Sony NEX 5 review
Posted: Wed 29 Dec 2010 16:18
Hey all,
As some of you may be aware I changed systems from Nikon and Fuji to Sony full frame earlier in the year, and I've been looking for a camera that's small enough to fit in a coat pocket or bag for the last 2 or 3 years. I tried the Sigma DP1, I thought that it had an amazing sensor and lens combination but it was just too slow to be useful in most situations. I tried a few pocket cams including the ever popular Panasonic LX3 but I found them too noisey and there was not enough control over creating out of focus areas for what I wanted to do. Leica seemed pretty much perfect but I can't afford to run 2 camera systems that are both at that cost (I have done some professional work this year, but not that much!). So I settled on the Micro 4/3 G1, in some respects that was better than my a900 and the articulated screen was amazing BUT it was too big to fit in a coat pocket - so why take it over the Sony?
Then in the summer Sony launched the NEX system along with an adapter to use my existing alpha mount lenses... Brilliant
I finally decided to take the plunge in September and got the NEX 5 with the 2 lens kit, the alpha mount adapter and a spare battery.
Handling:
It is actually a much better fit that it looks like it is going to be - I'm a big guy with big hands but the NEX 5 grip still fits incredibly well. An added bonus I found the other week is that the minimalist controls let it have enough separation between buttons that you can use it whilst wearing ski gloves.
The tilting screen is a big advantage, and being able to zoom in when using manual focus lenses is a massive positive (it's one of the things I missed when I sold my Nikon D300).
It feels fairly robust and has been just dropped into a pocket by me quite a few times (with no signs of wear, YET!)
But that main thing that really strikes you is just how tiny this is, especially with the 16mm pancake lens on. I thought that the 18-55mm kit lens added a lot of bulk, but it still fits in a coat pocket easily so it's not that bad!
The real down side at the moment is that flash - there is a flash, it's a tiny bolt on thing that has no provision for a normal hot shoe and it's a new system so it's not compatible with any other existing system including Sony's I have got my Metz pseudo ring flash acting as a slave for macro which works for me but I would prefer that I didn't have to control everything manually as I will sometimes forget to change the power when I change the distance to the subject or the aperture of the lens.
Performance:
This is done in 2 parts really - the camera and the lenses. The camera imaging performance is incredible for it's size, it is proper dSLR quality, period. I am happy to use this instead of my a900 for most things. However I don't trust the autofocus very much and I despite it being able to AF with SSM lenses I tried it once and gave up it takes seconds to focus - not what you expect when you're used to Nikon AF cameras! I've not pushed the ISO of the NEX to it's limits but images are useable for printing 13x19inch prints at ISO 800 (I haven't tried larger yet) - I know that the bogue is to be able to shoot really clean colour accurate images in single candle light, but I am happy to not push that far yet, I prefer a fast lens
Also in the body there are some really great features that I thought of as just gimicks until I got using them. I thought that I would use the handheld twilight mode a lot but I haven't, instead I've used the sweep panorama, the 3D sweep panorama and the HDR functionality. You can get odd results with all 3 modes so make sure that you review them afterwards but they are amazing convenience features to me!
Lens performance
Whoa! The 18-55mm works - it's fine, just a bit slow but still pocketable - I'm not really a big fan of normal zooms - I only got the Zeiss 24-70mm because I needed a few lengths in that range for a job (and it was cheaper than buying 2 more primes) - so it's not seen much action.
The 16mm is horrible. Even stopped down to f8 the corners are still not sharp at 13x19, that's very disappointing as I am guessing that the main use for this lens is going to be landscapes. I do use it as the whole package is then so small and it's f/2.8 but they are the only reasons.
I've not used the 18-200mm so I can't comment - but there is the whole line up for this system...
However where the NEX really shines for me is when you use other lenses on the camera with an adapter - I am waiting for an adapter to use my Contax G lenses (and will post new images when I have it) but in the mean time I have been using my Sony f/1.4 50mm as a portrait lens and I really like this combination.
Conclusion:
Would I buy one again? Yes!! My father terrytucker.zenfolio.com wants to get one instead of his a900 (those impressive looking images are nearly all shot on large format) after we were playing one evening and my uncle who wants to get back into photography thinks that it would be a great camera for learning due to some of the simpler features that I've not gone into personally.
Pros:
Image Quality
Size
Gimick modes
Ability to use almost any lens (with adapters)
Price
Cons:
FLASH!!
