Sony Alpha NEX NEX5K/B Digital Camera with Interchangeable Lens (Black) -

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Chris Nibley “mr. fahrenheit” (bangkok) –

  

People, I LOVE this camera. I bought it thinking there was an 85% chance I was going to return it, but am happy to tell you that as soon as I uploaded my first pictures, I was smitten. I was most worried about picture quality, because I had previously owned a Sony a200 and a700, and ended up selling both for a Canon and Nikon, because the picture quality just wasn’t up to snuff. My most recent camera was a D300s and I would say that the nex5 performs almost as well as it in most situations and even better in a few. And the nex5 video blows the D300s out of the water! Obviously everyone has different needs and preferences from their camera so all I can do is tell you what my needs were and why the nex5 is so great for them.

The picture quality was the most important thing for me, which was more than adequate so the next most important criteria was the LCD. The LCD on my D300s was a complete joke, as I couldn’t see squat on that thing in even moderate sunlight. This was extremely frustrating but since it was based on an OVF anyway, I just dealt with it. But I started my photography in this digital age on a Canon S2IS which had a swivelling screen and full-time live-view, and honestly, I’ve missed that method of taking pictures ever since I moved up to dSLR’s. The two things that I wanted most out of the LCD on the nex5 were adequate visibility in bright sunlight, and real-time exposure compensation, so that you know EXACTLY what your picture would look like before you take it. It passed both of these tests with flying colors. The second day I had it, my wife and I went fishing on the river, in the afternoon sun. Live view photography would have been impossible on my D300s but I had no problems with the nex5. Understand that it will get a little washed out, but I was still able to compose as well as I needed and set exposure almost spot on. When I got home and uploaded my pics, this was confirmed for me as they just looked amazing. The best part about it was knowing that I wouldn’t have gotten any of those shots with my D300s, simply because I wouldn’t have brought the dang thing because I already had a bunch of stuff to carry. The sony just fit in my pocket (cargo pocket, with 18-55) and was out of the way until needed.

The other great things about this little guy are the ISO performance, which is ridiculous (better than D300s) and the high-speed continuous mode. Just to be straight on this, it will take 7, full-resolution photos a second, but locks exposure and focus. If you want it to refocus and adjust exposure, the best it can do is about 2 1/2. Of course there’s the panoramic mode (haven’t tried it), HDR mode (don’t like it), and twilight mode (don’t like it). Oh yeah, and I love the detachable flash which is solid as a rock when attached, but since I hardly ever do flash-photography, I love to be able to get it out of the way for the majority of the time.

For me this is the best camera on the market right now. I tested it against the Lumix G2 and thought the picture quality is noticeably better on the Sony (I do think focus is faster on the G2 though – certainly a great camera too), not to mention the form factor is so much smaller! But, with all that said, I fully plan on selling it in the fall when the new batch of cameras come out because there are a few things that the nex5 doesn’t have that I desperately want.

First of all, the menu sucks. There’s no way around it – if you ever try to change the settings, you are going to be frustrated by it. I could live with that, but there are other things missing. As good as the LCD is, I really want an EVF, even if I have to have a slightly larger body. I also really need just a few more buttons, namely: ISO, Focus lock, AE lock, but I do like the minimalist approach, because I absolutely hate the millions of buttons that Canon and Nikon throw on their cameras. As I mentioned, the video is very good, and although it does have an exposure control, so you can increase or decrease the brightness by two stops at any time (kind of neat), I need full manual control over video. The only other things that I don’t really like are just nagging things that I could live with, but I’m hoping will improve in my next purchase, they are: battery life, screen blackout, and shutter noise. Battery life goes really fast on this camera and spares are ridiculously priced at $70, but I can understand that it takes a lot of juice to run that screen, so I could live with it. The screen does black out when you take pictures for what seems just a hair too long. It’s not terrible, and for a $700 camera it’s actually very good, but it’s just something that would bother me in the long run. The shutter is surprisingly loud. The first day I got it I took a picture of my wife taking a nap on the couch and it actually woke her up! I’m not saying it sounds like a freight train, but unfortunately, I love…

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 Comments (19)

I figured I’d share my thoughts for the vast majority of people who most likely purchase some things like I do. We have a 10-month old and my wife and I wanted a camera that would allow us to take awesome pictures. DSLRs were too big to lug around and after reading the specs and seeing the Olympus and Panasonic I decided to hold off until this Sony came out. Very happy that we did. This camera makes you feel like a professional photographer. Don’t worry about trying to get that one shot, I just hold the button down and grab tons of photos hoping to get the kid posed with the right facial expressions. We’ve taken it to the beach, outside in the yard, in the house, etc. and the photos are stunning.

Then there is the absolutely undeniable “coolness factor” of having this camera in your hand as you are snapping photos. It is so small compared to anything else that you are just amazed as to how it feels perfect in your hands. I held the NEX-3 and it’s garbage compared to this one. It’s not just the difference in movie quality, the NEX-5 has superior quality to the NEX-3 when you play around with them. They shouldn’t even sell the NEX-3 when you compare how much worse it feels in your hand. You still hold the lens like a professional would and I love the LCD compared to a viewfinder. Since you can bend it all over the place even in crazy light you can still see the image. Cannot wait to take this on vacation.

The videos are breathtaking. Yes they are amazing. The camera does it’s best job trying to auto-focus and there is an occasional time where the video might go out of focus, but even with manually zooming in and out the quality and focus seem to stay extremely well. Keep in mind that since the LCD is your viewing option you may notice your breathing over the audio of the video depending on how you hold it. Didn’t bother me though once I corrected for it.

Don’t open the box and just expect to start taking amazing photos if you’ve never had a camera like this before. But it doesn’t take long to get adjusted and make your wife wonder why you ever wasted money on a professional photographer. It’ll pay for itself within a few years.

As far as I am concerned the target audience for this camera is families or individuals who are sick of crappy photos with a point and shoot. If you want to be a camera snob and dissect the features it has or doesn’t has, that’s your choice. But I’ll never use half the stuff on here and if I do figure it all out, then I’ll probably be obsessed with a really nice DSLR and photography as a whole. But I’ll always love this camera.

The panoramic mode is really nice too and this camera has taken it from gimmick feature to legitimate. Haven’t had a chance to play with 3D yet but that’s a gimmick right now and I really could care less.

If you want a small, really cool, well built camera that takes unbelievably awesome pictures and 1080p video…buy the NEX-5!

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Joshua Kerr “astrojams” (Austin, TX) –

  

I’ve had the Sony NEX-5 for a little over a week now. I have it with both the 18-55mm and the 16mm. I chose the black body which I think contrasts well with the silver lens. I prefer the 16mm because it has a nice 2.8 aperture which gives me better low light performance.

The camera is fantastic. It feels solid in your hand and the sound of the shutter and vibration of the camera make you want to shoot photos with it. Overall build quality is great. (The body is metal with a plastic grip.)

The controls on the camera are good, but not great. The dedicated video button is nice and I like the location of the playback and power buttons on top. The LCD screen on the back tilts but I haven’t had a need to use it much.

The LCD menu controls are probably the biggest limitation on this camera. It is not easy to work with this camera in manual mode and getting to a particular feature can take a lot of scrolling and clicking.

The photos I produce with this camera are excellent. The video is also quite good.

Low light performance is good and I’ve never had a need for the supplied flash.

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