Interesting you have both cameras.
I was just trying them out. I returned the Sony
TLDR;: Sometimes the look and feel, especially the feel, of a camera, is more important than the tech features.
Each of us has our own reasons when we choose which camera to buy. We have to ask what we are going to use it for. I’m not a pro or enthusiast. Even the “amateur” label would give me too much credit. Perhaps “casual amateur” would suit.
But this near octogenarian has always had a camera. My dad showed me how to develop and print pictures from my Brownie in our basement darkroom, then gifted me his Pentax Spotmatic when I graduated from high school. I had that Spotmatic (or a slightly updated model I acquired a few years later) most of my adult life, but never really got into photography as a serious hobby. Perhaps it wasn’t a priority to spend much time or money to buy film and send it out for processing.
But when the digital age came around photography got more interesting. I bought a Minolta A1 (I loved that camera) and when that died, I eventually ended up with a Sony NEX-6. That was a very good camera, until it got stolen on a trip to Italy six years ago. Since then I have made do with my phone camera, but I recently started wishing I had a real camera again.
No mistake, my iPhone 11 Pro does take great photos. (I’ve taken some photos that would be almost impossible to reproduce with a good camera and hours of editing with my limited skill set.)
But a real camera is a different experience. Shooting with a camera, especially looking through a viewfinder, causes one to take things a bit more seriously, to slow down, be more careful with composition. And the subject also may feel more of a need to focus, take a breath, center into their deeper being.
The philosopher Roland Barthes, in his extended essay on photography, Camera Lucida, equates the photograph with death. A photograph documents a frozen moment in time, a situation that will never be repeated, a death of a particular nowness. Just so a person being “shot” by a camera may feel something of a heightened experience of that moment that is being immortalized.
So I guess that’s why I wanted a good camera. Perhaps I won’t get that much practical use out of it but I want that sensual experience. I did a bunch of research, came up with a budget and had a video chat with a salesman at B&H photo. (Wow that is cool technology. Almost like being in a camera store, with the salesman setting the contenders down on the counter. It’s just that you can’t pick them up and look through the finder yourself.)
I settled on the Nikon Z50 with the two kit zooms, a wide angle and a telephoto. But the day after I ordered it, Sony announced the most recent successor to the NEX-6, the Alpha 6700. It was $200-300 US more than the Nikon and only came with one lens, but I thought if I could use my leftover NEX-6 55-210mm telephoto lens with it, I could barely meet my budget.
I am a sucker for new tech. The Sony has a five year newer design ( I had cringed at buying an expensive Nikon in 2023 with a horrid micro-USB charging port). The A6700 has IBIS, HEIC, USB-C, reportedly much better subject recognition and autofocus. Not to mention a higher resolution sensor, a zillion high-speed video formats I’ve never heard of and so on and so forth.
So I preordered it and when it came, I only had 3-4 days to shoot with it and decide which camera to send back, taking advantage of B&H’s very generous return policy (which I try to be careful not to abuse).
During my admittedly too-short testing period, I found that none of the Sony’s superior tech really mattered. I had out-of focus shots with both cameras. When I first took the Sony out of the box, I was disappointed with its boxy, industrial styling. I didn’t like the stick-out monitor. It’s a bit larger and heavier than the Nikon and just didn’t feel as comfortable in my hands. Most importantly, I had never liked the NEX-6 viewfinder, and Sony has not seen fit to improve it. I’m not talking about the resolution or magnification, but comfort. It’s just plain awkward and uncomfortable. The Nikon viewfinder is comfortable and invites you to use it. That’s a big deal for me.
So I was already leaning toward sending the Sony back when my companion pointed out that the hummingbird photos I shot with it were not as sharp as the Nikon’s. That’s when I posted sample photos in this forum, asking for help in diagnosing the softness. Thanks for all your helpful comments. When the culprit turned out to be my old telephoto zoom, it pretty much killed the deal. If I had to invest in a new telephoto zoom to take good photos (and a telephoto is one of the main reasons to graduate from a phone camera isn’t it?), it would break my budget big time. The lens recommended by people in this forum costs $900, two-thirds the price of my Nikon with its two good lenses.
So I carefully brushed any dust off the Sony, put it in its box and shipped it back. My credit card has already been credited with the return. Thanks B&H for a fantastic buying experience. I think I will be very happy with the Nikon.
One thing I will miss about the Sony— the smartphone interface. I like to use the phone app for remote shooting sometimes and the clumsy and unreliable WiFi Direct interface used by most cameras is not a good UX. The Sony lets you connect through the normal WiFi access point in your home or studio. Much more convenient, at least in my very limited testing.
Thanks again, folks.
