Testing out the NEX 5n

[DrScottNicol]

I traded in my old little NEX 3 for a 5n at the weekend and picked up a 50mm f1.8 at the same time (note Sony are doing cashback offers on a range of cameras and lenses here in the UK at the moment - that tipped the balance for me). This combo is great for a little discrete street photography...







regards
Scott

[Dr. Harout]

Congrats Scott.
Great street shots. Keep them coming.

[mikehawthorne]

would you prefer the nex over the a77 as these are realy clean shots.
mikehawthorne

[Birma]

Very nice candid shots Scott, and I like the B&W treatment as well. Congratulations on the 5n

[aster]

Agree, very nice candids, Scott. : )

They'll prove valuable as time goes by...


Yildiz

[sury]

Great shots. I saw a Nex5 today in Napa with a sliver lens (150 prime?). Nice little camera. Inside the winery the gent asked me to take a
picture of him and his companion and put in some mode and asked me to just keep the shutter and take 5-10 shots. The camera processed
them and the result was very impressive for a no flash relatively low light scenario.

With best regards,
Sury

[DrScottNicol]

Thanks guys for all the positive comments.

To Mike - The A77 and NEX5n are very different beasts - I love the handling on the a77 (including the portrait grip) and the detail on the a77 can be stunning at low ISOs .. but its very unforgiving in terms of user error in terms of handshake, slightly off exposure etc - and the noise creeps in very quickly, even at iso 800. Also, its pretty big and obvious as cameras go so not a great discrete street camera. By contrast, the NEX5n still feels a just little difficult to control quickly despite all the customisation options but so far the resolution is more than good enough and noise control seems superb with the possibility of getting even better - I tend to use DXO for raw processing and at the moment it has no preset support for the 50mm or the 2 sigma lenses, so I'm lazily using my a77 user presets to process the images - they are probably a bit heavy handed for the low noise images the nex outputs. When I get some time I'll sit down and make some new presets for the new NEX lenses (and hassle DXO for more lens support and play around in lightroom to see what works best.

But overall, I'ne very happy with the 5n so far - the handling feels better than my old nex 3 (e.g. the touch screen focussing has been genuinely useful and I've assigned ael toggle to one of the soft buttons, an arrangement that quickly lets me set focus point and exposure in A and S mode) and the raw images coming off the SD card are pretty amazing for such a small and compact camera... now if it just had one more control dial (or there was a NEX 6 for less than the 7 with the body of the 7 but the 16MP sensor)... oh and if Sony could just squeeze in the stabilisation back onto the sensor like the alphas that would be swell.. and more pancake lenses... etc etc . I'm joking (sort of) - I'm very pleased with the 5n - its not as sexy as the 7 but its a great camera and great value for money at the moment (readily available for 450 GBP or less if you include the cash back deal here in the UK).

[gio67]

what adaptor did you use doc ?
they are great pictures

[mikehawthorne]

thanks
I am getting very impressed with the nex images but am put of by there not being a veiwfinder(and lack of dosh) i cant see on the screens at the back of the compact cameras ive tried. i have not tried the nex's to be honest. The 7nex is very expensive but would be obvius choice. i like my a700 but it can be heavey with 18-250sigma especially in hot climate,
mikehawthorne