Why I chose the Sony NEX-6
If you have been following my Facebook or G+ entries (or this blog), you will know that I have begun an experiment. A number of people are beginning to adopt the mirrorless camera systems, even professional photographers. Arguably the most high profile professional to make the switch recently is Trey Ratcliffe (www.stuckincustoms.com).
So I have decided to begin experimenting too. This was catalyzed a little during my recent trip to Europe. I use an f-stop camera bag (http://fstopgear.com/) which is fabulous. However, the weight of my bag still was tiring. It may not have helped that I was in the middle of treatment for cancer and had been undergoing radiation treatment!
So why did I choose the Sony NEX-6. Here are some of the reasons, which may help others in their decision making. These are not in order of importance as some are inter-related.
1. Price: I chose the NEX 6 over the NEX 7 partly due to price. This is an experiment and I wanted to lower the cost of the experiment.
2. Controls: I chose the NEX 6 over the NEX 7 partly due to the layout of the controls. More on this to follow in future posts. Most people who have played with both liked the traditional control dial on the top of the NEX 6 which is lacking on the NEX 7. If I continue with mirrorless, there is every chance I will upgrade to the NEX 7 replacement if the controls improve.
Actually, I found the controls on the Sony easy to use and intuitive. Unlike other photographers who go completely manual, I tend to favor aperture priority. Makes more sense to me to control for one variable at a time rather than two and I do a lot of HDR. I would like to have a switch to manual focus on the lens itself or somewhere on the camera. I would also like to be able to switch to single point focus quickly. The dial on the back of the Nikon full frame cameras is very useful. But there is the function button on the Sony that gets you there fairly quickly.
3. Sensor. I liked the idea of the APS-C cmos sensor vs the micro four thirds of other mirrorless systems.
4. Brand. Olympus is probably making some of the nicest mirrorless cameras at the moment. I especially like their stabilizing system that is body based instead of lens based. However, I worry about Olympus’ future. They have been on a rocky road recently. I guess worse comes to worst one of the big guys will buy them.
5. Brand. Panasonic is an alternative to Olympus (and some their lenses are interchangeable). They were a real contender. Reviews from the likes of dpreview.com tilted me in favor of the Sony. Plus I instinctively prefer the APC sensor.
6. Reviews. I like landscape and travel photography. There are a number of people who are starting to switch and I read their reviews and experience. This tilted me in favor of Sony.
One of the things that many people said about the Sony is that the menu system sucks. So I was expecting a horror story. And in some respects, they are right. The menu system could be improved. But I have not found it as bad as they make out. I will go into more detail about these aspects in future posts. Hey, the Nikon menu system was clearly not designed by Apple!
Suffice it to say for now, on my first time out with the Sony NEX-6 I had a lot of fun. It was quick and easy to get up and running on it, and I had reasonable results even without my tripod. So far, so good.
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Piers van der Merwe
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