26 Comments

  1. Steve, I know you’re a big fan of B&H Photo and I’ve tried to use them in support of your site BUT, their problem is that they have simply become TOO BIG! As I’ve sat waiting weeks for my backordered Sony NEX-7 to arrive, I continue to see other vendors with supplies of the camera available for sale.

    Apparently B&H’s reputation is so good that they attract a LOT of orders…..too many, in fact, for the number of cameras they’re allocated. Point in fact, this morning I received my weekly “your item is still backordered” email from B&H. (This communication was from about the 15th different rep I communicated with since I placed my order and this ordeal began. B&H definitely demonstrates a “your simply a number” mentality as far as I’m concerned.)

    In any event, I started surfing the net for vendors which might have the camera in stock. Whoah, Cameta Camera had both the body only and the kit IN STOCK. Best of all, prices were not inflated. In fact, they were the same as B&H’s non-existent Sony Nex-7’s. Made the purchase, received confirmation and a tracking number. The camera has shipped and, thankfully, will arrive before my Thursday departure on a special trip for which I was ordering the camera in the first place.

    Cameta is my hero and now has a loyal customer…..sorry Steve, but B&H just isn’t customer friendly and lacks the brick & mortar type of service I needed. (I STILL like Amazon however. It fits the too big for it’s own good profile also, but it WORKS for them. B&H….not so much.)

  2. I’m torn between: 1) Olympus OM-D EP-5, 2) Sony NEX-7, 3) Fujifilm X-Pro 1

    I like to shoot landscape/nature, but want something that can handle wildlife. I have a Leica D-Lux 4, which is a great “have all the time” camera, but I want something that can do more, but I’m not ready to make the jump (technically and financially) to a DSLR. I’m leaning towards the OM-D, but am still keeping an open mind. Anyone have any thoughts? I would really appreciate it.

  3. Why do you say the NEX-7 is in stock at B&H when B&H says they do not and have not have the camera??? Doesn’t make you look very good.

  4. Good to see Sony has resumed production. I wish they would also resume the occasional price-cut.

  5. I just canceled my Sony preorders for the kit and the 50mm. I’m going with the OM-D instead. I realize I lose in sensor size, and EVF quality. But I feel I gain a system with more lenses, that nice 5 axis IS, acceptable 12800 iso performance, a better looking camera, and smaller lenses. I think I could have been happy with the Sony, but it’s just taken them too long to deliver.

    • Matt, I think you made a wise choice.
      Especially if you like the wide end. The 7-14 is amazing.

    • If I was buying into a mirrorless system now, I would be making the same choice. If I just wanted a supplementary camera with a few lenses, it would be different, but there’s no beating m43 as a full system on the mirrorsless side right now.

  6. Bodies have been available for a while. The kit, however, is another story. No sign of it and no response to queries from Sony Europe.

    • Sony Australia has bunch of new-7k in stock priced at AUD1699 which I would rather wait more days to pick up one from the local reseller priced at $1400 that is still a higher price than US but much more acceptable.

  7. Mine just arrived, with the 50mm 1.8. what a remarkable job Sony has done! So far I’ve mounted my M-mounts and Nikon F-mount lenses, so far superb image quality (the classic glass with big sensor really makes a different). The Sony 50mm is an incredible lens for the price, razor sharp and light weight. I’m still wading through the myriad of menus, options and customizations, I’m hoping once I finish assigning buttons and controls I’ll never have to touch the menu again. That’s the one thing I love about my M9 … no need for a computer manual!

  8. It’s funny earlier today (3/1) B&H changed their availability for the NEX 7 body to “available in limited quantities.” So I went ahead and ordered; initially my order was listed as back ordered but now, a few hours later, my order shows as “in stock, order sent to warehouse.” And at least currently, as Steve notes, the availability is “in stock.” Hopefully everyone here who has been looking to get one of these will have the chance before B&H’s latest inventory disappears!

    Regarding the lens question, I think that there is some nice E mount glass available – the Zeiss 24mm and the 50 f1.8. I have also seen some very nice images posted with the, admittedly slow, 18-200. And don’t forget all of the legacy glass that can be used in manual mode.

