During my last small tour of Tuscany, Siena has been the city I choose as a base camp, so to speak; thus, it's also the (basically only) city where I spent some serious time photographing around the streets, which as I mentioned in my last SIENA & TUSCANY post look very different according to which time of the day you walk around. The whole of Siena's old city centre is strictly pedestrian only, access to cars is restricted except for public vehicles such as taxis, ambulances, police and the like; therefore it's a real pleasure to walk around and observe people in their daily activities, or details of the city that would go amiss when walking in a more chaotic metropolis. For those interested in tech stuff and camera reviews, I used the Sony NEX-7 for all the picture in this post but one; as such, I thought it'd be interesting to add a real-world review of the camera & of the Sony 16mm f/2.8, Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 and Sony 50mm f/1.8 prime lenses (read it all at the end of this LONG post).
Nun staring out towards S. Domenico's church at dawn, Siena
As a normal rule for many small medieval Italian cities, streets are generally narrow and tortuous, opening suddenly into Piazzas that need be exited again through narrow roads. In Siena there are a few exceptions though, and a couple of main arteries are much larger, having being made to be suitable for large carriage passage and - today - leisurely strolls... or even concerts, at night:
Bach's Cello Suite, Siena
And then there is the Palio, the famous bareback horse race that takes place twice a year in Siena: no, wait a minute... well, while for us in Italy and in the rest of the world it is a race and a great show to enjoy, for the Sienese people the Palio is much more than a horse race: is an event of nearly religious importance! The city is divided in 17 Contrade, out of which 10 are chosen to run in each Palio; those 7 who do not run in one Palio, will run in the following one, joined by three more than are extracted one week after the previous Palio. Rivalry between Contrade is incredibly high, and while winning the Palio is of the outmost importance for each Contrada, making one's chief enemy Contrada lose is equally as important, if not more satisfying. The winning Contrada celebrates intensively their victory, with a huge meal in the street of the Contrada itself to which all the Contradaioli attends, by touring the city with flags and dressing in the Contrada colours, and so on... I was there just a week after the Onda won the 2012 July's Palio, and could therefore enjoy their celebrations (willingly or not, you kinda have to!).
Onda supporters ready to take over the Piazza del Campo, Siena
Tables in the Contrada after the big dinner celebrations, Siena
Family walk in the winning Contrada, Siena
Onda's colours, Siena
Onda's flag, Siena
The extraction for the following Palio, Siena
Father's bell, Siena
While calm and tranquil enough compared for instance to Florence or Venice, Siena is of course a very touristic city. Its Duomo call hundreds of thousands of people per year, and rightly so being one of the most beautiful Cathedrals in all of Italy if not in all the world. Life inside the Duomo can also be interesting:
Candles, Duomo, Siena
Candles, Duomo, Siena
Cooling down, Duomo, Siena
Housekeeping, Duomo, Siena
More housekeeping, Duomo, Siena
After the Cathedral had been build, projects were made to enlarge it; the actual Duomo that we can see now was intended to become the transept of the new one, with the new nave being much bigger than what you see now; the project had to be abandoned, but not before works went underway: you can see part of the new Duomo standing, with one of its intended new doors becoming in fact a door to the Piazza:
A door to the Piazza, Siena
Street life in Siena is very lively, Sienese people like to enjoy their streets despite all the tourists walking around:
So, how did I like the Sony NEX-7? In short, just fine - better than that, actually.
Starting from what counts the most for me, image quality is great, with the camera outputting very detailed RAW files that can sustain some pretty serious editing; colours come out great from Phase One Capture One, my RAW converter of choice for the Sony NEX-7 files. Low-light capabilities are pretty good for a 24mp APS-C sensor and I don't see any problem in pushing it up to 1600 ISO for colour work and 6400 ISO easily for BW work. Disclaimer for those who remember film (remember that? I used it up to one year ago for BW street): I come from a Kodak Tri-X and Fuji Neopan 1600 love background though, you know I'll love a little grain in my BW! Even more: if it's not there, as with the Sony NEX-7 at base ISO and up to ISO 400 at least, then I'll add it in in PP. In all the examples above, the noise you can see in daylight BW images is noise I added. The noise you can see in night-time images, is noise that I increased adding some more in PP. I guess there is no account for taste, is there?
