Getting curious about SLT, anyone care to enlighten me ?

[nianys]

Hey guys

I'm loving my NEX to pieces, however keeping a very critical view of how it could me much improved.
Things I'm getting addicted to with mirrorless is the full live view acting like a real WYSISYG and allow me to shoot all manual and never get an ill exposed shot ever again. SO cool. Same about WB, DOF, etc, you see everything in real time which is like having a crystal ball, it's friggin' brilliant and I wish never to go back to a DSLR just for that feature alone.

I also to like the smaller form factor of the NEX, though it is negated by the size of lenses. So all in all, I'm looking at SLT bodies with a mix of curiosity, wariness and envy.

First, SLT have an A mount, so they will take any Minolta or native Sony A lens, and also AF those, right ??
SLT does offer the choice to shoot either from the EVF or LCD screen with (fest) full time live view, right ?

If anyone does have experience with any of the SLT, and even better with the A37, I'd be very interested to hear what you have to say about them

 

[eno789]

Based on its flange distance of 44.5mm, I don't think it can adapt a lot of SLR lenses, not even Minolta SR (MC/MD) mount.
See Flange focal distance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Sony SLT camera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The main advantage is just the AF.

 

[teefin1]

I'm currently using a borrowed a37 and have used an a57 before. The advantages are obviously phase detect AF, fast live view AF, which no other dslr seems to match + large EVF in comparison. EVF/live view composition with settings effect and information overlay. Downside: poor high iso performance, 1600 is okish with 35mm 1.8, but as a flash shooter this shouldn't be an issue.
On the a37 the screen tilts and I find if I quickly want to change to EVF it gets in the way. Its low resolution, but that hasn't bothered me.
The a57 has much Better screen res and it folds/articulates downwards etc but for the extra £150 there isn't much to differentiate.

 

[teefin1]

Oh, I find the metering much more precise, but I've never had a dslr so that may be standard. The only other dslr that's ticking many boxes at present is pentax k30; same price point, great iso performance, but not so good live view. Choices, choices, but I def think a NEX/DSLT(r) could be a good move

 

[nianys]

Thanks Teefin for the hands-on opinion. eno, I just checked on ebay and they sell a bunch of (slim) adapters for all kind of SLR mounts to Alpha, doesn't seem like an issue either, you do lose AF but the A37 has peaking...
Teefin, how is the size/bulk in hand compared to, say, NEX 7 ??

 

[eno789]

nianys, you trust ebay more than wikipedia? Seriously, it's a physical limitation.
You can adapt Pentax K, m42, C/Y, OM, and Nikon F. But definitely not Canon FL/FD, Konica AR, or Minolta SR without loosing infinity.

 

[kevistopheles]

Isn't the reason that so many SLR lenses can be adapted to m43 and NEX is because these cameras lack a mirror?

 

[teefin1]

I find it fits very well in the hand and is quite light, a little heavier than the 7. The one reason I think it's better than the pentax k30 is it's live view implementation; pentax has focus peaking but an OVF, so it's only useable in live view, which, without a separate sensor and PDAF, makes it worse than NEX in that respect and, er, pointless?

 

[teefin1]

I have read that the mirror/adapter combo degrades image quality and can cause issues focussing to infinity.

 

[eno789]

It's not the mirror/adapter combo, but rather adapter with optics, that degrades image quality.

 

[applemint]

Hey guys

I'm loving my NEX to pieces, however keeping a very critical view of how it could me much improved.
Things I'm getting addicted to with mirrorless is the full live view acting like a real WYSISYG and allow me to shoot all manual and never get an ill exposed shot ever again. SO cool. Same about WB, DOF, etc, you see everything in real time which is like having a crystal ball, it's friggin' brilliant and I wish never to go back to a DSLR just for that feature alone.

Yes - that is what I really like as well. I got an A37 when Sony UK where doing their Black Friday discount (worked out at £220 for the body only) - I used an A35 for a week a bit before that and liked it so much that I looked at a used A55 but that sold before I made my mind up so I grabbed the A37 when the deal came up.

They will take any Minolta AF lens and it will work just like a native Sony lens -as I got the A37 body only I picked up a 35-70 Minolta AF zoom on ebay for £12 and it's actually surprisingly okay for what it is (a very cheap kit lens) - but I prefer primes so got a new Sony Alpha 50mm 1.8 for £70 and the 85mm 2.8 for £130. Would have preferred the A57 (except for the bigger size) as it has a much better lcd and also has dedicated buttons for exposure compensation and iso on the top plate just behind the shutter button (ie right where you need them). But for the price of the A57 and kit lens I could get the A37, 2 primes and the cheapo zoom, so I go the A37 instead.

Bear in mind though that I have a Nex 5 (so really lacking in controls) so instead of getting a Nex 5n I thought I would try out the SLT world. So coming from a Nex 5 (rather than a Nex 6 or 7) with no control dials at all, the A37 is a lot faster/easier to use. It's also much bigger of course.

The only easy to adapt legacy lenses are m42 fit though - you need an adapter with a glass element for Minolta MD for example. Still that (M42) leaves you with some nice choices and the A37 (and all current model SLTs) have focus peaking. For me I see it more as an AF camera though to use with the inexpensive Sony primes (35, 50, 85) so have not gone down the legacy route yet.

The A37 rear lcd screen is poor compared to the Nex (or A57) which have 920k resolution. I use the evf 90% of the time so not really an issue but I did notice when using the tilted screen that the low resolution makes it hard to view at certain angles.

@teefin1 - I also looked at the pentax k30 and it's a massive bargain at the current prices - but the possibility /option of at some stage using the Sony Alpha lenses on a Nex via the adapter + mainly the big advantages of an evf as nianys mentions, meant that the A37 was what I went for.

But I like the small form factor of the Nex + how easy it is to use with almost any legacy lens, so it's more a case of wanting everything and only able to get it by compromising and getting the A37 in addition to my Nex but not to replace it.

 

[nianys]

Thansk to all for the very informative and useful input !
I think having finally identified the Perfect Nifty (see other posts) I will stick with the NEX 6 for the time being

 

[OdzBodkinz]

I had been using m4/3 since the original EP1, and my last camera was an OMD EM5. I love the EVF idea, but m4/3 wasn't cutting it for me. I tried a new SLT, an Alpha a57 with two primes. While I loved the EVF, I might as well have just used my big D700. I returned the a57 and got a NEX6, which I really like. As soon as more lenses become available, I think it will be a great system.