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Review of the Sony NEX-7

February 19^th, 2012

by Sebastian WöberFebruary 19^th, 2012

Andrew Reid from EOSHD has conducted a very nice and honest review about one of the currently most interesting video capable DSLRs: The Sony NEX 7 (body currently $1199)

Reid expresses mixed feelings about video quality:
“The NEX 7 is a real mixed bag. At times it has wowed me with a dynamic range and colour that seemed to be the best on any DSLR video mode including the 5D Mark II. Other times I felt the GH2 and 5D Mark II would have produced nicer results.”

And gives a nice overview about pros and cons in regards to other HDSLRs:

Pros over the GH2

Larger 1.5x crop sensor over 1.86x
Full 1080/60p slow motion compared to (admittedly very detailed) 720p/60p on the GH2
2.42MP OLED EVF compared to 1.3MP LCD EVF – a clear win
Metal body and better manual control dials
920k screen compared to 480k – a clear win
The sensor is far superior in stills mode – almost a different league here!
Live peaking for manual focussing

Pros over the 5D Mark II

1080/60p slow mo compared to nothing
Wider 3:2 aspect ratio screen which is articulated up and down avoids the need to add a monitor or EVF when shooting minimally
Far smaller and lighter
AF in video mode with E-Mount lenses
Built in EVF usable in video mode, 5D’s optical viewfinder isn’t
Full 1080p HDMI output with no delay / switch to SD resolution upon recording (though there is a gamma switch like the GH2)
More features like peaking out of the box ** The 5D Mark II now has peaking and extensive manual audio controls as part of Magic Lantern

Pros (in general)

Very strong sensor, the most advanced APS-C CMOS on the market to date
Good as a run and gun camera, very small and stealthy, built in EVF is superb
Good range of frame rates including 25p for PAL users and 1080/60p for slow motion
Packs a lot into a small body, even a built in flash, hotshoe and mic socket
Some handy firmware features such as peaking and ability to put all overlays in black bar rather than over the top of the live view display
Superb manual controls
Very good build quality

Cons (in general)

Video mode doesn’t quite do justice to the sensor
Compression in video mode smudges fine detail
Lacks the high bitrates of the GH2 and 5D Mark II
Resolution in video mode not as cleanly resolved as GH2 or 5D Mark II with VAF-5D2 anti-aliasing filter
Convoluted adjustment of picture profiles, white balance, etc. involving use of almost every dial to navigate
No dedicated movie mode means JPEG stills have to be set to 16:9 for accurate framing of video

Make sure to check out Andre Reid’s full review here.