{"id":3367,"date":"2010-05-11T19:17:40","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T09:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?p=3367"},"modified":"2010-05-26T18:07:05","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T08:07:05","slug":"sonys-mirrorless-digital-camera-system-and-its-nex-5-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?p=3367","title":{"rendered":"Sony&#8217;s mirror-less digital camera system and it&#8217;s NEX-5 camera"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following the unprecedented success of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/?page_id=1510\">Micro Four Thirds system<\/a> by Panasonic and Olympus, Sony has joined the mirror-less interchangeable lens digital camera system marketplace with a DX-crop camera system.<\/p>\n<p>Sony did not make the mistake Samsung made and opted for a <strong>shorter sensor-lens mount distance of only 18mm<\/strong> &#8211; even shorter than Micro Four Thirds of 20mm, and thus unlike the 25.5mm distance of the Samsung NX system, theoretically, just like as has happened with Micro Four Thirds, <strong>we should be able to adapt almost any legacy lens ever made onto this system, including Leica M<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This is great news and will give Micro Four Thirds a run for its money &#8211; competition is good!<\/p>\n<p>The NEX-5 with 18-200mm lens will offer <strong>similar 17mbps 1080i 60fps AVCHD video capability<\/strong> as a Panasonic GH-1 with 14-140mm lens although details and image quality comparisons are yet to be seen. I suspect with the large lens, the GH-1 will handle better and of course it has the massive advantage of a built-in EVF to help steady your videos.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Unfortunately, the NEX-5 does NOT offer a 720p mode in either AVCHD or MPEG4 and there is no manual video exposure mode<\/strong> &#8211; you only get some Scene modes and exposure compensation. This is a deal breaker for me &#8211; I mainly use 720p and mainly use manual exposure &#8211; what a pity &#8211; perhaps they are saving this for a higher end model?<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>entry-level NEX-3<\/strong> is $Us100 cheaper, has different body construction, and only 9mbps 720p MPEG4 HD video, but otherwise is very similar to the NEX-5.<\/p>\n<p>Like Panasonic with MFT, Sony have announced they will market a HD camcorder based on the E system later this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The initial lenses offered by Sony are:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>16mm f\/2.8 pancake (24mm wide angle lens which will be handy for travelers but a bit too wide for candid portraits)<\/li>\n<li>18-55mm f\/3.5-5.6 OSS (27-82.5mm)\u00a0 &#8211; much longer than the collapsible Olympus equivalent<\/li>\n<li>18-200mm f\/3.5-6.3 OSS (27-300mm) &#8211; 67mm filter, 524g and 99mm long<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The advantages of the Sony NEX-5 over the Micro Four Thirds cameras appear to be:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>marginally better image quality at high ISO given the larger sensor although in practice, this may not be significant &#8211; images I have seen to date at ISO 3200 show the NEX-5 with more aggressive NR applied and less image detail and perhaps less dynamic range.<\/li>\n<li>1.5x crop factor vs 2x crop factor allowing better use of legacy lenses in the wide end and marginally shallower depth of field for same subject magnifications.<\/li>\n<li>smaller camera body size &#8211; this may make it more pocketable without lens or with pancake lens, but may adversely impact ergonomics &#8211; nevertheless, I would expect MFT camp to come up with a body as small as this one sooner rather than later.<\/li>\n<li>tilt out LCD allows waist level shooting but not for self-portraits as with the flip out and swivel screen of the\u00a0 Panasonic GH-1<\/li>\n<li>high resolution LCD &#8211; 921K dots<\/li>\n<li>various multi-image modes which may be of use to increase dynamic range, twilight, sweep panorama or reduce motion blur<\/li>\n<li>offers ISO 12,800<\/li>\n<li>optional IR wireless remote control<\/li>\n<li>1080i HD video in motion jpeg or AVCHD<\/li>\n<li>although 2.7fps burst rate is comparable to MFT cameras, it also has a brief but very handy 7fps mode where AF\/AE is fixed on first frame<\/li>\n<li>aggressively priced (said to be ~$US699 for NEX-5 with 3x kit lens)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The advantages of the Micro Four Thirds system over the Sony system:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>more mature system provides a range of bodies,\u00a0 lenses and adapters for legacy lenses<\/li>\n<li>smaller lenses<\/li>\n<li>HD video much more functional than on the NEX-5, with added options of motion jpeg or AVCHD at 720p 60fps (50fps PAL)<\/li>\n<li>pancake and 3x kit lens appears to be substantially sharper edge-to-edge &#8211; see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imaging-resource.com\/PRODS\/NEX5\/NEX5A4.HTM\">here<\/a> for how bad the corners are on the Sony<\/li>\n<li>the very nice Panasonic 20mm f\/1.7 lens which is great for low light work, candid portraits, street work, social events, and travel<\/li>\n<li>many of the Four Thirds dSLR lenses will autofocus (the Sony Alpha lenses will not AF on the NEX-5)<\/li>\n<li>availability of either built-in EVF (eg. GH-1) or add-on EVF (GF-1, E-P2, E-PL1) &#8211; the Sony NEX-5 will only allow an add-on optical viewfinder<\/li>\n<li>true multi-aspect sensor (GH-1)<\/li>\n<li>Panasonic cameras have in-camera CA and distortion correction for MFT lenses<\/li>\n<li>iA dummies mode still allows exposure compensation unlike on the Sony NEX-5<\/li>\n<li>can disable NR<\/li>\n<li>Olympus jpeg engine which is highly regarded for its colours<\/li>\n<li>Olympus Art Filters<\/li>\n<li>in-camera sensor shift image stabilisation in Olympus cameras &#8211; important for legacy lenses in particular<\/li>\n<li>hotshoe on camera body to allow bounce flash, etc instead of only the Sony proprietary attachable flash with GN 7m at ISO 100<\/li>\n<li>wireless remote TTL flash (E-PL1)<\/li>\n<li>better access to controls and menu system<\/li>\n<li>AF subject tracking<\/li>\n<li>2x crop will potentially allow more telephoto reach for same size lens<\/li>\n<li>LCD touch screens (G2, G10)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>My impression &#8211; the Sony system has the potential to be a great system, I am not sure the first two cameras and the lenses cut it though, with crippled video modes, no hot shoe &#8211; and when it does come it will probably be that lame Sony\/Minolta proprietary hot shoe that is not compatible with any other flash without an adapter, no EVF capability, and perhaps worse of all &#8211; poor image quality away from the centre &#8211; perhaps they will need an expensive Leica M9 type of sensor to remedy this.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Personally, the Panasonic GH-1 with 14-140mm lens and 20mm f\/1.7 pancake is a far better all purpose camera kit than the Sony NEX-5 with 18-200mm lens and 16mm f\/2.8 pancake, BUT the Sony will presumably be a lot cheaper and the camera body smaller, although the 10x lens is substantially bigger at 76x99mm and 67mm filter vs 70x84mm and 62mm filter for the Panasonic.<\/p>\n<p>I really couldn&#8217;t see myself using a tiny NEX-5 with a massive 0.5kg 18-200mm lens, especially without an EVF to help stabilise it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But I could imagine using a NEX-5 with a 25mm f\/1.7 pancake lens if they make one, and in the interim, the 16mm f\/2.8 &#8211; for this is the camera&#8217;s strong point at present &#8211; pocketability and affordability.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Furthermore, one could use this combo and a MFT camera, and interchange your legacy lenses between the two with ease once adapters become available, and then you will have access to the advantages of each system and 2 different crop factors for your legacy lenses.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once there are more digital lenses and legacy adapters available for the Sony, the NEX-3 may indeed give the Panasonic GF-1, Olympus E-P2 and E-PL1 a run for their money at that price point but I am concerned about image quality away from the centre, it&#8217;s lack of EVF or flash hotshoe options, poor ergonomics and tripod support &#8211; not a photographer&#8217;s camera, not a videographer&#8217;s camera, but perhaps better than an iPhone.<\/p>\n<p>We will have to see if Sony can really make a real photographer&#8217;s camera smaller than a MFT camera and add some better quality lenses, but you can bet MFT teams will be under pressure to add an entry level small MFT camera to match the NEX-5&#8217;s size.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My final take on the Sony system:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>has lots of potential but proprietary flash interfaces will always plague Sony products<\/li>\n<li>current cameras whilst cheap, and having interesting features are just not ergonomically or functionally designed for photographers or videographers with far too many compromises for serious use.<\/li>\n<li>current cameras will be best used as a pocket camera with a pancake lens &#8211; unfortunately the only pancake is too wide for most needs<\/li>\n<li>there is no image stabilisation built in to assist with legacy lenses when adapters do arrive &#8211; and they will.<\/li>\n<li>current zoom lenses are not as good optically in the corners and the 10x zoom is too big for such small cameras<\/li>\n<li>the system has a long way to go before it can match what is available for the MFT system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>See reviews of the Sony at:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imaging-resource.com\/PRODS\/NEX5\/NEX5A.HTM\">imaging resource<\/a> &#8211; unfortunately they didn&#8217;t compare it with the best MFT sensor &#8211; the GH-1<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/news\/1005\/10051102sonynex.asp\">dpreview<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.luminous-landscape.com\/reviews\/cameras\/sony-nex5.shtml\">luminous-landscape<\/a> &#8211; scathing of the NEX-5&#8217;s user interface and poor video with some concerns of image quality but like me, believes the system has potential &#8211; just not these cameras.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the unprecedented success of the Micro Four Thirds system by Panasonic and Olympus, Sony has joined the mirror-less interchangeable lens digital camera system marketplace with a DX-crop camera system. Sony did not make the mistake Samsung made and opted for a shorter sensor-lens mount distance of only 18mm &#8211; even shorter than Micro Four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[18,56],"class_list":["post-3367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameras","tag-four-thirds-micro","tag-sony"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ayton.id.au\/wp02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}