Sony NEX-5N 16.1 MP Compact Interchangeable Lens Touchscreen Camera with 18-55mm Lens (Black)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Added 4-24-14 AFTER MORE yEXPERIENCEThis camera is really impressive over time, as I have now had several of my club member's cameras for a day or two loan, and I find the 5N unbeatable. The 5N even equals the $1100 Oly EM-5, esp. at high ISO's.My latest kick is the panorama - it's so addictive (try it in B&W !!) Also, I'm using video a lot more now than I ever did with previous cameras - this camera has very well focused and exposed video.I have customized the "soft keys" or buttons (Look under "Settings - Custom Key Settings"). It has made a world of difference in my speed of shooting. I have the buttons set :A> bottom button (in Auto the Help key) : Focusing areaB> center-of-ring button (in Auto the Mode selector ) can choose three things: Metering area / WB / D-rangeC> right click on ring (in Auto the Live selector) : ISOORIGINAL REVIEW :-----------------------------------------Indoor no-flash, the Sony NEX 5N is pretty much a game changer. Most cameras have to use slow shutter speeds indoors in ambient light, because they just can't control noise and smear at ISO 800 and above. For instance, I wouldn't let my nice Lumix LX5 go above ISO 800 indoors. Now, using the NEX 5N Auto mode indoors will often result in ISO 1600 or even 3200, and there's no problem : the APS-C sensor, and the processor's programming let me use ISO 3200 like it was 800...!! I then have a much faster shutter speed available, to help stop the blur of most kid and pet movements. Auto WB indoors is sometimes tricky, but by setting WB using a white napkin or other reference, the 5N is near amazing.How did I come to choose the NEX 5N ?? Well, I am retired, and I spent a LOT of time on forums for Sony, Panasonic, Canon, etc... But I especially played a lot with dpReview.com's "High ISO comparison" tool:One day I put the Canon G15 against the Nikon P7700 and the Lumix LX7. For the fourth and final unit, I happened to choose the Samsung NX1000, because I had seen it on a big sale at Amazon. The Samsung with its APS-C sensor was so superior, that I began to look for other cams that used the same type sensor. DpReview had the NEX-5N rated at 79, so I put it on my list to play with. The NEX simply blew everyone's socks off, including in later comparisons the Micro 4/3's from Nikon and Olympus. I watched Amazon for several weeks, and in mid-November I was lucky to find the 5N at $140 less than the small Sony RX100 and the Samsung NX1000, which had been my two top choices up to that time.The NEX-5N also has near-excellent video. There is no "clicking sound" that early buyers sometimes mentioned, but once in a while there is a background motor noise during quiet periods of recording.Something else I really like: the 5N has a quieter shutter than any DSLR. All DSLRs are noisy beasts in comparison, very good for calling attention to themselves at the wrong time. The NEX-5N is of course still louder than say,, a LX7, but if you set the "Front Curtain Shutter" option to "enabled", the sound is very much reduced.Some reviews say the included 18-55 kit lens is only Very Good, not great; mine has no noticeable problems, and I've become a lot more critical than I once was. In tests side by side, the NEX slightly outdid my Pentax K-30 and K-01 kit lenses for sharpness in most every type of scene. Auto focus is near perfect in good light, and very good in low light.Macro with the kit zoom, using menu setting "Camera - AF/MF - DMF". can give some pretty nice shots, but you will need to stay 9-10" away with this lens to focus. By cropping, you will get a great photo, since the NEX is so sharp and noiseless at low ISO.CONCLUSION:============A./ This camera far exceeds premium compacts and almost every micro 4/3rds for lack of noise at every ISO. With the kit zoom, you will need a strap rather than a pocket. You may like to look for a good used Sony 16mm pancake lens, or a used 16-50 power zoom. I highly recommend the 1650PZ , as it makes the 5N ready for almost every situation.B./ Compared to any DSLR under $1200, the 5N is their photographic equal, and 50% lighter to carry. Put a protective UV filter on, and you're good to go street shooting out of the box.C./ However, the 5N is not a replacement for an action photographer using a DSLR in the field, where frequent ISO , WB, Focus Point, HDR, and other setting changes have to be made on-the-fly. This is foremost a great family camera.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I doubt few people have had hands-on access to more cameras in the $150 - $800 range that I've had, through the amateur club I just joined last summer. Join an informal group or a real photography club - you'll have a great time and be much better able to decide which camera, at what price, is the best for your needs.

