All my NEX pictures accepted by Alamy

[David Kilpatrick]

This is just a flag up to say that all the pictures taken by me in Croatia on the NEX-5 which I thought suitable for Alamy, including tripod interiors, hand-held low light and night, have been passed through Alamy QC. Both the 16mm and 18-55mm lenses were used. It's not many - a couple of dozen which had the right sort of subject matter to stand a chance of sales.

David

[Edgars L]

It seems pictures taken with NEX is grate IQ.
However, most discussed topic is NEX user interface. Did you agree that it is to bad and irritating?

[David Kilpatrick]

Hi, welcome. No, the interface does not bother me at all. Most of my pictures either have to be in 'ideal conditions' (sunshine and blue sky) or they are night shots, interiors etc. All I really need from any camera is the ability to set the aperture and adjust whatever auto exposure it meters.

The NEX auto ISO is actually usable - you may risk getting ISO 1600 in poor light but it's a very good ISO 1600, so there is no great concern about having to stay locked down to 200 once the conditions are no longer ideal.

I guess having the mess around to get some of the special settings, like Auto HDR, Night Shot, Anti Motion Blur and Panorama will put some people off. But I know from experience I will make very little use of them, just as I will only use video occasionally.

I've cancelled my NEX order with Warehouse Express anyway now. I needed it by a certain date, to be useful; they can't say when it may come into stock, or which item will be available. For example, if I order black I might get it before silver - if I order a twin lens kit, I might get it before a 16mm only - etc. So by even having an order with them, I risk not getting the camera early enough to complete my review. They were unable to do something as simple as putting me down for the first available colour/kit combination that arrives.

David

[pakodominguez]

I've cancelled my NEX order with Warehouse Express anyway now. I needed it by a certain date, to be useful; they can't say when it may come into stock, or which item will be available. For example, if I order black I might get it before silver - if I order a twin lens kit, I might get it before a 16mm only - etc. So by even having an order with them, I risk not getting the camera early enough to complete my review. They were unable to do something as simple as putting me down for the first available colour/kit combination that arrives.

David

I understand. I'm in the same situation. I was about to pre-order it from SonyStyle, but I prefer to actually see the camera before buying it black or silver. then, Adorama will probably have it soon and they have a package with a memory card and a case for the same price... I'll probably pre-order the Fisheye and the E to A adapter because apparently they are very popular (and already out of stock in Japan, where the camera is already in the shelves)

Regards

[David Kilpatrick]

Yes, I had ordered a package with battery and accessories, and the E to A adaptor, and the microphone. But honestly, I'm not that bothered as I have lost the full test report slot which would have paid for it all. I have enough good pictures from Croatia and enough insight now into other people's results to judge more or less where it stands. I can wait for the loan kit from Sony which I'm down for, and then maybe wait for photokina.

We bought an iPad instead. I do not have it, our son does - he's been given the task of finding out exactly how best to use eBook publishing to the iPad platform, as well as writing up many potential iPad uses for professional photographers.

David

[Edgars L]

I'm always take pictures in RAW, therefore my decision will be based on IQ of RAW samples and also responsiveness of camera. DPR show RAW samples as usually in their own clumsy stile, but overall it seems RAW is substantially better than in camera JEPG.
The most obvious delay is on startup, could be possible Microsoft did a soft?

Serious questions are about cards and battery. Is it necessary to use the fastest available cards?
Many reviewers complains that battery drains very quickly. Is it because use of LCD or SSM lenses?

[David Kilpatrick]

HD video drains the battery fast, so does anything using multiple exposures. Sweep pan for example uses over 20 frames, night/motion uses six frames, HDR uses three, and fast action sequences tend to use 7-14 or so depending on how long you hold the shutter.

That does not take long to exhaust the 330 shots from the NP-FM50H battery (please note: dPreview have a big error in their camera specs, they cut and pasted from the A550 review and have the wrong battery and 750 shots shown, as well as the correct 330 shots). Also, using the flash drains the camera battery too.

Raw quality is excellent, you can be assured. But JPEG is not bad either. The startup delay is because of the way the sensor works, not software, I think - a hardware issue.

David

[pakodominguez]

I can wait for the loan kit from Sony which I'm down for, and then maybe wait for photokina.

i was thinking about a camera like this (the GF1) since last October. I didn't bought it because at the Photo Plus Expo I spoke with Mark Weir and he let me understand Sony was coming with something "similar'. Anyway, by the end of January I was about to buy the GF1 at a wonderful price, but i decided to wait because I didn't want to buy into another system.

