make my DLSR mountain-ready!

"All I read is the Canon propaganda about its L lenses."

They're trying to distract everyone from the idiocy of their camera designs (since they've made it blindingly obvious that they don't actually USE their own cameras, or they'd do away with idiocies like not having a dedicated MIRROR UP button), and the fact that the Germans make the best lenses. :)

"The DPR review indicates that the UI is a chore to use other than for P&S, but postings on the Alt Lenses forum on fredmiranda seem to disagree. What has your experience been?"

If you use the camera as a P&S, it's a piece of cake.

I will agree that the UI was clearly designed by the same imbecile that designs Canon's dumbass cameras — they obviously care about features for idiots more than ergonomics for photographers, serious or otherwise.

That said, I use only manual exposure, and that part is straightforward. The thing that irritates people, and rightfully so, is that for EVERYTHING else, you have to go through menus. So while on my Nikon I can change the ISO and white balance by pressing a button and spinning a dial to the right setting, on the Nex I have to dig through a few menus before I can just spin the dial to the right setting.

Fortunately, I don't care that much about white balance since I *always* shoot in RAW, and white balance is easy to fix in RAW conversion. I don't screw around with ISO that much, but it's nice to be able to easily crank it for low-light scenes now and then. I'm most likely just going to get a SlideFix rail for it and use my tripod, so as a backpacking camera, the idiocy of the UI won't interfere with my use significantly.

There's no mirror on a Nex, and therefore no reason to have a mirror lockup… so I don't miss that part. :)

If you're either comfortable with using manual exposure or don't care at all and would prefer to use it as a P&S camera on steroids, you'll be happy with it, I think. I'm hoping to get some images from my last trip posted tonight — I just to unpack the computer again (been renovating the house).

I would absolutely not want to go back to lugging around my Nikon digitoy with one of these around — and if I'd known it was coming, I wouldn't have bothered with a P&S camera for backpacking (s90) in the first place.

"I would absolutely not want to go back to lugging around my Nikon digitoy with one of these around — and if I'd known it was coming, I wouldn't have bothered with a P&S camera for backpacking (s90) in the first place."

Totally agree. In my case it's the Panasonic GF-1 with the 20mm f/1.7 lens. Image quality even at high ISOs is excellent, comparable to a D-SLR, but the camera itself is the same size as my G-7. I happen to love a fast wide/normal lens (that 20mm is equivalent to a 40mm FOV on a 35mm film camera), so the prime lens makes sense for me, but Panasonic also makes a decent normal zoom plus some wide and tele zooms.

I did play with the Sony in the store, and I like the grip and the way it feels in the hand, but I didn't want the really wide 16mm lens.

[Canon]
"They're trying to distract everyone from the idiocy of their camera designs (since they've made it blindingly obvious that they don't actually USE their own cameras, or they'd do away with idiocies like not having a dedicated MIRROR UP button), and the fact that the Germans make the best lenses. :)"

Canon 7D has one control switch that causes the mirror to go up.

–B.G.–

"I did play with the Sony in the store, and I like the grip and the way it feels in the hand, but I didn't want the really wide 16mm lens."

Sony also has a wide-to-normal (18-55mm) zoom lens out for the Nex, which has an impressive image stabilizer in it. It's pretty compact, and available in one of the kit bundles. It isn't, of course, as compact as the 16mm pancake lens. :)

The e-mount lens line is supposed to include a superzoom (18-200mm I think), but I don't know when it's slated for release.

That Panasonic was a serious contender for me. I ended up choosing the Nex because it has a bigger sensor, is compatible with the rest of the Alpha line via an adapter (lots of pricey but beautiful Zeiss lenses that will eventually make selling off my big, honking Nikon toys worthwhile), and is actually smaller than the micro 4/3 cameras.

The biggest downside right now is that the e-mount lens lineup is small, and that both the still and video cameras in the Nex line have ergonomics problems — but both share the same sensor, and do very good photography. Sigh.

At least you'll get access to Voigtlander lenses, since Conina/Voigtlander recently announced that they're joining the 4/3 consortium.

"Canon 7D has one control switch that causes the mirror to go up."

Wow! They FINALLY figured it out after all this time!

Canon did not want it or need it until the camera had a video mode.

–B.G.–

"Canon did not want it or need it until the camera had a video mode."

