2 thoughts on “Sony Alpha NEX NEX5K/B Digital Camera with Interchangeable Lens – Black”

1. 238 of 245 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Very, very good, with some limitations., July 2, 2010

   By 

   Chris Nibley “mr. fahrenheit” (bangkok) –
   
     

   This review is from: Sony Alpha NEX NEX5K/B Digital Camera with Interchangeable Lens – Black (Camera)

   People, I LOVE this camera. I bought it thinking there was an 85% chance I was going to return it, but am happy to tell you that as soon as I uploaded my first pictures, I was smitten. I was most worried about picture quality, because I had previously owned a Sony a200 and a700, and ended up selling both for a Canon and Nikon, because the picture quality just wasn’t up to snuff. My most recent camera was a D300s and I would say that the nex5 performs almost as well as it in most situations and even better in a few. And the nex5 video blows the D300s out of the water! Obviously everyone has different needs and preferences from their camera so all I can do is tell you what my needs were and why the nex5 is so great for them.

   The picture quality was the most important thing for me, which was more than adequate so the next most important criteria was the LCD. The LCD on my D300s was a complete joke, as I couldn’t see squat on that thing in even moderate sunlight. This was extremely frustrating but since it was based on an OVF anyway, I just dealt with it. But I started my photography in this digital age on a Canon S2IS which had a swivelling screen and full-time live-view, and honestly, I’ve missed that method of taking pictures ever since I moved up to dSLR’s. The two things that I wanted most out of the LCD on the nex5 were adequate visibility in bright sunlight, and real-time exposure compensation, so that you know EXACTLY what your picture would look like before you take it. It passed both of these tests with flying colors. The second day I had it, my wife and I went fishing on the river, in the afternoon sun. Live view photography would have been impossible on my D300s but I had no problems with the nex5. Understand that it will get a little washed out, but I was still able to compose as well as I needed and set exposure almost spot on. When I got home and uploaded my pics, this was confirmed for me as they just looked amazing. The best part about it was knowing that I wouldn’t have gotten any of those shots with my D300s, simply because I wouldn’t have brought the dang thing because I already had a bunch of stuff to carry. The sony just fit in my pocket (cargo pocket, with 18-55) and was out of the way until needed.

   The other great things about this little guy are the ISO performance, which is ridiculous (better than D300s) and the high-speed continuous mode. Just to be straight on this, it will take 7, full-resolution photos a second, but locks exposure and focus. If you want it to refocus and adjust exposure, the best it can do is about 2 1/2. Of course there’s the panoramic mode (haven’t tried it), HDR mode (don’t like it), and twilight mode (don’t like it). Oh yeah, and I love the detachable flash which is solid as a rock when attached, but since I hardly ever do flash-photography, I love to be able to get it out of the way for the majority of the time.

   For me this is the best camera on the market right now. I tested it against the Lumix G2 and thought the picture quality is noticeably better on the Sony (I do think focus is faster on the G2 though – certainly a great camera too), not to mention the form factor is so much smaller! But, with all that said, I fully plan on selling it in the fall when the new batch of cameras come out because there are a few things that the nex5 doesn’t have that I desperately want.

   First of all, the menu sucks. There’s no way around it – if you ever try to change the settings, you are going to be frustrated by it. I could live with that, but there are other things missing. As good as the LCD is, I really want an EVF, even if I have to have a slightly larger body. I also really need just a few more buttons, namely: ISO, Focus lock, AE lock, but I do like the minimalist approach, because I absolutely hate the millions of buttons that Canon and Nikon throw on their cameras. As I mentioned, the video is very good, and although it does have an exposure control, so you can increase or decrease the brightness by two stops at any time (kind of neat), I need full manual control over video. The only other things that I don’t really like are just nagging things that I could live with, but I’m hoping will improve in my next purchase, they are: battery life, screen blackout, and shutter noise. Battery life goes really fast on this camera and spares are ridiculously priced at $70, but I can understand that it takes a lot of juice to run that screen, so I could live with it. The screen does black out when you take pictures for what seems just a hair too long. It’s not terrible, and for a $700 camera it’s actually very good, but it’s just something that would bother me in the long run. The shutter is surprisingly loud. The first day I got it I took a picture of my wife taking a nap on the couch and it actually woke her up! I’m not saying it sounds like a freight train, but unfortunately, I love…

