Eldarrio
Member
Replaced Nikon5700 with 717, I finally have a digicam making me happy. What really counts is quality of pics and NO other digicam in this 5M segment comes even close to 717. Speed, accuracy, sharpness, flash operation, ease of use, versatility are also simply unmatched. There are few issues to address, but overall- don't shop any further, this is the right one. I might be overly critical in my review regarding few things , but they are to be considered.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION; Whoever designed this digicam has ruined probably 75% of the business that Sony might've had if camera would've had conventional shape. This is absolutely awkward, camera is intended for prosumer, yet looks and feels like high-caliper gizmo for studio photography. Nikon/Canon/Fuji have swivel 3-D LCD which is extremely handy and convenienet, as Sony is handicapped with 2-D LCD. All switches on lens barrel are just sitting in wrong places. The barrel overhang, while camera sits on tripod is tremendous, and does not give you full freedom of choices due to poor balance. This just just cannot get any worse. You also attract too much attention with this camera looks and in some cases you just don't wanna do that. Sony should learns from Nikon & Fuji, their cameras look & feel like real photo-tool. Other than that, very high quality materails.
BATTERY LIFE; Best in the business, as per usual for Sony. Benchmark for everybody else. No need for extra battery.
AF & LENS; AF is just as good as in my SRLs Nikon and Minolta, Sony designed best AF in this class. Lens with German technology produce crisp, deeply contoured, lovely balanced pics with very natural colors, which don't need to be fixed at all with Photoshop. Lens is fast, precise and in most cases there is no AF "hunting" even at very difficult conditions. Minimal barrel distortion at wide angle and low light sometimes, yet it's OK. No diagonal abberations. There is only one "BUT"- why Sony cannot make the same zoom range as Nikon, i.e. 35-280 ? Common' Sony, it's shame to have 38 mm as minimal focal distance ! I am missing my 28 mm from SRLs very much, but forgive Sony due to astonishing quality of pics.
START UP TIME & OPERATIONS SPEED; Best in its class, you get particularly amazed while switching from something like Nikon 5700.
IMAGE QUALITY; No doubts here, camera produces best pics you can get in this price range. Colours are well balances, no red/yellow dominant "masks" as , say, all Canons do. Sharpness is just as good as it gets.
FEATURES; The only reason why I give 4.5 to Sony is that in most cases camera does not need bunch of tweaking to produce high quality pics, unlike the rest of the crowd. However, if Sony have invested just a bit more thoughts in this powerful performer then this camera would skyrocket to almost pro level. I am still missing colour saturation, sharpness, white balance, flash rear curtain options, contrast control from Nikon, but when you see pics then all this is easy to pass by.
EASE OF USE; Best in its class, Sony just copied the same logistics from their superios camcorders.
WHITE BALANCE; Lacking some options but the best reproduction of colours at almost all light conditions.
FLASH; Simply outstanding, well managed and very powerful.
EXPOSURE CONTROL; Winner & leader, no question here. Contrast balance is overwhelming.
OVERAL CONCLUSION; Don't waste your money on something else, except for Fuji and Minolta. Get this one, you're going to enjoy outstanding quality and versatility... as long as you can live with this horrible shape and awkward design...
Problems:
STORAGE SPACE; Dreadful Sony stick is well known, you cannot get anything better than 256 Mb. Complete disaster... Hopefully Sony will finally abandon this pitiful concept....
CONSTRUCTION; Worst in its class. Camera is shape/ergonomics are designed by people that either never travelled or just switch from design of microwaves to photo equipment.
FEATURES; Missing quite a few, but you can live without them.
PREVIEW; Cannot see quick preview right after photo is taken.
POOR ZOOM RANGE; Cannot match Nikon 35-280 mm, never mind Minolta starting from 28 mm.
CONTROLS; Most buttons are located in God damned stupid places, especially zoom control. LCD does not have swivel neck to allow for 3-D rotation.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION; Whoever designed this digicam has ruined probably 75% of the business that Sony might've had if camera would've had conventional shape. This is absolutely awkward, camera is intended for prosumer, yet looks and feels like high-caliper gizmo for studio photography. Nikon/Canon/Fuji have swivel 3-D LCD which is extremely handy and convenienet, as Sony is handicapped with 2-D LCD. All switches on lens barrel are just sitting in wrong places. The barrel overhang, while camera sits on tripod is tremendous, and does not give you full freedom of choices due to poor balance. This just just cannot get any worse. You also attract too much attention with this camera looks and in some cases you just don't wanna do that. Sony should learns from Nikon & Fuji, their cameras look & feel like real photo-tool. Other than that, very high quality materails.
BATTERY LIFE; Best in the business, as per usual for Sony. Benchmark for everybody else. No need for extra battery.
AF & LENS; AF is just as good as in my SRLs Nikon and Minolta, Sony designed best AF in this class. Lens with German technology produce crisp, deeply contoured, lovely balanced pics with very natural colors, which don't need to be fixed at all with Photoshop. Lens is fast, precise and in most cases there is no AF "hunting" even at very difficult conditions. Minimal barrel distortion at wide angle and low light sometimes, yet it's OK. No diagonal abberations. There is only one "BUT"- why Sony cannot make the same zoom range as Nikon, i.e. 35-280 ? Common' Sony, it's shame to have 38 mm as minimal focal distance ! I am missing my 28 mm from SRLs very much, but forgive Sony due to astonishing quality of pics.
START UP TIME & OPERATIONS SPEED; Best in its class, you get particularly amazed while switching from something like Nikon 5700.
IMAGE QUALITY; No doubts here, camera produces best pics you can get in this price range. Colours are well balances, no red/yellow dominant "masks" as , say, all Canons do. Sharpness is just as good as it gets.
FEATURES; The only reason why I give 4.5 to Sony is that in most cases camera does not need bunch of tweaking to produce high quality pics, unlike the rest of the crowd. However, if Sony have invested just a bit more thoughts in this powerful performer then this camera would skyrocket to almost pro level. I am still missing colour saturation, sharpness, white balance, flash rear curtain options, contrast control from Nikon, but when you see pics then all this is easy to pass by.
EASE OF USE; Best in its class, Sony just copied the same logistics from their superios camcorders.
WHITE BALANCE; Lacking some options but the best reproduction of colours at almost all light conditions.
FLASH; Simply outstanding, well managed and very powerful.
EXPOSURE CONTROL; Winner & leader, no question here. Contrast balance is overwhelming.
OVERAL CONCLUSION; Don't waste your money on something else, except for Fuji and Minolta. Get this one, you're going to enjoy outstanding quality and versatility... as long as you can live with this horrible shape and awkward design...
Problems:
STORAGE SPACE; Dreadful Sony stick is well known, you cannot get anything better than 256 Mb. Complete disaster... Hopefully Sony will finally abandon this pitiful concept....
CONSTRUCTION; Worst in its class. Camera is shape/ergonomics are designed by people that either never travelled or just switch from design of microwaves to photo equipment.
FEATURES; Missing quite a few, but you can live without them.
PREVIEW; Cannot see quick preview right after photo is taken.
POOR ZOOM RANGE; Cannot match Nikon 35-280 mm, never mind Minolta starting from 28 mm.
CONTROLS; Most buttons are located in God damned stupid places, especially zoom control. LCD does not have swivel neck to allow for 3-D rotation.
