Why always compare to DLRS?

Even my Nex-5 competes in IQ.  For older sensors, it may beat.  It has great DR. Just look at DxOMark....

How bad do you think the Nex is?  If AF always misses, then the camera is useless.  The question is, how many misses and how many keepers and under what conditions?  If my Nex has issues with AF, it's generally when light starts to get dim, although sometimes it just picks a different subect than what I wanted.  Both of these conditions occur with my DSLR, although I think I get more "keepers" and less "misses" with the DSLR.  So, it's not the Nex has "worse IQ" it's that it has more misses, but the hits have the same IQ (all else being equal).

But now it's not the camera, it's the lenses.  Of course, a lot of Nex enthusiasts like expensive prime lenses, so I'm sure that could be argued...  But I don't think the Nex is really aimed to be the "world-beater" for most people, just enough to compete with the typical enthusiast DSLR, not the high-end.

The small size may be preferable for handling.  I got tired of lugging around the big camera and the heavy lens.  It was like having an anchor around my neck, and it just wasn't convenient or comfortable.

The only time I have an issue with mine is in the bright sunlight it can be a pain without a viewfinder.  This isn't an issue of "image quality", though, it's one of usage, of trading off one feature for another.

If I were a paid photographer, I'd want no compromise in performance, and the size wouldn't matter because I would show up with an amount of equipment anyway -- there's no benefit to having a smaller camera.  Making money with the tool, you can also more easily justify higher performance and get more keepers.  There are some situations where I would expect that a pro photog could use the Nex, but the DSLR systems are just more complete.  Just look at the flash situation.  And for sports photography?

OTOH, even with my low-end DSLR, I would buy inexpensive lenses and have many misses in some situations, compared to what I might have gotten with a much more expensive lens..  However, that was a tradeoff I was willing to make.  I have fewer keepers, but yet, I have some keepers that can compare with anything anyone else got.

As a "modest" user, why must I be forced to carry the bulk when I'm still going to have compromised performance?  With the Nex, I get to downsize the bulk in general but have the option to go to pocket-size if desired, still beating P&S quality.

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Gary W.