The 5700 can take very nice images.  I think it would work well as a landscape camera, where its limitations would likely go unnoticed.  Is that all you would be using it for?

Digi-T

I wasn't talking about the 707 or a 717 (I used to own the first and currently own and use the second).

The 5700 has a SLOW lens and a sluggish and balky AF system (if you recall, Michael Reichmann had one and returned it for this very reason).

The 707 has a decent AF and the 717 a good one and both feature sharp, bright glass.  I'd recommend a 717 for a lot of different shooting conditions.  However the 5700 I could only recommend for landscape use given the AF and dark lens.

Talking of an EVF - can someone tell me how good they are and how they compare with the viewfinder on an SLR? Given all the other disadvantages of the SLR setup (weight, vibration, less than optimal optics etc), how long do you think it will be before a digital cameras with electronic viewfinders start replacing SLRs?

Raghu

I gave up on my Minolta 7 because of the EVF. I strongly recommend some sort of optical viewfinder.

Has anyone looked thru the viewfinder on this camera. It is electronic and thru the lens. Does the image seem to lag? or does it seem to dim? Sorry if this camera is off topic for this forum.

Only a landscape camera? huhh? I would say the 5700 is good at many types of photography. My camera, the Sony F707, also has the EVF and it works just fine. It's not as clear looking as a true SLR viewfinder but it is more functional than a viewfinder on a rangefinder.  People don't say that a good rangefinder is crap because of the simple optical viewfinder. I have gotten used to reviewing an image while the camera is still to my eye as well as analyzing exposure information prior to taking a photo. The EVF is just different, it is not necessarily worse. Contrary to popular belief here many prosumer cameras can still take a wide variey of excellent photos, not just landscapes.

T

Sorry Mathew, I thought you were primarily talking about the fact that the 5700 has an EVF. I have not used it myself so I was unaware that it is so slow. That's too bad because it looked like a pretty good camera.

T

I can't speak for all EVF's but on the Minolta 7i, I think its quite good - but not perfect.

First of all remember what the EVF is doing - in its normal mode it is taking the real exposure - aperture and shutter speed - and presenting the scene onto a small video display.  so what you see is really what you get.  Plus most EVF's can overlay a real time histogram of the exposure at the same time, so you can really see what is going on.

Now the problems start to rise when the shutter speed drops blow about 1/30th - the display starts to hesitate which can be really anoying.

When light goes really low they drop into a "night sight" mode. Now you don't see the real exposure, you see a B&W view  - but at least you can see something in conditions where an optical viewfinder would be useless.

Can they be improved? - Yes - more pixels are a must - that will come in time.
Manual focussing can be difficult - no split prism etc.  Some models have a electronic magnification mode which helps.

Most peoples first experience of EVF's is in a dealers showroom - certainly mine was  - and the light conditions in a shop will probably be about the worst for an EVF, especially if you have never used one before.

Keith

dbarthel,

Can you elaborate further?

I have heard that the Dimage 7 has a pretty lousy rendition of an EFV.   I'm fairly happy with my Sony 717 EFV, and don't think an SLR viewfinder would be better, just different.