The Sony NEX-5r has just come out and the price on this camera, the 5n, has dropped to around $500. After doing a fair amount of research, I decided to buy the 5n due to a variety of stellar reviews and the hard to beat new price. I recently went on a two week vacation in Europe and used both this camera and my previous camera, a Lumix Lx3.THE GOOD:WOW. The image quality of the 5n is amazing. The color saturation is incredible even at high ISOs. And the metering is fairly spot on in most situations. It handles complex lighting situations very well, generally getting a well balanced exposure. For instance, a standard outdoor shot will show great color and detail throughout the image, from the pavement to the sky. The Lx3 on the other hand, will only be able to handle one or the other, with the sky being blown out in most situations (keep in mind the Lx3 has a much smaller sensor and is from 2008; still, it is a very good camera at iso100). Contrast is also excellent and objects in the foreground feel closer than objects in the background. In comparison, the Lx3 tends to feel a bit flat overall.ISO is usable up to 6400, after which it gets chunky and crummy. Still, you can get great shots at extremely low light with amazing color that was just not possible at this price range until now.The kit lens is good and much better than I expected based upon some of the reviews I read. Still, in this regard the Lx3 is better. The Lx3 is just a little bit sharper and that makes a difference. Also, I found that I didn't like the distortion on the widest setting with the 5n and much prefer the Lx3's widest setting. In addition, the kit lens is pretty slow. Still, it is a good quality lens that I am happy using, though at a higher price point (5r, natch) I might grumble more about the slowness/sharpness.I found the grip on the camera and the general feel to be good and had no problems in this area.The screen is pretty good in bright light. Not great, but pretty good. And the fact that it moves aprox. 90 degrees up is a godsend for a variety of situations.THE NEUTRAL:The menu system takes a bit of getting used to, but once learned, is fairly easy to navigate. I found using the manual controls more intuitive than the touch controls, but to each his own.The size of the camera with the kit lens verges on being too big, but manages to still feel compact enough. My wife was able to fit the camera into a fairly small purse. Also, it is very light in weight which helps.The color accuracy is very good. The camera captures what you see very well. However, when I look online at some shot comparisons of an outdoor scene with one of the Olympus PENs (don't remember if it was the 2 or the 3) the Olympus just looked better, though it was clear that the Olympus was not color accurate. On the other hand, the PEN series seems to have horrible grain at higher ISOs, so this immediately took the PEN out of the running for me. Anyway, I haven't tried any of the other color settings on the 5n, so this is more of a thinking-out-loud comment than any real statement. In general, I think color accuracy wins the day.THE BAD:Ugh. There is no in-camera anti-shake. And this takes a lot of getting used to. I'd wager that a good 20% of shots will be missed by anyone using this camera until they learn how to compensate for this issue by using a higher ISO than should be needed or using the shutter priority setting or whatever else. Major whiff on the part of Sony and basically keeps this camera from being truly great. There are pictures that you'll take that you will think are in focus by viewing the monitor that will be ruined by motion blur upon viewing on your home computer. Basically, until you learn how to compensate for the lack of anti-shake, it is a must to zoom into the photo to ensure that it isn't blurry (on the playback screen). In a dark setting, I can take a photo with the Lx3 at 1/15 with little worry of motion blur. But with the Sony it a crap-shoot.The shutter is extremely loud.The camera takes a bit too long to start up. This is only noticeable if you're trying to take a a quick picture of something... by the time you've taken off the lens cap and started up the camera the shot will be missed.The focus isn't particularly fast or good. And it is especially bad in low light, even though the red light emanating from the camera is extremely bright.If you order the black 5n, the lens that comes with it will be silver and not black to match the body.I didn't really use the flash, so no word on its function. But the color of the flash is a sort of grey-silver, and it doesn't match the silver on the lens. So if you care about the aesthetics of a thing, then a black body with a silver lens with a grey flash starts to look a bit like Frankenstein's monster.Camera strap is adequate but a bit on the cheap side.No camera case is included.The menu system and camera controls are not very intuitive. I've read that they are much better with the newer 5r. But in comparison to the Lumix, where you can switch aspect ratios manually, switch shooting modes manually, and in general access everything you want a little easier, the Sony really loses in this area.It is somehow easy to accidentally adjust the settings on the camera to under-expose (exposure compensation). I was never able to figure out how I was doing this, but it happened enough times that I started to learn to check the exposure compensation setting if my pictures looked like they came out too dark in a light setting that should have been fine.