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Should I sell my Sony NEX for a full DSLR?

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Cameranoobie

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Ive had the Sony NEX F3 since Jan 2013 and used it maybe 5 times. I havent touched it in a few months and was considering selling it for the Sony SLT A58 DSLR cause there are some annoyances on the NEX that bother me.


First is that I really miss the EVF and want a EVF but will not shell out $300 on the EVF attachment on ebay. Not gonna happen. I thought I wouldnt mind taking pictures with the LCD screen but I hate it.

Second, its very annoying having to change modes and settings and pretty much do 99% of the navigation through the menus and LCD screen. I thought this wouldnt bother me but it does. I want dials, more buttons outside so I dont have to use the screen so much for nav.

Costco has the Sony SLT A58 right now (new model, just came out) for $450 with a free case. Im considering getting it and sell my NEX.
What you think?

Which is the better camera?
 
I would not keep a camera I did not like. I would sell the F3 and get a SLT A57. Cheaper than the A58 and some say better, I like mine.
 
puttin said:
puttin wrote:

I would not keep a camera I did not like. I would sell the F3 and get a SLT A57. Cheaper than the A58 and some say better, I like mine.
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There are a lot of things that I like about my NEX, mainly its size and looks.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Cameranoobie wrote:
There are a lot of things that I like about my NEX, mainly its size and looks.
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Well buy the DSLR take a picture of your NEX and then sell the NEX.. you'll still be able to appreciate its looks :-D
 
lnguyenh said:
lnguyenh wrote:
lnguyenh said:
Cameranoobie wrote:

Ive had the Sony NEX F3 since Jan 2013 and used it maybe 5 times.
Click to expand...
Seems you are really REALLY in love with photography. For sure, buy a DSLR !
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I see what Inguyenh is getting at.

Basically in the 6 months you have had the F3 you have 'used it maybe 5 times.' Does this mean you have been using another camera as well? Or you have only taken one camera, the F3, out 5 times so far this year?

I have an F3 and I too am on the verge of parting with it. BUT, I use it practically every day. I too am finding it very difficult to live with no viewfinder. Even with the screen at its brightest and the focus peaking on I find it difficult to use in some circumstances. I like to take portraits of friends and family and trying to focus with accuracy on eyes for instance is difficult.

BUT, I have to admit for the price you get very good image quality and control over your pictures. Yes going through the various screens for settings is a pain. But again, image quality is great. If I could find a second hand or cheap evf I could well keep it. The price of the evf is silly.

If you can't live with the F3, of course move it on.

deryn
 
(a) EVF: The nex-6 and nex-7 have EVF.

(b) menu: nex-6 and nex-7 have more physical controls. But despite that i think the user interface is a weakness of sony-nex. The Oly E-P5, Samsung Nx20 and probably also the fuji x have a better user interface.

(c) dslm or mirrorless: there the difference is: dslm probably has Faster AF. On the other hand dslm is the "old system", nex is the "new system", i would tend to buy the "new system" if i start a new hobby.
 
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Mr.NoFlash said:
Mr.NoFlash wrote:

(a) EVF: The nex-6 and nex-7 have EVF.

(b) menu: nex-6 and nex-7 have more physical controls. But despite that i think the user interface is a weakness of sony-nex. The Oly E-P5, Samsung Nx20 and probably also the fuji x have a better user interface.

(c) dslm or mirrorless: there the difference is: dslm probably has Faster AF. On the other hand dslm is the "old system", nex is the "new system", i would tend to buy the "new system" if i start a new hobby.
Click to expand...
 
deryn said:
deryn wrote:
deryn said:
lnguyenh wrote:
deryn said:
Cameranoobie wrote:

Ive had the Sony NEX F3 since Jan 2013 and used it maybe 5 times.
Click to expand...
Seems you are really REALLY in love with photography. For sure, buy a DSLR !
Click to expand...
I see what Inguyenh is getting at.

Basically in the 6 months you have had the F3 you have 'used it maybe 5 times.' Does this mean you have been using another camera as well? Or you have only taken one camera, the F3, out 5 times so far this year?

