Sony NEX-7 | Digital Camera Reviews

Sony has announced the much leaked Sony NEX-7 enthusiast-targeted mirror less interchangeable lens camera. It manages to squeeze vast levels of the A77′s capabilities right into a human body hardly larger than the present NEX models.

Sony NEX-7

It packs a 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor and 2.4M dot OLED electronic viewfinder in to its magnesium alloy human body but still finds room for a pop-up flash and Alpha hot shoe. Working examples of the Sony NEX-7 haven’t been distributed around the press all over the world, so we now have maybe not had the opportunity to organize a hands-on preview.

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However, we now have seen and handled an earlier pre-production unit and also have interrogated Sony about its operation. We now have used this to organize a summary of the camera, which we shall expand to a preview when cameras with functioning firmware can be found.

When Sony introduced its brand-new selection of mirror less interchangeable lens cameras in-may 2010, the organization was clear about who it thought would purchase the Sony NEX-5 and its own near-identical-twin Sony NEX-3. Small cameras with APS-C sensors, we were told, would attract compact camera users who desired to upgrade but will be intimidated by the majority and perceived complexity of an SLR.

The cameras were a sales success (particularly in Japan), and their influence with this sector of the marketplace is becoming increasingly clear, with Olympus’s PEN E-PL3 paying extensive homage for their key design features, and Panasonic stripping-down its GF line from the enthusiast-friendly Panasonic DMC-GF2 to the distinctly beginner-orientated Panasonic DMC-GF3.

Used, though, it was not just beginners buying these cameras. Many enthusiast photographers have already been equally drawn to the promise of exceptional image quality in a little, highly portable camera, fuelled by the capability to adapt nearly every lens to suit. To its credit Sony has had note and steadily increased the NEXs’ appeal, with successive firmware updates to enhance usability and add features.

Now, with the Sony NEX-7, Sony is specifically targeting those high level users with a camera whose key spec reads like its come straight off an enthusiast’s wish list. First up may be the new 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor, distributed to the co-announced SLT-A77 that allows true 1080p60 video recording.

Then there is the EVF which has been squeezed to the compact human body (as well as distributed to the A77) – the two. 4M dot OLED unit may be the highest resolution yet observed in a stills camera, and it has a watch sensor for automatic switching with the trunk LCD. Rounding off the additions really are an integral flash and Alpha-type hot shoe, all in a human body that’s comparable size since the Olympus PEN E-P3.

The NEX-7 also expands on the present interface, adding two dials on top plate you can use to manage a multitude of functions, along with a conveniently-placed button near the shutter that’s used to cycle through their functions. The familiar rear dial and three ‘soft’ keys on the rear of the camera are retained, as may be the handy tilting rear LCD.

The NEX-7 runs on the new shutter arrangement, by having an (optional) electronic first curtain. Quite simply, the camera no more needs to close the shutter then open it again to begin the exposure, and based on Sony this decreases shutter lag from 100ms to just 20ms. This is not brand-new technology – Canon’s live view capable DSLRs have already been utilizing it because the EOS 40D of 2007 – but it is extremely welcome to view it implemented in this kind of camera.