Just Posted: Sony Alpha NEX-5R hands-on preview: Digital Photography Review

I wish Sony would start delivering on some additional emount lenses for the cameras that are already available, as opposed to releasing several versions of the same camera every few months. I'll buy a fast prime or two, but I'm not throwing down for yet another NEX.

Comment edited 31 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

i am the proud owner of a sony NEX-7 and a tamron 18-200mm lens. with my right hand on the nicely sized grip and my left hand on the left corner of the camera and under the lens it balances beautifully. i can carry it all day as it is very light. it is not front heavy, unbalanced or uncomfortable to hold. the camera takes beautiful images and the tamron lens is sharp and this gives me 13x19in. prints at least the equal of my canon gear including some L glass. you can't judge how this works by looking at pictures.

0 upvotes

This looks very good. The faster focus and the wifi are welcome additions. I hope the high iso performance remains as good as it has been with the 5N and probably it will be.

Most of the negative comments here are just a deep disgruntlement at the notion that new is better than old, new technology, newer camera brands, but often it is, and looks to be here.

0 upvotes

I like the time-laps and remote control app
http://youtu.be/5mFH_hg-LIw

0 upvotes

I get a kick out of most who complain about the size as well, to be honest. While a nice flat pancake might be nice, even with the Kit 18-55mm or Zeiss 24mm, the camera is still so light. I own a 5Dmk2 and 7D along side a slew of lenses, and I love them, but they are a task to carry around ALL THE TIME. I bought a Nex7 a few months ago, and for real, I ALWAYS have it. I never miss an opportunity. I have a super small fossil "man purse" (lol) that I've grown used to carrying. It always has the body and 3 lenses in it; The Sigma 19, 30, and Zeiss Planar 50mm f2. Size wise, this equates to the size of my 5D body, alone, with no lenses...maybe less. Or, I can strole out of the house with the camera and one lens around my neck for the whole day and never notice it's there and there is no issue with handelling. Even with the kit lens, or the Zeiss 50mm I own, the camera is light enough to rest on one left hand finger while held in the right. There is zero issue with balance for me.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 2 minutes after posting

12 upvotes

The 5D is larger than the Rebel series? I know the 7D is huge!

0 upvotes

I often have a wry smile when I read comments about the ratio of body to lens size of the Nex series of cameras. In reality, having a manual zoom lens the size of the kit lens makes for a very comfortable handling experience.

In reality, the kit zoom is no larger than many APS-C optics, it is just that a Nex 5 body is smaller than most. It may look odd, but just handle one to see what I mean.

4 upvotes

Here are some photos of actress Blake Lively using an NEX 5 on the street, to give people a more realistic understanding that these cameras are still so very compact that an average female can easily handle these cameras with no "balance" issues.

http://sonyalphanex.blogspot.com/2010/10/blake-lively-and-her-sony-nex-5.html

As you can see, these are hardly the unweildy, "unbalanced", "Coke bottle" lensed, monstrosities that some people here seem to think they are. And many of these complainers are men! LOL.

2 upvotes

More than 16’886 (wow!) wide range comments of yourself and no photo from yourself in any gallery. May we see an example of your work what you definitely mean?

1 upvote

I just don't use the galleries here and choose to keep my personal life and work separate from dpreview. And I've certainly included my images in my postings when it was appropriate to the topic. Why does it matter? Does it somehow invalidate anything I've said? Or is this your feeble attempt at censorship? LOL. Nice try.

If you have a response or a rebuttal to a comment, then make a response or rebuttal to a comment. But to make non sequitur forays into whether or not someone has a gallery is neither here nor there.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 8 minutes after posting

5 upvotes

I feel sorry having touched aggressive reactions in the still free community. So keep on, it is just your view – I respect this. Closed

1 upvote

i had a nex 5 and several of the bigger zoom lenses and found it extremely awkward compared to a dslr so I sold it and went back. Seems like a fad to me. The advantages of the small, mirrorless body are mostly lost when you tack on the big zoom lens and additionally, it becomes awkward and lens heavy to hold. Wearing it on a strap is awkward too

1 upvote

@Jack A. Zucker - believe it or not, larger, heavier lenses should be supported with your left hand. That's how we do it with big, heavy lenses in the DSLR world. I can mount a Canon 100-400L IS on a Rebel body, and some people like yourself might say, "My goodness, that looks awkward", but if you know how to hold it right, it's not an issue at all. The same goes for mirrorless systems. You just have to know how to hold the camera and lens. But of course, these same people who find mirrorless systems to be "heavy to hold" and "awkward wearing it on a strap" have no problem grabbing a DSLR + lens combo that can easily weigh 3 or 4 times more, with lenses that can create much more imbalance.

