ArticlesBuying GuidesAre you a p&s user looking to upgrade to NEX?

Are you a p&s user looking to upgrade to NEX?

By sony1799 | Published Sep 29, 2011 | Buying Guides

Are you a p&s user that wants to upgrade to the mirrorless Sony nex series? Here's why the nexc3/new5n may be the camera for you. Ask yourself some questions first and think about these questions...

1. Do you mind changing lenses?

You do have the option of purchasing the 18-200mm lens for all your needs or having a two lens kit of you do not like to change lenses often. The 18-55 and the 55-210 would be an excellent second option.

2. Do you mind slightly bigger camera size?

The nex cameras are much smaller than slrs and come in several colors. For example the nexc3 is available in a dark pink shade. These cameras are pretty easy to hold and operate. These will easy fit in a medium size purse or small carry bag.

3. Lens size

The cameras are very small but the lenses are a little bigger. The 18-200 is pretty large. The 18-55 will fit as i've mentioned into most bags and purses. This is one of the deciding factors of upgrading from a p&s to nex. But, the image quality of the nex is well worth it. If you have the extra space to carry around one of these, they are still much much smaller than an slr.

4. Excellent images indoors

Are you tired of grainy birthday party photos? Well with the nex you can now take decent indoor photos thanks to the larger sensor. YOu can set the camera to auto mode and get clear photos in low light. There are also extra options such as twilight and night modes if you dig deeper in the menu that produce excellent results.

5. Depth of field and bokeh

Are you always wondering how to get those images and nice portraits with a blurred background? Well thanks to the larger sensor or the nex series you can easily get excellent portrait/flower/etc photos with blurred background.

6. Now here's a qustion you may be asking. Is the nex too hard for a newbie or p&s user to get used to? Absolutely not. I've handed my camera over to people and they can easily point and shoot and take an excellent photo. The new has auto and scene modes that are very easy. There are also creative modes to get unique looking photographs.

7. Now for the soccers moms and people wanting to shoot pet and child photos...while the AF may not be lightning fast as slr, you can still take more keepers with the nex than the average point and shoot camera.

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Total comments: 13

Additionally, if you don't believe me, message me and I can show you some GREAT photos that I've taken with zero time spent learning how to use the camera which I'm sure will change your mind about this camera not being up to snuff. As far as the body being awkward, I have zero problems with it. My hands aren't gorilla hands and they aren't femine hands, but this camera fits in my hand as if it were designed for it. I've held the NEX and granted that's a little slippery in my hands but the 5 has a nice grip to it that makes me confident I won't drop it. As far as the controls, I had to customize it a little compared to the default features but I think that's what every photographer on any level would do. It has great little 'pre-photo editing software' features to it that I absolutely love. Above all else, my favorite thing about this camera is that it gives a sort of 'dummy' guide for everything. It gives shooting tips, and little icons to help you take a great photo.

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I am apparently Sony's exact match for their target market for an NEX series. I wanted the quality of a SLR camera without the extra stuff that goes along with it. Extra stuff such as knowing everything there is to know about my camera, knowing about what lenses do what, knowing how to use aperture and F stop properly and all that jazz. I purchased my NEX 5K 6 months ago and I haven't looked back. Yeah, it may not be up to the quality of a high end SLR, but I didn't expect it to be. I expected it to be comparable. A buddy has a Nikon D7000, It's great but way too many bells and whistles for me. I wanted something simple that I could feel confident leaving it on Auto and taking great shots. I'm very proud of my camera and I would recommend it to anyone looking to upgrade from a point and shoot. I would not recommend it to photography snobs who look down on anything that doesn't have 50 lens or features that I'll never care to understand. Bottom line, the camera takes GREAT photos!

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

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Conclusion:

Sony NEX is selling mostly on good sensors (helping them acheiving top scores on DXO Mark sensors) and nothing more, bodies doesnt handle well with huge lenses, not many external controls (pricey NEX 7 is exception) and limited lenses to chose from. Even with kit Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS it is almost in compacts with bigger zoom and both 18-55mm and 16mm lenses are extremely soft.

It could be a good system couple of years ago, but now no matter what you are expecting to get out of your upgrade there is a better and more complete option available in the market.

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The 18-55 OSS is far from soft. Have you ever even owned one of these lenses? I can arguably say that this lens is one of the sharpest zooms made for the NEX series.

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Part IV:

and many other on long tele end. Also some fast variable focal length lenses in pipeline.

Higher end bodies like GH1/2 enjoys complete array of external controls, detailed Viewfinder, very good DR (though NEX with Excellent 16MP are better on DR front) and my favourite Multi-Aspect Sensor. Pens on other hand got built in IS that work with any lens you attach to them. Good for primes in situations when you dont get tripods and in low light.

