Photoclubalpha

I just put the NEX-5 through some very stiff tests for exposure metering in contrasty, difficult light including pix right into the sun (included in shot once) with a polarizer. So far, I am more than impressed. I only have JPEGs to work from until a familar (Lightroom/ACR) raw conversion arrives, but pretty much every JPEG shot using normal contrast, standard settings and AdobeRGB has been very well balanced on exposure. Also, the 16mm appears to have no tendency to flare at all. It can used in situations which would have made the 24mm f/2.8 Minolta produce unusable pix. This is just one shot, a rather shaky 1/15th hand held when balancing on rocks in the river. To my shame, I took some pix across the river with wild irises in the foreground, and because I was composing on the small rear screen I totally failed to spot a man crossing the stream on the stones who spoils those pix.

This is Hermitage Castle in Liddesdale, and the significance of the wide-angle view with the burn is connected to the legend of the Cout (stout young man, knight, 'couthy' man) of Kielder, who dressed in 'amour of proof' was magically protected against sword or spear, and set out to assassinate Lord Soulis, the master of Hermitage (a cruel overlord, from a cruel lineage, and a warlock by reputation). Kielder's magical protection and substantial armour were of no avail, as Soulis' men managed to topple him into the waters of this stream and hold him down until he drowned.

A slightly different version of the shot at f/8 and 1/40th, with brighter light and more water and less foreground rock, will in due course be converted to monochrome (IR effect) from raw, to illustrate the story.

David

David

Looks very good and tempting. Though I need one more body like I need another hole in my head.
KM-A2, A100, A700 and A900 should last this decade for me.
David, what differentiates NEX from the Axxx series? I have seen a lot of traffic but could not get any
sense of specifics.

Sury

The biggest difference is that my A2 has been kicked out of its little Lowepro bag, and now there is a NEX-5 with 18-55mm and 16mm wide, plus remote control, polarizer, close-up lens, mini tripod and my wallet in the same bag.

The NEX-5 will be allowed into music gigs where the A2 was allowed but DSLRs are refused. I'll keep the 16mm on it, and hide the 18-55mm. It makes superb 1080p HD movies with really fantastic sound quality, and with the add on microphone that should be even better. The sound is superior to the Nikon D5000, D90, Canon 500D, 550D, 7D, 5D MkII built-in mics. I may eventually get the 18-200mm lens.

I do not find the camera easy to use compared to my A550 as my eyesight even without distances glasses has trouble at 30-45cm. So I can miss details when composing on the screen, but I get strong compositions as I tend to see the overall picture better. Also, it is really slow to wake up after sleep or switching on - even more than the A2. And, continuous focus has a serious bug which causes the image to wobble or change size in an oscillating pattern; but when you shoot video, AF is continuous and this does not happen at all.

David

David,
Thank you. Looks like that would have been a good substitution to the Panasonic
HD camcorder we bought for the recent Italy trip for my wife. I may still pursue the
option when there is an employee discount at Sony. A friend of mine works at Sony
that could get me a good deal.

Sury