It's normal that some people will be more adaptable than others. Some of us can easily go from full size DSLRs to compact P&S cameras, and certainly to these mirrorless systems. It's good to keep your mind flexible and adaptable. But alas, some of us are more successful at it than others.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 10 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

T3: I have a pentax k-7, which is fairly light and when I slap my old 80s tamron 60-300 sp on, it becomes very front heavy and I can see where a grip would help balance things.....same goes for my zx7 that I shoot film with. Its even lighter. A heavier camera tends to help with stabilizing when handheld too. With a heavy, fast zoom you still have something very front heavy. If you balance it on a tripod maybe, but that's awkward and defeats the point of having fast glass.

0 upvotes

Distortion of Proportions

Those cameras are getting smaller and smaller with the lens dragging down everything. It is getting out of proportions. The lens - by the law of physics - cannot be downsized more. Are we at sometime holding a postal stamp sized camera to a lens? Those camera designers are on the wrong route.

Balancing should be the new trend not extremes to which no human hand feels at ease with. The body shakes alone – my god.

I still will keep to well balancing bodies. And there are plenty of good offers.

1 upvote

Apparently you don't know how to hold a camera. Every camera + lens combo has a center of gravity. This is true even if you're talking about a bulky DSLR's 70-200/2.8 which can easily make many DSLRs look unbalanced. And there are plenty of DSLR lenses that are larger! Nevertheless, with proper holding technique, where your left hand is positioned at the center of gravity, balance is easily achieved. The same applies to the NEX.

Just look at the photo above, which demonstrates good, balanced holding technique. That's not anything CLOSE to being "extremes to which no human hands feels at ease!" LOL! The entire camera practically sits in the palm of your hand. So where's the imbalance or lack of ease?

The only "distortion of proportion" is people like yourself who have the ill-informed notion that these compact NEX cameras are somehow monstrously big, bulky, heavy, unwieldy, and at the "extremes to which no human hand feels at ease with"...which is waaaay off the mark.

Comment edited 5 minutes after posting

7 upvotes

Funny

1 upvote

Sony is also introducing a collapsible 16-50 zoom that is much smaller. I hope they offer it as a kit lens because it sounds nice. Does it violate the laws of physics? Sure, when it is fully extended the weight will be forward, but that is true of dslr zooms, too. Some of them are very heavy and do have to be supported. That's what your left hand is for. Luckily, Sony puts proper grips on current NEX bodies so they fan be held one-handed if you really have to. Try that on most Olympus MFT models. Not very comfortable.

2 upvotes

I was instantly sold when I read that it'll give me a wireless remote viewfinder and shutter release. This is exactly the street camera I've been praying for.

1 upvote

To those of you who complain about the NEX5N and the lack of pancake lenses, Please take note:
1. It is true that the NEX5N has a dumbed down consumer appearance, but don't let appearances fool you. The camera is full featured and as fully capable as any of the best of them under $1500. I shoot Raw and the images are spectacular and require very little post processing in CS5.

As for pancake lenses, both Sony and Panasonic make MFT pancake lenses. The camera comes with a zoom kit lens because marketing tells the manufacturer that it is what sells. BTW, it is an excellent lens. As for pancakes, I use an Panny f 1.7 20mm and the results are very sharp and contrast moderately high.

So, I'll say this as politely as possible: Shut up unless you know what you are talking about. Your ignorance is showing.

3 upvotes

As I use both the Sony NEX5N and the Olympus OM-D, I got a little carried away in my comment. Sony Does not make MFT lenses and the NEX5N is obviously APSC format. Sony does make a pancake lens and all the rest of my comments remain unchanged.

