Sony NEX users of TMIP!

I took the plunge (after selling some stuff) and got a Sony Nex-6. ; From what I gather, the Sony Nex gang looks like this...

Tim - Nex-6
Roger - Nex-6
HPS3 - Nex-6
Zackiedawg - Nex-5
RedOctober25 - Nex-7

Did I miss anyone?

I got the Nex-6 with kit lens, 55-210, & 16 f/2.8 with VCL-ECU1. ; It also came with $200 in instant rebates and a full retail copy of LR4. ; Free overnight shipping, which prob means Monday 12/24 for me. ;

I have the VCL-ECF1 on the wishlist for now along with some of the fast primes and the small external flash. ;

Anything else I should know?

UPDATE
A quick visit to the Sony Store in the NJ Premium Outlets today led to the 18-200 - silver- (refurb) for $549, and the VCL-ECF1 (refurb) for $99. ; Thanks for the suggestion, Zackiedawg.

 

FYI, sometime in the spring, Zeiss is supposed to be releasing their next 3 lenses (except this time they will be making it, not like the existing Zeiss lenses from Sony which are manufactured at Sony's direction)

32/1.8
12/2.8
50/2.8 macro

http://blogs.zeiss.com/photo/en/?p=2864

 

Official welcome to the club! ; I think you got the start looking pretty good.


BTW, put the 'N' at the end of mine - the NEX-5 was the original, the NEX-5N was the 2nd gen with the much better sensor.


First thing you're going to want to do when the camera arrives, other than charge the battery...is set those custom buttons! ; Get the important functions on one-touch availability, and you'll learn your way around the camera much more quickly and be much happier not having to dive into the menus as often.


Oh, and once you decide to start playing around with the cheap old manual lenses, and buying cheap adapters, you'll want to make sure you set the camera to 'release w/o lens' which will allow the shutter to fire when non-native lenses are attached. ; The greatest thing about the old manual lenses is that you can pick them up for $5 - $10, so you can play with all kinds of lenses that you may not use often, but not be throwing away that much money. ; And focus peaking will help your manual focus skills look downright pro!

 

Thanks for all of the info. ; I am still keeping the 18-200 lens on the wishlist because I love the idea of a 1-lens set it and forget option. ;

 

There will be a new 18-200 available sometime next year. It is already out but is only a kit lens with the e-mount video camera. It has PZ so it would work from the lens for clear image zoom if you wanted to use that feature.

 

Can you elaborate on that Roger? I'm not too sure what PZ means. From what I have researched, as it stands now, the silver version of the lens is of better quality than the newer less expensive black version. Could you shed some light on that?

 

Indeed, PZ is power zoom. ; It's a more compacted version of the 18-200mm when turned off,then extends and power-zooms when on. ; It was primarily designed as a better match for video use, but would likely become available soon for the stills cameras too (since they also have video users).


Oh, and Tim - if when you get your 16mm lens, you find that it has overly bad blurry corners, especially bottom right...not 'soft' corners wide open which are going to be likely with any inexpensive wide lens, but REALLY soft and bad...then exchange it for another. ; There were some folks on other camera forums who complained loudly how bad the 16mm lens was, and considered it unusable, crap, etc - while others questioned and challenged that - eventually it became clear that there were some bad batches out there as some who had the really bad lenses exchanged them and were much happier with the replacement. ; So occasionally the product quality control on that lens might slip a bit. ; If you get a bad one, exchange it rather than assume that's how they all are. ; The lens should be plenty sharp in the center, slightly soft at the very corners when wide open, and plenty sharp all around when stopped down.


And don't forget too the Sigma primes - they get pretty good reviews from those that have them. ; Beside the Sony made e-mount lenses, you've got a Tamron (18-200), two Sigmas (19mm and 30mm), and a few manual lenses available in e-mount, with a few more to come.

 

How does power zoom work as opposed to twist zoom?

 

Power zoom has a lever that electronically drives the zoom range. The kit lens with the 6 is a PZ lens. The biggest difference is that with clear image Zoom enabled the camera will switch to CIZ if you keep zooming past the optical limit. With every other lens you have to run the feature through a menu rather than a switch on the lens.

 

Is this a feature that I am actually going to use? I generally don't care for power driven zooms because I like to be able to do it manually. I was torn with the idea of getting the kit lens and the 55-210 versus the 18-200 out right.

 

I think when you see the results you will end up using it more than you think!

 

Ok, now let the debate really start to rock!


55-210 or 18-200 (silver, since the black one seems to be getting panned)?
16 f/2.8 with 12mm adapter or 10-18?


Remember the goal is to lighten the load from what I already lug around with me but still getting the maximum performance. ; I understand that the 18-200 and 10-18 are WAY more expensive options... ; I am thinking, if I decide that I really like this camera, that the 18-200 would be an awesome "1-lens" setup for days in WDW when I don't feel like even carrying a camera bag. ; Then I could just slip a fast prime in my pocket if I wanted to swap out.


If I sent back the 55-210, I would have $248 plus a $100 gift card to throw toward the 18-200.... ; ;


Ah, the sweet joys of paralysis by analysis.

 

Do you have any impending trips right around the corner? ; Maybe it's worth trying out the 55-210 and kit combo just to see how it handles and shoots. ; Then if the 18-200 bug is still biting you, get it. ; You should still have plenty of time left to return and exchange the 55-210, right? ; Don't they give you 30 days or so? ; Or does the box need to be unopened to return?


Also, do you have a 'Sony store' in any malls nearby to you, where you might be able to go see the 18-200 silver in person and maybe mount it on the camera to try it out?

 

Actually, there is a Sony store pretty close to where I will be driving tomorrow. I may have to make a trip by there to check it out. Good idea.