Nearly every nature photographer considers mirror lockup to be a critical feature. What you're saying is that Canon didn't care about its customers needs.

I said nothing of the kind. More misinformation.

Mirror lockup has been present on every Canon DSLR that I've ever had, maybe six different models that go back eight years.

–B.G.–

"Mirror lockup has been present on every Canon DSLR that I've ever had, maybe six different models that go back eight years."

Obviously, you didn't read the same thing that I did. I didn't at all say that Canon didn't offer mirror lockup.

"Obviously, you didn't read the same thing that I did."

It is not apparent what your sources are.

I try to stick to standard industry sources.

–B.G.–

"I try to stick to standard industry sources."

As do I. But I actually read them. You might want to read what I wrote again — maybe you'll see where you misread it.

[Canon]
"They're trying to distract everyone from the idiocy of their camera designs (since they've made it blindingly obvious that they don't actually USE their own cameras, or they'd do away with idiocies like not having a dedicated MIRROR UP button), and the fact that the Germans make the best lenses. :)"

I can't find it.

–B.G.–

"I can't find it."

It's pretty obvious, so if you still can't find it, there's not much point in explaining it.

I thought it might end this way.

In the future, you might want to make it clear which are facts and which are your assumptions.

–B.G.–

"In the future, you might want to make it clear which are facts and which are your assumptions."

I did. There are criticisms that have come up like clockwork on every Canon camera released for years, which is all that I mentioned. You misread my post, and now you're only seeing what you want to rather than what I wrote.

[Canon]
You wrote:
"They're trying to distract everyone from the idiocy of their camera designs (since they've made it blindingly obvious that they don't actually USE their own cameras, or they'd do away with idiocies like not having a dedicated MIRROR UP button), and the fact that the Germans make the best lenses. :)"

Do you deny that you wrote this, or do you deny what it means?

–B.G.–

Do you seriously not understand what "dedicated mirror up button" means? The lack thereof is the most common complaint there is about every new Canon camera released, although apparently it has finally changed in the newer models.

I'd also be very interested to see images made with the NEX. Maybe soon they'll have Zeiss glass on the E-mount…Oh and maybe a NEX-7 that's manual only…

"Sony also has a wide-to-normal (18-55mm) zoom lens out for the Nex"

Right, but of course that's not what I was looking for. I wanted small form factor and fast prime. The 16mm for the Sony is a focal length that I like, just not as my only lens. Panasonic is supposed to release a 14mm f/2.5 lens (28mm-equivalent) some time this fall.

I did see that Voigtlander is making a 25mm f/0.95 manual lens for the m43 cameras. Interesting. Makes me wonder (hope) (OK, salivate) about a Voigtlander rangefinder digital camera in the m43 format.

"Do you seriously not understand what "dedicated mirror up button" means? The lack thereof is the most common complaint there is about every new Canon camera released, although apparently it has finally changed in the newer models."

Apparently I do understand that, because I informed you that the newer models had such a control. Some previous models had the mirror lockup feature that was only accessed via menu. For some time, Canon had been working to mitigate the mirror slap by quieting the mirror box. That had the effect of lessening the need for mirror lockup at all. I'm in a little different situation, because I do mostly wildlife photography, so I am too busy getting into position and trying to let fly with 8 frames per second, so mirror lockup is something that I think about once per year, at best.

I checked with my own Canon DSLR friends, and nobody had ever heard of complaints about mirror controls.

–B.G.–

Funny thing is that I used to sell Canons , as well as Nikons for almost 30 years to pro photographers of all kinds but cannot remember that " mirror lock up " bit to be an issue.
The fact that every so often papers and individual pros switched from one camp the other (Canon /Nikon) and at a great cost, suggests to me that neither is that much better(overall)
To state or imply that a good percentage of pro photographers are idiots because they use the wrong brand ( not having one's personal pet need/want) I think that it is a bit over the top.
Franco

"Apparently I do understand that, because I informed you that the newer models had such a control."

Yes, and as I said, it took them quite a while to add it… yet you still insisted on attacking me.

"I wanted small form factor and fast prime."

I'm hoping for more myself. I prefer primes for that reason, too — as far as image quality, zooms aren't noticeably worse than primes these days, but they're still bigger and heavier.

I wonder whether or not Voigtlander is working on a digital rangefinder — that would be intriguing.

http://whitecranephotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Blanca-Mist-and-Driftwood-2-web.jpg