0 upvotes

Dont listen to him, the kit lens is terrible so is the 16mm pancake.

Comment edited 48 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Yes Essai and without that nice Sony sensor your D800 is nothing more than a paper weight,

0 upvotes

Why on earth they don’t put direct buttons (ISO, WB) and jogs like many compacts have now a days. Sony RX100 has many more direct buttons. Why NEX can’t have any and has this childish interface. Are this lens interchanable APS-C cameras only for point n shoot people?? I don't think so..

1 upvote

Have ever seen the NEX7 ?

0 upvotes

fast focus and apps. With wiewfinder would be perfect... mmm, maybe nex 6 will be

0 upvotes

Sony made a perfect camera (last year 5N)
yet I hear complain complain complain

Those who own it know how good it is

Don't know 5R with new sensor
NEX-5N is as close to a perfect camera one will ever get now and in the near future

excellent IQ yet small and light
If I am Sony I would be upset
What do they really want? or are they just get paid by competitors to make trouble

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 40 seconds after posting

5 upvotes

Wi-Fi? Do we really need it in this camera?
How does it affect the battery life? (because 5N, which I own, is not so good in this respect).
GPS could have been more useful IMHO.
Apps are interesting (if done right - open API, open SDK etc). But knowing Sony - I'm not very optimistic.
Now - are the apps going to make their way to, say, 5N (via firmware updates)?

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 8 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Also interesting: will the Wi-Fi feature support Sony's own PS Vita.

0 upvotes

One more worried about the capable camera turned to "cool gadget" here...

Comment edited 42 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

You're worried about battery life, but you want GPS?

As for wifi, people tend to forget that we live in a social media world now. Rather than just taking photos that end up on your hard drive, where few people will ever see them, people like uploading and sharing their photos, without having to run to a computer to do so. And if you have apps where you can tweak the photos before uploading them, all the better!

Plus, you also have to remember that wifi-capable devices can integrate location-based tagging, so the inclusion of Wi-Fi can give you GPS, but a camera with just GPS will not give you Wi-Fi. So given the choice between the two options, Wi-Fi is obviously the better choice. Obviously, this won't help if you're in the wilderness, but for most users of this camera, in social settings, in the middle of civilization, where Wi-Fi is plentiful, it'll do fine.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

1 upvote

Turn the wi-fi off and it will do nothing to your battery life. I would also like GPS, but wi-fi is far more versatile. For a travel camera, it is a superb asset. Upload your pictures as you go and never have to worry about your camera and/or laptop being stolen or lost.

Dumb move leaving off flash to keep the body slim. Even the F3 has it built in now. Sure, it's weak, but there are times when it's handy and it adds very little weight or bulk. Instead they give a silly little add-on flash that is easily broken and a bother to attach. Other than that, this is a great camera, but I think the NEX-6 is going to be awesome.

1 upvote

Whenever I see NEX attached with such a big lens,
I just cannot help laughing... What a big joke...
Why don't they make some nice quality pancake lens?

6 upvotes

I think people who make these kind of inane comments ("such a big lens") have never held an NEX in their hands. The "big lens" is no bigger than a conventional APS-C DSLR's kit lens (or slightly smaller). Plus, you have to take into account the entire camera (body + lens), which are still significantly smaller than a conventional APS-C DSLR + lens. Just look at the image above! That's a *small* camera compared to any APS-C DSLR + lens you put next to it!

Personally, I think dpreview should photograph this camera sitting next to an APS-C DSLR so people who foolishly still think anything about this camera is "big" (including that lens) can see a direct size comparison to a DSLR. Without these size comparisons, I think people will continue to make ill-informed comments like Charlie Jin's. "Oh my gosh, it's such a BIG lens!" Or you get people, like someone below, comparing the kit lens to a *Coke can*! LOL. Seriously? Go handle one of these cameras, folks. Educate yourself.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 5 minutes after posting

24 upvotes

T3, he probably thinks its big because he likes the inferior pictures from his phone

3 upvotes

or he might be talking about m4/3 for example? :D

0 upvotes

hey folks... there will always be people out there who think that all lenses are the same regardless of sensor size.

