Before this, the only players in the compact, interchangeable lens camera arena were Olympus, Panasonic and Samsung. Well, Sony hasn’t been sitting down lately as they’ve prepared two interchangeable lens cameras of their own to join in the fun. The brand new NEX-3 and NEX-5
Sony NEX-3/NEX-5
(Compact interchangeable lens cameras)
- 14.2 effective megapixels (EXMOR APS-C CMOS sensor, 1.5X crop)
- New Sony E-mount (1.5X crop factor)
Compatible with Alpha mount lenses (sans autofocus ability) via adapter - 3 inch ‘Sony TruBlack’ LCD (921,000 pixels) with two separate hinges for tilting
- Proprietary port where you can attach an external ‘popup’ flash or optical viewfinder
- ISO speed range of 200 - 12800
- Live view only with face and smile detection
- Auto HDR (High dynamic range) takes three pictures and combines them into one for improved dynamic range
- Handheld twilight/anti blur modes take six pictures and combine them into one for lower noise and sharper pictures
- Sweep Panorama mode automatically creates panoramas (up to 23 megapixels large) as you pan the camera
- 3D Photo feature in the works; will be available via future firmware update from Sony
- 7 FPS continuous shooting mode (up to 8 RAW or unlimited JPEG)
- Full manual controls with RAW mode
- 25 point AF
- HD movie mode with stereo sound recording, continuous AF, optical image stabilizer and dedicated start/stop button
NEX 3: 720p Standard HD (1280 X 720) movies in H.265 codec
NEX 5: 1080p Full HD (1920 X 1080) movies in AVCHD codec; 720p option (same as NEX3) available - Dual memory card slots for SD/SDHC/SDXC and Memory Stick Duo
- Uses a lithium-ion battery (NP-FW50)
- NEX 3: Available in July for $550 (with 16 mm pancake lens) or $600 (with 18-55 mm kit lens)
NEX 5: Available in July for $650 (with 16 mm pancake lens) or $750 (with 18-55 mm kit lens)
Along with their brand new “E-mount”, Sony also announced three new lenses to go along with this new system and they are:
- $300: 18 - 55 mm f3.5 - f5.6 “kit” lens with optical image stabilizer
- $250: 16 mm f2.8 “pancake” lens (No stabilizer)
- $800: 18 - 200 mm f3.5 - f6.3 super-zoom lens with optical image stabilizer
What’s unique about that 16 mm pancake lens is that you can actually attach (additional) conversion lenses to turn it into an ultra-wide angle/fisheye 12 mm lens. No word yet if the conversion adapter will be included with the lens or sold separately (but knowing Sony, it’ll most likely be the latter).