Analysis Paralysis, Camera and Lens choice

[Athos6]

So I finally got a job, teaching high school history, Yay! So I'm in the market for a new camera. I've scoured the internet for information and have come to a point where I would like some feedback.

Needs: Camera APS-C or greater, takes good video, peaking preferable, mirrorless. Needs to be able to take family and high quality 12x18/11x14/8x10 art pictures (for my own walls, not for work or sale).

This puts me into NEX territory. I know I like the 16mp sensor that is in the 5n because I had a Nikon D7000, but I like the feature set of the 7 because of the EVF and Custom buttons and such. Conversely, The 5n also plays well with M lenses. However, I have a X100 and would not use the 5n or 7 for anything shorter than say a 45mm FOV or 28mm. I love the X100 but I find my favorite FOV is around 50mm.

Is the EVF and features of the 7 worth it? Would it help me manual focus M mount lenses more effectively than the LCD of the 5n?

I'm looking at getting the Sigma 30mm for sure, either way. But I also am looking at the ZM 50mm Planar and the VC 35mm f1.2, I also liked the look of the 35mm f2 biogon. I'm not looking at SLR lenses now because I want it to fit in my small bag with my X100.

Thoughts?

Athos

 

[porktaco]

1. congratulations on being employed

2. first thing ought to be how you like seeing the image. if you like using the LCD to focus, you might want to get the 5n. i'm a viewfinder guy, so, i went nex-7. the camera takes beautiful pictures, but i found the menu structure (lends itself to video and HDR and other bells and whistles much more than simple ISO / EQ / Shutter / Aperture adjustments) and the ergonomics (flat shutter release button, camera not braced against the nose, therefore i had a hard time getting sharp photos below 1/60) to be a disaster. also, i found it awkward to activate and deactivate the manual focus assist (digital max zoom) without taking the camera away from my face. i sent it back to amazon on day 29. i really wanted to like it but didn't. lots of people here like the camera, and you might too. my sense is that it's a good little machine when used with e-mount lenses, but less good with m-mount. note - yes, there are all kinds of custom things you can do with the 7 but not as many as you'd actually like. it's not a completely plastic interface.

3. whatever you buy, buy it from somewhere that will give you 30 days to play with it. amazon, for all its faults, has a great no-questions return policy.

4. look at the ricoh. i'm attracted by the simple menu structure and the image quality at 1600/3200 (my m9 does not make such nice pix above 800). plus it's small. i'm wearing glasses pretty much full time now, so perhaps using the LCD will be better than a dedicated VF.

 

[Athos6]

I have to admit, I use the OVF on my X100 more than the EVF and I am comfortable composing on the LCD, I did it with the D7000 when using my 28mm f2.8 AIS... I'm also a three function kind of a guy A, S and ISO. I used aperture priority and manual mode most on my D7000. However, I've gotten lazy with my X100 because the Auto-Iso with Program mode and the Exposure comp wheel yields such nice Raw files. If Ricoh came out with the 16mp M-mount I would have had it on the list, maybe I still should.

I guess it comes down to the logical (5n or Rioch) vs the emotional (maybe long term functional, Nex-7) choice??

 

[peter_n]

1. congratulations on being employed

+1! 🙂

I'm a NEX-7 user for two weeks now. My choice was the N7 or a Fuji X-Pro 1. My requirements were easy focusing on manual lenses. I have no interest in buying Sony lenses, only in using my Leica and Exakta lenses. I only use the camera in full manual mode and started using it with an incident light meter but found the N7's spot meter so accurate I use that now instead.

In broad brush terms I like it a lot, yes the menu system is arbitrary but I have hardly used it since I set the camera up. I have good eyesight and find the focus peaking very easy to use and quite accurate. The IQ out of the camera is unbelievable. So far the only downer is the idiotic placement of the video activation button that everyone complains about but apparently Sony are going to fix this in firmware.

For my use of color, which is family snapshots and suchlike this is the camera I was looking for. I was using a Fuji S5 and I loved it but compared to a NEX-7 it's big and hefty and I was using the Nikkor 17-55/2.8 with it. The N7 is comparatively inexpensive and when I tried out various cameras it had by far the best focusing system for manual lenses, at least to my eye. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

 

[Athos6]

Ok, I downloaded a NEX-7 Raw file. I had to convert it to DNG to work with PSE 9, which is about the best my crummy laptop can run. Once in DNG, using my work flow I could convert it to my preferred large print size 12x18 at just over 300ppi (336 to be exact), without needing to up rez like I do with my x100. I've been using the 12x18 size because it utilizes the whole APS-C sensor size. So technically my prints would be sharper with the Nex-7, but we all knew that. The question is would that be noticeable to the human eye??

Thanks for the congrats!

Small update: The 5n raw files open up fine in PSE 9...

 

[Athos6]

Well I pulled the trigger on the Nex-7, 30mm Sigma, and VC 40mm f/1.4 Nokton, plus an adapter, memory card, and protection filter for the 40mm. There is a 30 day return policy at B&H so if I don't like it I can return it. The 30mm and 40mm seem rather close but after the 1.5 crop factor they are 45mm and 60mm which are at either end of my favored range. I wanted to get one MF lens for video work and one AF lens for family pictures.

I'll let you know how they work out.