Conclusion - Pros
- Class-leading resolutionv (as long as your lenses are good enough)
- incredibly solid build quality, environmental sealing
- Intuitive operation and uncluttered control and menu system
- Excellent out of camera JPEG results with superb tonality, dynamic range, color
- Excellent raw dynamic range gives lots of headroom
- Almost 100% reliable metering and exposure
- Very fast and responsive body - remarkable burst mode (5fps RAW+JPEG, 24.6 MP)
- In-body image stabilization that works well (around 2 stop advantage)
- Wide range of image parameters and custom 'Creative Styles'
- Dynamic Range Optimizer Advanced works well
- Superb screen and attractive menu system
- Excellent 'Quick Navi' control system
- AF micro adjustment (per lens)
- User-selectable noise reduction (though see cons, below)
- One of the best (biggest, brightest) optical viewfinders on the market, 100% frame coverage
- Excellent handling and ergonomics
- Excellent battery life and percentage battery status display
- HDMI output
- Three custom modes on main mode dial
- Remote control included
- Fast USB transfer and card writing (with a fast card)
Conclusion - Cons
- Noise reduction settings applied to raw as well as JPEG files - cannot be 'turned off for raw but left on for JPEGs' (as is normal practice)
- Relatively high levels of noise at anything over ISO 400 (ISO 6400 is of very, very limited use)
- Destructive noise reduction on high ISO JPEGs removes too much detail
- JPEGs a little soft by default (some loss of detail due to NR visible even at ISO 200) - you really need to shoot raw (and use ACR or similar) to get the best out of the sensor
- Default color settings can produce red clipping (very saturated)
- Top panel LCD very limited compared to all competitors
- Less customizable than most competitors (though a lot less confusing for it)
- No live view
- No in-camera vignetting control
- Intelligent preview of limited use in the real world (cannot check focus, for example)
- Focus speed not up to other cameras in this class (though it is very accurate)
- AF zone only covers a small part of the frame (not unique to this camera, of course)
- No intelligent use of multiple cards (you have to switch manually)
- Supplied raw processing software doesn't get the most out of the files (and is slow)
- Proprietary MS Duo slot (we'd much prefer an SD slot), though I should be clear: two card slots is a positive
