Steve Huff - GXR vs NEX-7

eleskin said:
With all my doubts enhanced by the lackluster review of M glass on the NEX 7 I am coming down to the conclusion that a superior solution is to continue using my M8 in most lighting situations and when I need high ISO in dim conditions, I will use a NEX 5n. This would work well in that the 5n body is small and can fit in my M8 kit bag without taking up room. I do not even think I would need the evf option in that In dim light the LCD should be good enough.
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This is the path I have chosen to take. I seriously considered the Ricoh Mount A12 and the NEX 7. In the end I decided to spend less on the NEX 5n and put the extra money towards a new lens.
 
No, it isn't focus shift but colour shift and vignetting on the NEX-7, even after Sony essentially solve those problems on the NEX-5N. I can see some early adopters looking past that and using solutions like cornerfix or profiles in their raw editor of choice.

Mind you cornerfix won't fix smearing and loss of detail in the corners if Sony has introduced those as problems in the 7.
 
There's been so much hype built up around the NEX 7 that any flaws are bound to be magnified. Worth remembering that Sony didn't release it as a body for M mount lenses: it's designed for E mount and it sounds like it does a great job with that. It's also the first generation of a new product line for Sony. If the NEX 5N vs the NEX 5 is any indication, the NEX 7N will be a more refined affair.
 
Adanac said:
No, it isn't focus shift but colour shift and vignetting on the NEX-7, even after Sony essentially solve those problems on the NEX-5N. I can see some early adopters looking past that and using solutions like cornerfix or profiles in their raw editor of choice.

Mind you cornerfix won't fix smearing and loss of detail in the corners if Sony has introduced those as problems in the 7.
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Yes, thanks and you are 100% right on.

Here was my comment to steve:

Those of us who have using the nex system from the begining with M and all sorts of RF glass understand colorshift is not the primary issue with retro wides, and your conclusions may be entirely misleading, since the mature firmware may address the issue. Even if it does not, colorshift is easliy addressed PP using cornerfix.

The primary issue is resolution in the corners and on the sides with retro focusing wides, which cannot be fixed. The best example of this might be the ZM 25 which did not perform well on the original nex-5, but it's seen on many wides with the first gen sensor. Unfortuneatly your samples are not the best for checking this--though it does appear the GXR is out resolving the nex-7 with the CV 15 in the corners. What is suspicious is that it is also doing so in the center- at least to my eyes. This makes no sense. I've shot alot with the cv 21 on my 5 (non-n) and while it shifts color like mad, it's damn sharp in the centers.

Test shots with detail at equal distance accross the frame with the 15 and any other retro-focusing wides you have would be far more useful to serious shooters.
 
Matus said:
Well, if one would focus with the lens wide open, then stop down without re-checking the focus, then focus shift (if the lens suffers from it) could occur, or?
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So I raise my camera, focus, then lower and adjust aperture and shoot without changing focus?

That could cause problems on any lens, since DOF is changing, but theorectically you are right, sir. You would have to re-focus more on a ZM 50/1.5
 
rdeleskie said:
There's been so much hype built up around the NEX 7 that any flaws are bound to be magnified. Worth remembering that Sony didn't release it as a body for M mount lenses: it's designed for E mount and it sounds like it does a great job with that. It's also the first generation of a new product line for Sony. If the NEX 5N vs the NEX 5 is any indication, the NEX 7N will be a more refined affair.
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The most interesting part is the hype is self-inflated; people have been looking for the most vaunted rangefinder styled camera (for reasons beyond my reckoning, because there are reasons why the SLR was more popular), and now they are presented with a flawed camera and now, cue the bitching.
 
NazgulKing said:
The most interesting part is the hype is self-inflated; people have been looking for the most vaunted rangefinder styled camera (for reasons beyond my reckoning, because there are reasons why the SLR was more popular), and now they are presented with a flawed camera and now, cue the bitching.
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Oh, the bitching is endemic and relentless for all nex models new and old in the dedicated nex forums, and to a lesser degree, elswhere. Of every description. Around here its been condescention, but who cares?

