M4/3s owners - opinions on NEX3 and NEX5?

I have a G1 and have written reviews on the G1 and GH1.
My first thought when I saw the NEX3 and NEX5 was "Wow!"
They are even smaller than micro 4/3rds cameras, and one
of the reasons I love the G1 is the lightness.

I have an investment in M4/3rds lenses so I'm a little bit
locked into the platform - especially considering the $900 wide
angle - but I'm still very tempted to get a Sony to play with.
The new Panasonic and Olympus cameras just don't seem very
exciting.

What do other M4/3rds owners think?

--
N i k o n D 9 0, N i k o n D 6 0
N i k o n 1 8 - 2 0 0 V R, S i g m a 3 0 m m F 1 . 4,
T o k i n a 1 0 - 1 7 F i s h e y e,
T a m r o n 1 7 - 5 0 F 2 . 8 V C, S B 6 0 0, S B 9 0 0

P a n a s o n i c G 1
7 - 1 4, 1 4 - 4 5, 4 5 - 2 0 0

http://lemon.soju.co.uk/category/me/photography/

i hear ya.... this is exciting. that lens was a little big though. but hey, this is only the beginning.....

I'm sticking to m4/3. I've never really been a fan of sony proprietary, and like you I'm currently locked in with the lenses (got my m.zuiko 9-18 today).

I have a cell phone that's has few hard buttons and a touch screen. I could be wrong but I think the sony looks like it's going to be a pita to operate like my phone. I agreed with someone else who said it looks like it was made for the gadget collector. It definitely looks cool and I welcome the competition to maybe light a fire under panasonic/olympus butts.

oh and I'm jealous of the big sensor, although we'll have to see how big the lens has to be for it.

Personally I like a bit more traditional look. The new Sony is sure to draw attention, but sometimes that is not what you want. The zoom lens looks pretty big on a small futuristic body.

I do admire the high ISO performance, but that may change a bit when it hits dark shadows and such.

I think the NEX is very interesting, both as a platform and as a camera. It's good to see lots of nice touches: AF lamp, compact bouncable flash (dear god the FL-14 was impossible to fit into a small case), 1080p video, EVF option.

Sony may be playing catch up to MFT, but the dawdling that Panasonic and Olympus have done (with their "second gen" cameras that essentially offer the same performance as the first gen models) means that MFT doesn't have the head start that it could have had. And the lens situation isn't really all that much better on MFT considering the two year head start.

Of course, Olympus could blow everyone away at Photokina with the E-5 and a new MFT camera, but right now, it's their game to lose.

In any event, though, more competitors means more options for your spending dollar, so P&O will have to step up and offer either better quality or better value (or both), and either case is a win for MFT users.

On to the NEX, what I like:

• slim body (though a bit of fakery here: it's not as slim as it looks in pictures)
• AF lamp
• bouncable (from the looks of it) flash
• 1080p video from a GF1/PEN sized body
• price (really, this makes the GF1 and E-P2 look severely overpriced)
• EVF option (we'll have to see how good it is)
• APS-C sensor with (apparently) very good high ISO performance

Things I'm uncertain about:

• Is that a control dial at the back? It looks like a multi-funtion dial+4way. It could be great, or a UI nightmare

I don't mind the size of the lenses - they're still smaller than the Alpha SLR lenses.

Things I don't like:
I'll wait for a thorough review to appear before making up my mind on this.

Also like:

• high resolution LCD (920,000 dots)
• touch screen (if it's implemented well)

generationfourth said:

I'm sticking to m4/3. I've never really been a fan of sony proprietary, and like you I'm currently locked in with the lenses (got my m.zuiko 9-18 today).

I have a cell phone that's has few hard buttons and a touch screen. I could be wrong but I think the sony looks like it's going to be a pita to operate like my phone. I agreed with someone else who said it looks like it was made for the gadget collector. It definitely looks cool and I welcome the competition to maybe light a fire under panasonic/olympus butts.

oh and I'm jealous of the big sensor, although we'll have to see how big the lens has to be for it.

Click to expand...

I'd second this. Lack of external controls is makes it unappealing to me, but YMMV. I have a sneaking suspicion that removing most of the external controls may also be a cost-cutting measure.

In general, Sony's trend of dumbing down their entry level cameras (dropping mirror lockup and such) also bugs me. Maybe if we're lucky, Sony get around to releasing a mirrorless camera with a proper set of external controls.

