The Sony α NEX-7 is a

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...

announced 24 August 2011 by Sony. It is a

mirrorless interchangeable lens camera A mirrorless camera is a photo camera featuring a single, removable lens and a digital display. The camera does not have a reflex mirror or optical viewfinder like a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, but may have an electronic v ...

and as such inherits a smaller body form factor than a traditional

digital single-lens reflex camera A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...

, while still retaining the sensor size and features of an APS-C-sized model. It is targeted at experienced users, enthusiasts and professionals. It is replaced by the ILCE-6000 (α6000).

Features

Being targeted at experienced users, enthusiasts and professionals, the Sony NEX-7 offers features relevant to them. Mainly, it integrates a 24.3

megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...

s APS-C sensor, videos 1920×1080p at 60 frame/s in

AVCHD AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around t ...

2 and 10 fps stills shooting. It's built in a robust magnesium alloy and incorporates an XGA OLED electronic viewfinder with 2.4 million dots resolution. The camera's specifications are as follows: *24 megapixel APS-C

CMOS image sensor An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector (typically a pinned photodiode) and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) active-pixel sensor, MOS field-effec ...

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

100-16000 *2.4 million dot

OLED An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...

Electronic View Finder (EVF) *Electronic first-curtain shutter (for faster response time) *1080p 60 HD video recording with built-in mic (stereo) *Rear screen with tilt feature *Built-in flash and alpha hotshoe *remote control receiver (infra-red) *External mic input

Reception

Albeit being delayed for a few months because of 2011's Thai floods, the α NEX-7 was very well received by critics and users. In regions like Hong Kong, α NEX-7 was always running out of stock. DPreview.com and PhotographyBlog gave it their highest awards, with the highest score ever attained by an APS class camera. α NEX-7 also won the best camera in Camera Grand Prix 2012 under professional catalog, which was voted by a professional community consisting of 57 council members from the professional press field of the Camera Journal Press Club.

Image quality

At the time of its release, the Sony Alpha NEX-7 had the best image quality among any mirrorless interchangeable-lens compact camera which had been tested by

DxO Labs DxO is a French company dedicated to photography. Founded in 2006, it is located in Boulogne-Billancourt. It markets DxO PhotoLab, ViewPoint, and FilmPack image processing software and a connected camera, the DxO ONE. History DxO created DxOMark ...

and also the best APS-C Sensor camera from Sony. Sony α65, Sony α77 and NEX-7 have similar sensors and received DxOMark Overall Scores of 74, 78, and 81, respectively. The image quality of NEX-7 can be comparable with

Nikon D7000 The Nikon D7000 is a 16.2-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) model announced by Nikon on September 15, 2010. It replaced the D90 as the top end consumer camera, by using much of the technology and controls from the earlier D5000, ...

(score 80) and

Pentax K-5 The Pentax K-5 is a 16.3-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on September 20, 2010. It began shipping in mid-October 2010 and it was replaced by the Pentax K-5 II in the third quarter of 2012. Externally, the camera body is ...

(score 82).

Hasselblad Lunar

In September 2012, the Swedish camera manufacturer

Hasselblad Victor Hasselblad AB is a Swedish manufacturer of medium format cameras, photographic equipment and image scanners based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company originally became known for its classic analog medium-format cameras that used a waist ...

announced a collaboration with Sony and a mirrorless compact camera at

photokina 2012 Photokina (rendered in the promoters' branding as "photokina") is a trade fair held in Europe for the photographic and imaging industries. It is the world's largest such trade fair. The first Photokina was held in Cologne, Germany, in 1950, a ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany. This camera, named

Lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

, is based on the Sony NEX-7 with identical key specifications, but with aesthetic differences in exterior design and menu system. In January 2014, Hasselblad announced another cosmetic variant of the camera, limited to 200 units, named the Lunar Limited Edition.

References

{{Sony MILC cameras NEX-7 NEX-7 Live-preview digital cameras

Features

Reception

Image quality

Hasselblad Lunar

See also

References