Current lenses
And now here are some of my favourite images taken with it over the last 3 months
Feel free to ask if you have any questions
As some of you may be aware I changed systems from Nikon and Fuji to Sony full frame earlier in the year, and I've been looking for a camera that's small enough to fit in a coat pocket or bag for the last 2 or 3 years. I tried the Sigma DP1, I thought that it had an amazing sensor and lens combination but it was just too slow to be useful in most situations. I tried a few pocket cams including the ever popular Panasonic LX3 but I found them too noisey and there was not enough control over creating out of focus areas for what I wanted to do. Leica seemed pretty much perfect but I can't afford to run 2 camera systems that are both at that cost (I have done some professional work this year, but not that much!). So I settled on the Micro 4/3 G1, in some respects that was better than my a900 and the articulated screen was amazing BUT it was too big to fit in a coat pocket - so why take it over the Sony?
Then in the summer Sony launched the NEX system along with an adapter to use my existing alpha mount lenses... Brilliant
I finally decided to take the plunge in September and got the NEX 5 with the 2 lens kit, the alpha mount adapter and a spare battery.
Handling:
It is actually a much better fit that it looks like it is going to be - I'm a big guy with big hands but the NEX 5 grip still fits incredibly well. An added bonus I found the other week is that the minimalist controls let it have enough separation between buttons that you can use it whilst wearing ski gloves.
The tilting screen is a big advantage, and being able to zoom in when using manual focus lenses is a massive positive (it's one of the things I missed when I sold my Nikon D300).
It feels fairly robust and has been just dropped into a pocket by me quite a few times (with no signs of wear, YET!)
But that main thing that really strikes you is just how tiny this is, especially with the 16mm pancake lens on. I thought that the 18-55mm kit lens added a lot of bulk, but it still fits in a coat pocket easily so it's not that bad!
The real down side at the moment is that flash - there is a flash, it's a tiny bolt on thing that has no provision for a normal hot shoe and it's a new system so it's not compatible with any other existing system including Sony's I have got my Metz pseudo ring flash acting as a slave for macro which works for me but I would prefer that I didn't have to control everything manually as I will sometimes forget to change the power when I change the distance to the subject or the aperture of the lens.
Performance:
This is done in 2 parts really - the camera and the lenses. The camera imaging performance is incredible for it's size, it is proper dSLR quality, period. I am happy to use this instead of my a900 for most things. However I don't trust the autofocus very much and I despite it being able to AF with SSM lenses I tried it once and gave up it takes seconds to focus - not what you expect when you're used to Nikon AF cameras! I've not pushed the ISO of the NEX to it's limits but images are useable for printing 13x19inch prints at ISO 800 (I haven't tried larger yet) - I know that the bogue is to be able to shoot really clean colour accurate images in single candle light, but I am happy to not push that far yet, I prefer a fast lens
Also in the body there are some really great features that I thought of as just gimicks until I got using them. I thought that I would use the handheld twilight mode a lot but I haven't, instead I've used the sweep panorama, the 3D sweep panorama and the HDR functionality. You can get odd results with all 3 modes so make sure that you review them afterwards but they are amazing convenience features to me!
Lens performance
Whoa! The 18-55mm works - it's fine, just a bit slow but still pocketable - I'm not really a big fan of normal zooms - I only got the Zeiss 24-70mm because I needed a few lengths in that range for a job (and it was cheaper than buying 2 more primes) - so it's not seen much action.
The 16mm is horrible. Even stopped down to f8 the corners are still not sharp at 13x19, that's very disappointing as I am guessing that the main use for this lens is going to be landscapes. I do use it as the whole package is then so small and it's f/2.8 but they are the only reasons.
I've not used the 18-200mm so I can't comment - but there is the whole line up for this system...
However where the NEX really shines for me is when you use other lenses on the camera with an adapter - I am waiting for an adapter to use my Contax G lenses (and will post new images when I have it) but in the mean time I have been using my Sony f/1.4 50mm as a portrait lens and I really like this combination.
Conclusion:
Would I buy one again? Yes!! My father terrytucker.zenfolio.com wants to get one instead of his a900 (those impressive looking images are nearly all shot on large format) after we were playing one evening and my uncle who wants to get back into photography thinks that it would be a great camera for learning due to some of the simpler features that I've not gone into personally.
Pros:
Image Quality
Size
Gimick modes
Ability to use almost any lens (with adapters)
Price
Cons:
FLASH!!
Current lenses
And now here are some of my favourite images taken with it over the last 3 months
Feel free to ask if you have any questions