Ok, I admit bought myself a Sony 7. I had tried a variety of other digital Rf' (EVF and "glass") but though they are interesting, they did nothing that the regular M's and Nikon Rf's could not do with film. I regard the Sony 7 as a "platform" for using lenses, new and old, partly for fun and partly to see how they work on this newfangled digital thing. It will not relegate my film cameras to dusty corners - I still like the tangible sense of film. I take a picture, develop the film and I have something to look at against a lamp or lightbox - and I can do it today or living long enough, decades from now, without having to reformat anything - just file it in it's file page.
The Sony 7 is good for this : I have adapters for M lenses, Nikon SLR, Pentax M42 and some adapter that will allow me to use my remaining Leica DSLR lenses on it. All in all I have about 70-80 lenses that I can adapt to it! One body - all those lenses.
Yes. I hate the "menus" - far to complex and not easy to wade through - too many options - way too many. Instruction manuals written by "nerds" who probably never took a shot.
At the moment I am using it in colour - why go half way! However. soon I will figure out the monochrome setting and switch.
I look at it as a bit of a game changer of a camera. It is not a Leica/Canon/Nikon etc - it is whatever lens you put on it. I am OK with the electronic viewfinder - it has high enough resolution and the focus confirmation thingie is quite "cute" with the red edges flashing - a bit like a 60 drug experience!
At the moment i am using it with various M-lenses - mostly because I just got the VM Close Focus adapter. Works as a regular M-adapter, but with a flick on the little red lever - it will allow you to focus closer than a lens' closest focussing distance. How close depends on the focal length - but in a sense it is a DR Summicron set-up for everything from a Heliar 12mm to whatever focal length you can adapt to the M-mount, Brilliant concept!!! So far I have tried it with Summicron 75, Summilux 75, Nokton 50 f1.1, Nokton 50mm f1.5 and at the moment I have a Nokton 21f2.8 on the camera.
Yesterday I tried out an old Nikkor 200f4 (non -AI) and was amazed at the quality of the lens - and if the weather stays sunny tomorrow I take my 400/560 Telyt out. It is my 20 ft lens - anything further away from the car than 20ft will not be shot with this combination!
I am enjoying it - but I can't take it seriously yet - too many years of film and chemistry to switch in 48 hours! I am having fun though - and sometimes when you look at shot and realize that it has been shot at 5000 iso, you are amazed how good that looks. Film at 5000 iso is not that reliable!
