Rawfa
Active member
So I JUST got my A7 and I didn't have much time to mess with it too much because it's night here in Rio de Janeiro and it's pouring outside.
But before I go into my first impressions I'll contextualize my needs quickly.
I have to say that I was always a ONE camera kind of guys. I don't do gigs where I HAVE to have a backup, and photography is not where I earn my living...so I always felt it was kind of unnecessary to have a bunch of cameras.
That being said, I was extremely happy with my NEX-7...until I started shooting video again. It does shoot great video, but it has issues with overheating and poor audio even with external mics (for my needs). SO, I ended up getting a Canon 6D for video.
When Sony announced the A7/A7R I thought all my problems would be solved (not to mention that I'm always an early adopter of new technology). So I sold my NEX-7, all my Canon primes and I'm currently trying to sell my Canon 6D.
Move to today, UPS drops me this nice little package and I cannot wait to start testing my new toy. So, here are my first thoughts:
The good
- I was amazed at how little it was (I really thought it was going to be substantially bigger than the NEX-7).
- I've tested the audio input and audio control with an external mic and it's great.
- Lots of manual controls and customizable buttons
- Everything feels solid
- The new menus are much better than the usual Sony menus
- It feels fast
The bad
- Phase AF has like 101 AF points and it's supposed to be amazing, but Sony only updated a couple of their lenses to support it (this one isn't really about the camera, but ok)
- The magnify focus assist needs 2 clicks to magnify (it needed one click on the NEX7)
- I just HATE the in camera battery charging (I've already ordered an "external" charger)
- The flaps for the inputs feel extremely fragile
- The ultra super micro HDMI output is ridiculous. I use an external hdmi monitor to shoot video and now I'm going to try to find one more adapter for my collection (to be honest I don't even know if there are such adapters since this is the first time I've seen such a small HDMI ouput).
- I set the video format to NTSC so I can shoot 24p and EVERYTIME I turn on the camera I get a "Running on NTSC" message, which I've read is normal on the Sony website (this is just insane!)
- I'm not sure if this should be here, but I was kind of said that I won't be able to use any of the smaller e-mount APS-C lenses.
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to give it a proper test.
But before I go into my first impressions I'll contextualize my needs quickly.
I have to say that I was always a ONE camera kind of guys. I don't do gigs where I HAVE to have a backup, and photography is not where I earn my living...so I always felt it was kind of unnecessary to have a bunch of cameras.
That being said, I was extremely happy with my NEX-7...until I started shooting video again. It does shoot great video, but it has issues with overheating and poor audio even with external mics (for my needs). SO, I ended up getting a Canon 6D for video.
When Sony announced the A7/A7R I thought all my problems would be solved (not to mention that I'm always an early adopter of new technology). So I sold my NEX-7, all my Canon primes and I'm currently trying to sell my Canon 6D.
Move to today, UPS drops me this nice little package and I cannot wait to start testing my new toy. So, here are my first thoughts:
The good
- I was amazed at how little it was (I really thought it was going to be substantially bigger than the NEX-7).
- I've tested the audio input and audio control with an external mic and it's great.
- Lots of manual controls and customizable buttons
- Everything feels solid
- The new menus are much better than the usual Sony menus
- It feels fast
The bad
- Phase AF has like 101 AF points and it's supposed to be amazing, but Sony only updated a couple of their lenses to support it (this one isn't really about the camera, but ok)
- The magnify focus assist needs 2 clicks to magnify (it needed one click on the NEX7)
- I just HATE the in camera battery charging (I've already ordered an "external" charger)
- The flaps for the inputs feel extremely fragile
- The ultra super micro HDMI output is ridiculous. I use an external hdmi monitor to shoot video and now I'm going to try to find one more adapter for my collection (to be honest I don't even know if there are such adapters since this is the first time I've seen such a small HDMI ouput).
- I set the video format to NTSC so I can shoot 24p and EVERYTIME I turn on the camera I get a "Running on NTSC" message, which I've read is normal on the Sony website (this is just insane!)
- I'm not sure if this should be here, but I was kind of said that I won't be able to use any of the smaller e-mount APS-C lenses.
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to give it a proper test.