[RyanW]

Looks like Tickle is now a camera reviewer? I put as much stock in this "team" as the local real estate "teams" whose signs I see on cars and bus benches.

A7 could be the start of something good, but it needs better focus, a significant native lens lineup. Sony has some great technology, it seems to lack a strategy. Pros look for systems, the A7 isn't even part of a system. Is there a competent flash solution for these? Heck there really isn't even one for their Alpha dslr lineup.

A pro would have a better chance of Pentax not ripping the rug out from under them than Sony.

I sold my mirror-less and am going to pretend mirror-less doesn't exist for 5 years. I think mirror-less is the future, but I don't want to experience the growing pains. I'll shoot my dslr for 5 years and then buy a mature mirror-less solution be it Sony, Fuji, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Leica, whoever. I define maturity as having battery life equivalent to today's dslr, a viewfinder that is as good, a good wireless flash system, full assortment of NATIVE lenses including tilt shift, and AF that matches dslrs. That is when I will switch.

Mirror-less has a lot to offer and shows promise now, but it's that gangly 8th grade basketball player that shows promise of turning into a college standout, but needs time.

[jogiba]

Whatever floats your boat. I have been shooting with OVF for a zillion years and my K-7 is my last camera purchase with OVF since I prefer mirror-less cameras with an adjustable angled OLED EVF.

[philbaum]

Kudos to the Canadian Camera Store - i think they do a far better job than many other reviewers around. I agree with their three picks.

[RyanW]

Whatever floats your boat. I have been shooting with OVF for a zillion years and my K-7 is my last camera purchase with OVF since I prefer mirror-less cameras with an adjustable angled OLED EVF.

I have a Canon 70D with the flippy screen. With the new AF in live view it's as quick as many mirror-less now in live view. Far faster than any other dslr. I want a Pentax with a flippy screen. I want something to put the fa-31 on. I still might buy a cheap Pentax body just for that lens.

I like the promise of evf - seeing what I will get and so on. It will mature, it's just starting to get good enough for most things. I tried an em-1 and I thought it had an excellent finder. Still found in direct sun I needed to cup my hand around it a bit. I wear glasses so don't get the tight fit you can get without glasses. Then too shooting with polarized glasses can be an issue if the eve is also polarized.

Pentax with its primes could have an excellent mirror-less platform. I liked the K-01, didn't like the lack of view finder and slow focus. It could have been a kick ass camera.

[osv]

you can't use any external evf in bright sunlight, so it's back to the viewfinder no matter what... I take my glasses off for that, but the a7/a7r has a very wide diopter adjustment, fwiw.

how long the battery lasts is directly dependent on things like the intensity of the evf... some people turn it up all the way, because it helps to set focus better... I paid $28 for two batteries and a charger on amazon, and that included a car charger... for that price, who cares how long they last.

fa31 on a cheap pentax body is a waste of money and lens... once you've seen an fa31 on the full-frame a7r, there will be no turning back :-) I have an fa35 f2 that is unbelievably good on the a7r.

roger over at lensrentals has already proven the pq improvements with the a7r... every lens that he put on the a7r gave better resolution in the center than the manufacturers camera did, and it matched what they did on the edges.

any questions about that? go look at the pier shot I posted in the tak thread on this forum... one tiny discernible line for the ladder, in an otherwise huge wide shot.

I agree that the a7/a7r is not a good production camera; the overheating flash in particular is a pathetic situation, and there are other drawbacks as well... but if you need the best picture quality, the a7r blows every other 35mm camera away, with the sole exception of the d800e... that's not a middle school basketball player, it's a full-on nba-level pro.

if you like manual focus, there is nothing better than the a7/ar7... you can get glass that's just as good, or better, than the best pentax glass, often times for less money... for example, see how many canon fd 50mm lenses you can find on craigslist or shopgoodwill... canon lens availability blows away pentax lens availability, by a huge margin... canon 50mm lenses are dirt cheap, and testing has proven that they can be sharper than the best 50mm taks ever made.

a7r is different horses for different courses, but it's really all about what your priorities are.

[Christine Tham]

Quick note on battery life - I have managed over 1000 shots (RAW+JPEG) on a single battery. I have yet to use up a single battery on a day's shooting, hundreds of shots.

[jogiba]

you can't use any external evf in bright sunlight

I have no problem in bright light viewing in my adjustable angled OLED EVF.