{"id":1516,"date":"2013-02-10T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.wordpress\/?p=1516"},"modified":"2025-04-28T16:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T20:24:05","slug":"why-i-bought-the-sony-nex-7-and-why-i-love-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adorama.com\/alc\/why-i-bought-the-sony-nex-7-and-why-i-love-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I bought the Sony NEX-7, and why I love it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: With this article, the Adorama Learning Center<\/a> welcomes travel photography blogger and HDR expert Trey Ratcliff. Look for new articles from Trey on a regular basis at the Adorama Learning Center<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Several months ago I wrote an article in my blog<\/a> that said that \u201cDSLRs are a Dying Breed.\u201d This resulted in a lot of hate comments from irrational people who probably have a lot of emotional baggage that isn\u2019t connected to the issue at hand. But, I think a lot of people saw my point. In this exclusive Adorama<\/a> article, let’s look at a specific example.<\/p>\n

Right now we\u2019re in this technology hinterland, somewhere between the transition from DSLRs to the next generation of mirrorless cameras. I still hate the name \u201cmirrorless cameras\u201d\u2014 it makes about as much sense as when they called an automobile a \u201chorseless buggy.\u201d Adorama<\/a> calls ’em Compact System\/Mirrorless Digital Cameras, or MILCs (Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Compacts), and sells all of them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Also read: “A new camera category has arrived. What shall we call it?<\/a>” on the Adorama Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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So, I decided to buy a Sony NEX-7, which is available at Adorama (read my Sony NEX-7 Review<\/a>, and watch Rich Harrington’s hands-on overview on AdoramaTV<\/a>.), and it is currently my second camera. My main camera is my Nikon D800 (read my Nikon D800 Review<\/a> as well as Rich Harrington’s Nikon D800 Product Review video on AdoramaTV<\/a>), so, obviously, I\u2019m still using a DSLR. But, when traveling and you need a second camera for backup, there is no need to carry around two giant DSLRs, especially when the quality of the mirrorless cameras are not much different for many sorts of shots.<\/p>\n

In preparing for this article, I wanted to do a little side-by-side comparison between the Nikon D800<\/a> and the Sony NEX-7<\/a>, both of which are available at Adorama<\/a>. Rather than spout stats (which I will in a second) I wanted to show some sample photos.<\/p>\n

You know when you go into an experiment with a certain kind of bias? This is problematic, but everyone does it. People can always find evidence for what they want to find. So I tried not to go into this with too much bias, but I was secretly hoping that the two photos from the Nikon D800<\/a> and the Sony NEX-7<\/a> would come out the same.<\/p>\n

But, halfway through my experiment, I realized I\u2019m one of the worst people do to lab-condition comparisons. (For that sort of thing, refer to the Adorama Learning Center’s lab test partner, DxOMark.com) And so, here are the faults with my experimentation style:<\/p>\n