Busy weekend. New Toy!

Well I've been batting around the idea in my head of getting a new camera. ; Decisions decisions - was it time to upgrade my DSLR body to the next gen? ; Was it time to replace my ultracompact with a newer one? ; Or was it time to add a third camera to my collection - something covering ground I don't currently cover? ; I had been tempted by the gorgeous Fuji X100 and the first samples coming from it which were stunning, including high ISO. ; The idea of a 'rangefinder' style camera to slot in between the ultracompact class and the DSLR class was tempting - it could serve as a second body alongside the DSLR, covering the wide end when I'm strapped up with huge telephotos on the DSLR. ; It could sometimes take the place of the DSLR when higher quality and low light ability than what a P&S can do was needed, but without the bulk of a DSLR. ; But at $1,300, the Fuji price just stood out like a pimple on your prom night...hard to swallow that price for a fixed lens toy that I really don't need. ; That got me thinking of another camera I had dismissed as something I didn't want or need last year...that had gotten a very important firmware update that made it much more enthusiast-friendly, and that had recently been dropped in price on a nice closeout sale since a new model is soon around the corner. ; A camera that is compact, light, small, capable at high ISOs, with image quality equalling a DSLR, sharing the same APS-C sensor as DSLRs, and still with the flexibility to change lenses if the bug bites. ; Gary's recent purchase in this category made me think about it more. ; Heading down to the store to handle it in person, feeling it, testing it, and seeing the price, which was almost 3x less than the Fuji...it just became so obvious that I needed to pick one up. ; So I am now the proud owner of a 3rd camera category - compact mirrorless APS-C interchangeable lens camera! ; I picked up a Sony NEX-3, the cheaper version (compared to NEX-5) with the only difference being the plastic body vs mag alloy, lower HD video resolution, and no wireless remote - none of which mattered to me since it is a second body, I don't do video, and don't need the remote.

So far, so good - love the little guy. ; I've only had half-a-day to give it the first run of tests - first I snapped a few indoor high ISO tests, in order to get the best settings for low light...then the next day I brought it along with me while out birding and wildlife shooting with my A550 & Minolta 300mm F4 APO lens - I was able to rattle off a few landscape and other shots in very bright (and unfortunately very high above) Florida sun, on a hot, humid day. ; I spent the initial time learning what settings would work best for me - metering mode, custom soft key set up, focus modes, EV, and picture settings. ; Fortunately I have very good experience with the 14MP sensor in my A550, and found that the setups are quite close between the two. ; Once home from the swamps, I also took a few more indoor shots at high ISO with my willing model, Mickey. ; The big change was the firmware - when it first came out, the menu was obscure, the controls involved just two buttons and a wheel, and the buttons accessed inane functions that made no sense to an enthusiast - it was obviously set up for beginners with help tips and simplified descriptions. ; With the firmware, the help screens can be turned off, the 4-way rotating pad/wheel has direct access to EV, flash, drive mode, and display, the two soft buttons are customizable to your desired settings - with up to 3 features on the 'C' button, and it has nice enthusiast features like direct manual focus, live shooting histogram, release w/o lens...and with the custom buttons I could put ISO, focus area, white balance, and DRO/HDR controls on direct button access. ; Set camera to aperture priority, controlled by the thumbwheel, with DMF focus mode (camera automatically zooms 7x for manual focus after AF), and ISO & focus area at ready access, it becomes quite the fast little tool to use when you know what you're doing.

Here's the camera, with the 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS lens:




The metal machined lens looks quite cool on the black body - the attachable flash is also metal. ; The body isn't any larger than a typical compact P&S - with the lens attached, it's no larger than a compact ultrazoom camera (smaller in fact than most). ; Amazing that they've crammed a 14MP APS-C sensor in there!

Big perk is that there are adapters available on the cheap ($10 - 50) for quite literally every single lens mount ever made...so old cheap manual lenses from any mount or manufacturer can be slapped on with the adapter for that mount, and *boom* - you've got a DSLR sensor attached to that beautiful old lens. ; Manual aperture and focus control off the lens, just like an old rangefinder. ; Some of the newer mounts' adapters even have the aperture control built in - such as with Canon EF mount lenses - so those can be slapped on and used in A-priority mode. ; Nifty! ; I happen to have some old Pentax lenses in the closet gathering dust, so a Pentax K-mount adapter might well be the first adapter I get.

Here's a quick sampling of my first shots...

