How Sony Is Ushering In a Golden Age of Photography
- Thread starter Steve Williams
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Indeed, Sony has done a great job in bringing high performance photo tools in affordable and compact packages to the newbies like me 
The mirrorless market is still small, it doesn't offer the flexibility of the DSLR one and, at a certain point, it gets expensive. But if someone is looking to an APS/C sensor-based camera, there's interesting platforms.
The mirrorless market is still small, it doesn't offer the flexibility of the DSLR one and, at a certain point, it gets expensive. But if someone is looking to an APS/C sensor-based camera, there's interesting platforms.
It is with the full frame RX1, A7 and A7r where Sony is really shaking up things. We're not talking APS-C sized. Canon and Nikon need to wake up. Canibalize yourself or someone else will.
Funny, I just got home from a walking tour if the old walled city of Intramuros with my eldest daughter and some of her classmates. The RX1 is perfect for this type of activity. The EVF sucked up my battery though. Gotta remember to buy spares.
Here's a review of the A7 from the best site for these things IMO:
http://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-a7
Looks like some JPEG issues in an otherwise solid package. Something to remember is that for full frame, the lenses need to be larger than their APS, etc counterparts so that even though the camera might be smaller, the lenses have you windup with a package not much more compact than a typical DSLR. An alternative to the A7 is the Olympus EM-1 -- smaller sensor but still shoots well at ISO 3200 and has a fantastic selection of excellent, compact lenses to choose from. I love shooting with it, terrific image quality and body feel/ergonomics in a package that is less than half the size of my Nikon rig and about a third of the weight. Only thing I give up vs the A7 really is greater depth of field when I don't want it. Point is that smaller sensors and the imaging processing behind them has gotten tremendously good -- FF is far from the only thing that matters.
That said though, it's quite an accomplishment and the photo industry was sorely in need of someone to shake things up. Canon/Nikon had fallen into a path of incremental upgrades of the same thing in a market that is rapidly changing and passing them by in some ways. Both have basically failed with their late to the game mirroreless systems forex.
I have the RX100 -- amazing image quality and lens that. I can fit in my jeans pocket. It's my goto walk around until. I want interchangeable lenses.
http://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-a7
Looks like some JPEG issues in an otherwise solid package. Something to remember is that for full frame, the lenses need to be larger than their APS, etc counterparts so that even though the camera might be smaller, the lenses have you windup with a package not much more compact than a typical DSLR. An alternative to the A7 is the Olympus EM-1 -- smaller sensor but still shoots well at ISO 3200 and has a fantastic selection of excellent, compact lenses to choose from. I love shooting with it, terrific image quality and body feel/ergonomics in a package that is less than half the size of my Nikon rig and about a third of the weight. Only thing I give up vs the A7 really is greater depth of field when I don't want it. Point is that smaller sensors and the imaging processing behind them has gotten tremendously good -- FF is far from the only thing that matters.
That said though, it's quite an accomplishment and the photo industry was sorely in need of someone to shake things up. Canon/Nikon had fallen into a path of incremental upgrades of the same thing in a market that is rapidly changing and passing them by in some ways. Both have basically failed with their late to the game mirroreless systems forex.
I have the RX100 -- amazing image quality and lens that. I can fit in my jeans pocket. It's my goto walk around until. I want interchangeable lenses.
I only just started looking into cameras late last year before we went on our trip. I thought about the RX camera, among many others. I really think they have helped push pricing down and bring tech up for amateurs.
I looked at all the reviews I could find and compared the photos from various cameras. In the end, at a certain level I found I was 'more than happy enough' and we ended up with the following priority list and got the Nikon D5100 with a Nikon 28-200 lens (which with the D5100 ends up being 35-300mm lens):
- quality RAW format photos
- lots and lots of automatic pre-settings for any scenario (for dummies like me who will never bother to learn)
- high quality telephoto lens for safari/etc
- decent price but willing to spend more than all-in-one if we thought it was worth it
Camera tech has really pushed forward since I last looked 10 years ago...and now I am told 24MP is even greater than some lens resolution? The D5100 (being replaced last year by D5200 and now D5300) came way down just before Christmas and for less than the price of the RX and far far less than A7, we ended up with a camera that, so far, has very very pleasantly surprised us for photos 'we care about' (where we might blow up a waterfall or ancient ruins in b&w to 3 feet)...where we never thought we'd figure out how to make the shot (ie, in dark, backlit, in candlelight, moving animals, etc).
And for everything else, we just use a little point/click from Japan my wife got years ago.
I looked at all the reviews I could find and compared the photos from various cameras. In the end, at a certain level I found I was 'more than happy enough' and we ended up with the following priority list and got the Nikon D5100 with a Nikon 28-200 lens (which with the D5100 ends up being 35-300mm lens):
- quality RAW format photos
- lots and lots of automatic pre-settings for any scenario (for dummies like me who will never bother to learn)
- high quality telephoto lens for safari/etc
- decent price but willing to spend more than all-in-one if we thought it was worth it
Camera tech has really pushed forward since I last looked 10 years ago...and now I am told 24MP is even greater than some lens resolution? The D5100 (being replaced last year by D5200 and now D5300) came way down just before Christmas and for less than the price of the RX and far far less than A7, we ended up with a camera that, so far, has very very pleasantly surprised us for photos 'we care about' (where we might blow up a waterfall or ancient ruins in b&w to 3 feet)...where we never thought we'd figure out how to make the shot (ie, in dark, backlit, in candlelight, moving animals, etc).
And for everything else, we just use a little point/click from Japan my wife got years ago.
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