But I am glad to see more competition in the mirrorless arena if this leads to better MFT cameras. My 2 cents anyway.

fstop8 said:

I'd second this. Lack of external controls is makes it unappealing to me, but YMMV. I have a sneaking suspicion that removing most of the external controls may also be a cost-cutting measure.

Click to expand...

The NEX has a touch screen and what looks to be a 4-way + dial combo on the back. And EV compensation looks to be toggle-able with a 'down' click on the combo dial.

I was shooting a lot of MF on my GF1 yesterday, and having a touch screen shortcut to pick the MF assist zoom area would have been very helpful .

Sony has been guilty of equal parts brilliance and idiocy in the past, though, so I'll reserve final judgement till more in-depth reviews that aren't paid product endorsements show up.

Oh, and can I say, kudos for supporting SD on the NEX.

Don't you think it's a bit premature to make that decision, especially since no one has even seen the thing until today. Besides, you think Panny and Oly are just sitting back doing nothing? I'm sure by the end of the year, you'll be seeing some pretty exciting 2nd generation m4/3 cameras. Don't be so fickle.
--
SF Photo Gal
Canon 1Ds MkIII/Panasonic GH-1-LX-3-FZ-50

I usually pre-order if I get excited reading DPRs hands on of a camera like the E-PL1 (ordered) or the G2 (passed since its not better than my GH1).

I love the look of the camera, especially the all silver combo. It's very Sony.

Fairly invested in m4/3 and some 4/3 glass so it would take a lot to either switch fully to Sony or somehow blend it with what I've got.

Exciting though, much more so than Samsung. Now it's getting exciting.

Panasonic has really never made sensors that wow'ed anyone. m43, like 43 before it, has tried to squeeze every single bit of profit from their customers. The prices of m43 equipment has been beyond insane. They were supposed to be smaller, lighter, and cheaper. They weren't cheaper. Sony is but the first true assault. Imagine what will happen once Canon and Nikon enters. They will push aside m43 like a rag doll. It pains me to say this but m43 will eventually become a 2nd tier player in the EVIL market. The GF1 was such a great camera, but the G2 shows Panasonic's complacency. It indicates the GF2 won't be very significant either.

I think the NEX's specs looks great, but do not to console yourself and try to find any advantages m43 has over it. Look at it from this perspective. Sony assault is brutal but their attempt won't compare to what's coming. The DSLR like IQ of the NEX will pull the big 2 into this market out of necessity. Keep that in consideration. For what it's worth, I intend to keep the GF1. It will serve me till Canon and Nikon enters with the systems we really want.

Wow....ugly. Really, really ugly. Not for me at all. The LCD is nice, but come on, the Playstation, I mean NEX, is really odd and looks like it's not aimed at photographers at all.
--
-Ken
http://kwaphoto.wordpress.com

... who, other than a niche of prosumer photographers, will give a sh!t as long as Sony sell them by the bucketload? Sony learnt a lot from the Betamax saga -- high-end gear is dandy, but it is the mass market that pays most of the bills.

kwa_photo said:

... the Playstation, I mean NEX, is really odd and looks like it's not aimed at photographers at all.

Click to expand...

Adrian Lewis said:

... who, other than a niche of prosumer photographers, will give a sh!t as long as Sony sell them by the bucketload? Sony learnt a lot from the Betamax saga -- high-end gear is dandy, but it is the mass market that pays most of the bills.

kwa_photo said:

... the Playstation, I mean NEX, is really odd and looks like it's not aimed at photographers at all.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I understand, but I don't this appealing to the masses either. Especially with the large lenses. The consumer market isn't usually thrilled with prime lenses either. I think a more traditional design, like the GF-1, is more appealing to most people. it still resembles a lot of p&s models and enthusiasts will like it for it's rangefinder look as well. The EP series, it's just sexy IMO and that sells. The Sony? Again, I'll call it ugly. Then again, there is no accounting for taste. People bought AMC Pacers, Gremlins, Yugos, Geo's, etc.

I'm sure it's a nice camera, just not for most of us here I suspect, but we are not the masses. I still the masses would prefer a slim all-in-one p&s or a GF-1/EP style.
--
-Ken
http://kwaphoto.wordpress.com

I am pretty impressed. Now, the shot was size reduced so it's not really fair to asses it that way. But the color still held pretty well and that usually falls apart fast when you go to ISO extremes. I am interested.

