How obsolete is a NEX-7 these days?

Obviously this is quite an old camera at this point. It's APS-C and Sony still makes cameras in that form factor, I think maybe the 6600 may be the latest? What would Sony's latest APS-C buy me as far as improvements from the NEX-7? Also I have a lot of adapter rings for various lenses including the old Sony/Minolta SLR lenses. Would I need to replace any of these?

 

If I upgraded to Sony's full frame cameras, would I have to replace the adapter rings (maybe especially the Sony/Minolta SLR one)?

 

One more issue, does anyone have any recommendation for a small "pancake like" normal lens for the APS-C (presumably this would be a 30mm or 35mm) which is high quality and light weight? In case I need something really small and light.

 

Thanks!

Surprisingly the Nex 6 is a step up from the Nex7. It came out about a year later & did away with the non standard flash shoe.

I still find the Nex6 to be a very capable camera, even if I do use the A7ii a lot more.

 

All the lens adapters should work fine on either FE or E mount systems, but perhaps some of your lenses won't cover the larger sensor.

 

The collapsible version of the Industar 50 may not be your standard pancake & is perhaps a little long for APSC, but it's small & great fun IMO

A bit wider allows the 24mm/2.8 from the Pentax auto 110. When adapted it's fixed aperture, but at 12g I don't think you'll get much lighter!

The 24mm is designed for a smaller format, but IIRC it covers APSC adequately (unlike its 18mm brother)

 

Sticking more to your focal length specification there are 35mm c-mount lenses around that cover APSC, they're a little bigger than either of my first suggestions & not quite as good optically, but quite affordable & fun to play with.

They are no worse than they were when they were first sold. The question is whether any early digital camera meets YOUR current standards.

 

IMHO, any digital camera over 6MP is still usable for most purposes, if you can find software that will read the files......

7artisans 35mm f1.2 is small, though not really a pancake. It's cheap. My personal example is optically excellent, though tastes may vary. It's a Sonnar formula lens, so that may sway you one way or the other.

If I upgraded to Sony's full frame cameras, would I have to replace the adapter rings (maybe especially the Sony/Minolta SLR one)?

All the E-mount adapters will fit, but not all lenses adapt successfully. I had a Nikon 400mm lens vignette on full-frame because the adapter blocked the edges and corners of the frame.

 

I've also had unexpected flare from internal reflections inside an adapter. A strip of black foam reduced those reflections, but didn't eliminate them entirely. I've had no such issues using the same adapters on APS-C.

 

WRT small and lightweight lenses, you might want to look at Samyang's AF series. I have their 24mm f/2.8 - not the most amazing lens optically, but it has a certain charm. Certainly worth the cheap used price I paid for it.

 

My Nex-6 has reliability issues - known when I bought it used at a giveaway price. The a6000 is much better, with a proper menu system and not a dumbed down picture-book.

All the E-mount adapters will fit, but not all lenses adapt successfully. I had a Nikon 400mm lens vignette on full-frame because the adapter blocked the edges and corners of the frame.<snip>

 

My Nex-6 has reliability issues - known when I bought it used at a giveaway price. The a6000 is much better, with a proper menu system and not a dumbed down picture-book.

 

That's an issue with adapters I'd not thought of, I've had a few long lenses unexpectedly clipped on FF, I'd better check which adapters I've used...

With the NEX6 I've not had many issues with the menus, but that's probably just because I try to avoid menus, dedicated controls are much better at least for anything used regularly.

What do you get when you buy the latest aps-c body?

• Less finite buffer
  
• about 1f-stop low light gain on pixel level, maybe more if you feel ready to bin the extra resolution during denoising.
  
• IBIS?
  
• Better AF performance; maybe even decent (animal?) eye detection AF.
  
• Better EVF?
  
• 4K video?
  

If I recall Sony's APS product line right, you have to choose between either IBIS or animal eye AF.

What do you get when you buy the latest aps-c body?

About £1400 poorer!

I have the NEX-7, though I use the A7 III chiefly these days. It's odd going back to the menu system on the NEX-7, but a bit of thought and you can find your way around again. The 'Tri-Navi' system is quite good, with wheels that can be turned to adjust exposure,aperture, and ISO. As a used purchase it can be quite good value, especially if you like to adapt older manual focus lenses. More recent APS-C bodies have improved on-sensor focus and so work much better with native lenses.

 

I liked using an old Rokkor 35mm MF lens on the camera, and among modern lightweight lenses the Sigma 30mm and Samyang 35mm are OK AF offerings. Sony do a good FE 28mm F2 as well. The later kit 16-50mm power zoom lens is OK if you have a good example (they do vary somewhat) and makes for a very compact set up.

I've been trying to watch some videos and it seems like the NEX-7 sensor might have been somewhat improved, possibly to have slightly better high ISO performance than the NEX-7 sensor (the nex isn't great), but they're still 24MP which is surprising to me after all this time. And the EVFs don't seem to have gotten higher resolution either, and in fact the 6000 seemed to have been worse. The video is better but that doesn't matter to me. Lenses haven't really improved much either, except that there are full frame (larger) lenses that can be used. Sony doesn't seem to have worked too hard on the 6000 series camera or lenses really, except to improve their video capability.

 

It looks as if Sigma has created a decent normal lens though, their 30/1.4. That might be worth buying.

 

The 6400 and 6600 are actually a bit disappointing given how old the NEX-7 is at this point. It's actually still a very relevant camera. But then lots of digitals are more relevant than we imagined they might be years after their creation. I mean truthfully, 40MP sensors are nice, but do most people need them? At some point the camera is good enough, though it still has to be repairable and that's where some cameras fall down (early Contax SLRs for example -- great cameras but fragile electronics and no repair possible).