
Allie, Sony Nex-5n, Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, 46mm, f/5, ISO 800, 1/5sec handheld
Well, I’ve been using the Sony Nex-5n along with the 18-55 kit lens now for a week and thought I’d give a brief report on it. First off, I’m not a reviewer and I’m not going to be technical at all, so if your eyes are already starting to glaze over they can stop, these are only my non-technical impressions. For those who like their desserts first, here’s mine: I’m keeping the camera, despite its negatives, of which there are several.
I based my original decision on this purchase on reviews I had read and primarily on DP Review (http://dpreview.com). To me they seem to be the most rigorous with their testing. Maybe not. They rated the 5n at 79%, while the Nikon D7000 received an 80%. Perhaps the testing methodology is different for non-DSLR cameras, but if so, that should be stated up front. The only explanation I can think of for this might be the rating itself is heavily weighted in favor of image quality, and the bells and whistles only account for a very small percentage.
Let’s start with the LCD screen and the EVF. The LCD is unusable in bright sunlight. Period. End of story. Yes, you can see vague outlines of structures or people, washed out, no details, but that’s all. Forget composition. Forget waiting for the right expression on a person’s face before taking the image. Forget reviewing the photo you just shot. Not going to happen until heavy clouds roll in or you go inside. Enter the EVF. Better, yes. Optical finder replacement? Not yet. When its really bright out, even the EVF has problems with contrasty subjects and you still lose details. It’s definitely much, much better than the LCD screen, but it still has a ways to go. And $300+? Overpriced by a mile in my estimation.
Then we have the effects – the Twilight Hand-held, Panorama, HDR, etc. Lots of effects to choose from. But all shot in JPEG format. The twilight hand-held is one that’s touted a lot – but essentially it just jacks up the ISO, takes five quick shots and merges them into one noisy image. The automatic HDR doesn’t seem to be that effective either, though I’ll continue playing around with it under different lighting conditions. Bottom line on the effects – I think you can have a lot of fun with them as long as you don’t take them too seriously. The panorama feature looks interesting, but I haven’t gotten to it yet.
I mentioned the automatic HDR above, but you can also bracket your exposures and combine them in Photoshop or Photomatix Pro or any other HDR software. Unlike the Auto-HDR you can bracket with RAW files. The problem here is you can only bracket up to .7 EV. On my D7000 I can go two full stops either way.
Other negatives (my opinion, of course) include the menu system which seems cobbled together without a whole lot of thought. For example, Metering Mode is under the Brightness/Color selection, while Autofocus Mode is under the Camera selection. Auto ISO uses the full range of ISO available up to 25,600 – I’d never go above 3200 given a choice. Unfortunately, you can’t tell the camera what the maximum acceptable ISO or the minimum acceptable shutter speed is. In single-shot mode there’s a noticeable lag between releasing the shutter and seeing the image on the screen. The touch-screen is only moderately usable. The selection wheel is easy to depress when you’re trying just to rotate it. Last negative (so far), the kit-lens is pretty soft at the edges, and has a huge problem with flare. Okay – that’s it for the negatives – at least for now. I haven’t used everything yet, including video, so who knows? Oh, wait: battery life. Not so great.
So, after all that, why am I keeping it? With that rather long list of negatives it would seem like I should have this thing packed up and on its way back to the camera store. Well, overall, I like the images it produces and since I shoot raw, and in Aperture priority 90% of the time it does what I ask of it. I like the portability. I like the thought of getting an adapter and using my existing lens collection with it. I like the APS sized sensor. And I like the JPEG processing it applies (even though I rarely use JPEGs). I’ve heard some people complain that it overdoes it, but I don’t think so. Looks good. Oh, wait: battery life indicator – I do like that it reflects a percentage of power left.
That’s it – like I mentioned, I haven’t discovered everything the camera offers, but the main thing, shooting raw in Aperture mode with a decent sized sensor is the reason I bought it and for that, it delivers.
Thanks for reading,
John