"not as cool as the real thing"
What IS the "real thing?" A Leica? To me, the NEX 7 is better than an M8/9. Better spec'd sensor, AF, more versatile lens mount, better controls, and a video section that will potentially outperform the 5D2, which is the industry standard for dSLR video. And, it's smaller and a jillion times cheaper. If by "cool" you mean 'pretty,' sure. Okay. But, heck- in the 80s and 90s, most of the pages of Vogue were filled with ugly camera pictures. The Pentax 67.... I can deal with not having an elitist piece of jewelry when the tool performs.
"because the LCD is useless for focusing in bright light"
From what i'm reading, the newer generation of NEX is much better in that regard. Someone who just reviewed the 5N or C3 or whatever said he had no trouble in bright sunlight.
"By the time you get the appropriate Zeiss lens you have a >$2000K pocket (lint) cam... seems silly."
If it had a red dot on it, it would be 5x that price. We're talking about a TINY camera with a fully spec'd video component, a significant jump in resolution versus a $9,000 camera, and you can use almost any lens on it, from the newest dedicated AF glass, to classic/vintage uncoated stuff. With innovations like Focus Peaking that let you actually focus the manual stuff accurately, efficiently, and quickly. When was the last time Leica sold something (body and lens!) for under $2,000?
Whatever 'bugs' will be worked out in firmware, WHILE you're still shooting with it.
Have y'all seen the Zeiss 24 sample shots? Creamy Sonnar goodness.
I was very concerned about the size of this lens. It's likely the only one i'll buy, and i'll use my Jupiter-3 on it.... The lens itself, in all the product photographs and renderings, looks huge. But, when you see it in a real-world context, on the camera, where you can judge the actual scale... the whole package is still pretty small. It's never going to be Contax T3 small, unfortunately. But, it's still quite tiny. The NEX 7 body is barely bigger than my Olympus Stylus Epic.
