rrforster12 Loc: Leesburg Florida

I am considering buying a Sony NEX 5N (16.1 MP) and would appreciate any input pro or con from anyone that already has this system. I would also appreciate any suggestions re similar mirriorless DSLR systems. I do alot of traveling and really like the concept of a very compact still and video capability.

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

I own a NEX-5 plus a quite a few of its accessories: 18-200mm, 18-55mm, bigger flash, stereo mic, riser for smaller flash, fisheye, 18mm, 16mm, 50mm f/2, fd:nex adapter, eos:nex adapter, Vari-ND and CPL filters, etc. (All of which fit into a 7"x7"x12" bag)

The pluses are: it is small and light weight providing me with about 90-95% capability of my Canon gear (7D, 5D MII, 5D with a slew full of glass). The in-camera pan is awesome.

The minuses are: settings are menu driven and shooting in manual mode is not natural or as easy as my Canon equipment, it has no optical view finder (soon to be corrected by the NEX-7), off camera flash is non-existant, on camera flash is just OK (I have the bigger flash unit), the flash connection is proprietary (some of the flash issues are being addressed by the NEX-7), The glass is not nearly as good as Canon or Nikon ( another issue being addressed by the NEX-7 with an adapter for Alpha lenses...which are still not in the class and variety as Canon). There was an alpha lens adapter for the NEX-5 but reviews indicated the auto-focus was so slow you could go for coffee and I didn't buy it to try it. The low light capability is on a par with my 5D and not as good as either the 7D or 5D MII. Picture quality is on a par with my 5D.

That being said I will order a NEX-7 because I do love my NEX-5. It is my personal/vacation walk around camera and is great not having to lug around my beasts.

rrforster12 Loc: Leesburg Florida

Hi Robert
Thanks for your response. Do you have the N version or an earlier version ? If earlier Ver do you think the N ver has improved on any of the the Cons you mentioned ? With the ISO range that the N offers do you feel that a flash unit is a necessity ? I have several Konica auto lenses (from my 35mm equipment) and a Sumacron f2 collapsible Leica Lens (on a IIIf) as well as a 35mm and a 90mm Lieca lens. Do you feel an investment in adapters for a NEX 5N would be worthwhile ?
Thanks again......Rudy

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

I have the earlier version. I have not shot the N version.

It is always nice to have the cabability of a flash and even nicer to have the capability of off camera flash.

With the N version you can get the optional FDA-EVIS Tru-Finder to give you an ~optical view finder which will help in bright light and has a nice tilt up 90 deg feature for low angle shooting. Using the LCD monitor is difficult in bright sun light unless you scroll thru the menus to set it at max bright.....then the colors go a bit wierd. The auto-bright function just doesn't work well. The problem with the FDA-EVIS is that you will be using the port where your attach the flash or optional stereo microphone. I use fill flash outdoors for stills. I don't like the on camera mic so I like to use the opt. stereo mic. Not enough ports.

I also saw multi-comlaints about the 5N when taking videos and an internal camera clicking noise being picked up. Don't know if that has been fixed.

By boosting the pixel count from 14 meg to 16 meg on the same size sensor I'm inclined to think that low light noise will be increased rather than reduced but there are probably a bunch of shoot out comparison photos on the web that you can search.

The 5N in camera processing for HDR and Twi-Light mode looks interesting if it works as well as the Panoramic Mode.

All in all the 5N looks like an improvement but not enough to motivate me to upgrade from the NEX-5.

The problem with adapters is that you lose auto functions (focus, aperture). If the lenses being adapted are not manual aperture then they shoot wide open unless you have an adapter with manual aperture control. The ones of that ilk that I have seen appear to be full f-stop (not 1/3 f-stop) adjustable and quite possibly increase the focal length of the attached lens. I have adapters for my Canon lenses and it is fun to shoot that way. I even went to my grandson's IHSA first round football playoff game with my 75-300mm Canon ( couldn't see hauling my 100-400mm or Sigma 120-300mm f2.8) for chuckles. I shot the first quarter with it then reverted to my Sony 18-200mm. It is just so much nicer to have auto focus with sports.

The other thing about shooting film lenses on digital is that the coatings aren't designed for digital. Colors often times get a little wierd and you pick up chromatic aberrations.

Bottom line for me is that I'm waiting for the flood waters to subside in Thailand so that maybe I can pick up a NEX-7 sometime in March, 2012.

Hope that helps and good luck :thumbup:

rrforster12 Loc: Leesburg Florida

Thanks a bunch for your insights ! You have me thinking about the NEX 7. I may just stay with my present equipment until the NEX 7 becomes readily available.
Rudy

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I am a Canon shooter but I use a NEX-3 with an adapted Voigtlander 15mm super wide Heliar aspherical in Leica screw mount. I super glued an accessory shoe on the top plate of the NEX and use a Voigtlander 21mm viewfinder in it. Focusing is by distance estimation or live view screen. Works great/better than Canon 60D and the auto HDR and sweep pano is awesome !

rrforster12 Loc: Leesburg Florida

Thank you so much for your input. You mentioned that you are using a Leica screw mount. I have a Leica IIIf with a f2 Summacron collapsable lens, plus a 35mm and 135 mm lens and have wondered if I could use these lenses successfully with an adaptor on the NEX 5N. What are your thoughts on that ?
Rudy

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

They would do great ! I use the NEX for serious wideangle landscape work with the Voigtlander lens. I also use a Canon 100mm f3.5 leica screw mount lens on the NEX - very lite weight and compact ! But for serious telephoto I use 60D with 70-200L.