The Sony Alpha NEX-7 is a small camera with
a big heart – or more precisely an APS-C 24.3 megapixel sensor inside
Generally speaking, enthusiast and
professional photographers like big kit. Kit that stands up and shouts out ‘Hey
look at me, I’m a photographer!’ But many are now also looking for a small
camera for those days when backache from lugging around heavy kit just isn’t
needed. The Sony Alpha NEX-7 is just such a camera. It’s small, has a lot of
potential and perhaps most importantly – it houses a 24.3MP CMOS sensor. So how
does it cram all of this into such a small shell?
The
NEX-7 is solid, robust and ready to take on a challenge from the pros.
The main difference between the NEX-7 and a
DSLR is the fact there is no mirror which flaps up and down, no prism and it
has an electronic first-curtain shutter. In other words, the shutter doesn’t
need to open at the start of the exposure saving a valuable 20ms (millisecond)
of shutter lag. While 20ms isn’t particularly noticeable while taking pictures,
it does make a difference to the sound the camera makes and the first time you
use it you’ll think that’s it got stuck in a long exposure if you’re used to
shooting with a DSLR. The quieter sound makes the camera perfect for candid
work and shooting in discreet locations such as during wedding ceremonies.
Compared to the majority of competition in
the mirrorless interchangeable lens camera market, the NEX-7 is perhaps the
most modern in appearance, or rather the least retro-inspired anyway. Many of
Sony’s previous bridge and compact cameras have featured an off-centre lens
design and with the NEX-7 following in this mould, you can’t help but be
reminded of awkwardness of early digital cameras rather than the retro flair
that other cameras exude. This being said, Sony doesn’t have the same heritage
in photography as most of the competition so it’s probably a better move to
stick with the more contemporary design befitting a company that many ‘old-school’
photographers may still consider to be a technology brand.
What it does have over the competition is a
market-leading hand-grip – it’s far bigger than any of its other direct rivals
and also makes room on the top plate for a second input dial. These combine
with a third dial on the rear of the camera allowing you to control the
aperture, shutter speed and ISO without having to press any other buttons or
enter a menu. However, the one downside is that the rear dial which controls
the ISO is fairly easy to knock.
‘On the features side, the NEX-7 has a
full set of the latest bells and whistles.’
The NEX-7 is also exceptionally well-made
with a sturdy metal finish. This also applies to the supplied f3.5-5.6 kit lens
which has a reassuringly solid feel. The pop-up flash springs to life like
something from Short Circuit in a fantastic piece of space-saving design. One
of the downsides is that, like the rest of Sony’s range, the NEX-7 features the
Alpha hotshoe mount rather than the standard hotshoe mount featured on every
other non-Sony camera. This isn’t a problem if you only intend to use Sony
flashes, but you will need an adaptor to use the majority of flash triggers –
which you will definitely need as there isn’t a flash sync socket on the camera
either. On the features side, the NEX-7 has a full set of the latest bells and
whistles including 3D panoramic, in-camera HDR and face detection. The
in-camera HDR works well enough but the auto bracketing leaves something to be
desired – it doesn’t allow for any more than +/-0.7EV which is hardly ideal for
serious HDR work. While many RAW converters now offer basic lens correction
settings, the NEX-7 also features built-in compensation for many available
lenses with the promise of more to follow with firmware updates.
