Sony NEX3 and NEX5 EVIL cameras with new E-mount

[igi]

DPReview has a full blown review of the NEX3 and NEX5:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/SonyNex5Nex3/

no smileys on this one?🙂

 

[antiquark]

Forgot the smiley in the above post, so here's two: 🙂 🙂

 

[jsrockit]

Review wasn't too favorable...

 

[Bruin]

Seems like the OS is the Achilles' heel of the camera...

The "soft" keys actually give the camera a lot of potential on the firmware side. Imagine being able to switch "modes" in the camera: beginner, enthusiast, advanced. Or, use your computer to create custom profiles based on the way you shoot and download that firmware to the camera. Since cameras are practically computers nowadays, firmware shouldn't be a limitation if the manufacturer is smart about it.

 

[semilog]

firmware shouldn't be a limitation if the manufacturer is smart about it.

Haha, you kidder. We're talking about Sony.

 

[gavinlg]

re: Nick, I've never seen a "holy grail" of cameras in my life. Not in the last 100 years has a holy grail or perfect camera been made. You just use what works the best for your situation.

 

[igi]

Review wasn't too favorable...

If only the photographic community was made known that the NEX would be, quoting from DPReview, "targeting users who will rarely (if ever) take their camera out of iAuto mode", there wouldn't be such an anticipation for this product.

I definitely would not want a camera that's designed to think for me.

Quoting again from DPReview, this made me laugh:
"'Bkground Defocus' feature encourages the use of wrong settings":bang:

 

[antiquark]

Quoting again from DPReview, this made me laugh:
"'Bkground Defocus' feature encourages the use of wrong settings":bang:

Maybe Sony hired a summer student to write the software. The interface seems quite clueless:

We're also concerned that the 'Bkground defocus' mode is simplistic to the point of being misleading. When presented with a scale running from 'Defocus' to 'Crisp,' most people will push the setting all the way to 'Crisp' if they want in-focus backgrounds and yet doing so will push the camera to tiny apertures between F22 and F32 that will make their images softer (because of diffraction) and less detailed (because of the high ISO settings and accompanying noise reduction needed for working at such small apertures).

There's a similar problem at the 'Defocus' end of the scale: if you use the kit zoom lens, then part of the 'defocus' end of the scale becomes unavailable as you zoom-in (because the long end of the zoom has a maximum aperture of only F5.6, not the F3.5 at the wide end). This clearly suggests less ability to defocus the background, but in practice 55mm F5.6 will give much more defocused backgrounds than 18mm F3.5 (because the level of background blur is dependant upon focal length as well as F-number).

 

[NickTrop]

They've show they can shrink APS-C cameras down. They've come a long way with contrast autofocus, and a live view with a fast enough refresh rate and resolution to replace old fashioned mirrors... That you would think would be the hard part... The first camera company that gets this right hits the home run. Samsung, strike one; Sony strike two... You know you're in trouble if your camera comes in color choices like "blue".

 

[ampguy]

maybe

maybe

sounds similar to the UI of the Fuji F70EXR. I think they're adding so many features to these little cameras they can't keep up with consistent names or menus.

The Fuji has a "Pro Focus" mode, with 3 levels of "Softness"

Basically the setting of "3" gives bokeh like a Leica, 1 and 2 are kind of like Canon, NIkon or CV.

Maybe Sony hired a summer student to write the software. The interface seems quite clueless:

 

[semilog]

You know you're in trouble if your camera comes in color choices like "blue".

The Pentax K-x – by many accounts the best low-light APS-C camera currently available – comes in many different colors, including multiple shades of blue. (Apropos to this thread, it appears to use pretty much the same Sony sensor as the NEX cameras and Nick's beloved D-5000, though arguably in a better implementation than either.)

[Edited to clarify & remove bashie-heads.]

 

[NickTrop]

:bang: The Pentax K-x – by many accounts the best low-light APS-C camera currently available – comes in many different colors, including blue. :bang:

Clearly, then, they are the exception that proves the rule...
:bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
:bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
???
Que pasa?