SONY α NEX-7
The peak of NEX
A review and photo examples of the SONY α NEX-7.
- This page contains advertisements. Clicking on the advertisements may earn the page administrator a reward. Details of the advertisements are listed at the links below.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The following lenses were used in the photo examples:
- SIGMA 400mm HSM
- SIGMA EX DG 24-70 ＨＳＭ
- Rollei Toriotar 40mm
Review
1．Overview
The NEX-7 is a mirrorless camera with an LCD viewfinder (EVF) released by Sony in 2011. The sensor pixel count is 24 megapixels, which remains the highest pixel count for Sony’s APS-C size sensor, and as of 2024, it is the camera that has reached the pinnacle of pixel count.
The detailed specifications of the camera are listed in the table below, but other than the pixel count, the main specifications are a 2.36 million dot EVF, a 3-inch 920,000 dot rear LCD, and a size of 120 x 67 when viewed from the front, which is smaller than a smartphone. Of course, since it is a camera, the grip part has depth, and it becomes quite large when a lens is attached.
The LCD monitor can be adjusted up and down and can be changed from 0 to 90 degrees, but it cannot be rotated 180 degrees for selfies or changed as flexibly as a vari-angle LCD.
The battery is the NP-FW50, which is common to the NEX series.
2．Usage
In the overview, I wrote that the number of pixels had reached its peak, but since it is an early 24-megapixel sensor, the image creation is not sophisticated. It is a sensor that is difficult to handle because it has a high probability of generating false colors and color casts depending on the lens.
The camera itself processes smoothly, and has sufficient performance for its age in terms of image recording and playback.
The battery is the NP-FW50, which is common to the NEX series, but perhaps to maintain the camera’s processing speed mentioned above, the battery life is not that good. I feel uneasy if I don’t carry a spare battery when shooting.
That is one of the complaints, but it is good that the battery model number has been continued.
During the compact digital camera and CyberShot era, SONY, like CANON, Panasonic, and NIKON, which sold a lot of cameras, had many battery types, so it is one of the manufacturers that have difficulty procuring batteries for older cameras.
The camera’s operation system, which is the selling point of the NEX-7, is an interface called “Tri-Dial Navi” and “Triple Dial Control”, which allows you to assign shooting functions to the camera relatively flexibly, and if you set it to your liking, it will be easy to use and satisfying.
I’m happy just to be able to assign exposure compensation, which was a struggle with the NEX-5 and NEX-6, to the rightmost dial.
This makes it easier to set the exposure when shooting in one step, and much easier to use.
With the NEX-5 and NEX6, you have to press the bottom of the dial on the back and then turn the dial, which takes two steps, which I don’t like. This improvement alone makes the NEX-7 worth it.
Since it does not have in-body image stabilization, the body is light and you can easily press the shutter, so you need to be careful of camera shake when playing with the lens via a mount adapter.
3．Add info.
The NEX series is officially called α NEX, but the α name is not being promoted much.
When the α7 series was announced in October 2013, the NEX name was abolished, and cameras with APS-C size sensors were renamed to the α6000 series.
The NEX-7 was released in 2011, the midpoint of the NEX brand, and in terms of pixel count, this camera was the peak, and subsequent models have not increased the pixel count. A camera is not judged by its pixel count alone, but it is in a symbolic position.
I purchased the NEX-7 to replace the NEX-6, but when using an old lens with a 24-megapixel sensor with a rear lens close to the sensor, a purple color cast occurs, even though it is an APS-C size sensor. The successor sensor is expected to have various improvements, so I would like to use it at some point. I am aiming for the α6500, which can share the battery.
An example of color cast is introduced here in the Ms-optics APOQUALIA 28mm.
The flash connection part uses the same auto-lock accessory shoe as that of SLR α cameras, so you will need to select a flash whose model number ends with AM.
Specification
| Model name | NEX-7 | NEX-6 | α6000 | α6500 |
| Effective Pixel number | 24.2-Mega pixcels | 16.1-Mega pixels | 24.3-Mega pixels | 24.3-Mega linpixels |
| Sensor size | APS-C 23.5 x 15.6mm | ← | ← | ← |
| Back LCD Pixels | 3.0 92.1万ドット | ← | ← | ← |
| EVF | Include 2.36 million dots | ← | Include 1.44 million dots | Include 2.36 million dots |
| Shake reducrtion | × | ← | ← | ○ |
| Max shutter speed | 1/4000 | ← | ← | ← |
| Battery | NP-FW50 | ← | ← | ← |
| Touch panel | × | ← | ← | ○ |
| WIFI | ○ | ← | ← | ← |
| NFC | × | ← | ○ | ← |
| AF | Contrast Image phase difference | ← | ← | ← |
| accessory shoe | Auto-locking accessory shoe | Multi Interface Shoe | ← | ← |
| Recorded media | MS-Pro-Duo SDXC | ← | ← | ← |
| Release date | 2011.8 | 2012.11 | 2014.3 | 2016.12 |
| Size | 120 x 67 x 43 | ← | 120 x 67 x 45 | 120 x 67 x 53 |
| Weight (body only) | 291 | 287 | 285 | 410 |
| Color | Black | ← | Black,White,Silver,Grafight gray | Balck |
Options
- HVL-F28RM(Flash) *1
- HVL-F46RM(Flash) *1
- HVL-F60RM(Flash) *1
- HVL-F60RM2(Flash) *1
- LA series mount adapter
- Eyepiece cup FDA-EP10
- AC adapter AC-PW20
- Battery charger BC-TRW
Reference links
Update history
- 2024.12.17
Affiliate Link
- Amazon Affiliate link for SONY
- Amazon Affiliate link for Sony lens
- Amazon Affiliiate link for Sony books.
