Sony Nex-7 Review: Video Thoughts +

Stilts. Codi with NEX-7

Video - Shot some video the other day and it's interesting. What you see in the EVF is what you get. So in my case, if you display in B&W, then it records in B&W. I should try to remember to set it back to color when I'm shooting video. In fact I'm worried that by converting it to B&W in camera that the camera algorithms automatically add contrast that I typically don't want/need

Video record button - Yup, it's poor placement. I hit it accidentally too. Didn't think it'd be an issue but it is.

EVF with sunglasses - The EVF doesn't like sunglasses. Need to take it off to really get the EVF to turn on.

Battery life - Still nothing to report. Taken hundreds of shoot on each set and it's just fine. Even shooting video it's fine.

Overheating - Yup, the NEX-7 gets hot like a bitch in heat especially when you're shooting video with the display flat against the body. People have said pulling out the screen makes it better but it shouldn't be such an issue. I was shooting in mid-80's and running the video up to 5 minutes at a time. Not sure how badly it affected the video clips though. It did not seem like it was stopped any of my recorded clips prematurely.

Focus peaking - Sucks. Not sure how the algorithms in the Sony NEX-7 work but it makes manual focus nearly impossible when it sometimes tells me objects 14 feet away are ALSO in focus. Makes for a dicey manual focus situation...

EVF contrast - Wish I could turn it down. There's much more contrast than the camera-back display. Too bad.

Video Converter - I needed software to convert 7D files to ProRes 422 but with the Sony files I needed to buy a $30 software to do this. Ugh.

1080p/60fps - Wow. Too bad Canon doesn't do this yet. Quite impressive on the NEX-7.

HDMI out - With the display focus peaking failing me, I'm considering pulling out the SmallHD DP4 and mounting it on the NEX-7 for Focus Assist+ which destroys the NEX-7 focus peaking.

Got more shoots coming and I've got a few new toys to play with that makes the NEX-7 even better :) Stay tuned!