First played with a M with the 18-55 STM kit zoom for about 15 minutes and here are what I found:-
- The body is really nicely built and it feels very solid in hands. Unlike all other mirrorless bodies, the M is actually made in Japan.
- The body is thicker than the NEX but is obviously thinner than the K-01. It feels a bit heavier than my NEX-3, which is yet the lightest and most compact APS-C mirrorless body ever.
- The M does not have a built-in flash nor supports an EVF neither, which is even worse than the K-01 which has a built-in flash!
- The LCD monitor display quality is good, the touch screen is fairly (but not very) responsive.
- The AF is rather sluggish, though. The environment I tested it is fairly bright. It sometimes missed the focus when the DoF is large, say, at close distances. To focus on far object, the AF time was shorter.
- When using the AF with touch focusing, the camera seems to focus slightly faster. But I just wonder why, or my feeling was wrong. Under this mode, the camera will shoot immediately after the focus is achieved, which may not be good for this design if you want some control for when to take the picture but I understand that this is intended for the novice.
- Also, turning off the touch focus function the camera seems to focus slightly faster, too.
- The mechanical shutter action is smooth, light and quiet, better than all NEX here (I just used a NEX-7 of my friend the week before). Unlike the NEX and the K-01, I can't really hear the double shutter actuations of the M. Indeed, a light touch is important as it would cause less camera vibration caused by the first shutter actuation.
- The shutter lag of the M is long but I think it is comparable to the NEX and is a bit faster than the K-01.
- As for the operation, I haven't yet adapted to its menu system and operation interface as there are very few direct buttons and no mode dial at all. On the other hand, there is a record button at the right thumb position at the camera rear which is very handy to use (same as the NEX' design).
- I haven't tried the video function yet, maybe I shall try later.
- Still, I think the NEX-6 maybe a better package and offer all in all for that very close price range, of which the ILDC related technologies should be more mature.
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