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2. 112 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

   
   Wow! This is one great camera!, July 11, 2010

   By 

   Radio Man “yarns13” (NY, USA) –

   This review is from: Sony Alpha NEX NEX5K/S Digital Camera with Interchangeable Lens (Silver) (Electronics)

   I have owned the Olympus EP-1, Panasonic GF1, also have a Nikon d90 and canon s90 so I have seen a lot of pictures from all these cameras. First I would like to say the MENU on the NEX is actually pretty GOOD. Yes, like everybody has said it would have been nice to have a dedicated button for iso, w balance etc..BUT it takes literally 1 second and you can change those settings, what’s all the fuss about??? I actually find the Nex’s menu LESS complicated than the EP1 that drove ME nuts! So..to all afraid of this camera because so many reviews mention the menu is horrible..to them I say what???

   What is blowing me away most is the low noise at high iso plus the overall picture quality. I am one of those DSLR people who wants DSLR type quality in the smallest package possible. I admit I am NOT a pro photographer but I can change every setting on my D90 and I know how to go deep into DSLR settings and what they mean. I say this ONLY because the Nex-5 seems aimed at point and shooters moving up the quality ladder but supposedly don’t know all that much about settings. Yes, the Panasonic GF1 and Olympus E-P1 seem to give you a “little more” manual control than this NEX-5 does..but it’s pretty close..re: controls.

   What the NEX-5 does in my opinion is especially in raw format Blow the doors off the GF1 and EP1 as to how much detail you can work with. On the GF1 in raw..often I STILL couldn’t get skin tones to look right, shadows in lower light always had too much noise..and I ended up with too many grainy pictures. I am simply blown away with the NEX as to how much detail you can get back using raw…where the jpg may look like a total loss..you can often still get a great pic using raw.

   For the point and shoot people..the raw conversion software that comes with the Sony is actually VERY good, powerful and EASY to use. Overall this is a SMALL camera that pretty much takes pictures in the same general ballpark as the better dslrs in my opinion. I think this may actually have less noise than my Nikon d90.

   What I don’t like..manually you can only choose iso 200, 400, 800, 1600 etc. I prefer a bit more control ala the GF1 where you can choose say a 640, 1000, iso or 1200 iso etc. That being said if you choose Auto iso the NEX Will at times choose isos such as 640, 1000 etc..not available manually.

   Some of the gimmicks? like panorama or twilight handheld shooting where the NEX shoots about 5 pictures within about a second actually WORK and I think at times “these can give you pictures you simply can NOT get on a gf1, ep1” etc.

   One other thing I am not thrilled about is overall color saturation is bit too punchy or high. This is not a problem as it takes a sec IF you want a bit less color saturation in your pics with any photo editor.

   The NEX feels great in your hand. It feels solid as a brick YET seems to weigh much less than the gf1 and ep1 making the Nex easier to take with you!

   There is no perfect camera and never will be. In my opinion though..if you don’t need to change settings every 2 seconds..OVERALL this NEX-5 may be your best choice right now as far as mirrorless cameras go. Don’t forget one huge reason the GF1/EP1 look so much better than point and shoot cams is the sensor size. Well the full sized dslr sensor in the NEX is MUCH bigger than micro Four..hence the lower noise…better overall IQ in my opinion.

   UPDATE: The menu system never really bothered me, however, after updating to latest version 03 this Nex-5 is even WAY WAY better. The menu system now is downright EXCELLENT in my opinion. I am constantly blown away by how great this LITTLE camera is. What a WONDERFUL camera overall!!!

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