Andrew Reid from EOSHD has conducted a very nice and honest review about one of the currently most interesting video capable DSLRs: The Sony NEX 7 (body currently $1199)
Reid expresses mixed feelings about video quality:
“The NEX 7 is a real mixed bag. At times it has wowed me with a dynamic range and colour that seemed to be the best on any DSLR video mode including the 5D Mark II. Other times I felt the GH2 and 5D Mark II would have produced nicer results.”
And gives a nice overview about pros and cons in regards to other HDSLRs:
Pros over the GH2
- Larger 1.5x crop sensor over 1.86x
- Full 1080/60p slow motion compared to (admittedly very detailed) 720p/60p on the GH2
- 2.42MP OLED EVF compared to 1.3MP LCD EVF – a clear win
- Metal body and better manual control dials
- 920k screen compared to 480k – a clear win
- The sensor is far superior in stills mode – almost a different league here!
- Live peaking for manual focussing
Pros over the 5D Mark II
- 1080/60p slow mo compared to nothing
- Wider 3:2 aspect ratio screen which is articulated up and down avoids the need to add a monitor or EVF when shooting minimally
- Far smaller and lighter
- AF in video mode with E-Mount lenses
- Built in EVF usable in video mode, 5D’s optical viewfinder isn’t
- Full 1080p HDMI output with no delay / switch to SD resolution upon recording (though there is a gamma switch like the GH2)
- More features like peaking out of the box ** The 5D Mark II now has peaking and extensive manual audio controls as part of Magic Lantern
Pros (in general)
- Very strong sensor, the most advanced APS-C CMOS on the market to date
- Good as a run and gun camera, very small and stealthy, built in EVF is superb
- Good range of frame rates including 25p for PAL users and 1080/60p for slow motion
- Packs a lot into a small body, even a built in flash, hotshoe and mic socket
- Some handy firmware features such as peaking and ability to put all overlays in black bar rather than over the top of the live view display
- Superb manual controls
- Very good build quality
Cons (in general)
- Video mode doesn’t quite do justice to the sensor
- Compression in video mode smudges fine detail
- Lacks the high bitrates of the GH2 and 5D Mark II
- Resolution in video mode not as cleanly resolved as GH2 or 5D Mark II with VAF-5D2 anti-aliasing filter
- Convoluted adjustment of picture profiles, white balance, etc. involving use of almost every dial to navigate
- No dedicated movie mode means JPEG stills have to be set to 16:9 for accurate framing of video
Make sure to check out Andre Reid’s full review here.
