Sony NEX Launch – detailed transcription

Sensor performance

Let’s talk about noise. So we go from 200 to 12,800 ISO and we’ve got an EXMOR APS-HD CMOS Sensor – we’ve actually put in the HD abbreviation to give the presence of video – and the BIONZ processor. There is less noise at 200 than our competitors have at 100 and the trend continues all the way up the ISO scale. So we really are delivering the best image quality without the customer even realising potentially. Leave it on auto ISO and the camera’s going to select for itself the ISO, and it actually means that you can take pictures in circumstances that otherwise you would probably have thought not possible. With higher ISOs you can shoot without flash. In a romantic sort of restaurant situation which a compact camera would automatically chuck the flash into and change completely the ambience of the picture, you wouldn’t get the feel of the situation you were in. So this is the best image quality in any conditions.

Let’s talk about video. Comparison here with a camcorder. The camcorder has a 1 over 2.88 sensor and is even smaller than a digital compact camera and records high definition movies now, granted the pixel count on a camcorder is not as high as on a digital compact camera, but there is still a massive difference in the potential of things like background defocus and resolution. It’s down to the sensor size and the of the lens.

OK well, that’s the techie stuff about the sensor and why we’ve chosen to adopt an APS–C size. Now let’s talk a little bit about the design of the cameras and their actual appeal. It’s a complete break from what you would consider normally to be an SLR style. They’re very slim, they’re very well made, the fit and finish of them is fantastic, but there isn’t a plethora of buttons. We’ve kept them clean and free so at the point of retail where the customer first handles this camera they will see that actually it’s very easy for them. There isn’t actually a load of buttons that they’re frightened of.

Differences between 3 and 5, and DSLRs

The NEX 5 is a very stylish design available in the black and silver finish. The NEX-3 is available in the three colours and has a more compact camera-styled look to it. It’s subtle but it’s there. We’ve managed to package all of this into a really small compact. Weight, you take the body, you add the battery, you add the pancake lens and we are significantly lighter than the competition. If you switch the pancake lens for the standard zoom, an 18-55, we’re actually no longer the lightest but the reason is that some of our competitors have really reduced the weight and the material construction of their lenses to make the overall combination as light as possible. Their lenses don’t actually have a great feel of quality about them, whereas ours is a nice combination between the body and lens. Put the flash in as well and we’re about in the midst, we’re certainly the lightest with the pancake, but we’re in the midst when it comes to the standard zoom.

Compare that to a digital SLR and there’s a massive difference – 887 grams for the Alpha 550, which is its natural comparable model in our line-up if you like, and the NEX is only 503 grams. That’s some 44% difference in overall weight. A lot of difference if you’ve got to carry that think with you all day, every way you go and you’ve probably got kids with you as well and you’ve got all their paraphernalia and stuff that they need and you’re carrying this alongside and it all adds up. So it’s a much more enjoyable experience to carry this around with you wherever you go.

As design goes they actually have a family look to them, Notice there’s no cinnabar. The orange colour has been chosen to remain the preserve of the true Alpha DSLR category and the colour complement for NEX-5 and 3 is silver, white and black, so the Alpha logo is in silver on this camera.

NEX 5 is a magnesium alloy construction, so the body panels are magnesium alloy. NEX-3 is a polycarbonate plastic body, so it has that feel of a compact camera. Lenses are the same for both so whichever camera you end up buying the lenses are exactly the same. They’re actually finished in a brushed aluminium and the way they fit to the body, the tightness of the mount, the way they zoom, they’re really high quality. Real pleasurable experience, summed here as a high grade design that emanates a sense of oneness. It does feel part and parcel of the camera.