    • What the heck…..my Nex-7 has not shipped and an email from B&H today confirmed that it was still “backordered”. My poor Zeiss 24 1.8 sits waiting patiently……

      • Did you order the kit? The only thing they had in stock was the body only. If you ordered the kit, those are still on backorder it seems.

    • Oh no, got a follow up email from b&h saying it was a stock error. So opted to cancel.

  9. YAWN….. If you want great image quality you go with the X Pro. See:

    http://holyfstop.blogspot.com/2012/03/fujifilm-x-pro-1-first-look.html

    and

    http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=no&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fotomagasinet.no%2F2012%2F03%2Ffull-test-av-fujifilm-x-pro1%2F

    “I am reviewing a “pre-production” X-Pro 1 kit and the 60mm Macro copy that I have is razor sharp – its scary.”

    “Fujifilm’s claims to having increased sharpness, resolution and IQ because of their new sensor and I believe this to be true. I have used (in the past) two other 16 megapixel cameras (with APS-C sensors) and I believe the X-Trans sensor out-resolves them and produces a beautiful, “film like” image. I have no empirical evidence but I can tell you this – when I view my files, even at 100%, I still rub my eyes as I cannot believe what I am seeing.

    Between Fujifilm’s near perfect Auto White Balance (AWB), superb JPEG engine, the sharp lenses and their new sensor, this camera produces fantastic files right out of camera which require little or no post processing. I am sure that the RAW files will also be great as the X100’s are excellent, so I do not expect the X-Pro1 to be any different.

    As I stated before, the images I shot with my pre-production X-Pro1 are to be used in Fujifilm Canada’s product launch – so I will not show them (yet) until Fujifilm has started distribution to the press and make them available on their website. But I am going to make a bold statement:

    You will be hard pressed to find better image quality from any other APS-C sensor camera.

    Going one step further – the X-Pro1’s image quality also rivals many full frame (36mm x 24mm sensor size) DSLRs.

    Fujifilm claimed that they would get full frame sensor quality out of a compact camera when they announced the X-Pro1. I believe that they have largely achieved that goal.”

    And

    “When we studied the pictures taken with X-PRO1 at different ISO settings, we saw that it was virtually impossible to tell the difference between images taken at ISO 200 and ISO 800. We had to enlarge the images to 200% and operate intensive “pixel peeping” to see anything, and we were not always sure what was best. This is very impressive!”

    “Fujifilm has done most of it quite right, and it’s not bad to be the first camera in a new camera system. If this is not successful, then it is certainly not the equipment’s fault.

    Highly recommended”

    • Yawn…yet another anonymous “reviews” (it’s on blogspot FFS).. Wake me up if luminous landscape, dpreview, DxO, photozone.de or steve huff do their stuff..

      • LOL. Right? I mean I’m sure the xpro is great And the previous Fuji x series cameras received some fantastic reviews. . .but coming to a post on another possibly great camera and having a such an obviously snide dismissive fanboy moment is pretty bad form. We live in an era of exquisite camera equipment, the playing field at all respective price points are so even it really does come down to the artisan operating the machine now! So lets get to snapping!! Lol

    • I agree, this is certainly bad form coming on a blog with the Sony NEX 7 (I’m not a fan) at the top of the page, and giving a “definitive” dissertation on the Fuji X Pro 1. I hope everything that “Steve” is saying (above) is true about the Fuji, I was not thoroughly moved with the image samples I had seen so far (seem to have NR smear or something to me, just my opinion), and I too await a review from a more reliable source. This info will definitely get stuck in my pocket though, (I want to XPro1 to be this good and more!), but we all know a camera is not made by sensor alone…so we shall see. I definitely am not going to pre-order any of the cameras…I am going to go out and use the great gear I have, make some photos and watch all of this develop. It’s quite EXCITING right now!!!!!!

    • Ok, so now the “X-Pro1 rivals many FF DSLRs” – there are not that many FF DSLRs – and surely it won’t – the X100 certainly did not rival the D700, so why would the X-Pro1?

    • Hé Forget to say that thé Fuji does not havé thé very capable peaping for MF… That seals thé deal…NEX7 or whatever Leica comes out with

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