Now, I don't want to wait anymore

We bought an iPad instead. I do not have it, our son does - he's been given the task of finding out exactly how best to use eBook publishing to the iPad platform, as well as writing up many potential iPad uses for professional photographers.
David

I don't know how things are going in Europe, but here iPads are big! I did't fall for apple; no iPod, no iPhone, no iPad... I inherited my girlfriend's iTouch because I was thinking about developing a couple of apps, but what I want is hardware related, so just programming won't work.

I think it is a shame that Apple doesn't support Flash because it is the only way to have multiplatform apps or content. I'm waiting for the new Windows Mobile OS and, if I don't like it, I'll stick with Android (there are a couple of internet tablets running Android that looks really nice, like the Archos7)

I hope Sony will come with "an app for that" soon...

[David Kilpatrick]

Richard is getting an Android based 'aPad' 7 inch to look at. He reckons they are undersold, they cost around £200 compared to £450 upwards for iPad and may be more easily expanded. I have never have an iPhone but we do have iPods. However, since our car now has USB mp3 stick playing built in, we no longer really use the iPods. Shirley's does nothing at all, and I have mine in a speaker dock in the bathroom, and play it when I have a bath - that's all!

David

[alphaomega]

To return to the header subject, David Kilpatrick stated

This is just a flag up to say that all the pictures taken by me in Croatia on the NEX-5 which I thought suitable for Alamy, including tripod interiors, hand-held low light and night, have been passed through Alamy QC. Both the 16mm and 18-55mm lenses were used. It's not many - a couple of dozen which had the right sort of subject matter to stand a chance of sales.

I am not surprised as the sensor equals output from the A550 type camera and the lenses can't be all that bad either. I regularly use my Panasonic LX2/3 when not carrying a DSLR and using RAW and low ISO all images taken with these cameras "sail through" Alamy quality control. It is even easier now that minimum size has been reduced to 24Mb. No need to upsize now if you don't want to. I would certainly not purchase a NEX just now until I see a wider collection of lenses available in the E mount and in particular the performance of the 18-200 Zoom. The 16mm and that Zoom might do me but I am afraid that the 18-200 is too large and heavy negating the benefit of the small body. My A350 or A550 (when a replacement is to hand) with the Tamron 18-200 is quite acceptable for size and weight.

[Mark K]

I stop my plan....after thinking this over and over...the UI.. and the battery. I always carry many batteries with my camera since the date of Minolta Diamge 500.. and then EOS 5D etc. I just don't know how come Nikon always has good recored on their machines...

Local dealers told me t here will not be an extra battery for my Nex camera because too many people are waiting..

[alphaomega]

Yah, short battery life and the lack of an EVF. What good is a detachable OVF for the 16mm only? I think Sony were too quick in getting these gems out. Hopefully the electronics and top plate contact will accept a proper EVF at a later date. The minus point with cameras such as my Panasonic LX2/3 and other P&S types is the lack of EVF. In sunshine and backlit you can forget about seeing details of what you are photographing. Just shoot away and hope that one picture will come out OK for framing etc.
My wife still uses one of our Fuji E900 and it has an OVF built in. It only covers around 76% of the frame but it saves the day when you cannot see anything on the backscreen.

[Carlj]

Raises a point David - is the end product the important bit, or the journey?

I use aperture priority for all but flash photography so changes are few and far between. How many buttons do I need? And Sony aren't the only people to bury changes in menus - some even have the joys of sub menus.

And with the ipad/pod/phone, would an app based mag be likely as I'm trying to cut down trips to the charity shop with paper versions

[David Kilpatrick]

We've done it before - Photon was the first e-zine on the web for photographers, in 1995. And a year later we shrank a magazine to A5 format taking advantage of our new ability to scale most ads. Both were ahead of the game and ended up closing or being absorbed into other things.

However, things moved slowly back then. We were waiting five years and the internet still had not reached the speeds, for most people, to make our on-line magazine workable - and it's only in the last three or four years that we have finally seen the end of all film delivery of adverts.

The issue now isn't finding a medium, like iPad or Reader or whatever, it's finding a way to translate that into tens of thousands of readers paying a modest subscription.

David

[Carlj]

Ah,

Guess who's been diving into the mag apps

Not sure if Apple give out sales figures, but the more select the target audience, the harder to expand sales so unless Sony suddenly becomes number 1 or 2 in the market....