Though this will not be my wildlife camera by a longshot, sometimes they were close enough that I decided to snap a few with the NEX, just to check on detail:


A typical bright, colorful swamp scene - greens and blues are often overwhelming for those not accustomed to Florida's tropical climate. ; Right in the heart of winter, it was 85 degrees and humid this day:


The boardwalk through the wetlands area, that takes you through a cypress tree canopy:


Good test of both the camera and the kit lens...here's a quick snap - full size shot, uncropped, just resized:


And here's a straight 100% crop, an 800x600 section of that photo when viewed at 100%, directly out of the camera...nice detail retention, nicely artifact-free along the color lines, good sharpness (vivid setting, sharpness at 0):


The low light testing on my cat Mickey - here's ISO6400 handheld, with stabilization on for the 18-55 lens letting me go slow with the shutter speed - aperture priority with the lens at F3.5:


Introduce more light, and properly expose, and the high ISO results are perfectly usable as a large print, as JPGs straight from the camera (for me). ; Here's an ISO1600 snap of Mickey with light through the front window:


And even ISO3200 remains clean and usable straight from camera...there is very minor shadow and background noise, but tiny, uniform, and unobtrusive - it doesn't even show in medium sized prints. ; What's more, the detail and color remain excellent in the focal plane:


It is very enjoyable to have this little guy around my neck when I'm hauling the big DSLR/300mm F4 combo around - I find I can just cradle the 300mm across my left elbow while holding up the NEX for a shot, then drop it back to my neck and return to the DSLR very easily - much better for me than having two DSLR bodies dangling from strap systems. ; I mainly would want two bodies to have to completely different focal lengths - so the wider 18-55 range is perfect for landscape and scenic shots I'd otherwise miss when I travel with only my big telephotos out in the birding spots.

Comments, questions, critique, etc welcomed. ; Just wanted to share a little news of my new toy.

 

Thanks...I already do, just from my first day of shooting with it - the lightness and portability are fantastic - it doesn't feel all that different from bringing my compact P&S, except for the fact that I've got a big 'ol DSLR sensor hiding in that little body! ; The Sony NEX system uses the Sony Alpha APS-C sensor used in the A500/550, D5000, and KX, with a 1.5x crop.

Indeed that seems to be the case - on the camera forums most of the folks who comment on the M4:3 and NEX cameras seem to be former P&S users or newbies. ; But I do think there's an excellent second market for folks like us - skilled with cameras, enthusiasts, have DSLRs, but want a smaller, lighter second system with DSLR quality.

That is one of the coolest things about them - I see a Pentax K-mount adapter for $25 shipped that will let me use my old Pentax lenses. ; Same goes for Leica, Canon EF and manual, Nikon, Oly, Minolta A and M, M42, Cosina, and so on!

Indeed the technology is always evolving. ; The low light ability was one of the things I liked about the NEX with the APS-C sensor, but surely the M4:3 sensor will continue to improve and evolve and I would think you should be able to eventually get to ISO6400 with very good results. ; The APS-C cameras are already there - I use ISO6400 all the time, with a little cleanup. It's only going to get better!

My kit will likely stay lighter - I'll usually be carrying my NEX around with just the kit lens, or one chosen adapter lens...I bought it all for the portability and convenience - it will often be alongside my DSLR, or occasionally taking its place when I can't bring it.

 

Congrats Justin. ; I hope you got a good deal since they aren't making that body anymore ; :

 

Indeed - it's the reason I got it! ; As soon as they announced end of production of the NEX3 (since the NEX-C3 is coming very soon), I knew sale prices would be dropping to clear out inventory. ; $499 is the sale price with the 16mm lens, or $549 with the 18-55mm lens. ; If you find the right store and the right people, $499 becomes the sale price with the 18-55mm lens - which is what I got. ; I've got no complaints about that price. ;

 

Congrats Justin! ; Great review! ; You should think about sending this to B&H or even Sony.

 

Now it won't AF with the screw driven Alpha mount lenses, correct? ; I think I heard something about it needing a built-in motor to AF.

 

Correct...to AF, it needs either E-mount lenses or Sony Alpha SAM or SSM lenses using the adapter. ; Screw mount won't have AF, nor any other lens from other manufacturers used via adapter. ; There are distant rumors of work on adapters that would have electronic connections to drive AF on other mount AF lenses...seems possible - the newest Canon EF mount adapter for NEX has aperture control built in now, which was a problem with EF lenses on the early adapters. ; of course, it seems many third-party manufacturers are on board to develop lenses for Emount, so it seems fairly likely some AF e-mount lenses will come around soon.

One nice thing with these mirrorless cams - when you switch the shutter to release w/o lens (such as when using the old manual lenses with an adapter), the lower soft key automatically switches to MF assist mode - one press to magnify 7x, one more for 14x, to assist with accurate focus. ; With E-mount lenses, this mode can be triggered automatically just by rotating the focus ring.

 

Since Sony has made that mount open-source, I'll bet that the new adapters will be able to drive in-lens autofocus motors. ;

 

Thanks Boris. ; It actually got warmer here. ; Yesterday, we were 1 degree shy of 90 - all time record for that day here in my town. ; This is one HHHHHHHHHOT winter so far...nothing like last year!