Talking about hardware, the Sony NEX-7 ergonomics are first class, among the best between all the small mirrorless cameras I had a chance to use: the camera fits perfectly in my hands, the hand grip is great and help securely holding it; I love the Tri-Nav system and the way the controls are laid down, and while the menus are pretty horrible both logically and aesthetically (think Playstation all over again in your camera!) you pretty much don't need them once you set your camera up the way you want. For me, this means mostly Aperture priority, with one of the top wheels controlling aperture and the other exposure compensation, while the back wheel controls ISO. Working in Manual mode, you have the top wheels controlling of course Aperture and Shutter, while the back wheel still controls ISO. Perfect for my needs! The only small problem I have with the Sony NEX-7 ergonomics concerns the position of the movie button, which is sitting in a very unfortunate place that caused me to press it more than once by mistake before getting used to it. The EVF is just great, very very detailed and smooth enough (of course, a faster refresh rate would always be appreciated); the only problem (but hey, it's the nature of the beast) is that when you turn the camera on in strong light, it takes a second for the EFV to get to the right gain and show you an actual picture rather than a white, overexposed blob; however, the same happened with my Panasonic GF-1's external finder, with my Fujifilm X100 and Fujifilm X-Pro 1 when in EVF mode, so I guess there is no way out of it with today's EVF technology. Besides that, it works well enough in strong light, though its contrast ratio may be a bit higher than what I would like. The tilting screen is a plus, and though a fully-articulated one would have been better I think Sony did a great job in including it without a sizeable increment in camera body's thickness. AF works just fine, locking securely with all the three lenses I used, in all kind of light. Build and accessories: Sony, what's up with the non-standard flash hot-shoe? I mean, really Besides that, build and battery life are great, as are the available accessories and their actual availability.
What's not to love? Nothing wrong with the camera per se, but much is wrong with, well, the system...
Unfortunately, while Sony keeps producing cameras, the lack of lens offer (especially high-quality primes) is - despite the new Fotokina announcements - the biggest drawback for the NEX-7. I will not be talking about zoom lenses, which I don't use nor own; however, being a prime lenses kind of guy, I tried all that Sony has to offer out of their prime lens lineup actually available back in July. Back then, Sony offered a Sony 16mm f/2.8, a Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8, a Sony 50mm f/1.8 with optical image stabilisation and a Sony 30mm f/3.5 Macro - as per today, a 30mm f1.8 have been announced, but is not available yet. Out of these, I got the 16, 24 and 50; the 35 f3.5 was too slow for my taste.
The Sony 16mm f/2.8 (24mm equivalent) is the weakest, to me in fact it's barely adequate to the sensor's demands; though it AF quickly enough and locks precisely enough, it's not sharp all over the frame and it has quite a bit of distortion. Drawing is OK but it doesn't strike me for any particular quality, it lacks personality so to speak. Out of focus areas, if you can get them, look OK but aren't particularly appealing to my taste.
The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 (36mm equivalent) on the other hand is a great lens (but not cheap!); big in size (especially with the hood on) but still light enough to carry and to keep a good balance with the camera body, its build quality is very good, AF is quick and precise. This lens draws very well, in fact I'd say that image quality is very good and distinctive, sharp when in focus and pleasant when out of focus.
The Sony 50mm f/1.8 (75mm equivalent), instead, while a very good lens is not quite as great as the Zeiss; it is sharp but tens to become a bit softer in the corners at all apertures, and as far as the way it draws I'd call it an honest performer; out of focus areas are OK, nervous at times depending on the subject. Image stabilisation is very useful and works quite well, AF is precise and quick enough.
The lack of a 50mm equivalent focal length from Sony up until their recent Fotokina announcement is unforgivable, and now that it has been announced it's image quality rests to be seen; hopefully it will be a great one. In the meantime, I just ordered the Sigma 19mm F2.8 & Sigma 30mm F2.8 and will report on them after I'll have had a chance to use them in the field enough to make up my mind about them; what I have seen so far makes me think that the 19mm will happily replace the 16mm Sony, and the 30mm seems to be a very strong performer - though a slow one. UPDATE! I just published a comparison between the Sony NEX-7 equipped with the Sigma 19mm F2.8 & Sigma 30mm F2.8 lenses vs. the Sigma DP1 Merrill & Sigma DP2 Merrill, equipped with the same design, built-in lenses. Read it on the blog HERE.
Is it all bad when it comes to lenses, then? Not at all. Besides the very solid 24mm and 50mm, using legacy lenses on the Sony NEX-7 is just wonderfully easy: the focussing aid works great, and I am constantly using my Leica 50mm Noctilux-M (the f/1 version) with it happily and trouble-free - however, this means no AF, and while this is fine by me, not everyone is OK with that. I hope both Sony and third party lens makers will soon close this gap and make the Nex into the great system it definitely can be.
This was a long one! Thank you for reading this far, and see you soon on the blog - stay tuned for more...
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