--
Raist3d (Photographer & Tools/Systems/Gui Games Developer)
Andreas Feininger (1906-1999) 'Photographers — idiots, of which there are
so many — say, “Oh, if only I had a Nikon or a Leica, I could make great
photographs.” That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life. It’s
nothing but a matter of seeing, and thinking, and interest. That’s what
makes a good photograph.'

In the end, it's the image quality that matters. The IQ reports are VERY good. The images at imaging-resource. com also convinced me the size is pretty nice. I don't intend to use zoom lenses on this thing. Instead, I will stick with primes. That 24mm equiv pancake lens is more appealing than the Pana 20/1.7 (40mm equiv). I may sell my GF1 and two lenses and put the difference to my fund for a Zeiss ZF 100/2 for my D3.

kwa_photo said:

Adrian Lewis said:

... who, other than a niche of prosumer photographers, will give a sh!t as long as Sony sell them by the bucketload? Sony learnt a lot from the Betamax saga -- high-end gear is dandy, but it is the mass market that pays most of the bills.

kwa_photo said:

... the Playstation, I mean NEX, is really odd and looks like it's not aimed at photographers at all.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I understand, but I don't this appealing to the masses either. Especially with the large lenses. The consumer market isn't usually thrilled with prime lenses either. I think a more traditional design, like the GF-1, is more appealing to most people. it still resembles a lot of p&s models and enthusiasts will like it for it's rangefinder look as well. The EP series, it's just sexy IMO and that sells. The Sony? Again, I'll call it ugly. Then again, there is no accounting for taste. People bought AMC Pacers, Gremlins, Yugos, Geo's, etc.

I'm sure it's a nice camera, just not for most of us here I suspect, but we are not the masses. I still the masses would prefer a slim all-in-one p&s or a GF-1/EP style.

Click to expand...

I don't disagree (I'd love a µE-330 + a m.Zuiko 12-60) but I fear that unless P&O fight hard for the mass market, they just won't sustain their market presence, and so won't sustain their income stream for new developments at a rate to keep up with their EVIL competetion ... a nasty negative feed-back loop that is seen all the time.

As for tastes. I don't mind the NEXs, to me they are not too dissimilar to the E-PL1 & GF1. Now, the NX10 -- that I find ugly (and surprisingly heavy).

Advantage: APS-C sensor size, about 66% larger area than my E-PL1's 4/3 sensor, so image quality should be higher.

Disadvantage: due to the larger sensor, the lenses are a lot bigger.

If your goal is to have a pocket camera with the best possible image quality, you want the sensor increased in size to the point where the camera just barely fits in your pocket. Any larger and you're better of with a regular SLR. A real squeeze play of competing factors. I managed to increase the size threshold quite a bit by conceding to take off the lens, which works because the Panny 20mm pancake lens is small enough to go in another pocket without being noticeable. The smallest lens Sony has announced (the 16mm) looks a bit large for a pocket, but maybe...

However, removing the mirror allows the rear element to be much closer to the image plane, and apparently that helps to reduce the lens size. So these lenses should be smaller than the corresponding SLR lenses. And seems like some clever engineering would allow some kind of collapsing design. Especially if you sacrifice some glass. If that makes it fit, might be worthwhile...

Too bad they went with the proprietary mount, but hey, it's Sony... at least it can use SD cards.

charliewallace1 said:

Advantage: APS-C sensor size, about 66% larger area than my E-PL1's 4/3 sensor, so image quality should be higher.

Disadvantage: due to the larger sensor, the lenses are a lot bigger.

Click to expand...

True for the zoomlenses, not the pancake.

calxn said:

That 24mm equiv pancake lens is more appealing than the Pana 20/1.7 (40mm equiv).

Click to expand...

Well, that is 24mm f4 vs 40mm f3.4 FF equivalent... so for me, as a standard lens, there is no contest. What I am most curious about is the potential for mount adapters and how the legacy glass will work out. A 1.5x crop sensor, with the DR we are used to seeing on Nikon/Sony/Pentax DSLRs could be a promising way forward for hobbyists. Not sure how the lack of manual controls will play out though.

I am certain this will sell huge in Japan though. The body size and metal lenses are sure to be a hit.

--
-CW

よしよし、今日も生きのいい魂が手に入ったな