Will Street Photographers Embrace the Sony Alpha 7 Because It's $5,000 Cheaper Than A Leica M?



The hottest new product launched right before last week's Photo Plus Expo was the full-frame mirrorless Sony Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R, both interchangeable-lens compact digital cameras that use a full-frame sensor. I got to handle both cameras on the show floor and based on my very quick hands-on experience and the advice of a few industry insiders, it looks like the Alpha 7, with its 24MP sensor, is a bit quicker than the 7R (it takes more time to process those big 36MP files) and so may be the camera of choice for street shooters. When I switched it to all-manual exposure and manual focus, I found there to be no discernable lag time. Again, this was a very brief hands-on experience and I hope to do a real-world Street Photo Stress Test with it soon.

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But the big question is: Will street shooters embrace this camera, which costs about $5,000 less than the similarly decked-out Leica M? Time will tell, but keep in mind that you can use M-mount lenses on this camera, via a $15 EZPhoto adapter (I believe it's available on Amazon).

I'm interested in any first-person experiences with this combo and just generally to gauge the level of interest in the SP community. I know the camera isn't officially available yet but who out there among my street photography (or just general photography) friends is curious?

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