Owner reviews are far from useless (as some have opined here). However, there is no getting around the fact that they can be written by idiots or by knowledgable people (or by people who fall just about anywhere along that bell curve). The trick is to weight them, as you read, to determine whether a reviewer's point is legitimate or the result of someone who never cracks a manual (etc).
Regarding the particular issue your quoted reviewers raised... it is a fairly widely reported complaint with the camera and if you have yet to handle it your conclusion that it is NO problem, even if eventually proves correct in your case, is a bit premature. (Just google NEX-7 and accident or accidentally or accidental and videos. It is also called an automatic video issue.). That would seem to indicate an error in ergonomic design (at least as it applies to still photographer's desired ergonomics. People buying it more to shoot video with would probably regard it as a feature). Certainly it is possible to learn new behaviors, but for those who don't wish to learn new behavoirs and have the camera react naturally in your hands I would say it is not an insigificant issue. The other potential error in dismissing such complaints as being written by idiots is that you are assuming that everyone's hands are the same size. A hand-related ergonomic issue for a 6' 5" 295 lb male may be no problem for a 5'7" woman or (in general). One size does not fit all (and if the reviewers neglected to mention that as a possible issue in their case that is an oversight on their part). Luminous Landscape (I believe a generally well-respected site) has a whole article on it entitled "The Big Problem with the NEX 7". In it he proposes a "red-neck fix". http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/the_sony_nex_7_redneck_edition.shtml It is a mistake to conclude that just because something is not an issue for me, personally, then it shouldn't be an issue for anybody. It is also arrogant to jump to the conclusion that the best explanation for the problem is a lack of intelligence on the part of the user (even though, as people in I.T. know, that often eventually does prove to be the case.) : ) This thread is sort of a case in point (people on all sides of the issue weighing in) http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1042&thread=41551682&page=1 On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Tom C <[email protected]> wrote: > This strikes me as odd. Obviously I have no concern about the quality > or ergonomics or I wouldn't have purchased it, and obviously the two > reviewers I quoted were off their rockers. > > But instead of laughter and chagrin from the PDML, one guys suggests I > read more reviews and the other guy says he as the same problem with > the video button on his OLY. > > Give me a break! When you buy a manufactured product, accept the fact > that it's going to work the way the mfr. designed and learn to operate > the product correctly. If you're hitting the video button by mistake, > stop hitting the video button and start pressing the shutter release, > and stop blaming the camera. > > :) -- "The key to seeing the world's soul, and in the process wakening one's own, is to get over the confusion by which we think that fact is real and imagination an illusion. It is the other way around." -Thomas Moore, "Original Self" -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