3) If you want to get even more lens collection, size is not an issue, you expecting the best IQ no matter what, fastest operations and still wanna avoid entering Fullframe territory (again for those heavy, expensive and soft at edges lenses) then go for a DSLR (can also consider Panasonic GHx in some respects) like Nikon D7000, Pentax K5 and enjoy all the huge lens collection or top notch IQ (sensor, body and glass).

4) Full-frame: I won't suggest these to P&Sers. No obvious advantage over (3) over few serious cons: size, price, glass

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Part III:

2) If you still need shallower DOF and better ISO performance, lens collection is not that important, but you may want an option left open for future expandability, Nikon 1 with 1" sensor would be a more sensible option. However if you know you need good lens collection and want them right now, Micro four third system, is your best bet. Pick any from Panasonic or Olympus enormous range of camera, depending on your camera size and features requirement and you will get huge lens selection (compact size, easily available, top end quality and low price). I love 20mm f1.7 pancake (compact and roughly £250) and can use it on Oly Pen and Panasonic GH1. On the other hand Olympus 45mm f1.8 is insanely sharp on all appertures and again very affordable roughly £270 and so light you won't beleive it. On ultra wide end you can have Pany 7-14mm (look at its reviews) is extreme end, though expensive and Oly 9-18mm cheap and compact. Then you get other X brand lenses (motorised and compact)

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Part II:

So if you are P&S and planning to get on higher level, probably you looking for following from NEX:

1) better quality, faster operations and still pocketable: I would suggest go for (at the time of writing) Canon G12, Panasonic LX5 or Fujifilm X10 (wait for x10 though until fuji fix the WDS bug). Or even Canon S100 for smaller pockets. This way you will be happier with same/ slightly bigger sensor quality of what you already are used to. Depth of Field will almost same, so you will get what you expect from a compact camera more often, better lens will give you brighter/ faster operations at the same focal length with same/similar ease of use and loads of features over compacts. Plus all these cameras are loaded with external controls, that will help you to move on to next level, which NEX won't offer unless you spend more than 1000£ on NEX 7 (Excellent body and good sensor but for what lens and price).

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NEX system some how doesn't sit anywhere in my opinion. I been hoping for ages, to get this platform NEX develop and reach to the maturity level, I can consider it seriously.

You guys know the pros as are highlighted in this article, now some of the major cons of this system:

- Handeling: small body with huge lenses. Even the kit lens make it out of the in pocket camera category, no matter its your shirt pocket or jacket. Carry your camra bag with you.
- Lens Collection: Very very limited lens collection. Most of my favourite lenses are simply missing. So unless you wanna keep one kit lens, practically you won't get much out of the others, either by size and handeling, price or quality of glass. For instance my favourite 24-120 mm range is not there, no zoom lens with f2.8 constant apperture.
If you going to prime the only affordable one is 16mm bundeled mostly as kit, but is complete lemon, one of the worst mirrorless lens ever produced. A slightly better CZ 40mm eq is £800?

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This is a great article, one I woul'dve greatly appreciated had I found it when I was struggling with what kind of CSC to buy. If you have time to flesh out a small introduction of why someone should consider a CSC period (better sensor = better IQ), and why a NEX over m43 or CX system, I think it'd help readers even more.

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NEX over m4/3?? nothing really inspires me other than better sensor. Not bec of size (as negligble size diff doesnt matter much), it goes down to the sensor technology.

Comparative to compacts though, NEX will give considerably better ISO performance, much better colors and more control over Depth of field.

On the other hand some higher end compacts like G12 will offer more versatile lens (focal length range), sharper images (corner to corner), greater depth of field on bigger appertures, more external controls, less CA and VA and better carry anywhere size.

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Lens selection does not matter as much for the folks who will be using just 1(18-200) or two lenses. 18-55 and 55-210.
The NEX is slightly smaller than a Nikon D3100.
The NEX is easy to use as point and shoot.

Yes I agree there are other option out there but this article is specifically for people who want NEX!

Thank you for your comment but most newbies will not be interested in the A-mount adapter and will likely just keep 1-2 lenses on the camera.

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What the point of buying a camera system, if you are not planing to expand it. Sony should make an integrated lens system then, atlesat atleast it will be more pocketable. Considering the lens will collapse and go inside.

A-mount adapter, no one (pro or newbie) should consider them, they are slow, expensive and just make the system even more ockward (handeling).

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I think it is important to note that the size and weight of a NEX kit will not be appreciably lighter or smaller than an entry level SLR. Ergpnomically the NEX is also not as good. The promised A-mount adapter has not yet shipped (and is large and expensive). Finally lens selection is limited.
There are other alternatives which give either:
1) the same or better quality (entry level DSLRs), with better controls & lens selection.
2) a smaller, lighter alternative with not as good quite as good image quality (a number of mirrorles offerings from Olympus, Panasonic & Nikon)

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Total comments: 13