Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....
Terry, what's your assessment of the user interface as compared to the Panny and the Oly?
I feel like I'm waiting for a "gotcha" and so far I haven't really come across anything that I said to myself "now that was really dumb".
I shot this weekend in Aperture Priority with Auto ISO set. I also turned the shooting tips bit off - which then changes the bottom button to move the focus area. On the back of the camera there are three buttons and a scrollable four way controller.
All buttons are contextual but for regular shooting in A Mode
Top button is menu
Bottom button moves the AF point
Middle button changes mode (P,A,S,M etc)
To change Aperture - turn scroll wheel
To change EV - push "down" on four way controller then turn the wheel
It was very simple.
If you don't use Auto ISO, it will take a little more time to get to ISO changes. Need to hit the top menu button. If you aren't there, you need to navigate to the Brightness/Color section and ISO is the 2nd option. Not as fast to get to but not horrendous and I had very good luck with the Auto ISO.
WB is the third item on that list. I shot AWB this weekend and never had and exposure that I felt "wow that was way off".
There are three display modes for when shooting - just shutter speed, f stop and EV. (I have histo and grid lines turned on). The grid lines are very mellow and nice (rule of thirds) and unlike Oly they can peacefully co-exist on all shooting screen. The second display mode I don't like it has a scale for f stop and shutter speed at the bottom. Haven't shot with it. The display I use has all relevant data on the left (drive, metering, focus, etc)
Also three display modes in review....no data, RGB histo and shooting data (with blinking clipping), shooting data no histo. One button push to enlarge. On push to go back in size or scroll wheel to go step by step larger or smaller. I'm still a little fumbly going from shot to shot.
In many instances for
me less is more.
On the M8 there were very few controls to fiddle with. Read through the manual once for about 10 minutes and you never really need to look at it again. Loved the simplicity.
On the micro 4/3 bodies (Oly more than Panny) the manual is important as there are so many embedded choices. Oly is pretty atrocious for this however some people love it. For the NEX I'm finding the manual is not really needed although I did consult it a couple of times when back home to make sure what I thought was correct.
Manual focus override is the same as Panny if you half press shutter and turn focus wheel you get an enlarged view. There are three mode (AF/DMF/MF). DMF is what I just described. There is the shoot without lens option (the same as Panny). My Alpha mount adapter should arrive this week. M mount adapters will start showing up on ebay this week. I am expecting wide angle M mount lenses to be terrible.
In operation it is more responsive than the E-PL1 I will have to do some more work to compare it to the G2/GF1.
All in all I was prepared for it to be horrific and so far I think I like it way way, way more than I thought I would. If you like to keep your shooting pretty simple you probably will like it. If you like the E-P1 interface you will probably hate it
.
I hope that helps.