so pardon them. it's not that they're not educated, just ignorant and making themselves look stupid saying stuff without actually trying it out

1 upvote

When I first saw the NEX camera in hands of my japanese client (It wasn´t available in Europe those days) my first thout was just the same: what a funny camera, tiny body and huge lens! Now I understand the lens is even smaller than lenses for APSC DSLR´s and that the sensor size matters, but I still see a NEX camera making the most sense with a small pancake. I understand that a combination of NEX + 18-55 lens is considerably smaller than a DSLR + 18-55 lens, bu neither of them is pocketable, so the size advantage is not that crucial (as for example is for the RX100 compared to Nikon 1).

4 upvotes

@iudex - I really don't understand people who say that if a camera can't fit in your pocket then any size difference isn't significant. That's just silly. Smaller is smaller, less bulk is less bulk, and less weight is less weight.

I shoot with a 5D, 60D, and 40D for work, but I also use an Oly 4/3 for off-work casual shooting as my everyday-carry camera. I can't pocket any of these camera, but there's no doubt that the differences in body size, bulk, and weight between my DSLR's vs my mirrorless camera make a noticeable and significant difference when carrying them around.

Less weight is less weight, less bulk is less bulk, and less size is less size regardless of whether they go in your pocket. A camera like the 60D+lens ends up being about twice the size and weight of an NEX 5R+lens...and yet there are people who will still dismiss this difference just because you can't fit it in your pocket! Weird.

1 upvote

@T3: I did not say smaller size is not an advantage. I just mentioned that proportion of body size to lens size is funny and that such a small body makes the best out of this advantage only with pancake lens. I of course see the difference between NEX+18-55 lens and 60D+18-55 lens, but there are smaller APSC DSLR´s where the difference is not that big (e.g. D3100). I can still fit my K-r to my briefcase if I separate the lens. I don´t fit the camera with attached lens and for NEX it is the same. So I have to carry either of these cameras on my neck or in the camera bag.

2 upvotes

people thins lens is big because camera is very small
so simple yet few understood

I have one, whole camera is small and light
never look back to DSLR, very good

0 upvotes

What's with the complaint about the big lenses?
When I use my Nikon D300 with the 70-200 lens it's as "mismatched" as the NEX combo. So what?

0 upvotes

is there a matt black version of this lens, that could make it appealing to some detractors

0 upvotes

There is a 18-55mm pancake lens coming (similar thing to Panasonics 14-42 pancake) on September 12th.

0 upvotes

@iudex - your K-R's body has a lens registration distance of 45.46mm (distance from lens mount to sensor). The entire exterior body thickness of an NEX 5R is only 38mm! In other words, the body thickness of a 5R is less than the distance between the sensor and the lens on a K-R, with room to spare. You can detach a lens from an NEX, slip the body in one coat pocket and the lens in another coat pocket. With a K-R, you would have a tough time just getting the body into any coat pocket, and if you did, it would result in a bulky bulge.

Plus, even when hanging these cameras off of our straps, many of us still appreciate the smaller size, less weight and less bulk. And smaller camera packages make dedicated camera bags far less necessary. I've hung SLR/DSLR cameras off my shoulder all my life, and I definitely welcome the lighter presence that MILC cameras now offer.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Really, if size is such a huge deal, just slap on a m39 adaptor with your favourite leica lens. Problem solved :)

On another track, a lot of people don't realize that in order to use an an APS-C sized sensor (which I think is an excellent idea), the lens has to be a certain size, and it has to be a certain distance from the sensor.

On m4/3 systems, everything's shrunk smaller. Kudos to Olympus for managing to squeeze such noise-free photos out of the OM-D. It's *difficult* squeezing noise-free images out of a smaller sensor. Look at the difference between high ISO images between your pocketable P&S cameras vs APS-C sensor'd DSLRs -- nuff said.

0 upvotes

No built-in flash; won't work for me. Shame you can't use it's wi-fi to set off a slave flash.

1 upvote

Do you already know the future? I was hoping in the future, some of the apps that you can download to the camera would offer that kind of option.