I have an F3 and I too am on the verge of parting with it. BUT, I use it practically every day. I too am finding it very difficult to live with no viewfinder. Even with the screen at its brightest and the focus peaking on I find it difficult to use in some circumstances. I like to take portraits of friends and family and trying to focus with accuracy on eyes for instance is difficult.

BUT, I have to admit for the price you get very good image quality and control over your pictures. Yes going through the various screens for settings is a pain. But again, image quality is great. If I could find a second hand or cheap evf I could well keep it. The price of the evf is silly.

If you can't live with the F3, of course move it on.

deryn
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A few different reasons, but lets just say that I havent gotten into photography or at least put the time and motivation that I was hoping to since I bought the cam in Jan. I played around with it cause it was a nice new toy when i bought it but havent taken it out since cause i just am too lazy a lot of times i guess to shoot pics, or dont know where im going to go. Im still a a raw rookie.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Cameranoobie wrote:
I played around with it cause it was a nice new toy when i bought it but havent taken it out since cause i just am too lazy a lot of times i guess to shoot pics, or dont know where im going to go. Im still a a raw rookie.
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Keep in mind that a DSLR is going to be bigger and more of a pain to carry around. If you are too lazy (your words, no offense intended) to carry your NEX, you're probably going to be too lazy to lug around a DSLR.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Cameranoobie wrote:

What do you mean by DSLR being the old system and MICL the new? Are you saying DSLRs is dying breed and MICL is the future? If so, ill keep the F3.
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Yes. But the Sony is not a DSLR. It's an SLT. At least the mirror doesn't flip...

I would never buy a camera without a viewfinder but I know that from my own experience. It appears you have too little experience to know what camera would work best for you. I really love my new Olympus OM-D E-M5. Because the Sony has a mirror (even though it doesn't flip and the viewfinder is EVF) it will be larger and lenses will be larger. I have a Sony A77 which I am keeping. I gave away my Sony A55 in order to buy a small camera. I looked at the NEX family but they don't have in-camera stabilization nor do they have many lenses. To be fair, I had lenses that would work with the Olympus because I once had an E620 and still have a Panasonic G1 (now converted to infrared).
 
Cameranoobie said:
Cameranoobie wrote:
Cameranoobie said:
Mr.NoFlash wrote:

(a) EVF: The nex-6 and nex-7 have EVF.

(b) menu: nex-6 and nex-7 have more physical controls. But despite that i think the user interface is a weakness of sony-nex. The Oly E-P5, Samsung Nx20 and probably also the fuji x have a better user interface.

(c) dslr or mirrorless: there the difference is: dslr probably has Faster AF. On the other hand dslr/slt is the "old system", nex is the "new system", i would tend to buy the "new system" if i start a new hobby.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Mr.NoFlash said:
Mr.NoFlash wrote:
Mr.NoFlash said:
there i a big discussion about that, the other opinion is, the dsrl:mirrorless ratio will remain constant from now on, that means, more dslr s in this century than miirroeless/milc
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Ive never seen anyone with a MILC in public yet, I see tons of DSLRs. I guess having a MICL cam does make you stand out from the crowd a bit. At least for now. Most people i know havent even heard of MICL cams before.
i do not think that the user interface of a dslr is dying.

the problem of the f3 is: it has a toy user interface-

good milc´s/mirrorless have roughly a user interface like a dslr
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I do agree with that, the UI on the NEX is rather cumbersome and toyish. Have to go through too many menus to make simple basic adjustments. It was okay at first but wears thin.
Mr.NoFlash said:
--
cheers
Mr.NoFlash
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JudyN said:
JudyN wrote:
JudyN said:
Cameranoobie wrote:

What do you mean by DSLR being the old system and MICL the new? Are you saying DSLRs is dying breed and MICL is the future? If so, ill keep the F3.
Click to expand...
Yes. But the Sony is not a DSLR. It's an SLT. At least the mirror doesn't flip...

I would never buy a camera without a viewfinder but I know that from my own experience. It appears you have too little experience to know what camera would work best for you. I really love my new Olympus OM-D E-M5. Because the Sony has a mirror (even though it doesn't flip and the viewfinder is EVF) it will be larger and lenses will be larger. I have a Sony A77 which I am keeping. I gave away my Sony A55 in order to buy a small camera. I looked at the NEX family but they don't have in-camera stabilization nor do they have many lenses. To be fair, I had lenses that would work with the Olympus because I once had an E620 and still have a Panasonic G1 (now converted to infrared).

