Sony NEX-7

The lenses are for the most part smaller than the equivalent Pentax lenses which are also an APS-C format, and Pentax has some of the smallest lenses, so I am not getting the whining about the "big lenses.

Depending upon which shooting mode you're using, these dials control the aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation.

With the supplied 18-55mm kit lens attached the NEX-7 looks and feels a little top heavy, and that's without fitting an existing Alpha DSLR lens proper, compatibility offered with pre-existing optics via the LA-EA2 accessory adapter which allows phase-detection AF with almost all A-mount lenses.

On the positive side, I have sprung for the Zeiss 24mm lens and with it I have produced some of my finest photographic images, both in color and B. &W. I am still experimenting with the more esoteric features of this camera like RAW, panoramic, and HDR.

With so many pixels to play with, though, there's still plenty of detail in the JPEGs - but if you want to extract the best the camera can offer, you'll definitely need to shoot RAW.

As it turns out, noise is very much in control at anything like a normal ISO and with the technology you don't have to go to high ISOs anyway.

Higher contrast can be a good thing on an OLED display — since the display isn’t backlit, darks can be much darker and everything can have a realistic, natural glow — but the effect goes too far here.

There's an infrared sensor that knows when you're looking through the viewfinder that turns off the back LCD screen, saving some battery power and eliminating distractions, which is a very nice feature.

To give you context even with a lens cap on when the LCD is completely black the viewfinder has tiny dots dancing on it sort of like static on a TV screen, this doesn't go away.

Meanwhile, photographers planning to shoot extensively with legacy manual focus lenses via adapters may well find it useful to assign the button to directly engage MF assist, i.e. one-touch magnification of the live view display for more accurate focusing.

With static subjects, the NEX-7's autofocus is generally fast and accurate.

Sony also cleverly designed the camera to check its focus every few seconds, so it's often already in focus when you want to shoot, which makes it feel even faster.

The effect of doing so is really noticeable, but it's pretty great to be able to adjust your video on the fly.

Special note has to be made also of how well-integrated movie mode is into the overall shooting experience.

But I have had Canon and Panasonic cameras and video cameras I also love.