(and many people was negative with the increase in body size of the NEX-F3 just because of the built-in flash. Good they decided to keep the 5-series as small as the first camera)

Comment edited 21 seconds after posting

2 upvotes

Clearly the NEX is not for you, stick with a DSLR or something.

0 upvotes

I ow a NEX-7. Be happy, it has a flash included in the body. A small gadget that serves to nothing, but, it has a flash.

0 upvotes

It might be true that with a built-in flash the camera would be bigger; on the other hand Sony should have provided better external flash than just a funny flash with GN7. I repeat, guide number 7. Most built-in flashes are much stronger (at least GN 10), so if Sony decided to rely on external flash, they should have made it much stronger.

0 upvotes

Built in flash is for crappy snapshots. If you want pleasant flash light, you need to attach a swivel flash and bounce on a wall. The light from a small build in flash looks pants.

2 upvotes

I have only one question, has the focus peaking been improved? The #1 reason I bought NEX camera is to be used with the excellent manual glass of yesteryear, and thus focus peaking is the most important feature.

3 upvotes

Was there even something to improve?

3 upvotes

No

1 upvote

I am personally not a big fan of the NEX format - tiny body snapped on a coke can size lens but it seems someone at sony really likes this form and keep spitting those new NEX left and right.

5 upvotes

Judging by the sales, a lot of people really like this form as well.

20 upvotes

Have you ever held one of those "coke can size" lenses in your hand? They are still quite compact. Smaller than their DSLR counterparts. They just look large because the bodies are so compact. But overall, there is a significant size and weight reduction compared to an APS-C DSLR.

13 upvotes

you can make small wallets, but, what does it helps you if you have big money. Only with big money you can buy a lot. Same with lenses. You put a pancake like the 16mm. makes the thing smaller, and then you complain because of limited use and bad shots. You can't get it all, the RX100 is made for you, not the NEX. No one never will blame you to have a pancake on it. The new Sony pancake will come soon, so a bit of patience, Sony is a slooooow working company, but you can't do anything good if you go fast.

0 upvotes

haha Soemone at Sony... and 15% of all DSLR-esq camera sales in 2011.. think that figure might have swayed Sony somewhat!!

0 upvotes

I did some quick math on this to give some a real idea of how small this lens is.

If you keep in mind that a lens can only be as small as the the physical body PLUS the distance to the image that the lens makes (lens dimensions plus the registration distance) the NEX 18-55 kit zoom is just 10% longer than the Canon 40mm pancake but also 10% smaller volume-wise. Canon and Nikon kits then become 95% and 123% larger than the NEX in volume, and 60% and 62% longer, respectively.

Physical dimensions only - the nex kit is 4% larger in volume but 12% shorter than a standard 50/1.8 prime. (I used sony dimensions), 32% shorter if you factor in registration distance.

A Coke can has no registration distance. Physically a coke can is 226% the volume and 204% the length of the NEX kit.

Just some silly data for you all.

4 upvotes

It's so tiny! If the pancake lens is any good I might have just found my replacement for my old Nex 3. Gimme!

0 upvotes

is it me or does that camera look very anorexic ?
Maybe I should start a campaign saying "no to size 0 cameras" ! LOL !!!.....

2 upvotes

It is you!

3 upvotes

The camera looks the same size as 5N, which though small is not inconvenient -- it has a good grip for the right hand, and due to short body, the left hand can conveniently hold the lens. It's a lot more convenient design than a bigger m4/3 camera I also have. Sony NEX cameras are the only ones being small are actually convenient to handle. If there is any improvement I can think of is making a camera 1 inch taller and a grip a little bit bigger, and by all means keep it thin and short.

8 upvotes

As a current 5N owner, one of my bigger concerns is whether they've fixed the overheating sensor issue with video clips > 15 minutes.

5 upvotes

using a memory stick instead of SD cards helps with overheating and also I noticed that when using adapters and non E-mount lenses the camera would overheat much more.

1 upvote

Oh, interesting points Robbi -- thanks! The latter part doesn't make sense (I haven't tried it), but you'd figure that using less of the camera would (i.e. AF) would make it heat up less quickly!