The point is: we would expect the 7 to perform as well as the 5n with RF retro-wides--it's the pro model, and sony knows all about the legacy glass crowd and it's crucial role in the success of the 5.

It still very well might and we will know soon.

They really stepped up on the 5n's performance, that's for sure. It is a fantastic platform for RF glass.

I still have my lowly 5 🙂
 
uhoh7 said:
Oh, the bitching is endemic and relentless for all nex models new and old in the dedicated nex forums, and to a lesser degree, elswhere. Of every description. Around here its been condescention, but who cares?

The point is: we would expect the 7 to perform as well as the 5n with RF retro-wides--it's the pro model, and sony knows all about the legacy glass crowd and it's crucial role in the success of the 5.

It still very well might and we will know soon.

They really stepped up on the 5n's performance, that's for sure. It is a fantastic platform for RF glass.

I still have my lowly 5 🙂
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Actually, it returns to the megapixel count issue. Having more megapixels means the lenslet array has to be more precise and have lower tolerance in order to handle ultra wides. So what has happened is that Sony couldn't make the lenslet array such that the sensor could handle ultra wides.

And technically, Sony's aim is to sell their lenses first so...
 
The M9 is different between each copies. Some user have no problems with wides, but some have. Are lenses not so precise adjusted, centred? Is the sensor really in the correct place and angle mounted. No one knows precise when a 3rd party lens is used and VC Or Zeiss or Leica don't touch the total package.....

On JEPG level the Ricoh has 2x3 places to file correcting adjustments with the name of the lenses. Distortion, fall off and cast. What other maker has this? Oly, Sony or Epson?
Even Leica is not able/willing to do so.....
 
rdeleskie said:
There's been so much hype built up around the NEX 7 that any flaws are bound to be magnified. Worth remembering that Sony didn't release it as a body for M mount lenses: it's designed for E mount and it sounds like it does a great job with that. It's also the first generation of a new product line for Sony. If the NEX 5N vs the NEX 5 is any indication, the NEX 7N will be a more refined affair.
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Actually there are interviews with sony folk saying that the NEX7 was exactly that - they saw the uptake of rangefinder lenses and wanted to produce a camera to appeal to that market. Which they may have done- save for this corner cast issue which as i mentioned earlier seems to be worse than my 'old' NEX5

cheers
paul
 
The article, I'm sorry to say, is an unreadable breathless piece of crud. The man is so sloppy and careless that he can't spell the name of his sponsor right.

That's not even mentioning how he forgets adapters at home and uses a sloppy replacement instead and can't be bothered to go back and get his proper equipment to do the "test" again.
 
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Lss said:
Why would he even keep such a useless adapter?
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So that he can still earn money testing things even when he forgets his proper equipment?

"ppl plz I promised U this test of racing Tires but I left my ferrari in the garage of my parents-in-law. I should of taken it but I kinda forgot lol 🙂 So I put them on my Yugo instead and it felt kinda sloppy, but still worked. And anyway that's more like REAL life and if you want scientific testing like The other sites do it just wait for the tests THERE."
 
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You can't really blame the magenta shift on a bad adapter, seriously. 🙂

If it introduced some shift due to wrong alignment of the lens, then the shift would be more pronounced in one direction or another. Here, it happens in all directions.

I've always thought Steve Huff's articles are crudily written and his sample shots are boring, but here there's no denying that an annoying problem still happens with the Nex 7 and does not anymore with the 5N.
The guy just saved me hundreds of euros, as I was *this* close to buy into the hype and get the 7.

He could have written "HERP DERP" a hundred times in the article for all I care, pictures with as much magenta shift as on first generation Nex do not lie.
 
Obviously we all want the camera to work perfectly but... I still just don't understand. Not only is the review sloppy but it doesn't even test corner vs. center sharpness, which is what's important here. Vignetting and color shift is easily correctable in software, and through it might be a bit of a kludge it's probably more precise than in camera software correction. So while the test is disappointing it isn't really that useful, I think.

And it's not hate for Steve Huff, just disappointment at a squandered opportunity to find out some precise and useful information about the camera. I hope Sean Reid will review the Nex-7.
 
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