--
Judy
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Oh whats a SLT?

So you think i should keep the F3 over getting the SLTA58? I would hate to lose money on the F3. I really do miss the EVF, but then again i never use my camera ha. Part of it is because im not a fan of the NEX UI, and part of me is that Im still a raw rookie when it comes to photography and havent really got out there. Perhaps if i found a camera that I enjoyed navigating with a lot more, or one that i enjoy having a EVF on, that I will take more pics and make more use of it, but theres no gaurentee. Hard to tell.
 
I don't blame you at all. The longer I live with my NEX C3, the more I'm annoyed by its horrible menu design and numerous quarks that adds up to big annoyance over time.

Once you add the cost of LA-E.xx adapter for speedy AF, or that outrageous $300 EVF, I might as well buy myself a cheap Sony A37 SLT. A37 isn't much bigger than a NEX with an adapter on. Plus, I can buy either DT50mm/1.8 or DT35mm/1.8 for just $199 instead of the outrageous $450 for Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS.

The longer I own NEX, the more warning signs I see. I want to wait/see what the new Sony Alpha 100% mirrorless look like. If I were Sony, I think abandon NEX e-mount and concentrate on a single A-Mount lens system makes the most sense.
 
Cailean Gallimore said:
Cailean Gallimore wrote:

The moral of the story is try before you buy.
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I did, I thought it was wonderful at first. Like the O.P., I didn't think the NEX menu would bug me, but it did. Many of these annoyance don't show up until several months of ownership.
 
Cameranoobie said:
Cameranoobie wrote:
A few different reasons, but lets just say that I havent gotten into photography or at least put the time and motivation that I was hoping to since I bought the cam in Jan. I played around with it cause it was a nice new toy when i bought it but havent taken it out since cause i just am too lazy a lot of times i guess to shoot pics, or dont know where im going to go. Im still a a raw rookie.
Click to expand...
My suggestion would be to give up photography altogether, at least for a couple of years. It is obviously not your thing. There's no point in spending hundreds of dollars on a machine that will sit in a cupboard.

There are plenty of other things to do, and there is no shortage of keen photographers.

You can always take photos with your phone if you really need them.
 
I went the other way. After shooting Canon DSLRs for 7 years, I accidentally bought a used F3 from someone like you, to use for travel, and a month later sold all of my Canon gear.

The IQ is good on both systems. Sony has better DR and slightly better low light performance, Canon has better colors (to my eye) and better (less aggressive) noise reduction, neither matter to me as I shoot RAW. F3 has the same sensor as Nex 6, so it should produce very similar image quality.

I don't feel limited by the menus. The F3 buttons can be customized, and I set up mine so that while it doesn't exactly match the level of control I had on my gripped T3i, it's close enough. The fact that F3 has the selector wheel on the back is huge in making it closer to DSLR than a P&S. I can set EC and FEC with a single click & turn of the wheel, just like DSLR. I can select shooting mode with one click and one turn - one small extra step but I don't have to take my eyes off viewfinder. I can change ISO and WB in a few clicks, again without taking my eyes off viewfinder. Of course I had to customize the menu first. I can see the histogram live in viewfinder before I take the shot (not the case with Canon SLRs, not sure about Sony).

I agree that EVF is overpriced but it's worth it. I bought mine from Amazon for $230 brand new. There are people selling used on forums for $180-200. EBay is the last place to look, it's out of control.

A big advantage over DSLR is focus peaking. I love my legacy manual lenses and I couldn't use them without peaking. Again, not sure if Sony SLR have this, but Canon or Nikon surely don't. And you get to play with great glass for $20-50 a pop vs $500.

And the size of course.

DSLR advantages are faster AF speeds - so if you shoot a lot of sports with telephoto lenses, Nex is probably not for you. If you want to use top level professional grade $2500-4000 a pop glass, may want to pair it with a FF DSLR. Nex doesn't have a very good flash system, either. But for what I shoot - portraits, travel, landscapes - it works just as well and sometimes better than DSLR, takes considerably less space, and allows me to experiment with different glass at much cheaper price.
 
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