0 upvotes

Am I the only one who misses the F3's built-in flash. Yes, it's tiny, but it more than makes that up by its usefulness. Just pop it up, and tilt the light towards the ceiling -- instant bounced light. I just took the F3 to a trip and the built-in flash allows me to take some of the best casual pictures I've ever taken w/o any bulk equipment. IMO, every point-n-shoot should have a flash that works similarly.

7 upvotes

I completely agree with you.

0 upvotes

But many people like the small size of the NEX-5 series. And the NEX-7 and NEX-6 already have built-in flash plus a lot of bonuses. They had to keep a small body anyways.

1 upvote

That little flash is less than a cubic inch. The extra height of the F3 is inconsequential. I think Sony just wanted to keep the distinctive shape. Pity.

0 upvotes

I'd rather they work on making a sensor with better ISO sensitivity :) Don't need a stinking flash on a camera that can see in the dark!

0 upvotes

Yikes Uk rip off price Nex-5r with 18-55 £679.99 @Jessops... keep with my Nex-5n and look in to Nex-6 later once I get a collection of more lenses for my Nex and price falls...

1 upvote

Just to add, taking into account differences in tax and exchange rate that's £140 above equivalent US prices.

0 upvotes

...a bit of a rip off it seems, but you do get something in return: an extra year of warranty.

0 upvotes

£679 ... No thanks, I'll buy a NEX-C3 and a Nikon D5000 from eBay ... And still have change for the cinema!!!!

0 upvotes

That's a price one has to pay to live in a socialist paradise :-)

4 upvotes

That £140 is AFTER adjusting for tax. It's the price we pay for traditionally being prepared to pay over the odds for things.

BTW: Any country where the top 1% holds 25% of the wealth would struggle to be classed as "socialist". Plus the PM is an old Etonian and we have a monarchy, yadda yadda yadda. ;)

3 upvotes

>That's a price one has to pay to live in a socialist paradise :-)

Socialist indeed. But for whom. Austria is more socialist but has lower prices than the uk. America has the lowest because all other subsidize them through the unfair monetary system.

0 upvotes

Wow. Amazon are listing it for £805!

0 upvotes

More crappy 'wave the camera around - Iphone Style' rubbish.

2 upvotes

Uh, did you just crawl out of a cave and see a digital camera for the first time? LOL. People do not "wave the camera around." People hold the camera steady, frame the shot, and take the shot. And if you look at how the camera is being held in the photo above, it's really no different from how people used to hold medium format film cameras that had waist-level viewfinders like on Bronica medium format cameras or Rollei twin-lens reflex cameras.

19 upvotes

No, I'm a user who's had digital cameras for over 10 years, & in that time seen the feature set get dumber & dumber. Bye bye top info LCDs (now only on mid-top level DSLRs), bye bye bulb mode (now only on DSLRs), plus a host of other features. Bye Bye flash. Now bye bye EVFs/OVFs.
Most of the other EVS-less cams have a fixed back lcd, thus you'll be waving them around in front of your face like a phone. - This is NOT how I want to take photos. And yet if all other cameras makers follow suit, that's what I, and all other users who take their photography even half seriously, will be FORCED to do!
NO THANKS!
OVFs & more recently EVFs were created and EXIST for a reason! Which includes bracing the camera in a way that includes using your eyebrow and arms locked in close to steady a shot.
Holding a camera in front of you - iphone style, makes it IMPOSSIBLE to take a steady shot, especially in low light (slow shutter speeds) or zooming in!
Now go crawl back into YOUR cave.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 4 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

There is a very good optional EVF for this camera (and previous models), NEX-6 announced with the built-in one, NEX-7 with the EVF as well....

3 upvotes

Oh dear oh dear, with a good neck strap I found by holding the strap taught one is basically holding the camera very steady on 4 axis, ie, arms locked (2) + neck strap taught (2) = better than holding a camera to the eye. Try it, it really works with DSLRs on live view!

The thing that lets Nex down are the lack of quality wide fast compact prime lenses like some of the M4/3 offerings, not the lack of a viewfinder.

I'll wait for a canonik FF mirrorless offering, it's only a matter of time, I mean Leica can make a compact FF system so it will be possible.

