoors, in a trade show, under terrible lighting and with very unpromising subjects.

David

Any more info about this Tamron "quirky for still shooting" AF thing? How is the VC of this Tamron lens on NEX? Does it have the same slow startup that the Tamron VC DSLR lenses have?

I have seen this Tamron lens alongside the Sony lens several times here in Tokyo and have played with them both mounted on a NEX 7. The Tamron is noticeably smaller/lighter:

Tamron
460g
97mm x 68mm
62mm filter

Sony
524g
99mm x 76mm
67mm filter

Good video David, I really like the shadow effect of the water on the floor at ~0:20, and the effect of the water at the beginning also.

Have you experiment custom white balance in video ? There is something strange ... or I;m using the camera not properly ...

Frank

Not tried the WB in video that way yet. The 18-200mm can easily shoot completely out of focus pix if you try to work too fast, have put more detail in another thread.

David