Photo Jottings

NEX camera quick review

Below is a running review of the new Sony NEX 3-5 cameras.  I’m not going to bore you with a normal review, (which is similar to writing an owner’s manual), and would rather pontificate on the actual image quality, handling, performance and value.  Below the photo is a general thoughts section which I’ll be updating from time to time, so check back often for new insights.

The photo shows the important items that come with each camera kit, although both have the CD and manual etc.  Use this photo as a guide when I talk about something in the quick thoughts section below.

NEX quick thoughts

Here I’ve compared the A700 and NEX-5 in noise reduction capabilities.  The comps are straight-up, meaning I didn’t try to adjust for the lesser resolution on the A700, that’s why the crops are smaller.  Everything looks about equal up to ISO 1600, at that point the Sony A700 starts to fall apart, and shows it at ISO 3200, where as the NEX looks pretty good yet.  ISO 6400 is rough with the A700, but not too bad with the NEX.  If you’re having trouble seeing the differences between the two, look at the texture in the camera strap, (lower band with Sony logo), which gets wiped out with aggressive noise reduction.

Next up are some crops from the NEX-5 with 18-55mm lens and the A700 with 18-55mm lens.

Center crops from each lens at 18mm.

Both centers are pretty sharp, but the NEX seems just a bit sharper, even when allowing for the higher resolution of the NEX.  The gravel area across the middle shows more detail in the NEX crop.

Left side crops at F/8, 18mm.

The crops above where taken from the far left side of the image, about half way to the top, not the extreme corners.  The Sony SAM 18-55mm kit lens is much sharper along the sides, even at F/8, that’s surprising!  Also rather surprising is the color fringing on the NEX lens.  The crops look a little different because the light was changing as a result of fast moving clouds this day, but that doesn’t invalidate the results here.

Now let’s check out the 55mm crops from each lens.

Below are crops from the centers at 55mm, F/8.

The center crop differences appear to be about the same at 55mm as they do at 18mm.

Left side crops at F/8, 55mm.

The area along the sides is much sharper with the NEX lens at 55mm, just the opposite as we saw at 18mm.

In a nut-shell, the two kit lenses are about the same in optical quality, it all depends on what area of the image you’re looking at, and the focal length and aperture you’re using.  I used F/8 for this comparison because that’s the aperture in which everything should be about as sharp as it gets.

Conclusion.

The NEX 3 and 5 cameras perform wonderfully right out of the box.  Exposure levels are dead-on, the colors are rich, but not too punchy, and the high ISO noise reduction looks very good to 3200.  I used program mode for almost all my shots.  Program mode allows you to set exposure compensation if needed, (usually when indoors or low light situations), but will automatically control the aperture and shutter speed, so you don’t have to worry about that.  iAuto mode works fine too, but you’re not able to access exposure compensation.  The screen is very bright and sharp, and easy to see outdoors.

People looking for a small camera that takes great pictures, and aren’t interested in fussing with manual controls will love the NEX 3 and 5.  Based on my use, there’s no reason to mess with any manual controls except for some occasional positive exposure compensation, so feel free to leave the camera in “iAuto” or more preferably, “Program” mode.   I also think the street sweeper panorama feature works very well, and does a great job of stitching the images together.  Movie mode is also excellent, but the full HD setting requires you to download the movie file from the camera, and be content using Sony’s supplied software, then viewing the movies on your computer screen.  You can also view the movies with AVCHD devices, or use the lesser 1440×1080 size which is saved as an MP4 file; a much more popular format.

A couple of problem areas are; when in manual or priority mode like “A” or “S” it’s real easy to bump the control wheel by simple sliding the camera in a pouch or pocket, and that will throw off the settings, so you may find yourself shooting images using an aperture of F/32!  I found that focusing in multi-area mode results in a blown shot rate of about 10 percent, that’s pretty high, so you’ll need to check your shots on a regular basis, which is easy to do with the sharp screen.  Additionally, the menu system is quirky to say the least, and probably could use an update immediately, but we’ll more than likely have to wait for the second generation of NEX cameras to see any changes.

Even though the cameras suffer from a few minor flaws, It should be clear by now that I really like the NEX cameras as a whole.  I appreciate the fact that you can just point and shoot and get excellent image quality, without worrying about aperture, shutter speed and all that baloney that confuses people and could cause you to miss a shot.  However, the NEX system will not replace a DSLR, although some photography snobs—and reviewers (including on-line experts) expect it to, and will not tolerate the “made for beginners” menu system, lack of phase detection AF, and dedicated buttons for essential settings, like ISO, eV etc.

That’s it for this quick review, stay tuned for the next NEX cameras!