3 upvotes

Poking a camera on the end of straps is just not very stable and it doesn't work well in LIveView.

And for Heaven's sake, Leica is a RangeFinder camera which never had a mirror. It's been around since before SLRs were invented. Photographers moved to SLR so they could have through the lense optical viewfinders. The way you're thinking a rangefinder is a new thing people will migrate towards.

1 upvote

Xoio clearly just got out of his cave...

- Bulb mode? the NEX-series got it.
- EVF? Got it, just removable to keep the small form factor, and in case you want it integrated, the NEX-6 and NEX-7 have it. It's all about options.
- Top LCD? Who need that when you can have all that information in the main LCD (it's redundant a little bit in these days, it's a main feature of the old SLR days)
- Flash units? There are two flash units for this camera available, plus a Hot-shoe adapter available via third-party manufacturer.

Clearly, you just got out of your cave.

3 upvotes

OVF was created back then because that was the only way the engineers could found to allow the photographers to see what they are capturing.
EVF on the other hand, are for people like you that blame all the motion blur come from your hands cant hold steady and cant see the screen because you dont wear your glasses.

other than that, yes there is no point to include any kind of viewfinder on a bright beautiful 3" + screen

1 upvote

@xoio well, don't put yourself on a pedestal. a camera is your tool to get the photo. how people take photographs now and in the future will change, but artistic direction and creativity won't.

if you think this camera sucks just because it doesn't have what you want, you just totally dissed photography on a whole. no wonder you call yourself a "USER" and not a "PHOTOGRAPHER". so don't talk as if you're one.

by the way, the 5N and other mirrorless cams have swivel LCDs, not just fixed. also there are options to attach an EVF, and you can even use BULB mode. so i have no idea where your uneducated rant is coming from

0 upvotes

If this thing had built in flash, on Oled EVF and all you ask for, it would cost 1000$. Then, you would criticize the price. Buy or leave, it's the thing you need or do not need. Universe is binary, + and -, Yes or No, there is nothing beyond and between. There is a 3F and a 7, there will be a 6, enough to choose among, and, they have what you look for. Yes, I know, there is no phone included ..shhhhhh

0 upvotes

King Penguin is absolutely correct. I have used the the "tight strap" method for video using a Canon 5D Mark II with 70-200mm /F4 lens plus 2x telephoto adapter, and the video is very steady, with slow panning (from the torso). It would have been simpler with a tripod (and even better) but shooting conditions (shooting road construction out of window) made tripod use impractical. The problem with the "tight strap" method is that, on the5D Mark II, pressing the start and stop button was nearly impossible without jiggling the camera.
Of course a viewfinder that attaches to the LCD would have been better, but I did not have one.

In case no one has noticed, the strap attachment geometry of the NEX-5R has been greatly improved!

In summary, I highly recommend the "tight strap" method for shooting using LCD with any camera.

0 upvotes

I wonder if they finally fixed the single biggest disgrace of 5n: the lack of AutoISO for the manual mode? Without this mode the use of fast E-mount lenses is crippled (e.g. shooting at 1/125 and F2 in changing lighting conditions is a great pain since ISO needs to adjusted all the time manually).

3 upvotes

i dont need AutoISO in the Manual mode in any camera. thats why its called Manual mode i guess.

6 upvotes

I don't think the mode being M means anything beyond aperture and shutter being independently selectable. For example white balance and focus can still be set to Auto. AutoISO is a major feature and not having it in M mode is a big inconvenience to many users (especially whose who got used to the convenience from Nikon and Canon cameras). Of course not everybody needs it but most people who use fast E-mount primes do.

4 upvotes

Just lock down your A/S and assign the iso to one of the dials.. easy peasy.

1 upvote

I wouldn't call it a big(est) disgrace but I agree the feature could (should?) be there. Perfect would be an option to set the auto ISO range used but that's probably too much to demand.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

1 upvote

In my opinion it is the single biggest disgrace simply because they disabled an obviously useful option that does not require any additional engineering effort. The only possible excuse is that perhaps this feature happens to be patented in some way. But in either case it is certainly going to cost them customers if they don't fix this.

