Hey all, I'm new here. I'm a long-time Canon shooter and thinking about joining the NEX world. One reason why I'm considering making the switch is that I have a Canon T2i DSLR and a Canon XA10 camcorder, and want to simplify things - that is, have one camera that does it all - stills, high quality video, and is compact to be used as a travel camera.
While I love the T2i, I find shooting video with it is a pain because it lacks continuous AF - and my fifty year-old eyes aren't good enough to do a good job with manual focus anymore. Besides, the optical viewfinders of most DSLR's are, in my opinion, basically useless for manual focusing without the ground glass screen that used to be found in 35mm SLR film cameras. The XA-10 is a great video camera, but like a lot of camcorders, it doesn't do a really good job of taking stills - it wasn't designed to, anyway. Since I plan to do some travelling next year, I want to capture stills and video of my trip, and I don't want to be carrying two cameras plus two DSLR lenses around to do all that. The NEX series of cameras look like they might be just the ticket for what I want to do.
I had considered getting a Canon EOS-M mirrorless camera so I could keep my existing inventory of Canon-mount lenses, but decided against it because of numerous reports of slow AF performance, lack of an eye-level EVF, and price. The good news is that with an adapter, I can use my lenses with any NEX-5, NEX-6, or NEX-7 body. I also thought about getting a T4i SLR, but it suffers from slow focus just like the EOS-M does and has a few other issues.
To someone who has owned Canon cameras since his high school days, the EOS-M entry into the mirrorless camera world comes as a huge disappointment. Rumours are circulating that Canon might be introducing a firmware update by Christmas to fix the slow AF, and maybe an updated EOS-M with an EVF, but I find this to be too little, too late. It's almost like Canon wants to protect its DSLR and camcorder market at any cost, even at the price of marketing a half-assed MILC. More to the point, I've always felt that Canon cameras offered solid performance and value, so the EOS-M also seems like a bit of a shocker.
Finally, the more I read about mirrorless cameras in general, the more convinced I am that they are the future of photography. The optical viewfinders found in DSLRs now seem like a superfluous hangover from the days of 35mm film cameras.
I have had a chance to play with a NEX-5, but I think I would like a camera with more physical controls and an eye-level EVF (and I found the 5's body to be a little on the small side), so the NEX-7 looks like it might be a better fit.
So, it's off to my local camera shop next week to take a NEX-7 for a test drive.
And if I take the plunge, and get a NEX-7, the only thing left to decide then is what to do with my existing T2i body and the XA-10. Wish me luck.
While I love the T2i, I find shooting video with it is a pain because it lacks continuous AF - and my fifty year-old eyes aren't good enough to do a good job with manual focus anymore. Besides, the optical viewfinders of most DSLR's are, in my opinion, basically useless for manual focusing without the ground glass screen that used to be found in 35mm SLR film cameras. The XA-10 is a great video camera, but like a lot of camcorders, it doesn't do a really good job of taking stills - it wasn't designed to, anyway. Since I plan to do some travelling next year, I want to capture stills and video of my trip, and I don't want to be carrying two cameras plus two DSLR lenses around to do all that. The NEX series of cameras look like they might be just the ticket for what I want to do.
I had considered getting a Canon EOS-M mirrorless camera so I could keep my existing inventory of Canon-mount lenses, but decided against it because of numerous reports of slow AF performance, lack of an eye-level EVF, and price. The good news is that with an adapter, I can use my lenses with any NEX-5, NEX-6, or NEX-7 body. I also thought about getting a T4i SLR, but it suffers from slow focus just like the EOS-M does and has a few other issues.
To someone who has owned Canon cameras since his high school days, the EOS-M entry into the mirrorless camera world comes as a huge disappointment. Rumours are circulating that Canon might be introducing a firmware update by Christmas to fix the slow AF, and maybe an updated EOS-M with an EVF, but I find this to be too little, too late. It's almost like Canon wants to protect its DSLR and camcorder market at any cost, even at the price of marketing a half-assed MILC. More to the point, I've always felt that Canon cameras offered solid performance and value, so the EOS-M also seems like a bit of a shocker.
Finally, the more I read about mirrorless cameras in general, the more convinced I am that they are the future of photography. The optical viewfinders found in DSLRs now seem like a superfluous hangover from the days of 35mm film cameras.
I have had a chance to play with a NEX-5, but I think I would like a camera with more physical controls and an eye-level EVF (and I found the 5's body to be a little on the small side), so the NEX-7 looks like it might be a better fit.
So, it's off to my local camera shop next week to take a NEX-7 for a test drive.
And if I take the plunge, and get a NEX-7, the only thing left to decide then is what to do with my existing T2i body and the XA-10. Wish me luck.