2 upvotes

I'm probably not the right person to talk about this but it rather seems like a question of "philosophy".

AutoISO makes the setting of both exposure and the apperture kind of unpredictable. (Like setting a film camera's A and S without knowing what film sensitivity will appear inside when i you press the shutter...)

Maybe the Apperture priority mode should be used in the case you described above...

2 upvotes

AutoISO in Manual mode? Are you on crack or something? AutoManual mode... WTF is that?

0 upvotes

I would find it great. There is no way to control aperture and shutter speed and let the camera change ISO to expose properly. No you have to set ISO yourself. You first try 400 -> to dark.... -> 800 -> still to dark... and so on... It would be great to let that be set by the camera.

0 upvotes

From IR (imaging-resource) preview,

"Fast Hybrid AF requires a compatible lens, and firmware updates will expand support to existing models, says Sony. If not supported, the NEX-5R uses contrast detection alone.

"At launch, only the SEL1855, SEL55210, SEL18200LE, and SEL24F18Z models will be compatible with the faster autofocus system; support should be expanded over time through firmware updates, but it isn't yet clear if this will eventually encompass all Sony's E-mount lens models or not."

I don't think that info was present in DPR's preview

8 upvotes

What about non-Sony's "E-mount lens models"? So Sigmas and Tamrons will never get the PDAF advantage?

0 upvotes

Also wondering whether the original SEL18200 lens will be supported.

0 upvotes

... Wrong thread ...

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 3 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

What!? No optical viewfinder? Curse the gods!

1 upvote

I am sure the same OLED EVF that works on 5N works on this camera.

It will be weird if the EVF that Sony is already selling doesn't work.

Comment edited 58 seconds after posting

5 upvotes

Yes the EVF works. Not sure how an optical viewfinder will be useful on a interchangeable mirrorless camera.

3 upvotes

oh look, another new toy from sony. looks just like all of the others released over the past two years. come on guys, is that what we wait with baited breath for????

1 upvote

People want toys with WiFi, silly world I know

3 upvotes

A "toy" that, judging by the 5N, most probably will be able to take excellent pictures.

7 upvotes

I said nothing about the 5N ability to take excellent pictures, it's the WiFi gimmick I don't get

0 upvotes

Why so much hate for wifi??? I love sending some of my images to my iPad's Snapseed app for a quick adjustments before emailing them to my editor while on the road;) But I guess 5N, or whatever other camera, and EyeFi SD cards does it well enough for now.

2 upvotes

Oh look another Troll who doesn't even have the $$$ to buy a decent camera.

1 upvote

"I love sending some of my images to my iPad's Snapseed"
Do ya think just any one on this globe uses an Ipad? What is all that Wifi good for? I make photos since more than 50 years, at that time wifi was a name given to fools....

0 upvotes

Sony, come on, enough cameras already! We want decent lenses, as well as some pancakes!

9 upvotes

They are coming grasshopper.

4 upvotes

Sept 12: 18-50 pancake, 11-18/4, 35/1.8.. and the NEX-6, NEX-VG900.

10 upvotes

16-50 pancake. not 18-50. It is true though, enough bodies, more lenses please.

8 upvotes

I must say, PDAF is very welcome.

6 upvotes

Leica, Leitz and adapter. Any better lense?

2 upvotes

Autofocus?

0 upvotes

AF Illuminator range (meters)
Approx. 0.3m - approx. 3.0m (with E PZ16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS)
On Sony UK Website leak, Pancake Zoom

0 upvotes

Contax G lenses and adaptor are also a fine choice.

0 upvotes

Still ugly. No wait, still super ugly.

1 upvote

All i want is the 35mm 1.8 to be released and sold to me....Then i will buy the nex5/6....35mm on a 1.5x sensor is my most used Focal length.
If the AF truely is great i'll be all over this...if its not...the lower end fuji will be my babe.

0 upvotes

Sony NEX have 3 bodies (going up to 4 in September) it seems like a lot because they update each one each year. The 3 line is optimized for cost, the 7 line for image quality, and the 5 line for physical size. This does make me wonder about the role of the NEX 6 line.

0 upvotes


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Just Posted: Sony Alpha NEX-5R hands-on preview

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